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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Sumatra, by William Marsden
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The History of Sumatra
+       Containing An Account Of The Government, Laws, Customs And
+       Manners Of The Native Inhabitants
+
+Author: William Marsden
+
+Release Date: September 28, 2005 [EBook #16768]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sue Asscher
+
+
+
+
+
+(PLATE 16. A MALAY BOY, NATIVE OF BENCOOLEN.
+T. Heaphy delt. A. Cardon fecit.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA,
+
+CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF
+
+THE GOVERNMENT, LAWS, CUSTOMS, AND MANNERS
+
+OF
+
+THE NATIVE INHABITANTS,
+
+WITH
+
+A DESCRIPTION OF THE NATURAL PRODUCTIONS,
+
+AND A RELATION OF THE
+
+ANCIENT POLITICAL STATE OF THAT ISLAND.
+
+BY
+
+WILLIAM MARSDEN, F.R.S.
+
+THE THIRD EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS, ADDITIONS, AND PLATES.
+
+LONDON:
+PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,
+BY J. M'CREERY, BLACK-HORSE-COURT,
+AND SOLD BY
+LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
+1811.
+
+...
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA.
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+CHAPTER 1.
+
+SITUATION.
+NAME.
+GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, ITS MOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND RIVERS.
+AIR AND METEORS.
+MONSOONS, AND LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.
+MINERALS AND FOSSILS.
+VOLCANOES.
+EARTHQUAKES.
+SURFS AND TIDES.
+
+
+CHAPTER 2.
+
+DISTINCTION OF INHABITANTS.
+REJANGS CHOSEN FOR GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
+PERSONS AND COMPLEXION.
+CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.
+
+VILLAGES.
+BUILDINGS.
+DOMESTIC UTENSILS.
+FOOD.
+
+
+CHAPTER 4.
+
+AGRICULTURE.
+RICE, ITS CULTIVATION, ETC.
+PLANTATIONS OF COCONUT, BETEL-NUT, AND OTHER VEGETABLES FOR DOMESTIC USE.
+DYE STUFFS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 5.
+
+FRUITS, FLOWERS, MEDICINAL SHRUBS AND HERBS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 6.
+
+BEASTS.
+REPTILES.
+FISH.
+BIRDS.
+INSECTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 7.
+
+VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF THE ISLAND CONSIDERED AS ARTICLES OF COMMERCE.
+PEPPER.
+CULTIVATION OF PEPPER.
+CAMPHOR.
+BENZOIN.
+CASSIA, ETC.
+
+
+CHAPTER 8.
+
+GOLD, TIN, AND OTHER METALS.
+BEESWAX.
+IVORY.
+BIRDS-NEST, ETC.
+IMPORT-TRADE.
+
+
+CHAPTER 9.
+
+ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
+ART OF MEDICINE.
+SCIENCES.
+ARITHMETIC.
+GEOGRAPHY.
+ASTRONOMY.
+MUSIC, ETC.
+
+
+CHAPTER 10.
+
+LANGUAGES.
+MALAYAN.
+ARABIC CHARACTER USED.
+LANGUAGES OF THE INTERIOR PEOPLE.
+PECULIAR CHARACTERS.
+SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES AND OF ALPHABETS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 11.
+
+COMPARATIVE STATE OF THE SUMATRANS IN CIVIL SOCIETY.
+DIFFERENCE OF CHARACTER BETWEEN THE MALAYS AND OTHER INHABITANTS.
+GOVERNMENT.
+TITLES AND POWER OF THE CHIEFS AMONG THE REJANGS.
+INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEANS.
+GOVERNMENT IN PASSUMMAH.
+
+
+CHAPTER 12.
+
+LAWS AND CUSTOMS.
+MODE OF DECIDING CAUSES.
+CODE OF LAWS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 13.
+
+REMARKS ON, AND ELUCIDATION OF, THE VARIOUS LAWS AND CUSTOMS.
+MODES OF PLEADING.
+NATURE OF EVIDENCE.
+OATHS.
+INHERITANCE.
+OUTLAWRY.
+THEFT, MURDER, AND COMPENSATION FOR IT.
+ACCOUNT OF A FEUD.
+DEBTS.
+SLAVERY.
+
+
+CHAPTER 14.
+
+MODES OF MARRIAGE, AND CUSTOMS RELATIVE THERETO.
+POLYGAMY.
+FESTIVALS.
+GAMES.
+COCK-FIGHTING.
+USE AND EFFECTS OF OPIUM.
+
+
+CHAPTER 15.
+
+CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.
+EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.
+ORATORY.
+CHILDREN.
+NAMES.
+CIRCUMCISION.
+FUNERALS.
+RELIGION.
+
+
+CHAPTER 16.
+
+THE COUNTRY OF LAMPONG AND ITS INHABITANTS.
+LANGUAGE.
+GOVERNMENT.
+WARS.
+PECULIAR CUSTOMS.
+RELIGION.
+
+
+CHAPTER 17.
+
+ACCOUNT OF THE INLAND COUNTRY OF KORINCHI.
+EXPEDITION TO THE SERAMPEI AND SUNGEI-TENANG COUNTRIES.
+
+
+CHAPTER 18.
+
+MALAYAN STATES.
+ANCIENT EMPIRE OF MENANGKABAU.
+ORIGIN OF THE MALAYS AND GENERAL ACCEPTATION OF NAME.
+EVIDENCES OF THEIR MIGRATION FROM SUMATRA.
+SUCCESSION OF MALAYAN PRINCES.
+PRESENT STATE OF THE EMPIRE.
+TITLES OF THE SULTAN.
+CEREMONIES.
+CONVERSION TO MAHOMETAN RELIGION.
+LITERATURE.
+ARTS.
+WARFARE.
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+
+CHAPTER 19.
+
+KINGDOMS OF INDRAPURA, ANAK-SUNGEI, PASSAMMAN, SIAK.
+
+
+CHAPTER 20.
+
+THE COUNTRY OF THE BATTAS.
+TAPPANULI-BAY.
+JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.
+CASSIA-TREES.
+GOVERNMENTS.
+ARMS.
+WARFARE.
+TRADE.
+FAIRS.
+FOOD.
+MANNERS.
+LANGUAGE.
+WRITING.
+RELIGION.
+FUNERALS.
+CRIMES.
+EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.
+
+
+CHAPTER 21.
+
+KINGDOM OF ACHIN.
+ITS CAPITAL.
+AIR.
+INHABITANTS.
+COMMERCE.
+MANUFACTURES.
+NAVIGATION.
+COIN.
+GOVERNMENT.
+REVENUES.
+PUNISHMENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 22.
+
+HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF ACHIN, FROM THE PERIOD OF ITS BEING VISITED BY
+EUROPEANS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 23.
+
+BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ISLANDS LYING OFF THE WESTERN COAST OF SUMATRA.
+
+
+LIST OF PLATES.
+
+PLATE 1. THE PEPPER-PLANT, Piper nigrum.
+E.W. Marsden delt. Engraved by J. Swaine, Queen Street, Golden Square.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 2. THE DAMMAR, A SPECIES OF PINUS.
+Sinensis delt. Swaine Sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 3. THE MANGUSTIN FRUIT, Garcinia mangostana.
+Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 4. THE RAMBUTAN, Nephelium lappaceum.
+L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 5. THE LANSEH FRUIT, Lansium domesticum.
+L. Wilkins delt. Hooker Sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 6. THE RAMBEH FRUIT, A SPECIES OF LANSEH.
+Maria Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 7. THE KAMILING OR BUAH KRAS, Juglans camirium.
+L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 8. Marsdenia tinctoria, OR BROAD-LEAFED INDIGO.
+E.W. Marsden delt. Swaine fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 9. A SPECIES OF Lemur volans, SUSPENDED FROM THE RAMBEH-TREE.
+Sinensis delt. N. Cardon fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 9a. THE MUSANG, A SPECIES OF VIVERRA.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 10. THE TANGGILING OR PENG-GOLING-SISIK, A SPECIES OF MANIS.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 11. n.1. THE ANJING-AYER, Mustela lutra.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.
+
+PLATE 11a. n.2.
+1. SKULL OF THE KAMBING-UTAN.
+2. SKULL OF THE KIJANG.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.
+
+PLATE 12. n.1. THE PALANDOK, A DIMINUTIVE SPECIES OF MOSCHUS.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
+
+PLATE 12a. n.2. THE KIJANG OR ROE, Cervus muntjak.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 13. n.1. THE LANDAK, Hystrix longicauda.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 13a. n.2. THE ANJING-AYER.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 14. n.1. THE KAMBING-UTAN, OR WILD-GOAT.
+W. Bell delt.
+
+PLATE 14a. n.2. THE KUBIN, Draco volans.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 15. BEAKS OF THE BUCEROS OR HORN-BILL.
+M. de Jonville delt. Swaine sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 16. A MALAY BOY, NATIVE OF BENCOOLEN.
+T. Heaphy delt. A. Cardon fecit.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 17. SUMATRAN WEAPONS.
+A. A Malay Gadoobang.
+B. A Batta Weapon.
+C. A Malay Creese.
+One-third of the size of the Originals.
+W. Williams del. and sculpt.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 17a. SUMATRAN WEAPONS.
+D. A Malay Creese.
+E. An Achenese Creese.
+F. A Malay Sewar.
+One-third of the size of the Originals.
+W. Williams del. and sculpt.
+
+PLATE 18. ENTRANCE OF PADANG RIVER.
+With Buffaloes.
+
+PLATE 18A. VIEW OF PADANG HILL.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 19. A VILLAGE HOUSE IN SUMATRA.
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 19a. A PLANTATION HOUSE IN SUMATRA.
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+...
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+The island of Sumatra, which, in point of situation and extent, holds a
+conspicuous rank on the terraqueous globe, and is surpassed by few in the
+bountiful indulgences of nature, has in all ages been unaccountably
+neglected by writers insomuch that it is at this day less known, as to
+the interior parts more especially, than the remotest island of modern
+discovery; although it has been constantly resorted to by Europeans for
+some centuries, and the English have had a regular establishment there
+for the last hundred years. It is true that the commercial importance of
+Sumatra has much declined. It is no longer the Emporium of Eastern riches
+whither the traders of the West resorted with their cargoes to exchange
+them for the precious merchandise of the Indian Archipelago: nor does it
+boast now the political consequence it acquired when the rapid progress
+of the Portuguese successes there first received a check. That
+enterprising people, who caused so many kingdoms to shrink from the
+terror of their arms, met with nothing but disgrace in their attempts
+against Achin, whose monarchs made them tremble in their turn. Yet still
+the importance of this island in the eye of the natural historian has
+continued undiminished, and has equally at all periods laid claim to an
+attention that does not appear, at any, to have been paid to it.
+
+The Portuguese being better warriors than philosophers, and more eager to
+conquer nations than to explore their manners or antiquities, it is not
+surprising that they should have been unable to furnish the world with
+any particular and just description of a country which they must have
+regarded with an evil eye. The Dutch were the next people from whom we
+had a right to expect information. They had an early intercourse with the
+island, and have at different times formed settlements in almost every
+part of it; yet they are almost silent with respect to its history.* But
+to what cause are we to ascribe the remissness of our own countrymen,
+whose opportunities have been equal to those of their predecessors or
+contemporaries? It seems difficult to account for it; but the fact is
+that, excepting a short sketch of the manners prevailing in a particular
+district of the island, published in the Philosophical Transactions of
+the year 1778, not one page of information respecting the inhabitants of
+Sumatra has been communicated to the public by any Englishman who has
+resided there.
+
+(*Footnote. At the period when this remark was written, I was not aware
+that an account of the Dutch settlements and commerce in Sumatra by M.
+Adolph Eschels-kroon had in the preceding year been published at
+Hamburgh, in the German language; nor had the transactions of a literary
+society established at Batavia, whose first volume appeared there in
+1779, yet reached this country. The work, indeed, of Valentyn, containing
+a general history of the European possessions in the East Indies, should
+have exempted a nation to which oriental learning is largely indebted
+from what I now consider as an unmerited reflection.)
+
+To form a general and tolerably accurate account of this country and its
+inhabitants is a work attended with great and peculiar difficulties. The
+necessary information is not to be procured from the people themselves,
+whose knowledge and inquiries are to the last degree confined, scarcely
+extending beyond the bounds of the district where they first drew breath;
+and but very rarely have the almost impervious woods of Sumatra been
+penetrated to any considerable distance from the sea coast by Europeans,
+whose observations have been then imperfect, trusted perhaps to memory
+only, or, if committed to paper, lost to the world by their deaths. Other
+difficulties arise from the extraordinary diversity of national
+distinctions, which, under a great variety of independent governments,
+divide this island in many directions; and yet not from their number
+merely, nor from the dissimilarity in their languages or manners, does
+the embarrassment entirely proceed: the local divisions are perplexed and
+uncertain; the extent of jurisdiction of the various princes is
+inaccurately defined; settlers from different countries and at different
+periods have introduced an irregular though powerful influence that
+supersedes in some places the authority of the established governments,
+and imposes a real dominion on the natives where a nominal one is not
+assumed. This, in a course of years, is productive of innovations that
+destroy the originality and genuineness of their customs and manners,
+obliterate ancient distinctions, and render confused the path of an
+investigator.
+
+These objections, which seem to have hitherto proved unsurmountable with
+such as might have been inclined to attempt the history of Sumatra, would
+also have deterred me from an undertaking apparently so arduous, had I
+not reflected that those circumstances in which consisted the principal
+difficulty were in fact the least interesting to the public, and of the
+least utility in themselves. It is of but small importance to determine
+with precision whether a few villages on this or that particular river
+belong to one petty chief or to another; whether such a nation is divided
+into a greater or lesser number of tribes; or which of two neighbouring
+powers originally did homage to the other for its title. History is only
+to be prized as it tends to improve our knowledge of mankind, to which
+such investigations contribute in a very small degree. I have therefore
+attempted rather to give a comprehensive than a circumstantial
+description of the divisions of the country into its various governments;
+aiming at a more particular detail in what respects the customs,
+opinions, arts, and industry of the original inhabitants in their most
+genuine state. The interests of the European powers who have established
+themselves on the island; the history of their settlements, and of the
+revolutions of their commerce I have not considered as forming a part of
+my plan; but these subjects, as connected with the accounts of the native
+inhabitants and the history of their governments, are occasionally
+introduced.
+
+I was principally encouraged to this undertaking by the promises of
+assistance I received from some ingenious and very highly esteemed
+friends who resided with me in Sumatra. It has also been urged to me here
+in England that, as the subject is altogether new, it is a duty incumbent
+on me to lay the information I am in possession of, however defective,
+before the public, who will not object to its being circumscribed whilst
+its authenticity remains unimpeachable. This last quality is that which I
+can with the most confidence take upon me to vouch for. The greatest
+portion of what I have described has fallen within the scope of my own
+immediate observation; the remainder is either matter of common notoriety
+to every person residing in the island, or received upon the concurring
+authority of gentlemen whose situation in the East India Company's
+service, long acquaintance with the natives, extensive knowledge of their
+language, ideas, and manners, and respectability of character, render
+them worthy of the most implicit faith that can be given to human
+testimony.
+
+I have been the more scrupulously exact in this particular because my
+view was not, ultimately, to write an entertaining book to which the
+marvellous might be thought not a little to contribute, but sincerely and
+conscientiously to add the small portion in my power to the general
+knowledge of the age; to throw some glimmering light on the path of the
+naturalist; and more especially to furnish those philosophers whose
+labours have been directed to the investigation of the history of Man
+with facts to serve as data in their reasonings, which are too often
+rendered nugatory, and not seldom ridiculous, by assuming as truths the
+misconceptions or wilful impositions of travellers. The study of their
+own species is doubtless the most interesting and important that can
+claim the attention of mankind; and this science, like all others, it is
+impossible to improve by abstract speculation merely. A regular series of
+authenticated facts is what alone can enable us to rise towards a perfect
+knowledge in it. To have added one new and firm step in this arduous
+ascent is a merit of which I should be proud to boast.
+
+...
+
+Of this third edition it is necessary to observe that, the former two
+having made their appearance so early as the years 1783 and 1784, it
+would long since have been prepared for the public eye had not the duties
+of an official situation occupied for many years the whole of my
+attention. During that period, however, I received from my friends abroad
+various useful, and, to me at least, interesting communications which
+have enabled me to correct some inaccuracies, to supply deficiencies, and
+to augment the general mass of information on the subject of an island
+still but imperfectly explored. To incorporate these new materials
+requiring that many liberties should be taken with the original
+contexture of the work, I became the less scrupulous of making further
+alterations wherever I thought they could be introduced with advantage.
+The branch of natural history in particular I trust will be found to have
+received much improvement, and I feel happy to have had it in my power to
+illustrate several of the more interesting productions of the vegetable
+and animal kingdoms by engravings executed from time to time as the
+drawings were procured, and which are intended to accompany the volume in
+a separate atlas.
+
+...
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA.
+
+
+CHAPTER 1.
+
+SITUATION.
+NAME.
+GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, ITS MOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND RIVERS.
+AIR AND METEORS.
+MONSOONS, AND LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.
+MINERALS AND FOSSILS.
+VOLCANOES.
+EARTHQUAKES.
+SURFS AND TIDES.
+
+If antiquity holds up to us some models, in different arts and sciences,
+which have been found inimitable, the moderns, on the other hand, have
+carried their inventions and improvements, in a variety of instances, to
+an extent and a degree of perfection of which the former could entertain
+no ideas. Among those discoveries in which we have stepped so far beyond
+our masters there is none more striking, or more eminently useful, than
+the means which the ingenuity of some, and the experience of others, have
+taught mankind, of determining with certainty and precision the relative
+situation of the various countries of the earth. What was formerly the
+subject of mere conjecture, or at best of vague and arbitrary
+computation, is now the clear result of settled rule, founded upon
+principles demonstratively just. It only remains for the liberality of
+princes and states, and the persevering industry of navigators and
+travellers, to effect the application of these means to their proper end,
+by continuing to ascertain the unknown and uncertain positions of all the
+parts of the world, which the barriers of nature will allow the skill and
+industry of man to approach.
+
+SITUATION OF THE ISLAND.
+
+Sumatra, the subject of the present work, is an extensive island in the
+East Indies, the most western of those which may be termed the Malayan
+Archipelago, and constituting its boundary on that side.
+
+LATITUDE.
+
+The equator divides it obliquely, its general direction being north-west
+and south-east, into almost equal parts; the one extremity lying in five
+degrees thirty-three minutes north, and the other in five degrees
+fifty-six minutes south latitude. In respect to relative position its
+northern point stretches into the Bay of Bengal; its south-west coast is
+exposed to the great Indian Ocean; towards the south it is separated by
+the Straits of Sunda from the island of Java; on the east by the
+commencement of the Eastern and China Seas from Borneo and other islands;
+and on the north-east by the Straits of Malacca from the peninsula of
+Malayo, to which, according to a tradition noticed by the Portuguese
+historians, it is supposed to have been anciently united.
+
+LONGITUDE.
+
+The only point of the island whose longitude has been settled by actual
+observation is Fort Marlborough, near Bencoolen, the principal English
+settlement, standing in three degrees forty-six minutes of south
+latitude. From eclipses of Jupiter's satellites observed in June 1769,
+preparatory to an observation of the transit of the planet Venus over the
+sun's disc, Mr. Robert Nairne calculated its longitude to be 101 degrees
+42 minutes 45 seconds; which was afterwards corrected by the Astronomer
+Royal to 102 degrees east of Greenwich. The situation of Achin Head is
+pretty accurately fixed by computation at 95 degrees 34 minutes; and
+longitudes of places in the Straits of Sunda are well ascertained by the
+short runs from Batavia, which city has the advantage of an observatory.
+
+MAP.
+
+By the general use of chronometers in latter times the means have been
+afforded of determining the positions of many prominent points both on
+the eastern and western coasts, by which the map of the island has been
+considerably improved: but particular surveys, such as those of the bays
+and islets from Batang-kapas to Padang, made with great ability by
+Captain (now Lieutenant-Colonel) John Macdonald; of the coast from
+Priaman to the islands off Achin by Captain George Robertson; and of Siak
+River by Mr. Francis Lynch, are much wanted; and the interior of the
+country is still very imperfectly known. From sketches of the routes of
+Mr. Charles Campbell and of Lieutenant Hastings Dare I have been enabled
+to delineate the principal features of the Sarampei, Sungei Tenang and
+Korinchi countries, inland of Ipu, Moco-moco, and Indrapura; and
+advantage has been taken of all other information that could be procured.
+For the general materials from which the map is constructed I am chiefly
+indebted to the kindness of my friend, the late Mr. Alexander Dalrymple,
+whose indefatigable labours during a long life have contributed more than
+those of any other person to the improvement of Indian Hydrography. It
+may be proper to observe that the map of Sumatra to be found in the fifth
+volume of Valentyn's great work is so extremely incorrect, even in regard
+to those parts immediately subject to the Dutch government, as to be
+quite useless.
+
+UNKNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS. TAPROBANE.
+
+Notwithstanding the obvious situation of this island in the direct track
+from the ports of India to the Spice Islands and to China, it seems to
+have been unknown to the Greek and Roman geographers, whose information
+or conjectures carried them no farther than Selan-dib or Ceylon, which
+has claims to be considered as their Taprobane; although during the
+middle ages that celebrated name was almost uniformly applied to Sumatra.
+The single circumstance indeed of the latter being intersected by the
+equator (as Taprobane was said to be) is sufficient to justify the doubts
+of those who were disinclined to apply it to the former; and whether in
+fact the obscure and contradictory descriptions given by Strabo,
+Pomponius Mela, Pliny, and Ptolemy, belonged to any actual place, however
+imperfectly known; or whether, observing that a number of rare and
+valuable commodities were brought from an island or islands in the
+supposed extremity of the East, they might have been led to give place in
+their charts to one of vast extent, which should stand as the
+representative of the whole, is a question not to be hastily decided.
+
+OPHIR.
+
+The idea of Sumatra being the country of Ophir, whither Solomon sent his
+fleets for cargoes of gold and ivory, rather than to the coast of Sofala,
+or other part of Africa, is too vague, and the subject wrapped in a veil
+of too remote antiquity, to allow of satisfactory discussion; and I shall
+only observe that no inference can be drawn from the name of Ophir found
+in maps as belonging to a mountain in this island and to another in the
+peninsula; these having been applied to them by European navigators, and
+the word being unknown to the natives.
+
+Until the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope the
+identity of this island as described or alluded to by writers is often
+equivocal, or to be inferred only from corresponding circumstances.
+
+ARABIAN TRAVELLERS.
+
+The first of the two Arabian travellers of the ninth century, the account
+of whose voyages to India and China was translated by Renaudot from a
+manuscript written about the year 1173, speaks of a large island called
+Ramni, in the track between Sarandib and Sin (or China), that from the
+similarity of productions has been generally supposed to mean Sumatra;
+and this probability is strengthened by a circumstance I believe not
+hitherto noticed by commentators. It is said to divide the Sea of
+Herkend, or Indian Ocean, from the Sea of Shelahet) Salahet in Edrisi),
+and Salat being the Malayan term both for a strait in general, and for
+the well-known passage within the island of Singapura in particular, this
+may be fairly presumed to refer to the Straits of Malacca.
+
+EDRISI.
+
+Edrisi, improperly called the Nubian geographer, who dedicated his work
+to Roger, King of Sicily, in the middle of the twelfth century, describes
+the same island, in the first climate, by the name of Al-Rami; but the
+particulars so nearly correspond with those given by the Arabian
+traveller as to show that the one account was borrowed from the other. He
+very erroneously however makes the distance between Sarandib and that
+island to be no more than three days' sail instead of fifteen. The island
+of Soborma, which he places in the same climate, is evidently Borneo, and
+the two passages leading to it are the Straits of Malacca and of Sunda.
+What is mentioned of Sumandar, in the second climate, has no relation
+whatever to Sumatra, although from the name we are led to expect it.
+
+MARCO POLO.
+
+Marco Polo, the celebrated Venetian traveller of the thirteenth century,
+is the first European who speaks of this island, but under the
+appellation of Java minor, which he gave to it by a sort of analogy,
+having forgotten, or not having learned from the natives, its appropriate
+name. His relation, though for a long time undervalued, and by many
+considered as a romantic tale, and liable as it is to the charge of
+errors and omissions, with some improbabilities, possesses,
+notwithstanding, strong internal evidence of genuineness and good faith.
+Containing few dates, the exact period of his visit to Sumatra cannot be
+ascertained, but as he returned to Venice in 1295, and possibly five
+years might have elapsed in his subsequent tedious voyages and journeys
+by Ceylon, the Karnatick, Malabar, Guzerat, Persia, the shores of the
+Caspian and Euxine, to Genoa (in a prison at which place he is said to
+have dictated his narrative), we may venture to refer it to the year
+1290.
+
+Taking his departure, with a considerable equipment, from a southern port
+of China, which he (or his transcriber) named Zaitum, they proceeded to
+Ziamba (Tsiampa or Champa, adjoining to the southern part of
+Cochin-China) which he had previously visited in 1280, being then in the
+service of the emperor Kublai Khan. From thence, he says, to the island
+of Java major is a course of fifteen hundred miles, but it is evident
+that he speaks of it only from the information of others, and not as an
+eyewitness; nor is it probable that the expedition should have deviated
+so far from its proper route. He states truly that it is a mart for
+spices and much frequented by traders from the southern provinces of
+China. He then mentions in succession the small uninhabited islands of
+Sondur and Condur (perhaps Pulo Condore); the province of Boeach
+otherwise Lochac (apparently Camboja, near to which Condore is situated);
+the island of Petan (either Patani or Pahang in the peninsula) the
+passage to which, from Boeach, is across a gulf (that of Siam); and the
+kingdom called Malaiur in the Italian, and Maletur in the Latin version,
+which we can scarcely doubt to be the Malayan kingdom of Singa-Pura, at
+the extremity of the peninsula, or Malacca, then beginning to flourish.
+It is not however asserted that he touched at all these places, nor does
+he seem to speak from personal knowledge until his arrival at Java minor
+(as he calls it) or Sumatra. This island, lying in a south-eastern
+direction from Petan (if he does not rather mean from Malaiur, the place
+last mentioned) he expressly says he visited, and describes it as being
+in circumference two thousand miles (not very wide of the truth in a
+matter so vague), extending to the southward so far as to render the
+Polar Star invisible, and divided into eight kingdoms, two of which he
+did not see, and the six others he enumerates as follows: Ferlech, which
+I apprehend to be Parlak, at the eastern extremity of the northern coast,
+where they were likely to have first made the land. Here he says the
+people in general were idolaters; but the Saracen merchants who
+frequented the place had converted to the faith of Mahomet the
+inhabitants of the towns, whilst those of the mountains lived like
+beasts, and were in the practice of eating human flesh. Basma or Basman:
+this nearly approaches in sound to Pasaman on the western coast, but I
+should be more inclined to refer it to Pase (by the Portuguese written
+Pacem) on the northern. The manners of the people here, as in the other
+kingdoms, are represented as savage; and such they might well appear to
+one who had long resided in China. Wild elephants are mentioned, and the
+rhinoceros is well described. Samara: this I suppose to be Samar-langa,
+likewise on the northern coast, and noted for its bay. Here, he says, the
+expedition, consisting of two thousand persons, was constrained to remain
+five months, waiting the change of the monsoon; and, being apprehensive
+of injury from the barbarous natives, they secured themselves, by means
+of a deep ditch, on the land side, with its extremities embracing the
+port, and strengthened by bulwarks of timber. With provisions they were
+supplied in abundance, particularly the finest fish. There is no wheat,
+and the people live on rice. They are without vines, but extract an
+excellent liquor from trees of the palm kind by cutting off a branch and
+applying to it a vessel which is filled in the course of a day and night.
+A description is then given of the Indian or coconut. Dragoian, a name
+bearing some though not much resemblance to Indragiri on the eastern
+coast; but I doubt his having proceeded so far to the southward as that
+river. The customs of the natives are painted as still more atrocious in
+this district. When any of them are afflicted with disorders pronounced
+by their magicians to be incurable their relations cause them to be
+suffocated, and then dress and eat their flesh; justifying the practice
+by this argument, that if it were suffered to corrupt and breed worms,
+these must presently perish, and by their deaths subject the soul of the
+deceased to great torments. They also kill and devour such strangers
+caught amongst them as cannot pay a ransom. Lambri might be presumed a
+corruption of Jambi, but the circumstances related do not justify the
+analogy. It is said to produce camphor, which is not found to the
+southward of the equinoctial line; and also verzino, or red-wood (though
+I suspect benzuin to be the word intended), together with a plant which
+he names birci, supposed to be the bakam of the Arabs, or sappan wood of
+the eastern islands, the seeds of which he carried with him to Venice. In
+the mountainous parts were men with tails a palm long; also the
+rhinoceros, and other wild animals. Lastly, Fanfur or Fansur, which
+corresponds better to Campar than to the island of Panchur, which some
+have supposed it. Here the finest camphor was produced, equal in value to
+its weight in gold. The inhabitants live on rice and draw liquor from
+certain trees in the manner before described. There are likewise trees
+that yield a species of meal. They are of a large size, have a thin bark,
+under which is a hard wood about three inches in thickness, and within
+this the pith, from which, by means of steeping and straining it, the
+meal (or sago) is procured, of which he had often eaten with
+satisfaction. Each of these kingdoms is said to have had its peculiar
+language. Departing from Lambri, and steering northward from Java minor
+one hundred and fifty miles, they reached a small island named Necuram or
+Norcueran (probably Nancowry, one of the Nicobars), and afterwards an
+island named Angaman (Andaman), from whence, steering to the southward of
+west a thousand miles, they arrived at that of Zeilan or Seilam, one of
+the most considerable in the world. The editions consulted are chiefly
+the Italian of Ramusio, 1583, Latin of Muller, 1671, and French of
+Bergeron, 1735, varying much from each other in the orthography of proper
+names.
+
+ODORICUS.
+
+Odoricus, a friar, who commenced his travels in 1318 and died at Padua in
+1331, had visited many parts of the East. From the southern part of the
+coast of Coromandel he proceeded by a navigation of twenty days to a
+country named Lamori (perhaps a corruption of the Arabian Al-rami), to
+the southward of which is another kingdom named Sumoltra, and not far
+from thence a large island named Java. His account, which was delivered
+orally to the person by whom it was written down, is extremely meagre and
+unsatisfactory.
+
+MANDEVILLE.
+
+Mandeville, who travelled in the fourteenth century, seems to have
+adopted the account of Odoricus when he says, "Beside the isle of Lemery
+is another that is clept Sumobor; and fast beside a great isle clept
+Java."
+
+NICOLO DI CONTI.
+
+Nicolo di Conti, of Venice, returned from his oriental travels in 1449
+and communicated to the secretary of Pope Eugenius IV a much more
+consistent and satisfactory account of what he had seen than any of his
+predecessors. After giving a description of the cinnamon and other
+productions of Zeilam he says he sailed to a great island named Sumatra,
+called by the ancients Taprobana, where he was detained one year. His
+account of the pepper-plant, of the durian fruit, and of the
+extraordinary customs, now well ascertained, of the Batech or Batta
+people, prove him to have been an intelligent observer.
+
+ITINERARIUM PORTUGALLENSIUM.
+
+A small work entitled Itinerarium Portugallensium, printed at Milan in
+1508, after speaking of the island of Sayla, says that to the eastward of
+this there is another called Samotra, which we name Taprobane, distant
+from the city of Calechut about three months' voyage. The information
+appears to have been obtained from an Indian of Cranganore, on the coast
+of Malabar, who visited Lisbon in 1501.
+
+LUDOVICO BARTHEMA.
+
+Ludovico Barthema (Vartoma) of Bologna, began his travels in 1503, and in
+1505, after visiting Malacca, which he describes as being the resort of a
+greater quantity of shipping than any other port in the world, passed
+over to Pedir in Sumatra, which he concludes to be Taprobane. The
+productions of the island, he says, were chiefly exported to Catai or
+China. From Sumatra he proceeded to Banda and the Moluccas, from thence
+returned by Java and Malacca to the west of India, and arrived at Lisbon
+in 1508.
+
+ODOARDUS BARBOSA.
+
+Odoardus Barbosa, of Lisbon, who concluded the journal of his voyage in
+1516, speaks with much precision of Sumatra. He enumerates many places,
+both upon the coast and inland, by the names they now bear, among which
+he considers Pedir as the principal, distinguishes between the Mahometan
+inhabitants of the coast and the Pagans of the inland country; and
+mentions the extensive trade carried on by the former with Cambaia in the
+west of India.
+
+ANTONIO PIGAFETTA.
+
+In the account given by Antonio Pigafetta, the companion of Ferdinand
+Magellan, of the famous circumnavigatory voyage performed by the
+Spaniards in the years 1519 to 1522, it is stated that, from their
+apprehension of falling in with Portuguese ships, they pursued their
+westerly route from the island of Timor, by the Laut Kidol, or southern
+ocean, leaving on their right hand the island of Zamatra (written in
+another part of the journal, Somatra) or Taprobana of the ancients.
+Mention is also made of a native of that island being on board, who
+served them usefully as an interpreter in many of the places they
+visited; and we are here furnished with the earliest specimen of the
+Malayan language.
+
+PORTUGUESE EXPEDITIONS.
+
+Previously however to this Spanish navigation of the Indian seas, by the
+way of South America, the expeditions of the Portuguese round the Cape of
+Good Hope had rendered the island well known, both in regard to its local
+circumstances and the manners of its inhabitants.
+
+EMANUEL KING OF PORTUGAL.
+
+In a letter from Emanuel King of Portugal to Pope Leo the Tenth, dated in
+1513, he speaks of the discovery of Zamatra by his subjects; and the
+writings of Juan de Barros, Castaneda, Osorius, and Maffaeus, detail the
+operations of Diogo Lopez de Sequeira at Pedir and Pase in 1509, and
+those of the great Alfonso de Alboquerque at the same places, in 1511,
+immediately before his attack upon Malacca. Debarros also enumerates the
+names of twenty of the principal places of the island with considerable
+precision, and observes that the peninsula or chersonesus had the epithet
+of aurea given to it on account of the abundance of gold carried thither
+from Monancabo and Barros, countries in the island of C(cedilla)amatra.
+
+Having thus noticed what has been written by persons who actually visited
+this part of India at an early period, or published from their oral
+communication by contemporaries, it will not be thought necessary to
+multiply authorities by quoting the works of subsequent commentators and
+geographers, who must have formed their judgments from the same original
+materials.
+
+NAME OF SUMATRA.
+
+With respect to the name of Sumatra, we perceive that it was unknown both
+to the Arabian travellers and to Marco Polo, who indeed was not likely to
+acquire it from the savage natives with whom he had intercourse. The
+appellation of Java minor which he gives to the island seems to have been
+quite arbitrary, and not grounded upon any authority, European or
+Oriental, unless we can suppose that he had determined it to be the
+I'azadith nesos of Ptolemy; but from the other parts of his relation it
+does not appear that he was acquainted with the work of that great
+geographer, nor could he have used it with any practical advantage. At
+all events it could not have led him to the distinction of a greater and
+a lesser Java; and we may rather conclude that, having visited (or heard
+of) the great island properly so called, and not being able to learn the
+real name of another, which from its situation and size might well be
+regarded as a sister island, he applied the same to both, with the
+relative epithets of major and minor. That Ptolemy's Jaba-dib or dio was
+intended, however vaguely, for the island of Java, cannot be doubted. It
+must have been known to the Arabian merchants, and he was indefatigable
+in his inquiries; but at the same time that they communicated the name
+they might be ill qualified to describe its geographical position.
+
+In the rude narrative of Odoricus we perceive the first approach to the
+modern name in the word Sumoltra. Those who immediately followed him
+write it with a slight, and often inconsistent, variation in the
+orthography, Sumotra, Samotra, Zamatra, and Sumatra. But none of these
+travellers inform us from whom they learned it; whether from the natives
+or from persons who had been in the habits of frequenting it from the
+continent of India; which latter I think the more probable. Reland, an
+able oriental scholar, who directed his attention to the languages of the
+islands, says it obtains its appellation from a certain high land called
+Samadra, which he supposes to signify in the language of the country a
+large ant; but in fact there is not any spot so named; and although there
+is some resemblance between semut, the word for an ant, and the name in
+question, the etymology is quite fanciful. Others have imagined that they
+find an easy derivation in the word samatra, to be met with in some
+Spanish or Portuguese dictionaries, as signifying a sudden storm of wind
+and rain, and from whence our seamen may have borrowed the expression;
+but it is evident that the order of derivation is here reversed, and that
+the phrase is taken from the name of the land in the neighbourhood of
+which such squalls prevail. In a Persian work of the year 1611 the name
+of Shamatrah occurs as one of those places where the Portuguese had
+established themselves; and in some very modern Malayan correspondence I
+find the word Samantara employed (along with another more usual, which
+will be hereafter mentioned) to designate this island.
+
+PROBABLY DERIVED FROM THE SANSKRIT.
+
+These, it is true, are not entirely free from the suspicion of having
+found their way to the Persians and Malays through the medium of European
+intercourse; but to a person who is conversant with the languages of the
+continent of India it must be obvious that the name, however written,
+bears a strong resemblance to words in the Sanskrit language: nor should
+this appear extraordinary when we consider (what is now fully admitted)
+that a large proportion of the Malayan is derived from that source, and
+that the names of many places in this and the neighbouring countries
+(such as Indrapura and Indragiri in Sumatra, Singapura at the extremity
+of the peninsula, and Sukapura and the mountain of Maha-meru in Java) are
+indisputably of Hindu origin. It is not my intention however to assign a
+precise etymology; but in order to show the general analogy to known
+Sanskrit terms it may be allowed to instance Samuder, the ancient name of
+the capital of the Carnatik, afterwards called Bider; Samudra-duta, which
+occurs in the Hetopadesa, as signifying the ambassador of the sea; the
+compound formed of su, good, and matra, measure; and more especially the
+word samantara, which implying a boundary, intermediate, or what lies
+between, might be thought to apply to the peculiar situation of an island
+intermediate between two oceans and two straits.
+
+NOT ENTIRELY UNKNOWN TO THE NATIVES.
+
+When on a former occasion it was asserted (and with too much confidence)
+that the name of Sumatra is unknown to the natives, who are ignorant of
+its being an island, and have no general name for it, the expression
+ought to have been confined to those natives with whom I had an
+opportunity of conversing, in the southern part of the west coast, where
+much genuineness of manners prevails, with little of the spirit of
+commercial enterprise or communication with other countries. But even in
+situations more favourable for acquiring knowledge I believe it will be
+found that the inhabitants of very large islands, and especially if
+surrounded by smaller ones, are accustomed to consider their own as terra
+firma, and to look to no other geographical distinction than that of the
+district or nation to which they belong. Accordingly we find that the
+more general names have commonly been given by foreigners, and, as the
+Arabians chose to call this island Al-rami or Lameri, so the Hindus
+appear to have named it Sumatra or Samantara.
+
+MALAYAN NAMES FOR THE ISLAND.
+
+Since that period however, having become much better acquainted with
+Malayan literature, and perused the writings of various parts of the
+peninsula and islands where the language is spoken and cultivated, I am
+enabled to say that Sumatra is well known amongst the eastern people and
+the better-informed of the natives themselves by the two names of Indalas
+and Pulo percha (or in the southern dialect Pritcho).
+
+INDALAS.
+
+Of the meaning or analogies of the former, which seems to have been
+applied to it chiefly by the neighbouring people of Java, I have not any
+conjecture, and only observe its resemblance (doubtless accidental) to
+the Arabian denomination of Spain or Andalusia. In one passage I find the
+Straits of Malacca termed the sea of Indalas, over which, we are gravely
+told, a bridge was thrown by Alexander the Great.
+
+PERCHA.
+
+The latter and more common name is from a Malayan word signifying
+fragments or tatters, and the application is whimsically explained by the
+condition of the sails of the vessel in which the island was
+circumnavigated for the first time; but it may with more plausibility be
+supposed to allude to the broken or intersected land for which the
+eastern coast is so remarkable. It will indeed be seen in the map that in
+the vicinity of what are called Rupat's Straits there is a particular
+place of this description named Pulo Percha, or the Broken Islands. As to
+the appellation of Pulo Ber-api, or Volcano Island, which has also
+occurred, it is too indefinite for a proper name in a region of the globe
+where the phenomenon is by no means rare or peculiar, and should rather
+be considered as a descriptive epithet.
+
+MAGNITUDE.
+
+In respect to magnitude, it ranks amongst the largest islands in the
+world; but its breadth throughout is determined with so little accuracy
+that any attempt to calculate its superficies must be liable to very
+considerable error. Like Great Britain it is broadest at the southern
+extremity, narrowing gradually to the north; and to this island it is
+perhaps in size more nearly allied than in shape.
+
+MOUNTAINS.
+
+A chain of mountains runs through its whole extent, the ranges being in
+many parts double and treble, but situated in general much nearer to the
+western than the opposite coast, being on the former seldom so much as
+twenty miles from the sea, whilst on the eastern side the extent of level
+country, in the broader part of the island, through which run the great
+rivers of Siak, Indragiri, Jambi, and Palembang, cannot be less than a
+hundred and fifty. The height of these mountains, though very great, is
+not sufficient to occasion their being covered with snow during any part
+of the year, as those in South America between the tropics are found to
+be. Mount Ophir,* or Gunong Pasaman, situated immediately under the
+equinoctial line, is supposed to be the highest visible from the sea, its
+summit being elevated thirteen thousand eight hundred and forty-two feet
+above that level; which is no more than two-thirds of the altitude the
+French astronomers have ascribed to the loftiest of the Andes, but
+somewhat exceeds that of the Peak of Tenerife.
+
+(*Footnote. The following is the result of observations made by Mr.
+Robert Nairne of the height of Mount Ophir:
+
+Height of the peak above the level of the sea, in feet: 13,842.
+English miles: 2.6216.
+Nautical miles: 2.26325.
+Inland, nearly: 26 nautical miles.
+Distance from Massang Point: 32 nautical miles.
+Distance at sea before the peak is sunk under the horizon: 125 nautical
+miles.
+Latitude of the peak: 0 degrees 6 minutes north.
+A volcano mountain, south of Ophir, is short of that in height by: 1377
+feet.
+Inland, nearly 29 nautical miles.
+In order to form a comparison I subjoin the height, as computed by
+mathematicians, of other mountains in different parts of the world:
+Chimborazo, the highest of the Andes, 3220 toises or 20,633 English feet.
+Of this about 2400 feet from the summit are covered with eternal snow.
+Carazon, ascended by the French astronomers: 15,800 English feet.
+Peak of Tenerife. Feuille: 2270 toises or 13,265 feet.
+Mount Blanc, Savoy. Sr. G. Shuckburgh: 15,662.
+Mount Etna, Sr. G. Shuckburgh: 10,954.
+
+Between these ridges of mountains are extensive plains, considerably
+elevated above the surface of the maritime lands, where the air is cool;
+and from this advantage they are esteemed the most eligible portion of
+the country, are consequently the best inhabited and the most cleared
+from woods, which elsewhere in general throughout Sumatra cover both
+hills and valleys with an eternal shade. Here too are found many large
+and beautiful lakes that extend at intervals through the heart of the
+country, and facilitate much the communication between the different
+parts, but their dimensions, situation, or direction, are very little
+known, though the natives make frequent mention of them in the accounts
+of their journeys. Those principally spoken of are: one of great extent
+but unascertained situation in the Batta country; one in the Korinchi
+country, lately visited by Mr. C. Campbel; and another in the Lampong
+country, extending towards Pasummah, navigated by boats of a large class
+with sails, and requires a day and night to effect the passage across it;
+which may be the case in the rainy season, as that part of the island
+through which the Tulang Bawang River flows is subject to extensive
+inundations, causing it to communicate with the river of the Palembang.
+In a journey made many years since by a son of the sultan of the latter
+place, to visit the English resident at Croee, he is said to have
+proceeded by the way of that lake. It is much to be regretted that the
+situation of so important a feature in the geography of the island should
+be at this day the subject of uncertain conjecture.
+
+WATERFALLS.
+
+Waterfalls and cascades are not uncommon, as may be supposed in a country
+of so uneven a surface as that of the western coast. A remarkable one
+descends from the north side of Mount Pugong. The island of Mansalar,
+lying off and affording shelter to the bay of Tappanuli, presents to the
+view a fall of very striking appearance, the reservoir of which the
+natives assert (in their fondness for the marvellous) to be a huge shell
+of the species called kima (Chama gigas) found in great quantities in
+that bay, as well as at New Guinea and other parts of the east.* At the
+bottom of this fall ships occasionally take in their water without being
+under the necessity of landing their casks; but such attempts are liable
+to extreme hazard. A ship from England (the Elgin) attracted by the
+appearance from sea of a small but beautiful cascade descending
+perpendicularly from the steep cliff, that, like an immense rampart,
+lines the seashore near Manna, sent a boat in order to procure fresh
+water; but she was lost in the surf, and the crew drowned.
+
+(*Footnote. The largest I have seen was brought from Tappanuli by Mr.
+James Moore of Arno's Vale in the north of Ireland. It is 3 feet 3 1/2
+inches in its longest diameter, and 2 feet 1 1/4 inches across. One of
+the methods of taking them in deep water is by thrusting a long bamboo
+between the valves as they lie open, when, by the immediate closure which
+follows, they are made fast. The substance of the shell is perfectly
+white, several inches thick, is worked by the natives into arm-rings, and
+in the hands of our artists is found to take a polish equal to the finest
+statuary marble.)
+
+RIVERS.
+
+No country in the world is better supplied with water than the western
+coast of the island. Springs are found wherever they are sought for, and
+the rivers are innumerable; but they are in general too small and rapid
+for the purpose of navigation. The vicinity of the mountains to that side
+of the island occasions this profusion of rivulets, and at the same time
+the imperfections that attend them, by not allowing them space to
+accumulate to any considerable size. On the eastern coast the distance of
+the range of hills not only affords a larger scope for the course of the
+rivers before they disembogue, presents a greater surface for the
+receptacle of rain and vapours, and enables them to unite a greater
+number of subsidiary streams, but also renders the flux more steady and
+uniform by the extent of level space than where the torrent rolls more
+immediately from the mountains. But it is not to be understood that on
+the western side there are no large rivers. Kataun, Indrapura, Tabuyong,
+and Sinkel have a claim to that title, although inferior in size to
+Palembang, Jambi, Indragiri, and Siak. The latter derive also a material
+advantage from the shelter given to them by the peninsula of Malacca, and
+Borneo, Banca, and the other islands of the Archipelago, which, breaking
+the force of the sea, prevent the surf from forming those bars that choke
+the entrance of the south-western rivers, and render them impracticable
+to boats of any considerable draught of water. These labour too under
+this additional inconvenience that scarcely any except the largest run
+out to sea in a direct course. The continual action of the surf, more
+powerful than the ordinary force of the stream, throws up at their mouths
+a bank of sand, which in many instances has the effect of diverting their
+course to a direction parallel with the shore, between the cliffs and the
+beach, until the accumulated waters at length force their way wherever
+there is found the weakest resistance. In the southerly monsoon, when the
+surfs are usually highest, and the streams, from the dryness of the
+weather, least rapid, this parallel course is of the greatest extent; and
+Moco-moco River takes a course, at times, of two or three miles in this
+manner, before it mixes with the sea; but as the rivers swell with the
+rain they gradually remove obstructions and recover their natural
+channel.
+
+AIR.
+
+The heat of the air is by no means so intense as might be expected in a
+country occupying the middle of the torrid zone. It is more temperate
+than in many regions without the tropics, the thermometer, at the most
+sultry hour, which is about two in the afternoon, generally fluctuating
+between 82 and 85 degrees. I do not recollect to have ever seen it higher
+than 86 in the shade, at Fort Marlborough; although at Natal, in latitude
+34 minutes north, it is not unfrequently at 87 and 88 degrees. At sunrise
+it is usually as low as 70; the sensation of cold however is much greater
+than this would seem to indicate, as it occasions shivering and a
+chattering of the teeth; doubtless from the greater relaxation of the
+body and openness of the pores in that climate; for the same temperature
+in England would be esteemed a considerable degree of warmth. These
+observations on the state of the air apply only to the districts near the
+sea-coast, where, from their comparatively low situation, and the greater
+compression of the atmosphere, the sun's rays operate more powerfully.
+Inland, as the country ascends, the degree of heat decreases rapidly,
+insomuch that beyond the first range of hills the inhabitants find it
+expedient to light fires in the morning, and continue them till the day
+is advanced, for the purpose of warming themselves; a practice unknown in
+the other parts of the island; and in the journal of Lieutenant Dare's
+expedition it appears that during one night's halt on the summit of a
+mountain, in the rainy season, he lost several of his party from the
+severity of the weather, whilst the thermometer was not lower than 40
+degrees. To the cold also they attribute the backwardness in growth of
+the coconut-tree, which is sometimes twenty or thirty years in coming to
+perfection, and often fails to produce fruit. Situations are uniformly
+colder in proportion to their height above the level of the sea, unless
+where local circumstances, such as the neighbourhood of sandy plains,
+contribute to produce a contrary effect; but in Sumatra the coolness of
+the air is promoted by the quality of the soil, which is clayey, and the
+constant and strong verdure that prevails, which, by absorbing the sun's
+rays, prevents the effect of their reflection. The circumstance of the
+island being so narrow contributes also to its general temperateness, as
+wind directly or recently from the sea is seldom possessed of any violent
+degree of heat, usually acquired in passing over large tracts of land in
+the tropical climates. Frost, snow, and hail I believe to be unknown to
+the inhabitants. The hill-people in the country of Lampong speak indeed
+of a peculiar kind of rain that falls there, which some have supposed to
+be what we call sleet; but the fact is not sufficiently established. The
+atmosphere is in common more cloudy than in Europe, which is sensibly
+perceived from the infrequency of clear starlight nights. This may
+proceed from the greater rarefaction of the air occasioning the clouds to
+descend lower and become more opaque, or merely from the stronger heat
+exhaling from the land and sea a thicker and more plentiful vapour. The
+fog, called kabut by the natives, which is observed to rise every morning
+among the distant hills, is dense to a surprising degree; the extremities
+of it, even when near at hand, being perfectly defined; and it seldom is
+observed to disperse till about three hours after sunrise.
+
+WATERSPOUT.
+
+That extraordinary phenomenon, the waterspout, so well known to and
+described by navigators, frequently makes its appearance in these parts,
+and occasionally on shore. I had seen many at sea; but the largest and
+most distinct (from its proximity) that I had an opportunity of
+observing, presented itself to me whilst on horseback. I was so near to
+it that I could perceive what appeared to be an inward gyration, distinct
+from the volume surrounding it or body of the tube; but am aware that
+this might have been a deception of sight, and that it was the exterior
+part which actually revolved--as quiescent bodies seem to persons in
+quick motion, to recede in a contrary direction. Like other waterspouts
+it was sometimes perpendicular and sometimes curved, like the pipe of a
+still-head, its course tending in a direction from Bencoolen Bay across
+the peninsula on which the English settlement stands; but before it
+reached the sea on the other side it diminished by degrees, as if from
+want of the supplies that should be furnished by its proper element, and
+collected itself into the cloud from which it depended, without any
+consequent fall of water or destructive effect. The whole operation we
+may presume to be of the nature of a whirlwind, and the violent
+ebullition in that part of the sea to which the lower extremity of the
+tube points to be a corresponding effect to the agitation of the leaves
+or sand on shore, which in some instances are raised to a vast height;
+but in the formation of the waterspout the rotatory motion of the wind
+acts not only upon the surface of the land or sea, but also upon the
+overhanging cloud, and seems to draw it downwards.
+
+THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.
+
+Thunder and lightning are there so very frequent as scarcely to attract
+the attention of persons long resident in the country. During the
+north-west monsoon the explosions are extremely violent; the forked
+lightning shoots in all directions, and the whole sky seems on fire,
+whilst the ground is agitated in a degree little inferior to the motion
+of a slight earthquake. In the south-east monsoon the lightning is more
+constant, but the coruscations are less fierce or bright, and the thunder
+is scarcely audible. It would seem that the consequences of these awful
+meteors are not so fatal there as in Europe, few instances occurring of
+lives being lost or buildings destroyed by the explosions, although
+electrical conductors have never been employed. Perhaps the paucity of
+inhabitants in proportion to the extent of country and the unsubstantial
+materials of the houses may contribute to this observation. I have seen
+some trees, however, that have been shattered in Sumatra by the action of
+lightning.*
+
+(*Footnote. Since the above was written accounts have been received that
+a magazine at Fort Marlborough, containing four hundred barrels of
+powder, was fired by lightning and blown up on the 18th of March 1782.)
+
+MONSOONS.
+
+The causes which produce a successive variety of seasons in the parts of
+the earth without the tropics, having no relation or respect to the
+region of the torrid zone, a different order takes place there, and the
+year is distinguished into two divisions, usually called the rainy and
+dry monsoons or seasons, from the weather peculiar to each. In the
+several parts of India these monsoons are governed by various particular
+laws in regard to the time of their commencement, period of duration,
+circumstances attending their change, and direction of the prevailing
+wind according to the nature and situation of the lands and coasts where
+their influence is felt. The farther peninsula of India, where the
+kingdom of Siam lies, experiences at the same time the effects of
+opposite seasons; the western side, in the Bay of Bengal, being exposed
+for half the year to continual rains, whilst on the eastern side the
+finest weather is enjoyed; and so on the different coasts of Indostan the
+monsoons exert their influence alternately; the one remaining serene and
+undisturbed whilst the other is agitated by storms. Along the coast of
+Coromandel the change, or breaking up of the monsoon as it is called, is
+frequently attended with the most violent gales of wind.
+
+On the west coast of Sumatra, southward of the equinoctial, the
+south-east monsoon or dry season begins about May and slackens in
+September: the north-west monsoon begins about November, and the hard
+rains cease about March. The monsoons for the most part commence and
+leave off gradually there; the months of April and May, October and
+November generally affording weather and winds variable and uncertain.
+
+CAUSE OF THE MONSOONS.
+
+The causes of these periodical winds have been investigated by several
+able naturalists, whose systems, however, do not entirely correspond
+either in the principles laid down or in their application to the effects
+known to be produced in different parts of the globe. I shall summarily
+mention what appear to be the most evident, or probable at least, among
+the general laws, or inferences, which have been deduced from the
+examination of this subject. If the sea were perfectly uninterrupted and
+free from the irregular influence of lands, a perpetual easterly wind
+would prevail in all that space comprehended between the twenty-eighth or
+thirteenth degrees of north and south latitude. This is primarily
+occasioned by the diurnal revolution of the earth upon its axis from west
+to east; but whether through the operation of the sun, proceeding
+westward, upon the atmospheric fluid, or the rapidity of revolution of
+the solid body, which leaves behind it that fluid with which it is
+surrounded, and thereby causes it virtually to recede in a contrary
+direction; or whether these principles cooperate, or unequally oppose
+each other, as has been ingeniously contended, I shall not take upon me
+to decide. It is sufficient to say that such an effect appears to be the
+first general law of the tropical winds. Whatever may be the degree of
+the sun's influence upon the atmosphere in his transient diurnal course,
+it cannot be doubted but that, in regard to his station in the path of
+the ecliptic, his power is considerable. Towards that region of the air
+which is rarefied by the more immediate presence of the heat, the colder
+and denser parts will naturally flow. Consequently from about, and a few
+degrees beyond, the tropics, on either side, the air tends towards the
+equator; and, combining with the general eastern current before
+mentioned, produces (or would, if the surface were uniform) a north-east
+wind in the northern division, and a south-east in the southern; varying
+in the extent of its course as the sun happens to be more or less remote
+at the time. These are denominated the trade-winds, and are the subject
+of the second general observation. It is evident that, with respect to
+the middle space between the tropics, those parts which at one season of
+the year lie to the northward of the sun, are, during another, to the
+southward of him; and of course that an alteration of the effects last
+described must take place, according to the relative situation of the
+luminary; or in other words, that the principle which causes at one time
+a north-east wind to prevail at any particular spot in those latitudes
+must, when the circumstances are changed, occasion a south-east wind.
+Such may be esteemed the outline of the periodical winds, which
+undoubtedly depend upon the alternate course of the sun northwards and
+southwards; and this I state as the third general law. But although this
+may be conformable with experience in extensive oceans, yet, in the
+vicinity of continents and great islands, deviations are remarked that
+almost seem to overturn the principle. Along the western coast of Africa
+and in some parts of the Indian seas, the periodical winds, or monsoons
+as they are termed in the latter, blow from the west-north-west and
+south-west, according to the situation, extent, and nature of the nearest
+lands; the effect of which upon the incumbent atmosphere, when heated by
+the sun at those seasons in which he is vertical, is prodigious, and
+possibly superior to that of any other cause which contributes to the
+production or direction of wind. To trace the operation of this irregular
+principle through the several winds prevalent in India, and their
+periodical failures and changes, would prove an intricate but, I
+conceive, by no means an impossible task.* It is foreign however to my
+present purpose, and I shall only observe that the north-east monsoon is
+changed, on the western coast of Sumatra, to north-west or
+west-north-west by the influence of the land. During the south-east
+monsoon the wind is found to blow there, between that point and south.
+Whilst the sun continues near the equator the winds are variable, nor is
+their direction fixed till he has advanced several degrees towards the
+tropic: and this is the cause of the monsoons usually setting in, as I
+have observed, about May and November, instead of the equinoctial months.
+
+(*Footnote. It has been attempted, and with much ingenious reasoning, by
+Mr. Semeyns in the third volume of the Haerlem Transactions which have
+but lately fallen into my hands.)
+
+LAND AND SEA BREEZES.
+
+Thus much is sufficient with regard to the periodical winds. I shall
+proceed to give an account of those distinguished by the appellation of
+land and sea breezes, which require from me a minuter investigation, both
+because, as being more local, they more especially belong to my subject,
+and that their nature has hitherto been less particularly treated of by
+naturalists.
+
+In this island, as well as all other countries between the tropics of any
+considerable extent, the wind uniformly blows from the sea to the land
+for a certain number of hours in the four and twenty, and then changes
+and blows for about as many from the land to the sea; excepting only when
+the monsoon rages with remarkable violence, and even at such time the
+wind rarely fails to incline a few points, in compliance with the efforts
+of the subordinate clause, which has not power, under these
+circumstances, to produce an entire change. On the west coast of Sumatra
+the sea-breeze usually sets in, after an hour or two of calm, about ten
+in the forenoon, and continues till near six in the evening. About seven
+the land-breeze comes off, and prevails through the night till towards
+eight in the morning, when it gradually dies away.
+
+CAUSE OF THE LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.
+
+These depend upon the same general principle that causes and regulates
+all other wind. Heat acting upon air rarefies it, by which it becomes
+specifically lighter, and mounts upward. The denser parts of the
+atmosphere which surround that so rarefied, rush into the vacuity from
+their superior weight; endeavouring, as the laws of gravity require, to
+restore the equilibrium. Thus in the round buildings where the
+manufactory of glass is carried on, the heat of the furnace in the centre
+being intense, a violent current of air may be perceived to force its way
+in, through doors or crevices, on opposite sides of the house. As the
+general winds are caused by the DIRECT influence of the sun's rays upon
+the atmosphere, that particular deviation of the current distinguished by
+the name of land and sea breezes is caused by the influence of his
+REFLECTED rays, returned from the earth or sea on which they strike. The
+surface of the earth is more suddenly heated by the rays of the sun than
+that of the sea, from its greater density and state of rest; consequently
+it reflects those rays sooner and with more power: but, owing also to its
+density, the heat is more superficial than that imbibed by the sea, which
+becomes more intimately warmed by its transparency and by its motion,
+continually presenting a fresh surface to the sun. I shall now endeavour
+to apply these principles. By the time the rising sun has ascended to the
+height of thirty or forty degrees above the horizon the earth has
+acquired, and reflected on the body of air situated over it, a degree of
+heat sufficient to rarefy it and destroy its equilibrium; in consequence
+of which the body of air above the sea, not being equally, or scarcely at
+all, rarefied, rushes towards the land and the same causes operating so
+long as the sun continues above the horizon, a constant sea-breeze, or
+current of air from sea to land, prevails during that time. From about an
+hour before sunset the surface of the earth begins to lose the heat it
+has acquired from the more perpendicular rays. That influence of course
+ceases, and a calm succeeds. The warmth imparted to the sea, not so
+violent as that of the land but more deeply imbibed, and consequently
+more permanent, now acts in turn, and by the rarefaction it causes draws
+towards its region the land air, grown cooler, more dense, and heavier,
+which continues thus to flow back till the earth, by a renovation of its
+heat in the morning, once more obtains the ascendancy. Such is the
+general rule, conformable with experience, and founded, as it seems to
+me, in the laws of motion and the nature of things. The following
+observations will serve to corroborate what I have advanced, and to throw
+additional light on the subject for the information and guidance of any
+future investigator.
+
+The periodical winds which are supposed to blow during six months from
+the north-west and as many from the south-east rarely observe this
+regularity, except in the very heart of the monsoon; inclining, almost at
+all times, several points to seaward, and not unfrequently blowing from
+the south-west or in a line perpendicular to the coast. This must be
+attributed to the influence of that principle which causes the land and
+sea winds proving on these occasions more powerful than the principle of
+the periodical winds; which two seem here to act at right angles with
+each other; and as the influence of either is prevalent the winds draw
+towards a course perpendicular to or parallel with the line of the coast.
+Excepting when a squall or other sudden alteration of weather, to which
+these climates are particularly liable, produces an irregularity, the
+tendency of the land-wind at night has almost ever a correspondence with
+the sea-wind of the preceding or following day; not blowing in a
+direction immediately opposite to it (which would be the case if the
+former were, as some writers have supposed, merely the effect of the
+accumulation and redundance of the latter, without any positive cause)
+but forming an equal and contiguous angle, of which the coast is the
+common side. Thus, if the coast be conceived to run north and south, the
+same influence, or combination of influences, which produces a sea-wind
+at north-west produces a land-wind at north-east; or adapting the case to
+Sumatra, which lies north-west and south-east, a sea-wind at south is
+preceded or followed by a land-wind at east. This remark must not be
+taken in too strict a sense, but only as the result of general
+observation. If the land-wind, in the course of the night, should draw
+round from east to north it would be looked upon as an infallible
+prognostic of a west or north-west wind the next day. On this principle
+it is that the natives foretell the direction of the wind by the noise of
+the surf at night, which if heard from the northward is esteemed the
+forerunner of a northerly wind, and vice versa. The quarter from which
+the noise is heard depends upon the course of the land-wind, which brings
+the sound with it, and drowns it to leeward--the land-wind has a
+correspondence with the next day's sea-wind--and thus the divination is
+accounted for.
+
+The effect of the sea-wind is not perceived to the distance of more than
+three or four leagues from the shore in common, and for the most part it
+is fainter in proportion to the distance. When it first sets in it does
+not commence at the remoter extremity of its limits but very near the
+shore, and gradually extends itself farther to sea, as the day advances;
+probably taking the longer or shorter course as the day is more or less
+hot. I have frequently observed the sails of ships at the distance of
+four, six, or eight miles, quite becalmed, whilst a fresh sea-breeze was
+at the time blowing upon the shore. In an hour afterwards they have felt
+its effect.*
+
+(*Footnote. This observation as well as many others I have made on the
+subject I find corroborated in the Treatise before quoted from the
+Haerlem Transactions which I had not seen when the present work was first
+published.)
+
+Passing along the beach about six o'clock in the evening when the
+sea-breeze is making its final efforts, I have perceived it to blow with
+a considerable degree of warmth, owing to the heat the sea had by that
+time acquired, which would soon begin to divert the current of air
+towards it when it had first overcome the vis inertiae that preserves
+motion in a body after the impelling power has ceased to operate. I have
+likewise been sensible of a degree of warmth on passing, within two hours
+after sunset, to leeward of a lake of fresh water; which proves the
+assertion of water imbibing a more permanent heat than earth. In the
+daytime the breeze would be rendered cool in crossing the same lake.
+
+Approaching an island situated at a distance from any other land, I was
+struck with the appearance of the clouds about nine in the morning which
+then formed a perfect circle round it, the middle being a clear azure,
+and resembled what the painters call a glory. This I account for from the
+reflected rays of the sun rarefying the atmosphere immediately over the
+island, and equally in all parts, which caused a conflux of the
+neighbouring air, and with in the circumjacent clouds. These last,
+tending uniformly to the centre, compressed each other at a certain
+distance from it, and, like the stones in an arch of masonry, prevented
+each other's nearer approach. That island, however, does not experience
+the vicissitude of land and sea breezes, being too small, and too lofty,
+and situated in a latitude where the trade or perpetual winds prevail in
+their utmost force. In sandy countries, the effect of the sun's rays
+penetrating deeply, a more permanent heat is produced, the consequence of
+which should be the longer continuance of the sea-breeze in the evening;
+and agreeably to this supposition I have been informed that on the coast
+of Coromandel it seldom dies away before ten at night. I shall only add
+on this subject that the land-wind on Sumatra is cold, chilly, and damp;
+an exposure to it is therefore dangerous to the health, and sleeping in
+it almost certain death.
+
+SOIL.
+
+The soil of the western side of Sumatra may be spoken of generally as a
+stiff, reddish clay, covered with a stratum or layer of black mould, of
+no considerable depth. From this there springs a strong and perpetual
+verdure of rank grass, brushwood, or timber-trees, according as the
+country has remained a longer or shorter time undisturbed by the
+consequences of population, which, being in most places extremely thin,
+it follows that a great proportion of the island, and especially to the
+southward, is an impervious forest.
+
+UNEVENNESS OF SURFACE.
+
+Along the western coast of the island the low country, or space of land
+which extends from the seashore to the foot of the mountains, is
+intersected and rendered uneven to a surprising degree by swamps whose
+irregular and winding course may in some places be traced in a continual
+chain for many miles till they discharge themselves either into the sea,
+some neighbouring lake, or the fens that are so commonly found near the
+banks of the larger rivers and receive their overflowings in the rainy
+monsoons. The spots of land which these swamps encompass become so many
+islands and peninsulas, sometimes flat at top, and often mere ridges;
+having in some places a gentle declivity, and in others descending almost
+perpendicularly to the depth of a hundred feet. In few parts of the
+country of Bencoolen, or of the northern districts adjacent to it, could
+a tolerably level space of four hundred yards square be marked out. I
+have often, from an elevated situation, where a wider range was subjected
+to the eye, surveyed with admiration the uncommon face which nature
+assumes, and made inquiries and attended to conjectures on the causes of
+these inequalities. Some choose to attribute them to the successive
+concussions of earthquakes through a course of centuries. But they do not
+seem to be the effect of such a cause. There are no abrupt fissures; the
+hollows and swellings are for the most part smooth and regularly sloping
+so as to exhibit not unfrequently the appearance of an amphitheatre, and
+they are clothed with verdure from the summit to the edge of the swamp.
+From this latter circumstance it is also evident that they are not, as
+others suppose, occasioned by the falls of heavy rains that deluge the
+country for one half of the year; which is likewise to be inferred from
+many of them having no apparent outlet and commencing where no torrent
+could be conceived to operate. The most summary way of accounting for
+this extraordinary unevenness of surface were to conclude that, in the
+original construction of our globe, Sumatra was thus formed by the same
+hand which spread out the sandy plains of Arabia, and raised up the alps
+and Andes beyond the region of the clouds. But this is a mode of solution
+which, if generally adopted, would become an insuperable bar to all
+progress in natural knowledge by damping curiosity and restraining
+research. Nature, we know from sufficient experience, is not only turned
+from her original course by the industry of man, but also sometimes
+checks and crosses her own career. What has happened in some instances it
+is not unfair to suppose may happen in others; nor is it presumption to
+trace the intermediate causes of events which are themselves derived from
+one first, universal, and eternal principle.
+
+CAUSES OF THIS INEQUALITY.
+
+To me it would seem that the springs of water with which these parts of
+the island abound in an uncommon degree operate directly, though
+obscurely, to the producing this irregularity of the surface of the
+earth. They derive their number and an extraordinary portion of activity
+from the loftiness of the ranges of mountains that occupy the interior
+country, and intercept and collect the floating vapours. Precipitated
+into rain at such a hight, the water acquires in its descent through the
+fissures or pores of these mountains a considerable force which exerts
+itself in every direction, lateral and perpendicular, to procure a vent.
+The existence of these copious springs is proved in the facility with
+which wells are everywhere sunk; requiring no choice of ground but as it
+may respect the convenience of the proprietor; all situations, whether
+high or low, being prodigal of this valuable element. Where the
+approaches of the sea have rendered the cliffs abrupt, innumerable rills,
+or rather a continued moisture, is seen to ooze through and trickle down
+the steep. Where on the contrary the sea has retired and thrown up banks
+of sand in its retreat I have remarked the streams of water, at a certain
+level and commonly between the boundaries of the tide, effecting their
+passage through the loose and feeble barrier opposed to them. In short,
+every part of the low country is pregnant with springs that labour for
+the birth; and these continual struggles, this violent activity of
+subterraneous waters, must gradually undermine the plains above. The
+earth is imperceptibly excavated, the surface settles in, and hence the
+inequalities we speak of. The operation is slow but unremitting, and, I
+conceive, fully capable of the effect.
+
+MINERAL PRODUCTIONS.
+
+The earth of Sumatra is rich in minerals and other fossil productions.
+
+GOLD.
+
+No country has been more famous in all ages for gold, and, though the
+sources from whence it is drawn may be supposed in some measure exhausted
+by the avarice and industry of ages, yet at this day the quantity
+procured is very considerable, and doubtless might be much increased were
+the simple labour of the gatherer assisted by a knowledge of the arts of
+mineralogy.
+
+COPPER, IRON, TIN, SULPHUR.
+
+There are also mines of copper, iron, and tin. Sulphur is gathered in
+large quantities about the numerous volcanoes.
+
+SALTPETRE.
+
+Saltpetre the natives procure by a process of their own from the earth
+which is found impregnated with it; chiefly in extensive caves that have
+been, from the beginning of time, the haunt of a certain species of
+birds, of whose dung the soil is formed.
+
+COAL.
+
+Coal, mostly washed down by the floods, is collected in several parts,
+particularly at Kataun, Ayer-rammi, and Bencoolen. It is light and not
+esteemed very good; but I am informed that this is the case with all coal
+found near the surface of the earth, and, as the veins are observed to
+run in an inclined direction until the pits have some depth, the fossil
+must be of an indifferent quality. The little island of Pisang, near the
+foot of Mount Pugong, was supposed to be chiefly a bed of rock crystal,
+but upon examination of specimens taken from thence they proved to be
+calcareous spar.
+
+HOT SPRINGS.
+
+Mineral and hot springs have been discovered in many districts. In taste
+the waters mostly resemble those of Harrowgate, being nauseous to the
+palate.
+
+EARTH OIL.
+
+The oleum terrae, or earth oil, used chiefly as a preservative against
+the destructive ravages of the white-ants, is collected at Ipu and
+elsewhere.*
+
+(*Footnote. The fountain of Naphtha or liquid balsam found at Pedir, so
+much celebrated by the Portuguese writers, is doubtless this oleum
+terrae, or meniak tanah, as it is called by the Malays.)
+
+SOFT ROCK.
+
+There is scarcely any species of hard rock to be met with in the low
+parts of the island near the seashore. Besides the ledges of coral, which
+are covered by the tide, that which generally prevails is the napal, as
+it is called by the inhabitants, forming the basis of the red cliffs, and
+not infrequently the beds of the rivers. Though this napal has the
+appearance of rock it possesses in fact so little solidity that it is
+difficult to pronounce whether it be a soft stone or only an indurated
+clay. The surface of it becomes smooth and glossy by a slight attrition,
+and to the touch resembles soap, which is its most striking
+characteristic; but it is not soluble in water and makes no effervescence
+with acids. Its colour is either grey, brown, or red, according to the
+nature of the earth that prevails in its composition. The red napal has
+by much the smallest proportion of sand, and seems to possess all the
+qualities of the steatite or soap-earth found in Cornwall and other
+countries. The specimens of stone which I brought from the hills in the
+neighbourhood of Bencoolen were pronounced by some mineralogists, to whom
+I showed them at the time, to be granite; but upon more particular
+examination they appear to be a species of trap, consisting principally
+of feldspar and hornblende, of a greyish colour and nearly similar to the
+mountain stone of North Wales.
+
+PETRIFACTION.
+
+Where the encroachments of the sea have undermined the land the cliffs
+are left abrupt and naked, in some places to a very considerable height.
+In these many curious fossils are discovered, such as petrified wood, and
+seashells of various sorts. Hypotheses on this subject have been so ably
+supported and so powerfully attacked that I shall not presume to intrude
+myself in the lists. I shall only observe that, being so near the sea,
+many would hesitate to allow such discoveries to be of any weight in
+proving a violent alteration to have taken place in the surface of the
+terraqueous globe; whilst, on the other hand, it is unaccountable how, in
+the common course of natural events, such extraneous matter should come
+to be lodged in strata at the height perhaps of fifty feet above the
+level of the water, and as many below the surface of the land.
+
+COLOURED EARTHS.
+
+Here are likewise found various species of earths which might be applied
+to valuable purposes, as painters' colours, and otherwise. The most
+common are the yellow and red, probably ochres, and the white, which
+answers the description of the milenum of the ancients.
+
+VOLCANOES.
+
+There are a number of volcano mountains in this, as in almost all the
+other islands of the eastern Archipelago. They are called in the Malay
+language gunong-api, or more correctly, gunong ber-api. Lava has been
+seen to flow from a considerable one near Priamang; but I have never
+heard of its causing any other damage than the burning of woods. This
+however may be owing to the thinness of population, which does not render
+it necessary for the inhabitants to settle in a situation that exposes
+them to danger of this kind. The only volcano I had an opportunity of
+observing opened in the side of a mountain, about twenty miles inland of
+Bencoolen, one-fourth way from its top, as nearly as I can judge. It
+scarcely ever failed to emit smoke; but the column was only visible for
+two or three hours in the morning, seldom rising and preserving its form,
+above the upper edge of the hill, which is not of a conical shape but
+extending with a gradual slope.
+
+EARTHQUAKES.
+
+The high trees with which the country thereabout is covered, prevent the
+crater from being discernible at a distance; and this proves that the
+spot is not considerably raised or otherwise affected by the earthquakes
+which are very frequently felt there. Sometimes it has emitted smoke upon
+these occasions, and in other instances not. Yet during a smart
+earthquake which happened a few years before my arrival it was remarked
+to send forth flame, which it is rarely known to do.* The apprehension of
+the European inhabitants however is rather more excited when it continues
+any length of time without a tendency to an eruption, as they conceive it
+to be the vent by which the inflammable matter escapes that would
+otherwise produce these commotions of the earth. Comparatively with the
+descriptions I have read of earthquakes in South America, Calabria, and
+other countries, those which happen in Sumatra are generally very slight;
+and the usual manner of building renders them but little formidable to
+the natives.
+
+(*Footnote. Some gentlemen who deny the fact of its having at any time
+emitted flame, conjecture that what exhibits the appearance of smoke is
+more probably vapour arising from a considerable hot spring. The natives
+speak of it as a volcano.)
+
+REMARKABLE EFFECTS OF AN EARTHQUAKE.
+
+The most severe that I have known was chiefly experienced in the district
+of Manna in the year 1770. A village was destroyed by the houses falling
+down and taking fire, and several lives were lost.* The ground was in one
+place rent a quarter of a mile, the width of two fathoms, and depth of
+four or five. A bituminous matter is described to have swelled over the
+sides of the cavity, and the earth for a long time after the shocks was
+observed to contract and dilate alternately. Many parts of the hills far
+inland could be distinguished to have given way, and a consequence of
+this was that during three weeks Manna River was so much impregnated with
+particles of clay that the natives could not bathe in it. At this time
+was formed near to the mouth of Padang Guchi, a neighbouring river south
+of the former, a large plain, seven miles long and half a mile broad;
+where there had been before only a narrow beach. The quantity of earth
+brought down on this occasion was so considerable that the hill upon
+which the English resident's house stands appears, from indubitable
+marks, less elevated by fifteen feet than it was before the event.
+
+(*Footnote. I am informed that in 1763 an entire village was swallowed up
+by an earthquake in Pulo Nias, one of the islands which lie off the
+western coast of Sumatra. In July or August of the same year a severe one
+was felt in Bengal.)
+
+Earthquakes have been remarked by some to happen usually upon sudden
+changes of weather, and particularly after violent heats; but I do not
+vouch this upon my own experience, which has been pretty ample. They are
+preceded by a low rumbling noise like distant thunder. The domestic
+cattle and fowls are sensible of the preternatural motion, and seem much
+alarmed; the latter making the cry they are wont to do on the approach of
+birds of prey. Houses situated on a low sandy soil are least affected,
+and those which stand on distinct hills suffer most from the shocks
+because the further removed from the centre of motion the greater the
+agitation; and the loose contexture of the one foundation, making less
+resistance than the solidity of the other, subjects the building to less
+violence. Ships at anchor in the road, though several miles distant from
+the shore, are strongly sensible of the concussion.
+
+NEW LAND FORMED.
+
+Besides the new land formed by the convulsions above described, the sea
+by a gradual recess in some parts produces the same effect. Many
+instances of this kind, of no considerable extent however have been
+observed within the memory of persons now living. But it would seem to me
+that that large tract of land called Pulo Point, forming the bay of the
+name, near to Silebar, with much of the adjacent country has thus been
+left by the withdrawing or thrown up by the motion of the sea. Perhaps
+the point may have been at first an island (from whence its appellation
+of Pulo) and the parts more inland gradually united to it.* Various
+circumstances tend to corroborate such an opinion, and to evince the
+probability that this was not an original portion of the main but new,
+half-formed land. All the swamps and marshy grounds that lie within the
+beach, and near the extremity there are little else, are known, in
+consequence of repeated surveys, to be lower than the level of
+high-water; the bank of sand alone preventing an inundation. The country
+is not only quite free from hills or inequalities of any kind, but has
+scarcely a visible slope. Silebar River, which empties itself into Pulo
+Bay, is totally unlike those in other parts of the island. The motion of
+its stream is hardly perceptible; it is never affected by floods; its
+course is marked out, not by banks covered with ancient and venerable
+woods but by rows of mangroves and other aquatics springing from the
+ooze, and perfectly regular. Some miles from the mouth it opens into a
+beautiful and extensive lake, diversified with small islands, flat, and
+verdant with rushes only. The point of Pulo is covered with the arau tree
+(casuarina) or bastard-pine, as some have called it, which never grows
+but in the seasand and rises fast.
+
+(*Footnote. Since I formed this conjecture I have been told that such a
+tradition of no very ancient date prevails amongst the inhabitants.)
+
+ENCROACHMENT OF THE SEA.
+
+None such are found toward Sungei-Lamo and the rest of the shore
+northward of Marlborough Point, where, on the contrary, you perceive the
+effects of continual depredations by the ocean. The old forest trees are
+there yearly undermined and, falling, obstruct the traveller; whilst
+about Pulo the arau-trees are continually springing up faster than they
+can be cut down or otherwise destroyed. Nature will not readily be forced
+from her course. The last time I visited that part there was a beautiful
+rising grove of these trees, establishing a possession in their proper
+soil. The country, as well immediately here about as to a considerable
+distance inland, is an entire bed of sand without any mixture of clay or
+mould, which I know to have been in vain sought for many miles up the
+neighbouring rivers. To the northward of Padang there is a plain which
+has evidently been, in former times, a bay. Traces of a shelving beach
+are there distinguishable at the distance of one hundred and fifty yards
+from the present boundary of the sea.
+
+But upon what hypothesis can it be accounted for that the sea should
+commit depredations on the northern coast, of which there are the most
+evident tokens as high up at least as Ipu, and probably to Indrapura,
+where the shelter of the neighbouring islands may put a stop to them, and
+that it should restore the land to the southward in the manner I have
+described? I am aware that according to the general motion of the tides
+from east to west this coast ought to receive a continual accession
+proportioned to the loss which others, exposed to the direction of this
+motion, must and do sustain; and it is likely that it does gain upon the
+whole. But the nature of my work obliges me to be more attentive to
+effects than causes, and to record facts though they should clash with
+systems the most just in theory, and most respectable in point of
+authority.
+
+ISLANDS NEAR THE WEST COAST.
+
+The chain of islands which lie parallel with the west coast of Sumatra
+may probably have once formed a part of the main and been separated from
+it, either by some violent effort of nature, or the gradual attrition of
+the sea. I should scarcely introduce the mention of this apparently vague
+surmise but that a circumstance presents itself on the coast which
+affords some stronger colour of proof than can be usually obtained in
+such instances. In many places, and particularly about Pally, we observe
+detached pieces of land standing singly, as islands, at the distance of
+one or two hundred yards from the shore, which were headlands of points
+running out into the sea within the remembrance of the inhabitants. The
+tops continue covered with trees or shrubs; but the sides are bare,
+abrupt, and perpendicular. The progress of insulation here is obvious and
+incontrovertible, and why may not larger islands, at a greater distance,
+have been formed in the revolution of ages by the same accidents? The
+probability is heightened by the direction of the islands Nias, Batu,
+Mantawei, Pagi, Mego, etc., the similarity of the rock, soil, and
+productions, and the regularity of soundings between them and the main,
+whilst without them the depth is unfathomable.
+
+CORAL ROCKS.
+
+Where the shore is flat or shelving the coast of Sumatra, as of all other
+tropical islands, is defended from the attacks of the sea by a reef or
+ledge of coral rock on which the surfs exert their violence without
+further effect than that of keeping its surface even, and reducing to
+powder those beautiful excrescences and ramifications which have been so
+much the object of the naturalist's curiosity, and which some ingenious
+men who have analysed them contend to be the work of insects. The coral
+powder is in particular places accumulated on the shore in great
+quantities, and appears, when not closely inspected, like a fine white
+sand.
+
+SURF.
+
+The surf (a word not to be found, I believe, in our dictionaries) is used
+in India, and by navigators in general, to express a peculiar swell and
+breaking of the sea upon the shore; the phenomena of which not having
+been hitherto much adverted to by writers I shall be the more
+circumstantial in my description of them.
+
+The surf forms sometimes but a single range along the shore. At other
+times there is a succession of two, three, four, or more, behind each
+other, extending perhaps half a mile out to sea. The number of ranges is
+generally in proportion to the height and violence of the surf.
+
+The surf begins to assume its form at some distance from the place where
+it breaks, gradually accumulating as it moves forward till it gains a
+height, in common, of fifteen to twenty feet,* when it overhangs at top
+and falls like a cascade, nearly perpendicular, involving itself as it
+descends. The noise made by the fall is prodigious, and during the
+stillness of the night may be heard many miles up the country.
+
+(*Footnote. It may be presumed that in this estimation of its height I
+was considerably deceived.)
+
+Though in the rising and formation of the surf the water seems to have a
+quick progressive motion towards the land, yet a light body on the
+surface is not carried forward, but, on the contrary, if the tide is
+ebbing, will recede from the shore; from which it would follow that the
+motion is only propagated in the water, like sound in air, and not the
+mass of water protruded. A similar species of motion is observed on
+shaking at one end a long cord held moderately slack, which is expressed
+by the word undulation. I have sometimes remarked however that a body
+which sinks deep and takes hold of the water appears to move towards
+shore with the course of the surf, as is perceptible in a boat landing
+which seems to shoot swiftly forward on the top of the swell; though
+probably it is only after having reached the summit, and may owe its
+velocity to its own weight in the descent.
+
+Countries where the surfs prevail require boats of a peculiar
+construction, and the art of managing them demands the experience of a
+man's life. All European boats are more or less unfit, and seldom fail to
+occasion the sacrifice of the people on board them, in the imprudent
+attempts that are sometimes made to land with them on the open coast. The
+natives of Coromandel are remarkably expert in the management of their
+craft; but it is to be observed that the intervals between the breaking
+of the surfs are usually on that coast much longer than on the coast of
+Sumatra.
+
+The force of the surf is extremely great. I have known it to overset a
+country vessel in such a manner that the top of the mast has stuck in the
+sand, and the lower end made its appearance through her bottom. Pieces of
+cloth have been taken up from a wreck, twisted and rent by its involved
+motion. In some places the surfs are usually greater at high, and in
+others at low, water; but I believe they are uniformly more violent
+during the spring-tides.
+
+CONSIDERATIONS RESPECTING THE CAUSE OF THE SURF.
+
+I shall proceed to inquire into the efficient cause of the surfs. The
+winds have doubtless a strong relation to them. If the air was in all
+places of equal density, and not liable to any motion, I suppose the
+water would also remain perfectly at rest and its surface even;
+abstracting from the general course of the tides and the partial
+irregularities occasioned by the influx of rivers. The current of the air
+impels the water and causes a swell, which is the regular rising and
+subsiding of the waves. This rise and fall is similar to the vibrations
+of a pendulum and subject to like laws. When a wave is at its height it
+descends by the force of gravity, and the momentum acquired in descending
+impels the neighbouring particles, which in their turn rise and impel
+others, and thus form a succession of waves. This is the case in the open
+sea; but when the swell approaches the shore and the depth of water is
+not in proportion to the size of the swell the subsiding wave, instead of
+pressing on a body of water, which might rise in equal quantity, presses
+on the ground, whose reaction causes it to rush on in that manner which
+we call a surf. Some think that the peculiar form of it may be plainly
+accounted for from the shallowness and shelving of the beach. When a
+swell draws near to such a beach the lower parts of the water, meeting
+first with obstruction from the bottom, stand still, whilst the higher
+parts respectively move onward, by which a rolling and involved motion is
+produced that is augmented by the return of the preceding swell. I object
+that this solution is founded on the supposition of an actual progressive
+motion of the body of water in forming a surf; and, that certainly not
+being the fact, it seems deficient. The only real progression of the
+water is occasioned by the perpendicular fall, after the breaking of the
+surf, when from its weight it foams on to a greater or less distance in
+proportion to the height from which it fell and the slope of the shore.
+
+That the surfs are not, like common waves, the immediate effect of the
+wind, is evident from this, that the highest and most violent often
+happen when there is the least wind and vice versa. And sometimes the
+surfs will continue with an equal degree of violence during a variety of
+weather. On the west coast of Sumatra the highest are experienced during
+the south-east monsoon, which is never attended with such gales of wind
+as the north-west. The motion of the surf is not observed to follow the
+course of the wind, but often the contrary; and when it blows hard from
+the land the spray of the sea may be seen to fly in a direction opposite
+to the body of it, though the wind has been for many hours in the same
+point.
+
+Are the surfs the effect of gales of wind at sea, which do not happen to
+extend to the shore but cause a violent agitation throughout a
+considerable tract of the waters, which motion, communicating with less
+distant parts, and meeting at length with resistance from the shore,
+occasions the sea to swell and break in the manner described? To this I
+object that there seems no regular correspondence between their magnitude
+and the apparent agitation of the water without them: that gales of wind,
+except at particular periods, are very unfrequent in the Indian seas,
+where the navigation is well known to be remarkably safe, whilst the
+surfs are almost continual; and that gales are not found to produce this
+effect in other extensive oceans. The west coast of Ireland borders a sea
+nearly as extensive and much more wild than the coast of Sumatra, and yet
+there, though when it blows hard the swell on the shore is high and
+dangerous, is there nothing that resembles the surfs of India.
+
+PROBABLE CAUSE OF THE SURF.
+
+These, so general in the tropical latitudes, are, upon the most probable
+hypothesis I have been able to form, after long observation and much
+thought and inquiry, the consequence of the trade or perpetual winds
+which prevail at a distance from shore between the parallels of thirty
+degrees north and south, whose uniform and invariable action causes a
+long and constant swell, that exists even in the calmest weather, about
+the line, towards which its direction tends from either side. This swell
+or libration of the sea is so prodigiously long, and the sensible effect
+of its height, of course, so much diminished, that it is not often
+attended to; the gradual slope engrossing almost the whole horizon when
+the eye is not very much elevated above its surface: but persons who have
+sailed in those parts may recollect that, even when the sea is apparently
+the most still and level, a boat or other object at a distance from the
+ship will be hidden from the sight of one looking towards it from the
+lower deck for the space of minutes together. This swell, when a squall
+happens or the wind freshens up, will for a time have other subsidiary
+waves on the extent of its surface, breaking often in a direction
+contrary to it, and which will again subside as a calm returns without
+having produced on it any perceptible effect. Sumatra, though not
+continually exposed to the south-east trade-wind, is not so distant but
+that its influence may be presumed to extend to it, and accordingly at
+Pulo Pisang, near the southern extremity of the island, a constant
+southerly sea is observed even after a hard north-west wind. This
+incessant and powerful swell rolling in from an ocean, open even to the
+pole, seems an agent adequate to the prodigious effects produced on the
+coast; whilst its very size contributes to its being overlooked. It
+reconciles almost all the difficulties which the phenomena seem to
+present, and in particular it accounts for the decrease of the surf
+during the north-west monsoon, the local wind then counteracting the
+operation of the general one; and it is corroborated by an observation I
+have made that the surfs on the Sumatran coast ever begin to break at
+their southern extreme, the motion of the swell not being perpendicular
+to the direction of the shore. This manner of explaining their origin
+seems to carry much reason with it; but there occurs to me one objection
+which I cannot get over, and which a regard to truth obliges me to state.
+The trade-winds are remarkably steady and uniform, and the swell
+generated by them is the same. The surfs are much the reverse, seldom
+persevering for two days in the same degree of violence; often mountains
+high in the morning and nearly subsided by night. How comes a uniform
+cause to produce effects so unsteady, unless by the intervention of
+secondary causes, whose nature and operation we are unacquainted with?
+
+It is clear to me that the surfs as above described are peculiar to those
+climates which lie within the remoter limits of the trade-winds, though
+in higher latitudes large swells and irregular breakings of the sea are
+to be met with after boisterous weather. Possibly the following causes
+may be judged to conspire, with that I have already specified, towards
+occasioning this distinction. The former region being exposed to the
+immediate influence of the two great luminaries, the water, from their
+direct impulse, is liable to more violent agitation than nearer the poles
+where their power is felt only by indirect communication. The equatorial
+parts of the earth performing their diurnal revolution with greater
+velocity than the rest, a larger circle being described in the same time,
+the waters thereabout, from the stronger centrifugal force, may be
+supposed to feel less restraint from the sluggish principle of matter; to
+have less gravity; and therefore to be more obedient to external impulses
+of every kind, whether from the winds or any other cause.
+
+TIDES.
+
+The spring-tides on the west coast of Sumatra are estimated to rise in
+general no more than four feet, owing to its open, unconfined situation,
+which prevents any accumulation of the tide, as is the case in narrow
+seas. It is always high-water there when the moon is in the horizon, and
+consequently at six o'clock nearly, on the days of conjunction and
+opposition throughout the year, in parts not far remote from the
+equator.* This, according to Newton's theory, is about three hours later
+than the uninterrupted course of nature, owing to the obvious impediment
+the waters meet with in revolving from the eastward.
+
+(*Footnote. Owing to this uniformity it becomes an easy matter for the
+natives to ascertain the height of the tide at any hour that the moon is
+visible. Whilst she appears to ascend the water falls and vice versa; the
+lowest of the ebb happening when she is in her meridian. The vulgar rule
+for calculating the tides is rendered also to Europeans more simple and
+practical from the same cause. There only needs to add together the
+epact, number of the month, and day of the month; the sum of which, if
+under thirty, gives the moon's age--the excess, if over. Allow
+forty-eight minutes for each day or, which is the same, take four-fifths
+of the age, and it will give you the number of hours after six o'clock at
+which high-water happens. A readiness at this calculation is particularly
+useful in a country where the sea-beach is the general road for
+travelling.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 2.
+
+DISTINCTION OF INHABITANTS.
+REJANGS CHOSEN FOR GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
+PERSONS AND COMPLEXION.
+CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS.
+
+GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS.
+
+Having exhibited a general view of the island as it is in the hands of
+nature, I shall now proceed to a description of the people who inhabit
+and cultivate it, and shall endeavour to distinguish the several species
+or classes of them in such a manner as may best tend to perspicuity, and
+to furnish clear ideas of the matter.
+
+VARIOUS MODES OF DIVISION.
+
+The most obvious division, and which has been usually made by the writers
+of voyages, is that of Mahometan inhabitants of the sea-coast, and Pagans
+of the inland country. This division, though not without its degree of
+propriety, is vague and imperfect; not only because each description of
+people differ considerably among themselves, but that the inland
+inhabitants are, in some places, Mahometans, and those of the coast, in
+others, what they term Pagans. It is not unusual with persons who have
+not resided in this part of the East to call the inhabitants of the
+islands indiscriminately by the name of Malays. This is a more
+considerable error, and productive of greater confusion than the former.
+By attempting to reduce things to heads too general we defeat the very
+end we propose to ourselves in defining them at all: we create obscurity
+where we wish to throw light. On the other hand, to attempt enumerating
+and distinguishing the variety, almost endless, of petty sovereignties
+and nations into which this island is divided, many of which differ
+nothing in person or manners from their neighbours, would be a task both
+insurmountable and useless. I shall aim at steering a middle course, and
+accordingly shall treat of the inhabitants of Sumatra under the following
+summary distinctions, taking occasion as it may offer to mention the
+principal subdivisions. And first it is proper to distinguish the empire
+of Menangkabau and the Malays; in the next place the Achinese; then the
+Battas; the Rejangs; and next to them the people of Lampong.*
+
+(*Footnote. In the course of my inquiries amongst the natives concerning
+the aborigines of the island I have been informed of two different
+species of people dispersed in the woods and avoiding all communication
+with the other inhabitants. These they call Orang Kubu and Orang Gugu.
+The former are said to be pretty numerous, especially in that part of the
+country which lies between Palembang and Jambi. Some have at times been
+caught and kept as slaves in Labun; and a man of that place is now
+married to a tolerably handsome Kubu girl who was carried off by a party
+that discovered their huts. They have a language quite peculiar to
+themselves, and they eat promiscuously whatever the woods afford, as
+deer, elephant, rhinoceros, wild hog, snakes, or monkeys. The Gugu are
+much scarcer than these, differing in little but the use of speech from
+the Orang Utan of Borneo; their bodies being covered with long hair.
+There have not been above two or three instances of their being met with
+by the people of Labun (from whom my information is derived) and one of
+these was entrapped many years ago in much the same manner as the
+carpenter in Pilpay's Fables caught the monkey. He had children by a
+Labun woman which also were more hairy than the common race; but the
+third generation are not to be distinguished from others. The reader will
+bestow what measure of faith he thinks due to this relation, the veracity
+of which I do not pretend to vouch for. It has probably some foundation
+in truth but is exaggerated in the circumstances.)
+
+Menangkabau being the principal sovereignty of the island, which formerly
+comprehended the whole, and still receives a shadow of homage from the
+most powerful of the other kingdoms which have sprung up from its ruins,
+would seem to claim a right to precedence in description, but I have a
+sufficient reason for deferring it to a subsequent part of the work;
+which is that the people of this empire, by their conversion to
+Mahometanism and consequent change of manners, have lost in a greater
+degree than some neighbouring tribes the genuine Sumatran character,
+which is the immediate object of my investigation.
+
+MALAYS.
+
+They are distinguished from the other inhabitants of this island by the
+appellation of Orang Malayo, or Malays, which however they have in common
+with those of the coast of the Peninsula and of many other islands; and
+the name is applied to every Mussulman speaking the Malayan as his proper
+language, and either belonging to, or claiming descent from, the ancient
+kingdom of Menangkabau; wherever the place of his residence may be.
+Beyond Bencoolen to the southward there are none to be met with excepting
+such as have been drawn thither by, and are in the pay of, Europeans. On
+the eastern side of the island they are settled at the entrance of almost
+all the navigable rivers, where they more conveniently indulge their
+habitual bent for trade and piracy. It must be observed indeed that in
+common speech the term Malay, like that of Moor in the continent of
+India, is almost synonymous with Mahometan; and when the natives of other
+parts learn to read the Arabic character, submit to circumcision, and
+practise the ceremonies of religion, they are often said men-jadi Malayo,
+to become Malays, instead of the more correct expression sudah masuk
+Islam, have embraced the faith. The distinction will appear more strongly
+from this circumstance, that whilst the sultan of Anak Sungei
+(Moco-moco), ambitious of imitating the sultan of Menangkabau, styles
+himself and his immediate subjects Malays, his neighbour, the Pangeran of
+Sungei Lamo, chief of the Rejangs, a very civilised Mahometan, and whose
+ancestors for some generations were of the same faith, seemed offended,
+in a conversation I had with him, at my supposing him (as he is usually
+considered) a Malay, and replied with some emotion, "Malayo tidah, sir;
+orang ulu betul sayo." "No Malay sir; I am a genuine, aboriginal
+countryman." The two languages he wrote and talked (I know not if he be
+still living) with equal facility; but the Rejang he esteemed his mother
+tongue.
+
+Attempts to ascertain from what quarter Sumatra was peopled must rest
+upon mere conjecture. The adjacent peninsula (called by Europeans or
+other foreigners the Malayan Peninsula) presents the most obvious source
+of population; and it has accordingly been presumed that emigrants from
+thence supplied it and the other islands of the eastern Archipelago with
+inhabitants. By this opinion, adopted without examination, I was likewise
+misled and, on a former occasion, spoke of the probability of a colony
+from the peninsula having settled upon the western coast of the island;
+but I have since learned from the histories and traditions of the natives
+of both countries that the reverse is the fact, and that the founders of
+the celebrated kingdoms of Johor, Singapura, and Malacca were adventurers
+from Sumatra. Even at this day the inhabitants of the interior parts of
+the peninsula are a race entirely distinct from those of the two coasts.
+
+Thus much it was necessary, in order to avoid ambiguity, to say in the
+first instance concerning the Malays, of whom a more particular account
+will be given in a subsequent part of the work.
+
+As the most dissimilar among the other classes into which I have divided
+the inhabitants must of course have very many points of mutual
+resemblance, and many of their habits, customs, and ceremonies, in
+common, it becomes expedient, in order to avoid a troublesome and useless
+repetition, to single out one class from among them whose manners shall
+undergo a particular and full investigation, and serve as a standard for
+the whole; the deviation from which, in other classes, shall afterwards
+be pointed out, and the most singular and striking usages peculiar to
+each superadded.
+
+NATION OF THE REJANGS ADOPTED AS A STANDARD OF DESCRIPTION.
+
+Various circumstances induce me on this occasion to give the preference
+to the Rejangs, though a nation of but small account in the political
+scale of the island. They are placed in what may be esteemed a central
+situation, not geographically, but with respect to the encroachments of
+foreign manners and opinions introduced by the Malays from the north, and
+Javans from the south; which gives them a claim to originality superior
+to that of most others. They are a people whose form of government and
+whose laws extend with very little variation over a considerable part of
+the island, and principally that portion where the connexions of the
+English lie. There are traditions of their having formerly sent forth
+colonies to the southward; and in the country of Passummah the site of
+their villages is still pointed out; which would prove that they have
+formerly been of more consideration than they can boast at present. They
+have a proper language and a perfect written character. These advantages
+point out the Rejang people as an eligible standard of description; and a
+motive equally strong that induces me to adopt them as such is that my
+situation and connexions in the island led me to a more intimate and
+minute acquaintance with their laws and manners than with those of any
+other class. I must premise however that the Malay customs having made
+their way in a greater or less degree to every part of Sumatra, it will
+be totally impossible to discriminate with entire accuracy those which
+are original from those which are borrowed; and of course what I shall
+say of the Rejangs will apply for the most part not only to the Sumatrans
+in general but may sometimes be in strictness proper to the Malays alone,
+and by them taught to the higher rank of country people.
+
+SITUATION OF THE REJANG COUNTRY.
+
+The country of the Rejangs is divided to the north-west from the kingdom
+of Anak Sungei (of which Moco-moco is the capital) by the small river of
+Uri, near that of Kattaun; which last, with the district of Labun on its
+banks, bounds it on the north or inland side. The country of Musi, where
+Palembang River takes its rise, forms its limit to the eastward.
+Bencoolen River, precisely speaking, confines it on the south-east;
+though the inhabitants of the district called Lemba, extending from
+thence to Silebar, are entirely the same people in manners and language.
+The principal rivers besides those already mentioned are Laye, Pally, and
+Sungeilamo; on all of which the English have factories, the resident or
+chief being stationed at Laye.
+
+PERSONS OF THE INHABITANTS.
+
+The persons of the inhabitants of the island, though differing
+considerably in districts remote from each other, may in general be
+comprehended in the following description; excepting the Achinese, whose
+commixture with the Moors of the west of India has distinguished them
+from the other Sumatrans.
+
+GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
+
+They are rather below the middle stature; their bulk is in proportion;
+their limbs are for the most part slight, but well shaped, and
+particularly small at the wrists and ankles. Upon the whole they are
+gracefully formed, and I scarcely recollect to have ever seen one
+deformed person among the natives.*
+
+(*Footnote. Ghirardini, an Italian painter, who touched at Sumatra on his
+way to China in 1698 observes of the Malays:
+Son di persona ben formata
+Quanto mai finger san pittori industri.
+He speaks in high terms of the country as being beautifully picturesque.)
+
+The women however have the preposterous custom of flattening the noses,
+and compressing the heads of children newly born, whilst the skull is yet
+cartilaginous, which increases their natural tendency to that shape. I
+could never trace the origin of the practice, or learn any other reason
+for moulding the features to this uncouth appearance, but that it was an
+improvement of beauty in their estimation. Captain Cook takes notice of a
+similar operation at the island of Ulietea. They likewise pull out the
+ears of infants to make them stand at an angle from the head. Their eyes
+are uniformly dark and clear, and among some, especially the southern
+women, bear a strong resemblance to those of the Chinese, in the
+peculiarity of formation so generally observed of that people. Their hair
+is strong and of a shining black; the improvement of both which qualities
+it probably owes in great measure to the early and constant use of
+coconut oil, with which they keep it moist. The men frequently cut their
+hair short, not appearing to take any pride in it; the women encourage
+theirs to a considerable length, and I have known many instances of its
+reaching the ground. The men are beardless and have chins so remarkably
+smooth that, were it not for the priests displaying a little tuft, we
+should be apt to conclude that nature had refused them this token of
+manhood. It is the same in respect to other parts of the body with both
+sexes; and this particular attention to their persons they esteem a point
+of delicacy, and the contrary an unpardonable neglect. The boys as they
+approach to the age of puberty rub their chins, upper lips, and those
+parts of the body that are subject to superfluous hair with chunam
+(quicklime) especially of shells, which destroys the roots of the
+incipient beard. The few pilae that afterwards appear are plucked out
+from time to time with tweezers, which they always carry about them for
+that purpose. Were it not for the numerous and very respectable
+authorities from which we are assured that the natives of America are
+naturally beardless, I should think that the common opinion on that
+subject had been rashly adopted, and that their appearing thus at a
+mature age was only the consequence of an early practice, similar to that
+observed among the Sumatrans. Even now I must confess that it would
+remove some small degree of doubt from my mind could it be ascertained
+that no such custom prevails.*
+
+(*Footnote. It is allowed by travellers that the Patagonians have tufts
+of hair on the upper lip and chin. Captain Carver says that among the
+tribes he visited the people made a regular practice of eradicating their
+beards with pincers. At Brussels is preserved, along with a variety of
+ancient and curious suits of armour, that of Montezuma, king of Mexico,
+of which the visor, or mask for the face, has remarkably large whiskers;
+an ornament which those Americans could not have imitated unless nature
+had presented them with the model. See a paper in the Philosophical
+Transactions for 1786, which puts this matter beyond a doubt. In a French
+dictionary of the Huron language, published in 1632, I observe a term
+corresponding to "arracher la barbe.")
+
+Their complexion is properly yellow, wanting the red tinge that
+constitutes a tawny or copper colour. They are in general lighter than
+the Mestees, or halfbreed, of the rest of India; those of the superior
+class who are not exposed to the rays of the sun, and particularly their
+women of rank, approaching to a great degree of fairness. Did beauty
+consist in this one quality some of them would surpass our brunettes in
+Europe. The major part of the females are ugly, and many of them even to
+disgust, yet there are those among them whose appearance is strikingly
+beautiful; whatever composition of person, features, and complexion that
+sentiment may be the result of.
+
+COLOUR NOT ASCRIBABLE TO CLIMATE.
+
+The fairness of the Sumatrans comparatively with other Indians, situated
+as they are under a perpendicular sun where no season of the year affords
+an alternative of cold, is I think an irrefragable proof that the
+difference of colour in the various inhabitants of the earth is not the
+immediate effect of climate. The children of Europeans born in this
+island are as fair as those born in the country of their parents. I have
+observed the same of the second generation, where a mixture with the
+people of the country has been avoided. On the other hand the offspring
+and all the descendants of the Guinea and other African slaves imported
+there continue in the last instance as perfectly black as in the original
+stock. I do not mean to enter into the merits of the question which
+naturally connects with these observations; but shall only remark that
+the sallow and adust countenances so commonly acquired by Europeans who
+have long resided in hot climates are more ascribable to the effect of
+bilious distempers, which almost all are subject to in a greater or less
+degree, than of their exposure to the influence of the weather, which few
+but seafaring people are liable to, and of which the impression is seldom
+permanent. From this circumstance I have been led to conjecture that the
+general disparity of complexions in different nations might POSSIBLY be
+owing to the more or less copious secretion or redundance of that juice,
+rendering the skin more or less dark according to the qualities of the
+bile prevailing in the constitutions of each. But I fear such a
+hypothesis would not stand the test of experiment, as it might be
+expected to follow that, upon dissection, the contents of a negro's
+gall-bladder, or at least the extravasated bile, should uniformly be
+found black. Persons skilled in anatomy will determine whether it is
+possible that the qualities of any animal secretion can so far affect the
+frame as to render their consequences liable to be transmitted to
+posterity in their full force.*
+
+(*Footnote. In an Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and
+Figure in the Human Species published at Philadelphia in 1787 the
+permanent effect of the bilious secretion in determining the colour is
+strongly insisted upon.)
+
+The small size of the inhabitants, and especially of the women, may be in
+some measure owing to the early communication between the sexes; though,
+as the inclinations which lead to this intercourse are prompted here by
+nature sooner than in cold climates, it is not unfair to suppose that,
+being proportioned to the period of maturity, this is also sooner
+attained, and consequently that the earlier cessation of growth of these
+people is agreeable to the laws of their constitution, and not occasioned
+by a premature and irregular appetite.
+
+Persons of superior rank encourage the growth of their hand-nails,
+particularly those of the fore and little fingers, to an extraordinary
+length; frequently tingeing them red with the expressed juice of a shrub
+which they call inei, the henna of the Arabians; as they do the nails of
+their feet also, to which, being always uncovered, they pay as much
+attention as to their hands. The hands of the natives, and even of the
+halfbreed, are always cold to the touch; which I cannot account for
+otherwise than by a supposition that, from the less degree of elasticity
+in the solids occasioned by the heat of the climate, the internal action
+of the body by which the fluids are put in motion is less vigorous, the
+circulation is proportionably languid, and of course the diminished
+effect is most perceptible in the extremities, and a coldness there is
+the natural consequence.
+
+HILL PEOPLE SUBJECT TO WENS.
+
+The natives of the hills through the whole extent of the island are
+subject to those monstrous wens from the throat which have been observed
+of the Vallaisans and the inhabitants of other mountainous districts in
+Europe. It has been usual to attribute this affection to the badness,
+thawed state, mineral quality, or other peculiarity of the waters; many
+skilful men having applied themselves to the investigation of the
+subject. My experience enables me to pronounce without hesitation that
+the disorder, for such it is though it appears here to mark a distinct
+race of people (orang-gunong), is immediately connected with the
+hilliness of the country, and of course, if the circumstances of the
+water they use contribute thereto, it must be only so far as the nature
+of the water is affected by the inequality or height of the land. But in
+Sumatra neither snow nor other congelation is ever produced, which
+militates against the most plausible conjecture that has been adopted
+concerning the Alpine goitres. From every research that I have been
+enabled to make I think I have reason to conclude that the complaint is
+owing, among the Sumatrans, to the fogginess of the air in the valleys
+between the high mountains, where, and not on the summits, the natives of
+these parts reside. I before remarked that, between the ranges of hills,
+the kabut or dense mist was visible for several hours every morning;
+rising in a thick, opaque, and well-defined body with the sun, and seldom
+quite dispersed till afternoon. This phenomenon, as well as that of the
+wens, being peculiar to the regions of the hills, affords a presumption
+that they may be connected; exclusive of the natural probability that a
+cold vapour, gross to a uncommon degree, and continually enveloping the
+habitations, should affect with tumors the throats of the inhabitants. I
+cannot pretend to say how far this solution may apply to the case of the
+goitres, but I recollect it to have been mentioned that the only method
+of curing the people is by removing them from the valleys to the clear
+and pure air on the tops of the hills; which seems to indicate a similar
+source of the distemper to what I have pointed out. The Sumatrans do not
+appear to attempt any remedy for it, the wens being consistent with the
+highest health in other respects.
+
+DIFFERENCE IN PERSON BETWEEN MALAYS AND OTHER SUMATRANS.
+
+The personal difference between the Malays of the coast and the country
+inhabitants is not so strongly marked but that it requires some
+experience to distinguish them. The latter however possess an evident
+superiority in point of size and strength, and are fairer complexioned,
+which they probably owe to their situation, where the atmosphere is
+colder; and it is generally observed that people living near the
+seashore, and especially when accustomed to navigation, are darker than
+their inland neighbours. Some attribute the disparity in constitutional
+vigour to the more frequent use of opium among the Malays, which is
+supposed to debilitate the frame; but I have noted that the Limun and
+Batang Asei gold traders, who are a colony of that race settled in the
+heart of the island, and who cannot exist a day without opium, are
+remarkably hale and stout; which I have known to be observed with a
+degree of envy by the opium-smokers of our settlements. The inhabitants
+of Passummah also are described as being more robust in their persons
+than the planters of the low country.
+
+CLOTHING.
+
+The original clothing of the Sumatrans is the same with that found by
+navigators among the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands, and now
+generally called by the name of Otaheitean cloth. It is still used among
+the Rejangs for their working dress, and I have one in my possession
+procured from these people consisting of a jacket, short drawers, and a
+cap for the head. This is the inner bark of a certain species of tree,
+beaten out to the degree of fineness required, approaching the more to
+perfection as it resembles the softer kind of leather, some being nearly
+equal to the most delicate kid-skin; in which character it somewhat
+differs from the South Sea cloth, as that bears a resemblance rather to
+paper, or to the manufacture of the loom. The country people now conform
+in a great measure to the dress of the Malays, which I shall therefore
+describe in this place, observing that much more simplicity still
+prevails among the former, who look upon the others as coxcombs who lay
+out all their substance on their backs, whilst in their turns they are
+regarded by the Malays with contempt as unpolished rustics.
+
+MAN'S DRESS.
+
+A man's dress consists of the following parts. A close waistcoat, without
+sleeves, but having a neck like a shirt, buttoned close up to the top,
+with buttons, often of gold filigree. This is peculiar to the Malays.
+Over this they wear the baju, which resembles a morning gown, open at the
+neck, but generally fastened close at the wrists and halfway up the arm,
+with nine buttons to each sleeve. The sleeves, however, are often wide
+and loose, and others again, though nearly tight, reach not far beyond
+the elbow, especially of those worn by the younger females, which, as
+well as those of the young men, are open in front no farther down than
+the bosom, and reach no lower than the waist, whereas the others hang
+loose to the knees, and sometimes to the ankles. They are made usually of
+blue or white cotton cloth; for the better sort, of chintz; and for great
+men, of flowered silks. The kain-sarong is not unlike a Scots
+highlander's plaid in appearance, being a piece of party-coloured cloth
+about six or eight feet long and three or four wide, sewed together at
+the ends; forming, as some writers have described it, a wide sack without
+a bottom. This is sometimes gathered up and slung over the shoulder like
+a sash, or else folded and tucked about the waist and hips; and in full
+dress it is bound on by the belt of the kris (dagger), which is of
+crimson silk and wraps several times round the body, with a loop at the
+end in which the sheath of the kris hangs. They wear short drawers
+reaching halfway down the thigh, generally of red or yellow taffeta.
+There is no covering to their legs or feet. Round their heads they
+fasten, in a particular manner, a fine, coloured handkerchief, so as to
+resemble a small turban; the country people usually twisting a piece of
+white or blue cloth for this purpose. The crown of their head remains
+uncovered except on journeys, when they wear a tudong or umbrella-hat,
+which completely screens them from the weather.
+
+WOMAN'S DRESS.
+
+The women have a kind of bodice, or short waistcoat rather, that defends
+the breasts and reaches to the hips. The kain-sarong, before described,
+comes up as high as the armpits, and extends to the feet, being kept on
+simply by folding and tucking it over at the breast, except when the
+tali-pending, or zone, is worn about the waist, which forms an additional
+and necessary security. This is usually of embroidered cloth, and
+sometimes a plate of gold or silver, about two inches broad, fastening in
+the front with a large clasp of filigree or chased work, with some kind
+of precious stone, or imitation of such, in the centre. The baju, or
+upper gown, differs little from that of the men, buttoning in the same
+manner at the wrists. A piece of fine, thin, cotton cloth, or slight
+silk, about five feet long, and worked or fringed at each end, called a
+salendang, is thrown across the back of the neck, and hangs down before;
+serving also the purpose of a veil to the women of rank when they walk
+abroad. The handkerchief is carried either folded small in the hand, or
+in a long fold over the shoulder. There are two modes of dressing the
+hair, one termed kundei and the other sanggol. The first resembles much
+the fashion in which we see the Chinese women represented in paintings,
+and which I conclude they borrowed from thence, where the hair is wound
+circularly over the centre of the head, and fastened with a silver bodkin
+or pin. In the other mode, which is more general, they give the hair a
+single twist as it hangs behind, and then doubling it up they pass it
+crosswise under a few hairs separated from the rest on the back of the
+head for that purpose. A comb, often of tortoise-shell and sometimes
+filigreed, helps to prevent it from falling down. The hair of the front
+and of all parts of the head is of the same length, and when loose hangs
+together behind, with most of the women, in very great quantity. It is
+kept moist with oil newly expressed from the coconut; but those persons
+who can afford it make use also of an empyreumatic oil extracted from gum
+benzoin, as a grateful perfume. They wear no covering except ornaments of
+flowers, which on particular occasions are the work of much labour and
+ingenuity. The head-dresses of the dancing girls by profession, who are
+usually Javans, are very artificially wrought, and as high as any modern
+English lady's cap, yielding only to the feathered plumes of the year
+1777. It is impossible to describe in words these intricate and fanciful
+matters so as to convey a just idea of them. The flowers worn in undress
+are for the most part strung in wreaths, and have a very neat and pretty
+effect, without any degree of gaudiness, being usually white or pale
+yellow, small, and frequently only half-blown. Those generally chosen for
+these occasions are the bunga-tanjong and bunga-mellur: the
+bunga-chumpaka is used to give the hair a fragrance, but is concealed
+from the sight. They sometimes combine a variety of flowers in such a
+manner as to appear like one, and fix them on a single stalk; but these,
+being more formal, are less elegant than the wreaths.
+
+DISTINGUISHING ORNAMENTS OF VIRGINS.
+
+Among the country people, particularly in the southern countries, the
+virgins (anak gaddis, or goddesses, as it is usually pronounced) are
+distinguished by a fillet which goes across the front of the hair and
+fastens behind. This is commonly a thin plate of silver, about half an
+inch broad: those of the first rank have it of gold, and those of the
+lowest class have their fillet of the leaf of the nipah tree. Beside this
+peculiar ornament their state is denoted by their having rings or
+bracelets of silver or gold on their wrists. Strings of coins round the
+neck are universally worn by children, and the females, before they are
+of an age to be clothed, have what may not be inaptly termed a
+modesty-piece, being a plate of silver in the shape of a heart (called
+chaping) hung before, by a chain of the same metal, passing round the
+waist. The young women in the country villages manufacture themselves the
+cloth that forms the body-dress, or kain-sarong, which for common
+occasions is their only covering, and reaches from the breast no lower
+than the knees. The dresses of the women of the Malay bazaars on the
+contrary extend as low as the feet; but here, as in other instances, the
+more scrupulous attention to appearances does not accompany the superior
+degree of real modesty. This cloth, for the wear both of men and women,
+is imported from the island of Celebes, or, as it is here termed, the
+Bugis country.
+
+MODE OF FILING TEETH.
+
+Both sexes have the extraordinary custom of filing and otherwise
+disfiguring their teeth, which are naturally very white and beautiful
+from the simplicity of their food. For files they make use of small
+whetstones of different degrees of fineness, and the patients lie on
+their back during the operation. Many, particularly the women of the
+Lampong country, have their teeth rubbed down quite even with the gums;
+others have them formed in points; and some file off no more than the
+outer coat and extremities, in order that they may the better receive and
+retain the jetty blackness with which they almost universally adorn them.
+The black used on these occasions is the empyreumatic oil of the
+coconut-shell. When this is not applied the filing does not, by
+destroying what we term the enamel, diminish the whiteness of the teeth;
+but the use of betel renders them black if pains be not taken to prevent
+it. The great men sometimes set theirs in gold, by casing, with a plate
+of that metal, the under row; and this ornament, contrasted with the
+black dye, has by lamp or candlelight a very splendid effect. It is
+sometimes indented to the shape of the teeth, but more usually quite
+plain. They do not remove it either to eat or sleep.
+
+At the age of about eight or nine they bore the ears and file the teeth
+of the female children; which are ceremonies that must necessarily
+precede their marriage. The former they call betende, and the latter
+bedabong; and these operations are regarded in the family as the occasion
+of a festival. They do not here, as in some of the adjacent islands (of
+Nias in particular), increase the aperture of the ear to a monstrous
+size, so as in many instances to be large enough to admit the hand, the
+lower parts being stretched till they touch the shoulders. Their earrings
+are mostly of gold filigree, and fastened not with a clasp, but in the
+manner of a rivet or nut screwed to the inner part.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.
+
+VILLAGES.
+BUILDINGS.
+DOMESTIC UTENSILS.
+FOOD.
+
+I shall now attempt a description of the villages and buildings of the
+Sumatrans, and proceed to their domestic habits of economy, and those
+simple arts on which the procuring of their food and other necessaries
+depends. These are not among the least interesting objects of
+philosophical speculation. In proportion as the arts in use with any
+people are connected with the primary demands of nature, they carry the
+greater likelihood of originality, because those demands must have been
+administered to from a period coeval with the existence of the people
+themselves. Or if complete originality be regarded as a visionary idea,
+engendered from ignorance and the obscurity of remote events, such arts
+must be allowed to have the fairest claim to antiquity at least. Arts of
+accommodation, and more especially of luxury, are commonly the effect of
+imitation, and suggested by the improvements of other nations which have
+made greater advances towards civilisation. These afford less striking
+and characteristic features in delineating the picture of mankind, and,
+though they may add to the beauty, diminish from the genuineness of the
+piece. We must not look for unequivocal generic marks, where the breed,
+in order to mend it, has been crossed by a foreign mixture. All the arts
+of primary necessity are comprehended within two distinctions: those
+which protect us from the inclemency of the weather and other outward
+accidents; and those which are employed in securing the means of
+subsistence. Both are immediately essential to the continuance of life,
+and man is involuntarily and immediately prompted to exercise them by the
+urgent calls of nature, even in the merest possible state of savage and
+uncultivated existence. In climates like that of Sumatra this impulse
+extends not far. The human machine is kept going with small effort in so
+favourable a medium. The spring of importunate necessity there soon loses
+its force, and consequently the wheels of invention that depend upon it
+fail to perform more than a few simple revolutions. In regions less mild
+this original motive to industry and ingenuity carries men to greater
+lengths in the application of arts to the occasions of life; and these of
+course in an equal space of time attain to greater perfection than among
+the inhabitants of the tropical latitudes, who find their immediate wants
+supplied with facility, and prefer the negative pleasure of inaction to
+the enjoyment of any conveniences that are to be purchased with exertion
+and labour. This consideration may perhaps tend to reconcile the high
+antiquity universally allowed to Asiatic nations, with the limited
+progress of arts and sciences among them; in which they are manifestly
+surpassed by people who compared with them are but of very recent date.
+
+The Sumatrans however in the construction of their habitations have
+stepped many degrees beyond those rude contrivances which writers
+describe the inhabitants of some other Indian countries to have been
+contented with adopting in order to screen themselves from the immediate
+influence of surrounding elements. Their houses are not only permanent
+but convenient, and are built in the vicinity of each other that they may
+enjoy the advantages of mutual assistance and protection resulting from a
+state of society.*
+
+(*Footnote. In several of the small islands near Sumatra (including the
+Nicobars), whose inhabitants in general are in a very low state of
+civilisation, the houses are built circularly. Vid Asiatic Researches
+volume 4 page 129 plate.)
+
+VILLAGES.
+
+The dusuns or villages (for the small number of inhabitants assembled in
+each does not entitle them to the appellations of towns) are always
+situated on the banks of a river or lake for the convenience of bathing
+and of transporting goods. An eminence difficult of ascent is usually
+made choice of for security. The access to them is by footways, narrow
+and winding, of which there are seldom more than two; one to the country
+and the other to the water; the latter in most places so steep as to
+render it necessary to cut steps in the cliff or rock. The dusuns, being
+surrounded with abundance of fruit-trees, some of considerable height, as
+the durian, coco, and betel-nut, and the neighbouring country for a
+little space about being in some degree cleared of wood for the rice and
+pepper plantations, these villages strike the eye at a distance as clumps
+merely, exhibiting no appearance of a town or any place of habitation.
+The rows of houses form commonly a quadrangle, with passages or lanes at
+intervals between the buildings, where in the more considerable villages
+live the lower class of inhabitants, and where also their padi-houses or
+granaries are erected. In the middle of the square stands the balei or
+town hall, a room about fifty to a hundred feet long and twenty or thirty
+wide, without division, and open at the sides, excepting when on
+particular occasions it is hung with mats or chintz; but sheltered in a
+lateral direction by the deep overhanging roof.
+
+
+(PLATE 19. A VILLAGE HOUSE IN SUMATRA.
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+
+PLATE 19a. A PLANTATION HOUSE IN SUMATRA.
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.)
+
+
+BUILDINGS.
+
+In their buildings neither stone, brick, nor clay, are ever made use of,
+which is the case in most countries where timber abounds, and where the
+warmth of the climate renders the free admission of air a matter rather
+to be desired than guarded against: but in Sumatra the frequency of
+earthquakes is alone sufficient to have prevented the natives from
+adopting a substantial mode of building. The frames of the houses are of
+wood, the underplate resting on pillars of about six or eight feet in
+height, which have a sort of capital but no base, and are wider at top
+than at bottom. The people appear to have no idea of architecture as a
+science, though much ingenuity is often shown in the manner of working up
+their materials, and they have, the Malays at least, technical terms
+corresponding to all those employed by our house carpenters. Their
+conception of proportions is extremely rude, often leaving those parts of
+a frame which have the greatest bearing with the weakest support, and
+lavishing strength upon inadequate pressure. For the floorings they lay
+whole bamboos (a well-known species of large cane) of four or five inches
+diameter, close to each other, and fasten them at the ends to the
+timbers. Across these are laid laths of split bamboo, about an inch wide
+and of the length of the room, which are tied down with filaments of the
+rattan; and over these are usually spread mats of different kinds. This
+sort of flooring has an elasticity alarming to strangers when they first
+tread on it. The sides of the houses are generally closed in with palupo,
+which is the bamboo opened and rendered flat by notching or splitting the
+circular joints on the outside, chipping away the corresponding divisions
+within, and laying it to dry in the sun, pressed down with weights. This
+is sometimes nailed onto the upright timbers or bamboos, but in the
+country parts it is more commonly interwoven, or matted, in breadths of
+six inches, and a piece, or sheet, formed at once of the size required.
+In some places they use for the same purpose the kulitkayu, or coolicoy,
+as it is pronounced by the Europeans, who employ it on board ship as
+dunnage in pepper and other cargoes. This is a bark procured from some
+particular trees, of which the bunut and ibu are the most common. When
+they prepare to take it the outer rind is first torn or cut away; the
+inner, which affords the material, is then marked out with a prang,
+pateel, or other tool, to the size required, which is usually three
+cubits by one; it is afterwards beaten for some time with a heavy stick
+to loosen it from the stem, and being peeled off is laid in the sun to
+dry, care being taken to prevent its warping. The thicker or thinner
+sorts of the same species of kulitkayu owe their difference to their
+being taken nearer to or farther from the root. That which is used in
+building has nearly the texture and hardness of wood. The pliable and
+delicate bark of which clothing is made is procured from a tree called
+kalawi, a bastard species of the bread-fruit.
+
+The most general mode of covering houses is with the atap, which is the
+leaf of a species of palm called nipah. These, previous to their being
+laid on, are formed into sheets of about five feet long and as deep as
+the length of the leaf will admit, which is doubled at one end over a
+slip or lath of bamboo; they are then disposed on the roof so as that one
+sheet shall lap over the other, and are tied to the bamboos which serve
+for rafters. There are various other and more durable kinds of covering
+used. The kulitkayu, before described, is sometimes employed for this
+purpose: the galumpei--this is a thatch of narrow split bamboos, six feet
+in length, placed in regular layers, each reaching within two feet of the
+extremity of that beneath it, by which a treble covering is formed:
+iju--this is a vegetable production so nearly resembling horse-hair as
+scarcely to be distinguished from it. It envelopes the stem of that
+species of palm called anau, from which the best toddy or palm wine is
+procured, and is employed by the natives for a great variety of purposes.
+It is bound on as a thatch in the manner we do straw, and not
+unfrequently over the galumpei; in which case the roof is so durable as
+never to require renewal, the iju being of all vegetable substances the
+least prone to decay, and for this reason it is a common practice to wrap
+a quantity of it round the ends of timbers or posts which are to be fixed
+in the ground. I saw a house about twenty miles up Manna River, belonging
+to Dupati Bandar Agung, the roof of which was of fifty years standing.
+The larger houses have three pitches in the roof; the middle one, under
+which the door is placed, being much lower than the other two. In smaller
+houses there are but two pitches, which are always of unequal height, and
+the entrance is in the smaller, which covers a kind of hall or cooking
+room.
+
+There is another kind of house, erected mostly for a temporary purpose,
+the roof of which is flat and is covered in a very uncommon, simple, and
+ingenious manner. Large, straight bamboos are cut of a length sufficient
+to lie across the house, and, being split exactly in two and the joints
+knocked out, a first layer of them is disposed in close order, with the
+inner or hollow sides up; after which a second layer, with the outer or
+convex sides up, is placed upon the others in such manner that each of
+the convex falls into the two contiguous concave pieces, covering their
+edges; the latter serving as gutters to carry off the water that falls
+upon the upper or convex layer.*
+
+(*Footnote. I find that the original inhabitants of the Philippine
+Islands covered their buildings in the same manner.)
+
+The mode of ascent to the houses is by a piece of timber or stout bamboo,
+cut in notches, which latter an European cannot avail himself of,
+especially as the precaution is seldom taken of binding them fast. These
+are the wonderful light scaling-ladders which the old Portuguese writers
+described to have been used by the people of Achin in their wars with
+their nation. It is probable that the apprehension of danger from the
+wild beasts caused them to adopt and continue this rude expedient, in
+preference to more regular and commodious steps. The detached buildings
+in the country, near to their plantations, called talangs, they raise to
+the height of ten or twelve feet from the ground, and make a practice of
+taking up their ladder at night to secure themselves from the destructive
+ravages of the tigers. I have been assured, but do not pledge myself for
+the truth of the story, that an elephant, attempting to pass under one of
+these houses, which stand on four or six posts, stuck by the way, but,
+disdaining to retreat, carried it, with the family it contained, on his
+back to a considerable distance.
+
+In the buildings of the dusuns, particularly where the most respectable
+families reside, the woodwork in front is carved in the style of
+bas-relief, in a variety of uncouth ornaments and grotesque figures, not
+much unlike the Egyptian hieroglyphics, but certainly without any mystic
+or historical allusion.
+
+FURNITURE.
+
+The furniture of their houses, corresponding with their manner of living,
+is very simple, and consists of but few articles. Their bed is a mat,
+usually of fine texture, and manufactured for the purpose, with a number
+of pillows, worked at the ends and adorned with a shining substance that
+resembles foil. A sort of canopy or valance, formed of various coloured
+cloths, hangs overhead. Instead of tables they have what resemble large
+wooden salvers, with feet called dulang, round each of which three or
+four persons dispose themselves; and on these are laid the talams or
+brass waiters which hold the cups that contain their curry, and plantain
+leaves or matted vessels filled with rice. Their mode of sitting is not
+cross-legged, as the inhabitants of Turkey and our tailors use, but
+either on the haunches or on the left side, supported by the left hand
+with the legs tucked in on the right side; leaving that hand at liberty
+which they always, from motives of delicacy, scrupulously eat with; the
+left being reserved for less cleanly offices. Neither knives, spoons, nor
+any substitutes for them are employed; they take up the rice and other
+victuals between the thumb and fingers, and dexterously throw it into the
+mouth by the action of the thumb, dipping frequently their hands in water
+as they eat.
+
+UTENSILS.
+
+They have a little coarse chinaware, imported by the eastern praws, which
+is held a matter of luxury. In cooking they employ a kind of iron vessel
+well-known in India by the name of quallie or tauch, resembling in shape
+the pans used in some of our manufactures, having the rim wide and bottom
+narrow. These are likewise brought from the eastward. The priu and
+balanga, species of earthen pipkins, are in more common use, being made
+in small quantities in different parts of the island, particularly in
+Lampong, where they give them a sort of glazing; but the greater number
+of them are imported from Bantam. The original Sumatran vessel for
+boiling rice, and which is still much used for that purpose, is the
+bamboo, that material of general utility with which bountiful nature has
+supplied an indolent people. By the time the rice is dressed the utensil
+is nearly destroyed by the fire, but resists the flame so long as there
+is moisture within.
+
+FIRES.
+
+Fire being wanted among these people but occasionally, and only when they
+cook their victuals, there is not much attention paid in their buildings
+to provide conveniences for it. Their houses have no chimneys, and their
+fireplaces are no more than a few loose bricks or stones, disposed in a
+temporary manner and frequently on the landing-place before the doors.
+The fuel made use of is wood alone, the coal which the island produces
+never being converted by the inhabitants to that purpose. The flint and
+steel for striking fire are common in the country, but it is a practice
+certainly borrowed from some other people, as that species of stone is
+not a native of the soil. These generally form part of their travelling
+apparatus, and especially with those men called risaus (spendthrifts that
+turn freebooters), who find themselves often obliged to take up their
+habitation in the woods or in deserted houses. But they also frequently
+kindle fire from the friction of two sticks.
+
+MODE OF KINDLING THEM.
+
+They choose a piece of dry, porous wood, and cutting smooth a spot of it
+lay it in a horizontal direction. They then apply a smaller piece, of a
+harder substance, with a blunt point, in a perpendicular position, and
+turn it quickly round, between the two hands, as chocolate is milled,
+pressing it downwards at the same time. A hole is soon formed by this
+motion of the smaller stick; but it has not penetrated far before the
+larger one takes fire. I have also seen the same effect produced more
+simply by rubbing one bit of bamboo with a sharp edge across another.*
+
+(*Footnote. This mode of kindling fire is not peculiar to Sumatra: we
+read of the same practice in Africa and even in Kamtschatka. It is
+surprising, but confirmed by abundant authority, that many nations of the
+earth have at certain periods, been ignorant of the use of fire. To our
+immediate apprehension human existence would seem in such circumstances
+impossible. Every art, every convenience, every necessary of life, is now
+in the most intimate manner connected with it: and yet the Chinese, the
+Egyptians, the Phoenicians, and Greeks acknowledged traditions concerning
+its first discovery in their respective countries. But in fact if we can
+once suppose a man, or society of men, unacquainted with the being and
+uses of this element, I see no difficulty in conceiving the possibility
+of their supporting life without it; I mean in the tropical climates; and
+of centuries passing before they should arrive at the important
+discovery. It is true that lightning and its effects, volcanoes, the
+firing of dry substances by fortuitous attrition, or of moist, by
+fermentation, might give them an idea of its violent and destructive
+properties; but far from being thence induced to appropriate and apply it
+they would, on the contrary, dread and avoid it, even in its less
+formidable appearances. They might be led to worship it as their deity,
+but not to cherish it as their domestic. There is some reason to conclude
+that the man who first reduced it to subjection and rendered it
+subservient to the purposes of life procured it from the collision of two
+flints; but the sparks thus produced, whether by accident or design,
+might be observed innumerable times without its suggesting a beneficial
+application. In countries where those did not present themselves the
+discovery had, most probably, its origin in the rubbing together of dry
+sticks, and in this operation, the agent and subject coexisting, flame,
+with its properties and uses, became more immediately apparent. Still, as
+no previous idea was conceived of this latent principle, and consequently
+no search made, no endeavours exerted, to bring it to light, I see not
+the impossibility a priori of its remaining almost as long concealed from
+mankind as the properties of the loadstone or the qualities of
+gunpowder.)
+
+Water is conveyed from the spring in bamboos, which for this purpose are
+cut, either to the length of five or six feet and carried over the
+shoulder, or into a number of single joints that are put together in a
+basket. It is drunk out of the fruit called labu here, resembling the
+calabash of the West Indies, a hole being made in the side of the neck
+and another at top for vent. In drinking they generally hold the vessel
+at a distance above their mouths and catch the stream as it falls; the
+liquid descending to the stomach without the action of swallowing.
+Baskets (bronong, bakul) are a considerable part of the furniture of a
+man's house, and the number of these seen hanging up are tokens of the
+owner's substance; for in them his harvests of rice or pepper are
+gathered and brought home; no carts being employed in the interior parts
+of the island which I am now describing. They are made of slips of bamboo
+connected by means of split rattans; and are carried chiefly by the
+women, on the back, supported by a string or band across the forehead.
+
+FOOD.
+
+Although the Sumatrans live in a great measure upon vegetable food they
+are not restrained by any superstitious opinion from other aliments, and
+accordingly at their entertainments the flesh of the buffalo (karbau),
+goat, and fowls, are served up. Their dishes are almost all prepared in
+that mode of dressing to which we have given the name of curry (from a
+Hindostanic word), and which is now universally known in Europe. It is
+called in the Malay language gulei, and may be composed of any kind of
+edible, but is generally of flesh or fowl, with a variety of pulse and
+succulent herbage, stewed down with certain ingredients, by us termed,
+when mixed and ground together, curry powder. These ingredients are,
+among others, the cayenne or chili-pepper, turmeric, sarei or
+lemon-grass, cardamums, garlick, and the pulp of the coconut bruised to a
+milk resembling that of almonds, which is the only liquid made use of.
+This differs from the curries of Madras and Bengal, which have greater
+variety of spices, and want the coconut. It is not a little remarkable
+that the common pepper, the chief produce and staple commodity of the
+country, is never mixed by the natives in their food. They esteem it
+heating to the blood, and ascribe a contrary effect to the cayenne; which
+I can say, my own experience justifies. A great diversity of curries is
+usually served up at the same time, in small vessels, each flavoured to a
+nice discerning taste in a different manner; and in this consists all the
+luxury of their tables. Let their quantity or variety or meat be what it
+may, the principle article of their food is rice, which is eaten in a
+large proportion with every dish, and very frequently without any other
+accompaniment than salt and chili-pepper. It is prepared by boiling in a
+manner peculiar to India; its perfection, next to cleanness and
+whiteness, consisting in its being, when thoroughly dressed and soft to
+the heart, at the same time whole and separate, so that no two grains
+shall adhere together. The manner of effecting this is by putting into
+the earthen or other vessel in which it is boiled a quantity of water
+sufficient to cover it, letting it simmer over a slow fire, taking off
+the water by degrees with a flat ladle or spoon that the grain may dry,
+and removing it when just short of burning. At their entertainments the
+guests are treated with rice prepared also in a variety of modes, by
+frying it in cakes or boiling a particular species of it mixed with the
+kernel of the coconut and fresh oil, in small joints of bamboo. This is
+called lemmang. Before it is served up they cut off the outer rind of the
+bamboo and the soft inner coat is peeled away by the person who eats.
+
+FLESH-MEAT.
+
+They dress their meat immediately after killing it, while it is still
+warm, which is conformable with the practice of the ancients as recorded
+in Homer and elsewhere, and in this state it is said to eat tenderer than
+when kept for a day: longer the climate will not admit of, unless when it
+is preserved in that mode called dinding. This is the flesh of the
+buffalo cut into small thin steaks and exposed to the heat of the sun in
+fair weather, generally on the thatch of their houses, till it is become
+so dry and hard as to resist putrefaction without any assistance from
+salt. Fish is preserved in the same manner, and cargoes of both are sent
+from parts of the coast where they are in plenty to those where
+provisions are in more demand. It is seemingly strange that heat, which
+in a certain degree promotes putrefaction, should when violently
+increased operate to prevent it; but it must be considered that moisture
+also is requisite to the former effect, and this is absorbed in thin
+substances by the sun's rays before it can contribute to the production
+of maggots.
+
+Blachang, a preservation, if it may be so termed, of an opposite kind, is
+esteemed a great delicacy among the Malays, and is by them exported to
+the west of India. The country Sumatrans seldom procure it. It is a
+species of caviar, and is extremely offensive and disgusting to persons
+who are not accustomed to it, particularly the black kind, which is the
+most common. The best sort, or the red blachang, is made of the spawn of
+shrimps, or of the shrimps themselves, which they take about the mouths
+of rivers. They are, after boiling, exposed to the sun to dry, then
+pounded in a mortar with salt, moistened with a little water and formed
+into cakes, which is all the process. The black sort, used by the lower
+class, is made of small fish, prepared in the same manner. On some parts
+of the east coast of the island they salt the roes of a large fish of the
+shad kind, and preserve them perfectly dry and well flavoured. These are
+called trobo.
+
+When the natives kill a buffalo, which is always done at their public
+meetings, they do not cut it up into joints as we do an ox, but into
+small pieces of flesh, or steaks, which they call bantei. The hide of the
+buffalo is sometimes scalded, scraped, and hung up to dry in their houses
+where it shrivels and becomes perfectly hard. When wanted for use a piece
+is chopped off and, being stewed down for a great number of hours in a
+small quantity of water, forms a rich jelly which, properly seasoned, is
+esteemed a very delicate dish.
+
+The sago (sagu), though common on Sumatra and used occasionally by the
+natives, is not an article of food of such general use among them as with
+the inhabitants of many other eastern islands, where it is employed as a
+substitute for rice. Millet (randa jawa) is also cultivated for food, but
+not in any considerable quantity.
+
+When these several articles of subsistence fail the Sumatran has recourse
+to those wild roots, herbs, and leaves of trees which the woods
+abundantly afford in every season without culture, and which the habitual
+simplicity of his diet teaches him to consider as no very extraordinary
+circumstance of hardship. Hence it is that famines in this island or,
+more properly speaking, failures of crops of grain, are never attended
+with those dreadful consequences which more improved countries and more
+provident nations experience.
+
+
+CHAPTER 4.
+
+AGRICULTURE.
+RICE, ITS CULTIVATION, ETC.
+PLANTATIONS OF COCONUT, BETEL-NUT, AND OTHER VEGETABLES FOR DOMESTIC USE.
+DYE STUFFS.
+
+AGRICULTURE.
+
+From their domestic economy I am led to take a view of their labours in
+the field, their plantations and the state of agriculture amongst them,
+which an ingenious writer esteems the justest criterion of civilisation.
+
+RICE.
+
+The most important article of cultivation, not in Sumatra alone but
+throughout the East, is rice. It is the grand material of food on which a
+hundred millions of the inhabitants of the earth subsist, and although
+chiefly confined by nature to the regions included between and bordering
+on the tropics, its cultivation is probably more extensive than that of
+wheat, which the Europeans are wont to consider as the universal staff of
+life. In the continent of Asia, as you advance to the northward, you come
+to the boundary where the plantations of rice disappear and the
+wheatfields commence; the cold felt in that climate, owing in part to the
+height of the land, being unfriendly to the production of the former
+article.
+
+Rice (Oryza sativa) whilst in the husk is called padi by the Malays (from
+whose language the word seems to have found its way to the maritime parts
+of the continent of India), bras when deprived of the husk, and nasi
+after it has been boiled; besides which it assumes other names in its
+various states of growth and preparation. This minuteness of distinction
+applies also to some other articles of common use, and may be accounted
+for upon this principle: that amongst people whose general objects of
+attention are limited, those which do of necessity occupy them are liable
+to be more the subject of thought and conversation than in more
+enlightened countries where the ideas of men have an extensive range. The
+kinds of rice also (whether technically of different species I cannot
+pronounce) are very numerous, but divided in the first place into the two
+comprehensive classes of padi ladang or upland, from its growing in high,
+dry grounds, and padi sawah (vulgarly pronounced sawur or sour) or
+lowland, from its being planted in marshes; each of which is said to
+contain ten or fifteen varieties, distinct in shape, size, and colour of
+the grain, modes of growth, and delicacy of flavour; it being observed
+that in general the larger-grained rice is not so much prized by the
+natives as that which is small, when at the same time white and in some
+degree transparent.* To M. Poivre, in his Travels of a Philosopher, we
+are indebted for first pointing out these two classes when speaking of
+the agriculture of Cochin-China. The qualities of the ladang, or upland
+rice, are held to be superior to those of the sawah, being whiter, more
+nourishing, better tasted and having the advantage in point of keeping.
+Its mode of culture too is free from the charge of unhealthiness
+attributed to the latter, which is of a watery substance, is attended
+with less increase in boiling, and is subject to a swifter decay; but of
+this the rate of produce from the seed is much greater, and the certainty
+of the crops more to be depended on. It is accordingly cheaper and in
+more common use. The seed of each sort is kept separate by the natives,
+who assert that they will not grow reciprocally.
+
+(*Footnote. The following sorts of dry-ground padi have come under my
+notice but as the names vary in different districts it is possible that
+some of these may be repetitions, where there is no striking difference
+of character:
+Padi Ebbas, large grain, very common;
+Andalong, short round grain, grows in whorls or bunches round the stalk,
+common;
+Galu, light-coloured, scarce;
+Sini, small grain, deep coloured, scarce;
+Iju, light ish colour, scarce;
+Kuning, deep yellow, crooked and pointed, fine rice;
+Kukur-ballum, small, much crooked and resembling a dove's claw, from
+whence the name; light-coloured, highly esteemed for its delicate flavour;
+Pisang, outer coat light brown, inner red, longer, smaller, and less
+crooked than the preceding;
+Bringin, long, flattish, ribbed, pointed, dead yellow;
+Bujut, shaped like the preceding, but with a tinge of red in the colour;
+Chariap, short, roundish, reddish yellow;
+Janggut or bearded, small, narrow, pale brown;
+Jambi, small, somewhat crooked and pointed, light brown;
+Laye, gibbous, light-coloured;
+Musang, long, small, crooked and pointed, deep purple;
+Pandan, small, light-coloured;
+Pau, long, crooked and pointed, light yellow;
+Puyuh, small, delicate, crooked and pointed, bright ochre;
+Rakkun, roundish grain, resembles the andalong, but larger and deeper colour;
+Sihong, much resembles the laye in shape and colour;
+Sutar, short, roundish, bright, reddish brown;
+Pulut gading or ivory, long, nearly straight, light yellow;
+Pulut kechil, small, crooked, reddish yellow;
+Pulut bram, long and rather large grain, purple, when fresh more nearly red;
+Pulut bram lematong, in shape like the preceding, but of a dead pale colour.
+Beside these four there is also a black kind of pulut.
+Samples of most of these have been in my possession for a number of
+years, and still continue perfectly sound. Of the sorts of rice growing
+in low grounds I have not specimens. The padi santong, which is small,
+straight, and light-coloured, is held to be the finest. In the Lampong
+country they make a distinction of padi krawang and padi jerru, of which
+I know nothing more than that the former is a month earlier in growth
+than the latter.)
+
+UPLAND RICE.
+
+For the cultivation of upland padi the site of woods is universally
+preferred, and the more ancient the woods the better, on account of the
+superior richness of the soil; the continual fall and rotting of the
+leaves forming there a bed of vegetable mould, which the open plains do
+not afford, being exhausted by the powerful operation of the sun's rays
+and the constant production of a rank grass called lalang. When this
+grass, common to all the eastern islands, is kept under by frequent
+mowing or the grazing of cattle (as is the case near the European
+settlements) its room is supplied by grass of a finer texture. Many
+suppose that the same identical species of vegetable undergoes this
+alteration, as no fresh seeds are sown and the substitution uniformly
+takes place. But this is an evident mistake as the generic characters of
+the two are essentially different; the one being the Gramen caricosum and
+the other the Gramen aciculatum described by Rumphius. The former, which
+grows to the height of five feet, is remarkable for the whiteness and
+softness of the down or blossom, and the other for the sharpness of its
+bearded seeds, which prove extremely troublesome to the legs of those who
+walk among it.*
+
+(*Footnote. Gramen hoc (caricosum) totos occupat campos, nudosque colles
+tam dense et laete germinans, ut e longinquo haberetur campus oryza
+consitus, tam luxuriose ac fortiter crescit, ut neque hortos neque sylvas
+evitet, atque tam vehementer prorepit, ut areae vix depurari ac servari
+possint, licet quotidie deambulentur...Potissimum amat solum flavum
+arguillosum. (Gramen aciculatum) Usus ejus fere nullus est, sed hic
+detegendum est taediosum ludibrium, quod quis habet, si quis per campos
+vel in sylvis procedat, ubi hoc gramen ad vias publicas crescit, quum
+praetereuntium vestibus, hoc semen quam maxime inhaeret. Rumphius volume
+6 book 10 chapters 8 and 13. M. Poivre describes the plains of Madagascar
+and Java as covered with a long grass which he calls fatak, and which,
+from the analogy of the countries in other respects, I should suppose to
+be the lalang; but he praises it as affording excellent pasturage;
+whereas in Sumatra it is reckoned the worst, and except when very young
+it is not edible by the largest cattle; for which reason the carters and
+drovers are in the practice of setting fire to that which grows on the
+plains by the roadside, that the young shoots which thereupon shoot up,
+may afterwards supply food to their buffaloes.)
+
+If old woods are not at hand ground covered with that of younger growth,
+termed balukar, is resorted to; but not, if possible, under the age of
+four or five years. Vegetation is there so strong that spots which had
+been perfectly cleared for cultivation will, upon being neglected for a
+single season, afford shelter to the beasts of the forest; and the same
+being rarely occupied for two successive years, the face of the country
+continues to exhibit the same wild appearance, although very extensive
+tracts are annually covered with fresh plantations. From this it will be
+seen that, in consequence of the fertility to which it gives occasion,
+the abundance of wood in the country is not considered by the inhabitants
+as an inconvenience but the contrary. Indeed I have heard a native prince
+complain of a settlement made by some persons of a distant tribe in the
+inland part of his dominions, whom he should be obliged to expel from
+thence in order to prevent the waste of his old woods. This seemed a
+superfluous act of precaution in an island which strikes the eye as one
+general, impervious, and inexhaustible forest.
+
+MODE OF CLEARING THE GROUND.
+
+On the approach of the dry monsoon (April and May) or in the course of
+it, the husbandman makes choice of a spot for his ladang, or plantation
+of upland rice, for that season, and marks it out. Here it must be
+observed that property in land depends upon occupancy, unless where
+fruit-bearing trees have been planted, and, as there is seldom any
+determined boundary between the lands of neighbouring villages, such
+marks are rarely disturbed. Collecting his family and dependents, he next
+proceeds to clear the ground. This is an undertaking of immense labour,
+and would seem to require herculean force, but it is effected by skill
+and perseverance. The work divides itself into two parts. The first
+(called tebbas, menebbas) consists in cutting down the brushwood and rank
+vegetables, which are suffered to dry during an interval of a fortnight,
+or more or less, according to the fairness of the weather, before they
+proceed to the second operation (called tebbang, menebbang) of felling
+the large trees. Their tools, the prang and billiong (the former
+resembling a bill-hook, and the latter an imperfect adze) are seemingly
+inadequate to the task, and the saw is unknown in the country. Being
+regardless of the timber they do not fell the tree near the ground, where
+the stem is thick, but erect a stage and begin to hew, or chop rather, at
+the height of ten or twelve, to twenty or thirty feet, where the
+dimensions are smaller (and sometimes much higher, taking off little more
+than the head) until it is sufficiently weakened to admit of their
+pulling it down with rattans made fast to the branches instead of ropes.*
+And thus by slow degrees the whole is laid low.
+
+(*Footnote. A similar mode of felling is described in the Maison rustique
+de Cayenne.)
+
+In some places however a more summary process is attempted. It may be
+conceived that in the woods the cutting down trees singly is a matter of
+much difficulty on account of the twining plants which spread from one to
+the other and connect them strongly together. To surmount this it is not
+an uncommon practice to cut a number of trees half through, on the same
+side, and then fix upon one of great bulk at the extremity of the space
+marked out, which they cut nearly through, and, having disengaged it from
+these lianas (as they are termed in the western world) determine its fall
+in such a direction as may produce the effect of its bearing down by its
+prodigious weight all those trees which had been previously weakened for
+the purpose. By this much time and labour are saved, and, the object
+being to destroy and not to save the timber, the rending or otherwise
+spoiling the stems is of no moment. I could never behold this devastation
+without a strong sentiment of regret. Perhaps the prejudices of a
+classical education taught me to respect those aged trees as the
+habitation or material frame of an order of sylvan deities, who were now
+deprived of existence by the sacrilegious hand of a rude,
+undistinguishing savage. But without having recourse to superstition it
+is not difficult to account for such feelings on the sight of a venerable
+wood, old, to appearance, as the soil it stood on, and beautiful beyond
+what pencil can describe, annihilated for the temporary use of the space
+it occupied. It seemed a violation of nature in the too arbitrary
+exercise of power. The timber, from its abundance, the smallness of
+consumption, and its distance in most cases from the banks of navigable
+rivers, by which means alone it could be transported to any distance, is
+of no value; and trees whose bulk, height, straightness of stem, and
+extent of limbs excite the admiration of a traveller, perish
+indiscriminately. Some of the branches are lopped off, and when these,
+together with the underwood, are become sufficiently arid, they are set
+fire to, and the country, for the space of a month or two, is in a
+general blaze and smoke, until the whole is consumed and the ground
+effectually cleared. The expiring wood, beneficent to its ungrateful
+destroyer, fertilises for his use by its ashes and their salts the earth
+which it so long adorned.
+
+Unseasonable wet weather at this period, which sometimes happens, and
+especially when the business is deferred till the close of the dry or
+south-east monsoon, whose termination is at best irregular, produces much
+inconvenience by the delay of burning till the vegetation has had time to
+renew itself; in which case the spot is commonly abandoned, or, if
+partially burned, it is not without considerable toil that it can be
+afterwards prepared for sowing. On such occasions there are imposters
+ready to make a profit of the credulity of the husbandman who, like all
+others whose employments expose them to risks, are prone to superstition,
+by pretending to a power of causing or retarding rain. One of these will
+receive, at the time of burning the ladangs, a dollar or more from each
+family in the neighbourhood, under the pretence of ensuring favourable
+weather for their undertaking. To accomplish this purpose he abstains, or
+pretends to abstain, for many days and nights from food and sleep, and
+performs various trifling ceremonies; continuing all the time in the open
+air. If he espies a cloud gathering he immediately begins to smoke
+tobacco with great vehemence, walking about with a quick pace and
+throwing the puffs towards it with all the force of his lungs. How far he
+is successful it is no difficult matter to judge. His skill, in fact,
+lies in choosing his time, when there is the greatest prospect of the
+continuance of fair weather in the ordinary course of nature: but should
+he fail there is an effectual salvo. He always promises to fulfil his
+agreement with a Deo volente clause, and so attributes his occasional
+disappointments to the particular interposition of the deity. The cunning
+men who, in this and many other instances of conjuration, impose on the
+simple country people, are always Malayan adventurers, and not
+unfrequently priests. The planter whose labour has been lost by such
+interruptions generally finds it too late in the season to begin on
+another ladang, and the ordinary resource for subsisting himself and
+family is to seek a spot of sawah ground, whose cultivation is less
+dependent upon accidental variations of weather. In some districts much
+confusion in regard to the period of sowing is said to have arisen from a
+very extraordinary cause. Anciently, say the natives, it was regulated by
+the stars, and particularly by the appearance (heliacal rising) of the
+bintang baniak or Pleiades; but after the introduction of the Mahometan
+religion they were induced to follow the returns of the puisa or great
+annual fast, and forgot their old rules. The consequence of this was
+obvious, for the lunar year of the hejrah being eleven days short of the
+sidereal or solar year the order of the seasons was soon inverted; and it
+is only astonishing that its inaptness to the purposes of agriculture
+should not have been immediately discovered.
+
+SOWING.
+
+When the periodical rains begin to fall, which takes place gradually
+about October, the planter assembles his neighbours (whom he assists in
+turn), and with the aid of his whole family proceeds to sow his ground,
+endeavouring to complete the task in the course of one day. In order to
+ensure success he fixes, by the priest's assistance, on a lucky day, and
+vows the sacrifice of a kid if his crop should prove favourable; the
+performance of which is sacredly observed, and is the occasion of a feast
+in every family after harvest. The manner of sowing (tugal-menugal) is
+this. Two or three men enter the plantation, as it is usual to call the
+padi-field, holding in each hand sticks about five feet long and two
+inches diameter, bluntly pointed, with which, striking them into the
+ground as they advance, they make small, shallow holes, at the distance
+of about five inches from each other. These are followed by the women and
+elder children with small baskets containing the seed-grain (saved with
+care from the choicest of the preceding crop) of which they drop four or
+five grains into every hole, and, passing on, are followed by the younger
+children who with their feet (in the use of which the natives are nearly
+as expert as with their hands) cover them lightly from the adjacent
+earth, that the seed may not be too much exposed to the birds, which, as
+might be expected, often prove destructive foes. The ground, it should be
+observed, has not been previously turned up by any instrument of the hoe
+or plough kind, nor would the stumps and roots of trees remaining in it
+admit of the latter being worked; although employed under other
+circumstances, as will hereafter appear. If rain succeeds the padi is
+above ground in four or five days; but by an unexpected run of dry
+weather it is sometimes lost, and the field sowed a second time. When it
+has attained a month or six weeks' growth it becomes necessary to clear
+it of weeds (siang-menyiang), which is repeated at the end of two months
+or ten weeks; after which the strength it has acquired is sufficient to
+preserve it from injury in that way. Huts are now raised in different
+parts of the plantation, from whence a communication is formed over the
+whole by means of rattans, to which are attached scarecrows, rattles,
+clappers, and other machines for frightening away the birds, in the
+contrivance of which they employ incredible pains and ingenuity; so
+disposing them that a child, placed in the hut, shall be able, with
+little exertion, to create a loud clattering noise to a great extent; and
+on the borders of the field are placed at intervals a species of windmill
+fixed on poles which, on the inexperienced traveller, have an effect as
+terrible as those encountered by the knight of La Mancha. Such
+precautions are indispensable for the protection of the corn, when in the
+ear, against the numerous flights of the pipi, a small bird with a
+light-brown body, white head, and bluish beak, rather less than the
+sparrow, which in its general appearance and habits it resembles. Several
+of these lighting at once upon a stalk of padi, and bearing it down, soon
+clear it of its produce, and thus if unmolested destroy whole crops.
+
+At the time of sowing the padi it is a common practice to sow also, in
+the interstices, and in the same manner, jagong or maize, which, growing
+up faster and ripening before it (in little more than three months) is
+gathered without injury to the former. It is also customary to raise in
+the same ground a species of momordica, the fruit of which comes forward
+in the course of two months.
+
+REAPING.
+
+The nominal time allowed from the sowing to the reaping of the crop is
+five lunar months and ten days; but from this it must necessarily vary
+with the circumstances of the season. When it ripens, if all at the same
+time, the neighbours are again summoned to assist, and entertained for
+the day: if a part only ripens first the family begin to reap it, and
+proceed through the whole by degrees. In this operation, called
+tuwei-menuwei from the instrument used, they take off the head of corn
+(the term of ear not being applicable to the growth of this plant) about
+six inches below the grain, the remaining stalk or halm being left as of
+no value. The tuwei is a piece of wood about six inches long, usually of
+carved work and about two inches diameter, in which is fixed lengthwise a
+blade of four or five inches, secured at the extremes by points bent to a
+right angle and entering the wood. To this is added a piece of very small
+bamboo from two to three inches long, fixed at right angles across the
+back of the wood, with a notch for receiving it, and pinned through by a
+small peg. This bamboo rests in the hollow of the hand, one end of the
+piece of wood passing between the two middle fingers, with the blade
+outwards; the natives always cutting FROM them.* With this in the right
+hand and a small basket slung over the left shoulder, they very
+expeditiously crop the heads of padi one by one, bringing the stalk to
+the blade with their two middle fingers, and passing them, when cut, from
+the right hand to the left. As soon as the left hand is full the contents
+are placed in regular layers in the basket (sometimes tied up in a little
+sheaf), and from thence removed to larger baskets, in which the harvest
+is to be conveyed to the dusun or village, there to be lodged in the
+tangkian or barns, which are buildings detached from the dwelling-houses,
+raised like them from the ground, widening from the floor towards the
+roof, and well lined with boards or coolitcoy. In each removal care is
+taken to preserve the regularity of the layers, by which means it is
+stowed to advantage, and any portion of it readily taken out for use.
+
+(*Footnote. The inhabitants of Menangkabau are said to reap with an
+instrument resembling a sickle.)
+
+LOW-GROUND RICE.
+
+Sawahs are plantations of padi in low wet ground, which, during the
+growth of the crop, in the rainy season between the months of October and
+March,* are for the most part overflowed to the depth of six inches or a
+foot, beyond which latter the water becomes prejudicial. Level marshes,
+of firm bottom, under a moderate stratum of mud, and not liable to deep
+stagnant water, are the situations preferred; the narrower hollows,
+though very commonly used for small plantations, being more liable to
+accidents from torrents and too great depth of water, which the
+inhabitants have rarely industry enough to regulate to advantage by
+permanent embankments. They are not however ignorant of such expedients,
+and works are sometimes met with, constructed for the purpose chiefly of
+supplying the deficiency of rain to several adjoining sawahs by means of
+sluices, contrived with no small degree of skill and attention to levels.
+
+(*Footnote. In the Transactions of the Batavian Society the following
+mention is made of the cultivation of rice in Java. The padi sawa is sown
+in low watered grounds in the month of March, transplanted in April, and
+reaped in August. The padi tipar is sown in high ploughed lands in
+November, and reaped in March (earlier in the season than I could have
+supposed.) when sown where woods have been recently cut down, or in the
+clefts of the hills (klooven van het gebergte) it is named padi gaga.
+Volume 1 page 27.)
+
+In new ground, after clearing it from the brushwood, reeds, and aquatic
+vegetables with which the marshes, when neglected, are overrun, and
+burning them at the close of the dry season, the soil is, in the
+beginning of the wet, prepared for culture by different modes of working.
+In some places a number of buffaloes, whose greatest enjoyment consists
+in wading and rolling in mud, are turned in, and these by their motions
+contribute to give it a more uniform consistence as well as enrich it by
+their dung. In other parts less permanently moist the soil is turned up,
+either with a wooden instrument between a hoe and a pickaxe, or with the
+plough, of which they use two kinds; their own, drawn by one buffalo,
+extremely simple, and the wooden share of it doing little more than
+scratch the ground to the depth of six inches; and one they have borrowed
+from the Chinese, drawn either with one or two buffaloes, very light, and
+the share more nearly resembling ours, turning the soil over as it passes
+and making a narrow furrow. In sawahs however the surface has in general
+so little consistence that no furrow is perceptible, and the plough does
+little more than loosen the stiff mud to some depth, and cut the roots of
+the grass and weeds, from which it is afterwards cleared by means of a
+kind of harrow or rake, being a thick plank of heavy wood with strong
+wooden teeth and loaded with earth where necessary. This they contrive to
+drag along the surface for the purpose at the same time of depressing the
+rising spots and filling up the hollow ones. The whole being brought as
+nearly as possible to a level, that the water may lie equally upon it the
+sawah is, for the more effectual securing of this essential point,
+divided into portions nearly square or oblong (called piring, which
+signifies a dish) by narrow banks raised about eighteen inches and two
+feet wide. These drying become harder than the rest, confine the water,
+and serve the purpose of footways throughout the plantation. When there
+is more water in one division than another small passages are cut through
+the dams to produce an equality. Through these apertures water is also in
+some instances introduced from adjacent rivers or reservoirs, where such
+exist, and the season requires their aid. The innumerable springs and
+rivulets with which this country abounds render unnecessary the laborious
+processes by which water is raised and supplied to the rice grounds in
+the western part of India, where the soil is sandy: yet still the
+principal art of the planter consists, and is required, in the management
+of this article; to furnish it to the ground in proper and moderate
+quantities and to carry it off from time to time by drains; for if
+suffered to be long stagnant it would occasion the grain to rot.
+
+TRANSPLANTATION.
+
+Whilst the sawahs have been thus in preparation to receive the padi a
+small, adjacent, and convenient spot of good soil has been chosen, in
+which the seed-grain is sown as thick as it can well lie to the ground,
+and is then often covered with layers of lalang (long grass, instead of
+straw) to protect the grain from the birds, and perhaps assist the
+vegetation. When it has grown to the height of from five to eight inches,
+or generally at the end of forty days from the time of sowing, it is
+taken up in showery weather and transplanted to the sawah, where holes
+are made four or five inches asunder to receive the plants. If they
+appear too forward the tops are cropped off. A supply is at the same time
+reserved in the seed-plots to replace such as may chance to fail upon
+removal. These plantations, in the same manner as the ladangs, it is
+necessary to cleanse from weeds at least twice in the first two or three
+months; but no maize or other seed is sown among the crop. When the padi
+begins to form the ear or to blossom, as the natives express it, the
+water is finally drawn off, and at the expiration of four months from the
+time of transplanting it arrives at maturity. The manner of guarding
+against the birds is similar to what has been already described; but the
+low ground crop has a peculiar and very destructive enemy in the rats,
+which sometimes consume the whole of it, especially when the plantation
+has been made somewhat out of season; to obviate which evil the
+inhabitants of a district sow by agreement pretty nearly at the same
+time; whereby the damage is less perceptible. In the mode of reaping
+likewise there is nothing different. Upon the conclusion of the harvest
+it is an indispensable duty to summon the neighbouring priests to the
+first meal that is made of the new rice, when an entertainment is given
+according to the circumstances of the family. Should this ceremony be
+omitted the crop would be accursed (haram) nor could the whole household
+expect to outlive the season. This superstition has been by the
+Mahometans judiciously engrafted on the stock of credulity in the country
+people.
+
+The same spot of low ground is for the most part used without regular
+intermission for several successive years, the degree of culture they
+bestow by turning up the soil and the overflowing water preserving its
+fertility. They are not however insensible to the advantage of occasional
+fallows. In consequence of this continued use the value of the sawah
+grounds differs from that of ladangs, the former being, in the
+neighbourhood of populous towns particularly, distinct property, and of
+regularly ascertained value. At Natal for example those consisting
+between one and two acres sell for sixteen to twenty Spanish dollars. In
+the interior country, where the temperature of the air is more favourable
+to agriculture, they are said to sow the same spot with ladang rice for
+three successive years; and there also it is common to sow onions as soon
+as the stubble is burned off. Millet (randa jawa) is sown at the same
+time with the padi. In the country of Manna, southward of Bencoolen, a
+progress in the art of cultivation is discovered, superior to what
+appears in almost any other part of the island; the Batta country perhaps
+alone excepted. Here may be seen pieces of land in size from five to
+fifteen acres, regularly ploughed and harrowed. The difference is thus
+accounted for. It is the most populous district in that southern part,
+with the smallest extent of sea-coast. The pepper plantations and ladangs
+together having in a great measure exhausted the old woods in the
+accessible parts of the country, and the inhabitants being therein
+deprived of a source of fertility which nature formerly supplied, they
+must either starve, remove to another district, or improve by cultivation
+the spot where they reside. The first is contrary to the inherent
+principle that teaches man to preserve life by every possible means:
+their attachment to their native soil, or rather their veneration for the
+sepulchres of their ancestors, is so strong that to remove would cost
+them a struggle almost equal to the pangs of death: necessity therefore,
+the parent of art and industry, compels them to cultivate the earth.
+
+RATE OF PRODUCE.
+
+The produce of the grounds thus tilled is reckoned at thirty for one;
+from those in the ordinary mode about a hundred fold on the average, the
+ladangs yielding about eighty, and the sawahs a hundred and twenty. Under
+favourable circumstances I am assured the rate of produce is sometimes so
+high as a hundred and forty fold. The quantity sown by a family is
+usually from five to ten bamboo measures or gallons. These returns are
+very extraordinary compared with those of our wheat-fields in Europe,
+which I believe seldom exceed fifteen, and are often under ten. To what
+is this disproportion owing? to the difference of grain, as rice may be
+in its nature extremely prolific? to the more genial influence of a
+warmer climate? or to the earth's losing by degrees her fecundity from an
+excessive cultivation? Rather than to any of these causes I am inclined
+to attribute it to the different process followed in sowing. In England
+the saving of labour and promoting of expedition are the chief objects,
+and in order to effect these the grain is almost universally scattered in
+the furrows; excepting where the drill has been introduced. The
+Sumatrans, who do not calculate the value of their own labour or that of
+their domestics on such occasions, make holes in the ground, as has been
+described, and drop into each a few grains*; or, by a process still more
+tedious, raise the seed in beds and then plant it out. Mr. Charles
+Miller, in a paper published in the Philosophical Transactions, has shown
+us the wonderful effects of successive transplantation. How far it might
+be worth the English farmer's while to bestow more labour in the business
+of sowing the grain, with the view of a proportionate increase in the
+rate of produce, I am not competent, nor is it to my present purpose, to
+form a judgment. Possibly as the advantage might be found to lie rather
+in the quantity of grain saved in the sowing than gained in the reaping,
+it would not answer his purpose; for although half the quantity of
+seed-corn bears reciprocally the same proportion to the usual produce
+that double the latter does to the usual allowance of seed, yet in point
+of profit the scale is different. To augment this it is of much more
+importance to increase the produce from a given quantity of land than to
+diminish the quantity of grain necessary for sowing it.
+
+(*Footnote. In an address from the Bath Agricultural Society dated 12th
+October 1795 it is strongly recommended to the cultivators of land (on
+account of the then existing scarcity of grain) to adopt the method of
+dibbling wheat. The holes to be made either by the common dibble, or with
+an implement having four or more points in a frame, at the distance of
+about four inches every way, and to the depth of an inch and a half;
+dropping TWO grains into every hole. The man who dibbles is to move
+backwards and to be followed by two or three women or children, who drop
+in the grains. A bush-hurdle, drawn across the furrows by a single horse,
+finishes the business. About six pecks of seed-wheat per acre are saved
+by this method. The expense of dibbling, dropping, and covering is
+reckoned in Norfolk at about six shillings per acre. Times Newspaper of
+20th October 1795.)
+
+FERTILITY OF SOIL.
+
+Notwithstanding the received opinion of the fertility of what are called
+the Malay Islands, countenanced by the authority of M. Poivre and other
+celebrated writers, and still more by the extraordinary produce of grain,
+as above stated, I cannot help saying that I think the soil of the
+western coast of Sumatra is in general rather sterile than rich. It is
+for the most part a stiff red clay, burned nearly to the state of a brick
+where it is exposed to the influence of the sun. The small proportion of
+the whole that is cultivated is either ground from which old woods have
+been recently cleared, whose leaves had formed a bed of vegetable earth
+some inches deep, or else ravines into which the scanty mould of the
+adjoining hills has been washed by the annual torrents of rain. It is
+true that in many parts of the coast there are, between the cliffs and
+the sea-beach, plains varying in breadth and extent of a sandy soil,
+probably left by the sea and more or less mixed with earth in proportion
+to the time they have remained uncovered by the waters; and such are
+found to prove the most favourable spots for raising the productions of
+other parts of the world. But these are partial and insufficient proofs
+of fertility. Every person who has attempted to make a garden of any kind
+nor Fort Marlborough must well know how ineffectual a labour it would
+prove to turn up with the spade a piece of ground adopted at random. It
+becomes necessary for this purpose to form an artificial soil of dung,
+ashes, rubbish, and such other materials as can be procured. From these
+alone he can expect to raise the smallest supply of vegetables for the
+table. I have seen many extensive plantations of coconut, pinang, lime,
+and coffee-trees, laid out at a considerable expense by different
+gentlemen, and not one do I recollect to have succeeded; owing as it
+would seem to the barrenness of the soil, although covered with long
+grass. These disappointments have induced the Europeans almost entirely
+to neglect agriculture. The more industrious Chinese colonists, who work
+the ground with indefatigable pains, and lose no opportunity of saving
+and collecting manure, are rather more successful; yet have I heard one
+of the most able cultivators among this people, who, by the dint of
+labour and perseverance, had raised what then appeared to me a delightful
+garden, designed for profit as well as pleasure, declare that his heart
+was almost broken in struggling against nature; the soil being so
+ungrateful that, instead of obtaining an adequate return for his trouble
+and expense, the undertaking was likely to render him a bankrupt; and
+which he would inevitably have been but for assistance afforded him by
+the East India Company.*
+
+(*Footnote. Some particular plants, especially the tea, Key Sun used to
+tell me he considered as his children: his first care in the morning and
+his last in the evening was to tend and cherish them. I heard with
+concern of his death soon after the first publication of this work, and
+could have wished the old man had lived to know that the above small
+tribute of attention had been paid to his merits as a gardener. In a
+letter received from the late ingenious Mr. Charles Campbell, belonging
+to the medical establishment of Fort Marlborough, whose communications I
+shall have future occasion to notice, he writes on the 29th of March
+1802: "I must not omit to say a word about my attempts to cultivate the
+land. The result of all my labours in that way was disappointment almost
+as heartbreaking as that of the unlucky Chinaman, whose example however
+did not deter me. After many vexations I descended from the plains into
+the ravines, and there met with the success denied me on the elevated
+land. In one of these, through which runs a small rivulet emptying itself
+into the lake of Dusun Besar, I attempted a plantation of coffee, where
+there are now upwards of seven thousand plants firmly rooted and putting
+out new leaves." this cultivation has since been so much increased as to
+become an important article of commerce. It should at the same time be
+acknowledged that our acquaintance with the central and eastern parts of
+the island is very imperfect, and that much fertile land may be found
+beyond the range of mountains.)
+
+The natives, it is true, without much or any cultivation raise several
+useful trees and plants; but they are in very small quantities, and
+immediately about their villages, where the ground is fertilised in spite
+of their indolence by the common sweepings of their houses and streets
+and the mere vicinity of their buildings. I have often had occasion to
+observe in young plantations that those few trees which surrounded the
+house of the owner or the hut of the keeper considerably over-topped
+their brethren of the same age. Every person at first sight, and on a
+superficial view of the Malayan countries, pronounces them the favourites
+of nature where she has lavished her bounties with a profusion unknown in
+other regions, and laments the infatuation of the people, who neglect to
+cultivate the finest soil in the world. But I have scarcely known one
+who, after a few years' residence, has not entirely altered his opinion.
+Certain it is that in point of external appearance they may challenge all
+others to comparison. In many parts of Sumatra, rarely trodden by human
+foot, scenes present themselves adapted to raise the sublimest sentiments
+in minds susceptible of the impression. But how rarely are they
+contemplated by minds of that temper! and yet it is alone:
+
+For such the rivers dash their foaming tides,
+The mountain swells, the vale subsides,
+The stately wood detains the wandering sight,
+And the rough barren rock grows pregnant with delight.
+
+Even when there ARE inhabitants, to how little purpose as it respects
+them has she been profuse in ornament! In passing through places where my
+fancy was charmed with more luxuriant, wild, and truly picturesque views
+than I had ever before met with, I could not avoid regretting that a
+country so captivating to the eye should be allotted to a race of people
+who seem totally insensible of its beauties. But it is time to return
+from this excursion and pursue the progress of the husbandman through his
+remaining labours.
+
+MODES OF THRESHING.
+
+Different nations have adopted various methods of separating the grain
+from the ear. The most ancient we read of was that of driving cattle over
+the sheaves in order to trample it out. Large planks, blocks of marble,
+heavy carriages, have been employed in later times for this end. In most
+parts of Europe the flail is now in use, but in England begins to be
+superseded by the powerful and expeditious but complicated threshing
+machine. The Sumatrans have a mode differing from all these. The bunches
+of padi in the ear being spread on mats, they rub out the grain between
+and under their feet; supporting themselves in common for the more easy
+performance of this labour by holding with their hands a bamboo placed
+horizontally over their heads. Although, by going always unshod, their
+feet are extremely callous, and therefore adapted to the exercise, yet
+the workmen when closely tasked by their masters sometimes continue
+shuffling till the blood issues from their soles. This is the universal
+practice throughout the island.
+
+After treading out or threshing the next process is to winnow the corn
+(mengirei), which is done precisely in the same manner as practised by
+us. Advantage being taken of a windy day, it is poured out from the sieve
+or fan; the chaff dispersing whilst the heavier grain falls to the
+ground. This simple mode seems to have been followed in all ages and
+countries, though now giving place, in countries where the saving of
+labour is a principal object, to mechanical contrivances.
+
+In order to clear the grain from the husk, by which operation the padi
+acquires the name of rice (bras), and loses one half of its measured
+quantity, two bamboos of the former yielding only one of the latter, it
+is first spread out in the sunshine to dry (jumur), and then pounded in
+large wooden mortars (lesung) with heavy pestles (alu) made of a hard
+species of wood, until the outer coat is completely separated from it,
+when it is again fanned. This business falls principally to the lot of
+the females of the family, two of whom commonly work at the same mortar.
+In some places (but not frequently) it is facilitated by the use of a
+lever, to the end of which a short pestle or pounder is fixed; and in
+others by a machine which is a hollow cylinder or frustum of a cone,
+formed of heavy wood, placed upon a solid block of the same diameter, the
+contiguous surfaces of each being previously cut in notches or small
+grooves, and worked backwards and forwards horizontally by two handles or
+transverse arms; a spindle fixed in the centre of the lower cylinder
+serving as an axis to the upper or hollow one. Into this the grain is
+poured, and it is thus made to perform the office of the hopper at the
+same time with that of the upper, or movable stone, in our mills. In
+working it is pressed downwards to increase the friction, which is
+sufficient to deprive the padi of its outer coating.
+
+The rice is now in a state for sale, exportation, or laying up. To render
+it perfectly clean for eating, a point to which they are particularly
+attentive, it is put a second time into a lesung of smaller size, and,
+being sufficiently pounded without breaking the grains, it is again
+winnowed by tossing it dexterously in a flat sieve until the pure and
+spotless corns are separated from every particle of bran. They next wash
+it in cold water and then proceed to boil it in the manner before
+described.
+
+RICE AS AN ARTICLE OF TRADE.
+
+As an article of trade the Sumatran rice seems to be of a more perishable
+nature than that of some other countries, the upland rice not being
+expected to keep longer than twelve months, and the lowland showing signs
+of decay after six. At Natal there is a practice of putting a quantity of
+leaves of a shrub called lagundi (Vitex trifolia) amongst it in
+granaries, or the holds of vessels, on the supposition of its possessing
+the property of destroying or preventing the generation of weevils that
+usually breed in it. In Bengal it is said the rice intended for
+exportation is steeped in hot water whilst still in the husk, and
+afterwards dried by exposure to the sun; owing to which precaution it
+will continue sound for two or three years, and is on that account
+imported for garrison store at the European settlements. If retained in
+the state of padi it will keep very long without damaging.* The country
+people lay it up unthreshed from the stalk and beat it out (as we render
+their word tumbuk) from time to time as wanted for use or sale.
+
+(*Footnote. I have in my possession specimens of a variety of species
+which were transmitted to me twelve years ago and are still perfectly
+sound.)
+
+The price of this necessary of life differs considerably throughout the
+island, not only from the circumstances of the season but according to
+the general demand at the places where it is purchased, the degree of
+industry excited by such demand, and the aptitude of the country to
+supply it. The northern parts of the coast under the influence of the
+Achinese produce large quantities; particularly Susu and Tampat-tuan,
+where it is (or used to be) purchased at the rate of thirty bamboos
+(gallons) for the Spanish dollar, and exported either to Achin or to the
+settlement of Natal for the use of the Residency of Fort Marlborough. At
+Natal also, and for the same ultimate destination, is collected the
+produce of the small island of Nias, whose industrious inhabitants,
+living themselves upon the sweet-potato (Convolvulus batatas), cultivate
+rice for exportation only, encouraged by the demand from the English and
+(what were) the Dutch factories. Not any is exported from Natal of its
+actual produce; a little from Ayer Bungi; more from the extensive but
+neglected districts of Pasaman and Masang, and many cargoes from the
+country adjacent to Padang. Our pepper settlements to the northward of
+Fort Marlborough, from Moco-moco to Laye inclusive, export each a small
+quantity, but from thence southward to Kroi supplies are required for the
+subsistence of the inhabitants, the price varying from twelve to four
+bamboos according to the season. At our head settlement the consumption
+of the civil and military establishments, the company's LABOURERS,
+together with the Chinese and Malayan settlers, so much exceeds the
+produce of the adjoining districts (although exempted from any obligation
+to cultivate pepper) that there is a necessity for importing a quantity
+from the islands of Java and Bally, and from Bengal about three to six
+thousand bags annually.*
+
+(*Footnote. This has reference to the period between 1770 and 1780
+generally. So far as respects the natives there has been no material
+alteration.)
+
+The rice called pulut or bras se-pulut (Oryza gelatinosa), of which
+mention has been made in the list above, is in its substance of a very
+peculiar nature, and not used as common food but with the addition of
+coconut-kernel in making a viscous preparation called lemang, which I
+have seen boiled in a green bamboo, and other juadahs or friandises. It
+is commonly distinguished into the white, red, and black sorts, among
+which the red appears to be the most esteemed. The black chiefly is
+employed by the Chinese colonists at Batavia and Fort Marlborough in the
+composition of a fermented liquor called bram or brum, of which the basis
+is the juice extracted from a species of palm.
+
+COCONUT.
+
+The coconut-tree, kalapa, nior (Cocos nucifera), may be esteemed the next
+important object of cultivation from the uses to which its produce is
+applied; although by the natives of Sumatra it is not converted to such a
+variety of purposes as in the Maldives and those countries where nature
+has been less bountiful in other gifts. Its value consists principally in
+the kernel of the nut, the consumption of which is very great, being an
+essential ingredient in the generality of their dishes. From this also,
+but in a state of more maturity, is procured the oil in common use near
+the sea-coast, both for anointing the hair, in cookery, and for burning
+in lamps. In the interior country other vegetable oils are employed, and
+light is supplied by a kind of links made of dammar or resin. A liquor,
+commonly known in India by the name of toddy, is extracted from this as
+well as from other trees of the palm-kind. Whilst quite fresh it is sweet
+and pleasant to the taste, and is called nira. After four and twenty
+hours it acidulates, ferments, and becomes intoxicating, in which state
+it is called tuak. Being distilled with molasses and other ingredients it
+yields the spirit called arrack. In addition to these but of trifling
+importance are the cabbage or succulent pith at the head of the tree,
+which however can be obtained only when it is cut down, and the fibres of
+the leaves, of which the natives form their brooms. The stem is never
+used for building nor any carpenter's purposes in a country where fine
+timber so much abounds. The fibrous substance of the husk is not there
+manufactured into cordage, as in the west of India where it is known by
+the name of coir; rattans and eju (a substance to be hereafter described)
+being employed for that purpose. The shell of the nut is but little
+employed as a domestic utensil, the lower class of people preferring the
+bamboo and the labu (Cucurbita lagenaria) and the better sort being
+possessed of coarse chinaware. If the filaments surrounding the stem are
+anywhere manufactured into cloth, as has been asserted, it must be in
+countries that do not produce cotton, which is a material beyond all
+comparison preferable: besides that certain kind of trees, as before
+observed, afford in their soft and pliable inner bark what may be
+considered as a species of cloth ready woven to their hands.
+
+This tree in all its species, stages, fructification, and appropriate
+uses has been so elaborately and justly described by many writers,
+especially the celebrated Rumphius in his Herbarium Amboinense, and Van
+Rheede in his Hortus Malabaricus, that to attempt it here would be an
+unnecessary repetition, and I shall only add a few local observations on
+its growth. Every dusun is surrounded with a number of fruit-bearing
+trees, and especially the coconut where the soil and temperature will
+allow them to grow, and, near the bazaars or sea-port towns, where the
+concourse of inhabitants is in general much greater than in the country,
+there are always large plantations of them to supply the extraordinary
+demand. The tree thrives best in a low, sandy soil, near the sea, where
+it will produce fruit in four or five years; whilst in the clayey ground
+it seldom bears in less than seven to ten years. As you recede from the
+coast the growth is proportionably slower, owing to the greater degree of
+cold among the hills; and it must attain there nearly its full height
+before it is productive, whereas in the plains a child can generally
+reach its first fruit from the ground. Here, said a countryman at Laye,
+if I plant a coconut or durian-tree I may expect to reap the fruit of it;
+but in Labun (an inland district) I should only plant for my
+great-grandchildren. In some parts where the land is particularly high,
+neither these, the betel-nut, nor pepper-vines, will produce fruit at
+all.
+
+It has been remarked by some writer that the date-bearing palm-tree and
+the coconut are never found to flourish in the same country. However this
+may hold good as a general assertion it is a fact that not one tree of
+that species is known to grow in Sumatra, where the latter, and many
+others of the palm kind, so much abound. All the small low islands which
+lie off the western coast are skirted near the sea-beach so thickly with
+coconut-trees that their branches touch each other, whilst the interior
+parts, though not on a higher level, are entirely free from them. This
+beyond a doubt is occasioned by the accidental floating of the nuts to
+the shore, where they are planted by the hand of nature, shoot up, and
+bear fruit; which, falling when it arrives at maturity, causes a
+successive reproduction. Where uninhabited, as is the case with Pulo
+Mego, one of the southernmost, the nuts become a prey to the rats and
+squirrels unless when occasionally disturbed by the crews of vessels
+which go thither to collect cargoes for market on the mainland. In the
+same manner, as we are told by Flacourt,* they have been thrown upon a
+coast of Madagascar and are not there indigenous; as I have been also
+assured by a native. Yet it appears that the natives call it voaniou,
+which is precisely the name by which it is familiarly known in Sumatra,
+being buah-nior; and v being uniformly substituted for b, and f for p, in
+the numerous Malayan words occurring in the language of the former
+island. On the other hand the singular production to which the
+appellation of sea-coconut (kalapa laut) has been given, and which is
+known to be the fruit of a species of borassus growing in one of the
+Seychelles Islands,** not far from Madagascar, are sometimes floated as
+far as the Malayan coasts, where they are supposed to be natives of the
+ocean and were held in high veneration for their miraculous effects in
+medicine until, about the year 1772, a large cargo of them was brought to
+Bencoolen by a French vessel, when their character soon fell with their
+price.
+
+(*Footnote. Histoire de l'isle Madagascar page 127.)
+
+(*Footnote. See a particular description of the sea-coconut with plates
+in the Voyage a la Nouvelle Guinee par Sonnerat page 3.)
+
+PINANG OR BETEL-NUT.
+
+The pinang (Areca catechu L.) or betel-nut-tree (as it is usually, but
+improperly, called, the betel being a different plant) is in its mode of
+growth and appearance not unlike the coconut. It is however straighter in
+the stem, smaller in proportion to the height, and more graceful. The
+fruit, of which the varieties are numerous (such as pinang betul, pinang
+ambun, and pinang wangi), is in its outer coat about the size of a plum;
+the nut something less than that of the nutmeg but rounder. This is eaten
+with the leaf of the sirih or betel (Piper betel L.) a claiming plant
+whose leaf has a strong aromatic flavour and other stimulating additions;
+a practice that shall be hereafter described. Of both of these the
+natives make large plantations.
+
+BAMBOO.
+
+In respect to its numerous and valuable uses the bambu or bamboo-cane
+(Arundo bambos) holds a conspicuous rank amongst the vegetables of the
+island, though I am not aware that it is anywhere cultivated for domestic
+purposes, growing wild in most parts in great abundance. In the Batta
+country, and perhaps some other inland districts, they plant a particular
+species very thickly about their kampongs or fortified villages as a
+defence against the attacks of an enemy; the mass of hedge which they
+form being almost impenetrable. It grows in common to the thickness of a
+man's leg, and some sorts to that of the thigh. The joints are from
+fifteen to twenty inches asunder, and the length about twenty to forty
+feet. In all manner of building it is the chief material, both in its
+whole state, and split into laths and otherwise, as has already appeared
+in treating of the houses of the natives; and the various other modes of
+employing it will be noticed either directly or incidentally in the
+course of the work.
+
+SUGAR-CANE.
+
+The sugar-cane (tubbu) is very generally cultivated, but not in large
+quantities, and more frequently for the sake of chewing the juicy reed,
+which they consider as a delicacy, than for the manufacture of sugar. Yet
+this is not unattended to for home consumption, especially in the
+northern districts. By the Europeans and Chinese large plantations have
+been set on foot near Bencoolen, and worked from time to time with more
+or less effect; but in no degree to rival those of the Dutch at Batavia,
+from whence in time of peace the exportation of sugar (gula), sugar-candy
+(gula batu) and arrack is very considerable. In the southern parts of the
+island, and particularly in the district of Manna, every village is
+provided with two or three machines of a peculiar construction for
+squeezing the cane; but the inhabitants are content with boiling the
+juice to a kind of syrup. In the Lampong country they manufacture from
+the liquor yielded by a species of palm-tree a moist, clammy, imperfect
+kind of sugar, called jaggri in most parts of India.*
+
+(*Footnote. This word is evidently the shakar of the Persians, the Latin
+saccharum, and our sugar.)
+
+JAGGRI.
+
+This palm, named in Sumatra anau, and by the eastern Malays gomuto, is
+the Borassus gomutus of Loureiro, the Saguerus pinnatus of the Batavian
+Transactions, and the cleophora of Gaertner. Its leaves are long and
+narrow and, though naturally tending to a point, are scarcely ever found
+perfect, but always jagged at the end. The fruit grows in bunches of
+thirty or forty together, on strings three or four feet long, several of
+which hang from one shoot. In order to procure the nira or toddy (held in
+higher estimation than that from the coconut-tree), one of these shoots
+for fructification is cut off a few inches from the stem, the remaining
+part is tied up and beaten, and an incision is then made, from which the
+liquor distils into a vessel or bamboo closely fastened beneath. This is
+replaced every twenty-four hours. The anau palm produces also (beside a
+little sago) the remarkable substance called iju and gomuto, exactly
+resembling coarse black horse-hair, and used for making cordage of a very
+excellent kind, as well as for many other purposes, being nearly
+incorruptible. It encompasses the stem of the tree, and is seemingly
+bound to it by thicker fibres or twigs, of which the natives made pens
+for writing. Toddy is likewise procured from the lontar or Borassus
+flabellifer, the tala of the Hindus.
+
+SAGO.
+
+The rambiya, puhn sagu, or proper sago tree, is also of the palm kind.
+Its trunk contains a farinaceous and glutinous pith that, being soaked,
+dried, and granulated, becomes the sago of our shops, and has been too
+frequently and accurately described (by Rumphius in particular, Volume 1
+chapters 17 and 18, and by M. Poivre) to need a repetition here.
+
+NIBONG.
+
+The nibong (Caryota urens), another species of palm, grows wild in such
+abundance as not to need cultivation. The stem is tall, slender, and
+straight, and, being of a hard texture on the outer part, it is much used
+for posts in building the slight houses of the country, as well as for
+paling of a stronger kind than the bamboo usually employed. Withinside it
+is fibrous and soft and, when hollowed out, being of the nature of a
+pipe, is well adapted to the purpose of gutters or channels to convey
+water. The cabbage, as it is termed, or pith at the head of the tree (the
+germ of the foliage) is eaten as a delicacy, and preferred to that of the
+coconut.
+
+NIPAH.
+
+The nipah (Cocos nypa, Lour.) a low species of palm, is chiefly valuable
+for its leaves, which are much used as thatch for the roofs of houses.
+The pulpy kernels of the fruit (called buah atap) are preserved as a
+sweetmeat, but are entirely without flavour.
+
+CYCAS.
+
+The paku bindu (Cycas circinalis) has the general appearance of a young,
+or rather dwarf coconut-tree, and like that and the nibong produces a
+cabbage that is much esteemed as a culinary vegetable. The tender shoots
+are likewise eaten. The stem is short and knobby, the lower part of each
+branch (if branches they may be called) prickly, and the blossom yellow.
+The term paku, applied to it by the Malays, shows that they consider it
+as partaking of the nature of the fern (filix) and Rumphius, who names it
+Sayor calappa and Olus calappoides, describes it as an arborescent
+species of osmunda. It is well depicted in Volume 1 table 22.
+
+MAIZE.
+
+The maize or turkey-corn (Zea mays), called jagong, though very generally
+sown, is not cultivated in quantities as an article of food, excepting in
+the Batta country. The ears are plucked whilst green, and, being slightly
+roasted on the embers, are eaten as a delicacy. Chili or cayenne pepper
+(capsicum), called improperly lada panjang or long pepper, and also lada
+merah, red pepper, which, in preference to the common or black pepper, is
+used in their curries and with almost every article of their food, always
+finds a place in their irregular and inartificial gardens. To these
+indeed their attention is very little directed, in consequence of the
+liberality with which nature, unsolicited, supplies their wants. Turmeric
+(curcuma) is a root of general use. Of this there are two kinds, the one
+called kunyit merah, an indispensable ingredient in their curries,
+pilaws, and sundry dishes; the other, kunyit tummu (a variety with
+coloured leaves and a black streak running along the midrib) is esteemed
+a good yellow dye, and is sometimes employed in medicine. Ginger (Amomum
+zinziber) is planted in small quantities. Of this also there are two
+kinds, alia jai (Zinziber majus) and alia padas (Zinziber minus),
+familiarly called se-pade or se-pudde, from a word signifying that
+pungent acrid taste in spices which we express by the vague term hot. The
+tummu (Costus arabicus) and lampuyang (Amomum zerumbet) are found both in
+the wild and cultivated state, being used medicinally; as is also the
+galangale (Kaempferia galanga). The coriander, called katumbar, and the
+cardamum, puah lako, grow in abundance. Of the puah (amomum) they reckon
+many species, the most common of which has very large leaves, resembling
+those of the plantain and possessing an aromatic flavour not unlike that
+of the bay tree. The jintan or cumin-seed (cuminum) is sometimes an
+ingredient in curries. Of the morunggei or kelor (Guilandina moringa L.
+Hyperanthera moringa Wilden.), a tall shrub with pinnated leaves, the
+root has the appearance, flavour, and pungency of the horse-radish, and
+the long pods are dressed as a culinary vegetable; as are also the young
+shoots of the pringgi (Cucurbita pepo) various sorts of the lapang or
+cucumber, and of the lobak or radish. The inei or henna of the Arabians
+(Lawsonia inermis) is a shrub with small light-green leaves, yielding an
+expressed juice with which the natives tinge the nails of their hands and
+feet. Ampalas (Delima sarmentosa and Ficus ampelos) is a shrub whose
+blossom resembles that of our hawthorn in appearance and smell. Its leaf
+has an extraordinary roughness, on which account it is employed to give
+the last fine polish to carvings in wood ivory, particularly the handles
+and sheaths of their krises, on which they bestow much labour. The leaf
+of the sipit also, a climbing species of fig, having the same quality, is
+put to the same use. Ganja or hemp (cannabis) is extensively cultivated,
+not for the purpose of making rope, to which they never apply it, but to
+make an intoxicating preparation called bang, which they smoke in pipes
+along with tobacco. In other parts of India a drink is prepared by
+bruising the blossoms, young leaves, and tender parts of the stalk. Small
+plantations of tobacco, which the natives call tambaku, are met with in
+every part of the country. The leaves are cut whilst green into fine
+shreds, and afterwards dried in the sun. The species is the same as the
+Virginian, and, were the quantity increased and people more expert in the
+method of curing it, a manufacture and trade of considerable importance
+might be established.
+
+PULAS TWINE.
+
+The kaluwi is a species of urtica or nettle of which excellent twine
+called pulas is made. It grows to the height of about four feet, has a
+stem imperfectly ligneous, without branches. When cut down, dried, and
+beaten, the rind is stripped off and then twisted as we do the hemp. It
+affords me great satisfaction to learn that the manufacture of rope from
+this useful plant has lately attracted the attention of the Company's
+Government, and that a considerable nursery of the kaluwi has been
+established in the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, under the zealous and
+active management of Dr. Roxburgh, who expresses his opinion that so soon
+as a method shall be discovered of removing a viscid matter found to
+adhere to the fibres the kaluwi hemp, or pulas, will supersede every
+other material. The bagu-tree (Gnetum gnemon, L.) abounds on the southern
+coast of the island, where its bark is beaten, like hemp, and the twine
+manufactured from it is employed in the construction of large fishing
+nets. The young leaves of the tree are dressed in curries. In the island
+of Nias they make a twine of the baru-tree (Hibiscus tiliaceus), which is
+afterwards woven into a coarse cloth for bags. From the pisang (musa) a
+kind of sewing-thread is procured by stripping filaments from the midribs
+of the leaves, as well as from the stem. In some places this thread is
+worked in the loom. The kratau, a dwarf species of mulberry (morus,
+foliis profunde incisis) is planted for the food of the silkworms, which
+they rear, but not to any great extent, and the raw silk produced from
+them seems of but an indifferent quality. The samples I have seen were
+white instead of yellow, in large, flat cakes, which would require much
+trouble to wind off, and the filaments appeared coarse; but this may be
+partly occasioned by the method of loosening them from the bags, which is
+by steeping them in hot water. Jarak (ricinus and Palma christi), from
+whence the castor oil is extracted, grows wild in abundance: especially
+near the sea-shore. Bijin (Sesamum indicum) is sown extensively in the
+interior districts for the oil it produces, which is there used for
+burning in place of the coconut-oil so common near the coast.
+
+ELASTIC GUM.
+
+In the description of the Urceola elastica, or caout-chouc-vine, of
+Sumatra and Pulo Pinang, by Dr. W. Roxburgh, in the Asiatic Researches
+Volume 5 page 167, he says, "For the discovery of this useful vine we
+are, I believe, indebted to Mr. Howison, late surgeon at Pulo Pinang; but
+it would appear he had no opportunity of determining its botanical
+character. To Dr. Charles Campbell of Fort Marlborough we owe the
+gratification arising from a knowledge thereof. About twelve months ago I
+received from that gentleman, by means of Mr. Fleming, very complete
+specimens, in full foliage, flower, and fruit. From these I was enabled
+to reduce it to its class and order in the Linnean system. It forms new
+genus immediately after tabernaemontana, and consequently belongs to the
+class called contortae. One of the qualities of the plants of this order
+is their yielding, on being cut, a juice which is generally milky, and
+for the most part deemed of a poisonous nature." Of another plant,
+producing a similar substance, I received the following information from
+Mr. Campbell, in a letter dated in November, 1803: "You may remember a
+trailing plant with a small yellowish flower and a seed vessel of an
+oblong form, containing one seed; the whole plant resembling much the
+caout-chouc. To this, finding it wholly nondescript, I have taken the
+liberty to attach your name. It has no relationship to a genus yielding a
+similar substance, of which I sent a specimen to Dr. Roxburgh at Bengal,
+who published an account of it under the name of urceola. It is called
+jintan by the Malays, and of its three species I have accurately
+ascertained two, the jintan itam and jintan burong, the latter very rare.
+Its leaves are of a deep glossy green, and the flowers lightly tinged
+with a pale yellow; it belongs to the tetrandria, and is a handsome
+plant--but more of this with the drawing." Unfortunately however neither
+this drawing nor any part of his valuable collection of materials for
+improving the natural history of that interesting country, which he
+bequeathed to me by his will, have yet reached my hands.
+
+GUM.
+
+Mr. Charles Miller observed in the country near Bencoolen a gum exuding
+spontaneously from the paty tree, which appeared very much to resemble
+the gum-arabic; and, as they belong to the same genus of plants, he
+thought it not improbable that this gum might be used for the same
+purposes. In the list of new species by F. Norona (Batavian Transactions
+Volume 5) he gives to the pete of Java the name of Acacia gigantea; which
+I presume to be the same plant.
+
+PULSE.
+
+Kachang is a term applied to all sorts of pulse, of which a great variety
+is cultivated; as the kachang china (Dolichos sinensis), kachang putih
+(Dolichos katjang), k. ka-karah (D. lignosus), k. kechil (Phaseolus
+radiatus), k. ka-karah gatal (Dolichos pruriens) and many others. The
+kachang tanah (Arachis hypogaea) is of a different class, being the
+granulose roots (or, according to some, the self-buried pods) of a herb
+with a yellow, papilionaceous flower, the leaves of which have some
+resemblance to the clover, but double only, and, like it, affords rice
+pasture for cattle. The seeds are always eaten fried or parched, from
+whence they obtain their common appellation of kachang goring.
+
+YAMS.
+
+The variety of roots of the yam and potato kind, under the general name
+of ubi, is almost endless; the dioscorea being generally termed ubi
+kechil (small), and the convolvulus ubi gadang (large); some of which
+latter, of the sort called at Bencoolen the China-yam, weigh as much as
+forty pounds, and are distinguished into the white and the purple. The
+fruit of the trong (melongena), of which the egg-plant is one species, is
+much eaten by the natives, split and fried. They are commonly known by
+the name of brinjals, from the beringelhas of the Portuguese.
+
+DYE-STUFFS.
+
+
+(PLATE 8. Marsdenia tinctoria, OR BROAD-LEAFED INDIGO.
+E.W. Marsden delt. Swaine fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+INDIGO.
+
+Tarum or indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) being the principal dye-stuff they
+employ, the shrub is always found in their planted spots; but they do not
+manufacture it into a solid substance, as is the practice elsewhere. The
+stalks and branches having lain for some days in water to soak and
+macerate, they then boil it, and work among it with their hands a small
+quantity of chunam (quick lime, from shells), with leaves of the paku
+sabba (a species of fern) for fixing the colour. It is afterwards drained
+off, and made use of in the liquid state.
+
+There is another kind of indigo, called in Sumatra tarum akar, which
+appears to be peculiar to that country, and was totally unknown to
+botanists to whom I showed the leaves upon my return to England in the
+beginning of the year 1780. The common kind is known to have small
+pinnated leaves growing on stalks imperfectly ligneous. This, on the
+contrary, is a vine, or climbing plant, with leaves from three to five
+inches in length, thin, of a dark green, and in the dried state
+discoloured with blue stains. It yields the same dye as the former sort;
+they are prepared also in the same manner, and used indiscriminately, no
+preference being given to the one above the other, as the natives
+informed me, excepting inasmuch as the tarum akar, by reason of the
+largeness of the foliage, yields a greater proportion of sediment.
+Conceiving it might prove a valuable plant in our colonies, and that it
+was of importance in the first instance that its identity and class
+should be accurately ascertained, I procured specimens of its
+fructification, and deposited them in the rich and extensively useful
+collection of my friend Sir Joseph Banks. In a paper on the Asclepiadeae,
+highly interesting to botanical science, communicated by Mr. Robert Brown
+(who has lately explored the vegetable productions of New Holland and
+other parts of the East) to the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, and
+printed in their Transactions, he has done me the honour of naming the
+genus to which this plant belongs, MARSDENIA, and this particular species
+Marsdenia tinctoria.*
+
+(*Footnote. 2. M. caule volubili, foliis cordatis ovato-oblongis
+acuminatis glabriusculis basi antice glandulosis, thyrsis lateralibus,
+fauce barbata. Tarram akkar Marsd. Sumat. page 78 edition 2 Hab. In
+insula Sumatra. (v.s. in Herb. Banks.))
+
+KASUMBA.
+
+Under the name of kasumba are included two plants yielding materials for
+dyeing, but very different from each other. The kasumba (simply) or
+kasumba jawa, as it is sometimes called, is the Carthamus tinctorius, of
+which the flowers are used to produce a saffron colour, as the name
+imports. The kasumba kling or galuga is the Bixa orellana, or arnotto of
+the West Indies. Of this the capsule, about an inch in length, is covered
+with soft prickles or hair, opens like a bivalve shell, and contains in
+its cavities a dozen or more seeds, the size of grape-stones, thickly
+covered with a reddish farina, which is the part that constitutes the
+dye.
+
+Sapang, the Brazil-wood, (Caesalpinia sappan), whether indigenous or not,
+is common in the Malayan countries. The heart of this being cut into
+chips, steeped for a considerable time in water, and then boiled, is used
+for dying here, as in other countries. The cloth or thread is repeatedly
+dipped in this liquid, and hung to dry between each wetting till it is
+brought to the shade required. To fix the colour alum is added in the
+boiling.
+
+Of the tree called bangkudu in some districts, and in others mangkudu
+(Morinda umbellata) the outward parts of the root, being dried, pounded,
+and boiled in water, afford a red dye, for fixing which the ashes
+procured from the stalks of the fruit and midribs of the leaves of the
+coconut are employed. Sometimes the bark or wood of the sapang tree is
+mixed with these roots. It is to be observed that another species of
+bangkudu,
+with broader leaves (Morinda citrifolia) does not yield any colouring
+matter, but is, as I apprehend, the tree commonly planted in the Malayan
+peninsula and in Pulo Pinang as a support to the pepper-vine.
+
+RED-WOOD.
+
+Ubar is a red-wood resembling the logwood (haematoxylon) of Honduras, and
+might probably be employed for the same purpose. It is used by the
+natives in tanning twine for fishing nets, and appears to be the okir or
+Tanarius major of Rumphius, Volume 3 page 192, and Jambolifera rezinoso
+of Lour. Fl. C. C. page 231. Their black dye is commonly made from the
+coats of the mangostin-fruit and of the kataping (Terminalia catappa).
+With this the blue cloth from the west of India is changed to a black, as
+usually worn by the Malays of Menangkabau. It is said to be steeped in
+mud in order to fix the colour.
+
+The roots of the chapada or champadak (Artocarpus integrifolia) cut into
+chips and boiled in water produce a yellow dye. To strengthen the tint a
+little turmeric (the kunyit tumma or variety of curcuma already spoken
+of) is mixed with it, and alum to fix it; but as the yellow does not hold
+well it is necessary that the operation of steeping and drying should be
+frequently repeated.
+
+
+CHAPTER 5.
+
+FRUITS, FLOWERS, MEDICINAL SHRUBS AND HERBS.
+
+FRUITS.
+
+Nature, says a celebrated writer,* seems to have taken a pleasure in
+assembling in the Malayan countries her most favourite productions; and
+with truth I think it may be affirmed that no region of the earth can
+boast an equal abundance and variety of indigenous fruits; for although
+the whole of those hereafter enumerated cannot be considered as such, yet
+there is reason to conclude that the greater part may, for the natives,
+who never appear to bestow the smallest labour in improving or even in
+cultivating such as they naturally possess, can hardly be suspected of
+taking the pains to import exotics. The larger number grow wild, and the
+rest are planted in a careless, irregular manner about their villages.
+
+(*Footnote. Les terres possedees par les Malais, sont en general de tres
+bonne qualite. La nature semble avoir pris plaisir d'y placer ses plus
+excellentes productions. On y voit tous les fruits delicieux que j'ai dit
+se trouver sur le territoire de Siam, et une multitude d'autres fruits
+agreables qui sont particuliers a ces isles. On y respire un air embaume
+par une multitude de fleurs agreables qui se succedent toute l'annee, et
+dont l'odeur suave penetre jusqu'a l'ame, et inspire la volupte la plus
+seduisante. Il n'est point de voyageur qui en se promenant dans les
+campagnes de Malacca, ne se sente invite a fixer son sejour dans un lieu
+si plein d'agremens, dont la nature seule a fait tous les frais. Voyages
+d'un Philosophe par M. Poivre page 56.)
+
+
+(PLATE 3. THE MANGUSTIN FRUIT, GARCINIA MANGOSTANA.
+Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+MANGUSTIN.
+
+The mangustin, called by the natives manggis and manggista (Garcinia
+mangostana, L.) is the pride of these countries, to which it exclusively
+belongs, and has, by general consent, obtained, in the opinion of
+Europeans, the pre-eminence amongst Indian fruits. Its characteristic
+quality is extreme delicacy of flavour, without being rich or luscious.
+It is a drupe of a brownish-red colour, and the size of a common apple,
+consisting of a thick rind, somewhat hard on the outside, but soft and
+succulent within, encompassing kernels which are covered with a juicy and
+perfectly white pulp, which is the part eaten, or, more properly, sucked,
+for it dissolves in the mouth. Its qualities are as innocent as they are
+grateful, and the fruit may be eaten in any moderate quantity without
+danger of surfeit, or other injurious effects. The returns of its season
+appeared to be irregular, and the periods short.
+
+DURIAN.
+
+The durian (Durio zibethinus) is also peculiar to the Malayan countries.
+It is a rich fruit but strong and even offensive in taste as well as
+smell, to those who are not accustomed to it, and of a very heating
+quality; yet the natives (and others who fall into their habits) are
+passionately addicted to it, and during the time of its continuing in
+season live almost wholly upon its luscious and cream-like pulp; whilst
+the rinds, thrown about in the bazaars, communicate their scent to the
+surrounding atmosphere. The tree is large and lofty; the leaves are small
+in proportion, but in themselves long and pointed. The blossoms grow in
+clusters on the stem and larger branches. The petals are five, of a
+yellowish-white, surrounding five branches of stamina, each bunch
+containing about twelve, and each stamen having four antherae. The
+pointal is knobbed at top. When the stamina and petal fall, the
+empalement resembles a fungus, and nearly in shape a Scot's bonnet. The
+fruit is in its general appearance not unlike the bread-fruit, but
+larger, and its coat is rougher.
+
+BREAD-FRUIT.
+
+The sutun kapas, and sukun biji or kalawi, are two species of the
+bread-fruit-tree (Artocarpus incisa). The former is the genuine, edible
+kind, without kernels, and propagated by cuttings of the roots. Though by
+no means uncommon, it is said not to be properly a native of Sumatra. The
+kalawi, on the contrary, is in great abundance, and its bark supplies the
+country people with a sort of cloth for their working dresses. The leaves
+of both species are deeply indented, like those of the fig, but
+considerably longer. The bread-fruit is cut in slices, and, being boiled
+or broiled on the fire, is eaten with sugar, and much esteemed. It cannot
+however be considered as an article of food, and I suspect that in
+quality it is inferior to the bread-fruit of the South-Sea Islands.
+
+JACK-FRUIT.
+
+The Malabaric name of jacca, or the jack-fruit, is applied both to the
+champadak or chapada (Artocarpus integrifolia, L. and Polyphema jaca,
+Lour.) and to the nangka (Artocarpus integrifolia, L. and Polyphema
+champeden, Lour). Of the former the leaves are smooth and pointed; of the
+latter they are roundish, resembling those of the cashew. This is the
+more common, less esteemed, and larger fruit, weighing, in some
+instances, fifty or sixty pounds. Both grow in a peculiar manner from the
+stem of the tree. The outer coat is rough, containing a number of seeds
+or kernels (which, when roasted, have the taste of chestnuts) inclosed in
+a fleshy substance of a rich, and, to strangers, too strong smell and
+flavour, but which gains upon the palate. When the fruit ripens the
+natives cover it with mats or the like to preserve it from injury by the
+birds. Of the viscous juice of this tree they make a kind of bird­lime:
+the yellow wood is employed for various purposes, and the root yields a
+dye-stuff.
+
+MANGO.
+
+The mango, called mangga and mampalam (Mangifera indica, L.) is well
+known to be a rich, high-flavoured fruit of the plumb kind, and is found
+here in great perfection; but there are many inferior varieties beside
+the ambachang, or Mangifera foetida, and the tais.
+
+JAMBU.
+
+Of the jambu (eugenia, L.) there are several species, among which the
+jambu merah or kling (Eugenia malaccensis) is the most esteemed for the
+table, and is also the largest. In shape it has some resemblance to the
+pear, but is not so taper near the stalk. The outer skin, which is very
+fine, is tinged with a deep and beautiful red, the inside being perfectly
+white. Nearly the whole substance is edible, and when properly ripe it is
+a delicious fruit; but otherwise, it is spongy and indigestible. In smell
+and even in taste it partakes much of the flavour of the rose; but this
+quality belongs more especially to another species, called jambu ayer
+mawar, or the rose-water jambu. Nothing can be more beautiful than the
+blossoms, the long and numerous stamina of which are of a bright pink
+colour. The tree grows in a handsome, regular, conical shape, and has
+large, deep-green, pointed leaves. The jambu ayer (Eugenia aquea) is a
+delicate and beautiful fruit in appearance, the colour being a mixture of
+white and pink; but in its flavour, which is a faint, agreeable acid, it
+does not equal the jambu merah.
+
+PLANTAIN.
+
+Of the pisang, or plantain (Musa paradisiaca, L.) the natives reckon
+above twenty varieties, including the banana of the West Indies. Among
+these the pisang amas, or small yellow plantain, is esteemed the most
+delicate; and next to that the pisang raja, pisang dingen, and pisang
+kalle.
+
+Pineapple.
+
+The nanas, or pineapple (Bromelia ananas), though certainly not
+indigenous, grows here in great plenty with the most ordinary culture.
+Some think them inferior to those produced from hothouses in England; but
+this opinion may be influenced by the smallness of their price, which
+does not exceed two or three pence. With equal attention it is probable
+they might be rendered much superior, and their variety is considerable.
+The natives eat them with salt.
+
+ORANGES.
+
+Oranges (limau manis) of many sorts, are in the highest perfection. That
+called limau japan, or Japan orange, is a fine fruit, not commonly known
+in Europe. In this the cloves adhere but slightly to each other, and
+scarcely at all to the rind, which contains an unusual quantity of the
+essential oil. The limau gadang, or pumple-nose (Citrus aurantium),
+called in the West Indies the shaddock (from the name of the captain who
+carried them thither), is here very fine, and distinguished into the
+white and red sorts. Limes or limau kapas, and lemons, limau kapas
+panjang, are in abundance. The natives enumerate also the limau langga,
+limau kambing, limau pipit, limau sindi masam, and limau sindi manis. The
+true citron, or limau karbau, is not common nor in esteem.
+
+GUAVA.
+
+The guava (Psidium pomiferum) called jambu biji, and also jambu protukal
+(for Portugal, in consequence, as we may presume, of its having been
+introduced by the people of that country) has a flavour which some
+admire, and others equally dislike. The pulp of the red sort is sometimes
+mixed with cream by Europeans, to imitate strawberries, from a fond
+partiality to the productions of their native soil; and it is not
+unusual, amidst a profusion of the richest eastern fruits, to sigh for an
+English codling or gooseberry.
+
+CUSTARD-APPLE.
+
+The siri kaya, or custard-apple (Annona squamosa), derives its name from
+the likeness which its white and rich pulp bears to a custard, and it is
+accordingly eaten with a spoon. The nona, as it is called by the natives
+(Annona reticulata), is another species of the same fruit, but not so
+grateful to the taste.
+
+PAPAW.
+
+The kaliki, or papaw (Carica papaja), is a large, substantial, and
+wholesome fruit, in appearance not unlike a smooth sort of melon, but not
+very highly flavoured. The pulp is of a reddish yellow, and the seeds,
+which are about the size of grains of pepper, have a hot taste like
+cresses. The watermelon, called here samangka (Cucurbita citrullus) is of
+very fine quality. The rock or musk-melons, are not common.
+
+TAMARIND.
+
+Tamarinds, called asam jawa, or the Javan acid, are the produce of a
+large and noble tree, with small pinnated leaves, and supply a grateful
+relief in fevers, which too frequently require it. The natives preserve
+them with salt, and use them as an acid ingredient in their curries and
+other dishes. It may be remarked that in general they are not fond of
+sweets, and prefer many of their fruits whilst green to the same in their
+ripe state.
+
+
+(PLATE 4. THE RAMBUTAN, Nephelium lappaceum.
+L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+RAMBUTAN.
+
+The rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum, L. Mant.) is in appearance not much
+unlike the fruit of the arbutus, but larger, of a brighter red, and
+covered with coarser hair or soft spines, from whence it derives its
+name. The part eaten is a gelatinous and almost transparent pulp
+surrounding the kernel, of a rich and pleasant acid.
+
+
+(PLATE 5. THE LANSEH FRUIT, Lansium domesticum.
+L. Wilkins delt. Hooker Sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+
+PLATE 6. THE RAMBEH FRUIT, A SPECIES OF LANSEH.
+Maria Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+LANSEH.
+
+The lanseh, likewise but little known to botanists, is a small oval
+fruit, of a whitish-brown colour, which, being deprived of its thin outer
+coat, divides into five cloves, of which the kernels are covered with a
+fleshy pulp, subacid, and agreeable to the taste. The skin contains a
+clammy juice, extremely bitter, and, if not stripped with care, it is apt
+to communicate its quality to the pulp. M. Correa de Serra, in les
+Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle Tome 10 page 157 plate 7, has
+given a description of the Lansium domesticum from specimens of the fruit
+preserved in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks. The chupak, ayer-ayer,
+and rambe are species or varieties of the same fruit.
+
+BLIMBING.
+
+Of the blimbing (Averrhoa carambola) a pentagonal fruit, containing five
+flattish seeds, and extremely acid, there are two sorts, called penjuru
+and besi. The leaves of the latter are small, opposite, and of a
+sap­green; those of the former grow promiscuously and are of a silver
+green. There is also the blimbing bulu (Averrhoa billimbi), or smooth
+species. Their uses are chiefly in cookery, and for purposes where a
+strong acid is required, as in cleaning the blades of their krises and
+bringing out the damask, for which they are so much admired. The cheremi
+(Averrhoa acida) is nearly allied to the blimbing besi, but the fruit is
+smaller, of an irregular shape, growing in clusters close to the branch,
+and containing each a single hard seed or stone. It is a common
+substitute for our acid fruits in tarts.
+
+KATAPING.
+
+The kataping (Terminalia catappa, L. and Juglans catappa, Lour.)
+resembles the almond both in its outer husk and the flavour of its
+kernel; but instead of separating into two parts, like the almond, it is
+formed of spiral folds, and is developed somewhat like a rosebud, but
+continuous, and not in distinct laminae.
+
+SPECIES OF CHESTNUT.
+
+The barangan (a species of fagus) resembles the chestnut. The tree is
+large, and the nuts grow sometimes one, two, and three in a husk. The
+jerring, a species of mimosa, resembles the same fruit, but is larger and
+more irregularly shaped than the barangan. The tree is smaller. The tapus
+(said to be a new genus belonging to the tricoccae) has likewise some
+analogy, but more distant, to the chestnut. There are likewise three nuts
+in one husk, forming in shape an oblong spheroid. If eaten unboiled they
+are said to inebriate. The tree is large.
+
+
+(PLATE 7. THE KAMILING OR BUAH KRAS, Juglans camirium.
+L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+KAMILING.
+
+The fruit named kamiri, kamiling, and more commonly buah kras, or the
+hard fruit (Camirium cordifolium, Gaert. and Juglans camirium, Lour.)
+bears much resemblance to the walnut in the flavour and consistence of
+the kernel; but the shell is harder and does not open in the same manner.
+The natives of the hills make use of it as a substitute for the coconut,
+both in their cookery and for procuring a delicate oil.
+
+RATTAN.
+
+The rotan salak (Calamus zalacca, Gaert.) yields a fruit, the pulp of
+which is sweetish, acidulous, and pleasant. Its outer coat, like those of
+the other rotans, is covered with scales, or the appearance of nice
+basket-work. It incloses sometimes one, two, and three kernels, of a
+peculiar horny substance.
+
+CASHEW.
+
+The cashew-apple and nut, called jambu muniet, or monkey-jambu
+(Anacardium occidentale), are well known for the strong acidity of the
+former, and the caustic quality of the oil contained in the latter, from
+tasting which the inexperienced often suffer.
+
+POMEGRANATE.
+
+The pomegranate or dalima (Punica granatum) flourishes here, as in all
+warm climates.
+
+GRAPES, ETC.
+
+Grape-vines are planted with success by Europeans for their tables, but
+not cultivated by the people of the country. There is found in the woods
+a species of wild grape, called pringat (Vitis indica); and also a
+strawberry, the blossom of which is yellow, and the fruit has little
+flavour. Beside these there are many other, for the most part wild,
+fruits, of which some boast a fine flavour, and others are little
+superior to our common berries, but might be improved by culture. Such
+are the buah kandis, a variety of garcinia (it should be observed that
+buah, signifying fruit, is always prefixed to the particular name), buah
+malaka (Phyllanthus emblica), rukam (Carissa spinarum), bangkudu or
+mangkudu (Morinda citrifolia), sikaduduk (melastoma), kitapan (Callicarpa
+japonica).
+
+FLOWERS.
+
+"You breathe in the country of the Malays (says the writer before quoted)
+an air impregnated with the odours of innumerable flowers of the greatest
+fragrance, of which there is a perpetual succession throughout the year,
+the sweet flavour of which captivates the soul, and inspires the most
+voluptuous sensations." Although this luxurious picture may be drawn in
+too-warm tints it is not however without its degree of justness. The
+people of the country are fond of flowers in the ornament of their
+persons, and encourage their growth, as well as that of various
+odoriferous shrubs and trees.
+
+KANANGA.
+
+The kananga (Uvaria cananga, L.) being a tree of the largest size,
+surpassed by few in the forest, may well take the lead, on that account,
+in a description of those which bear flowers. These are of a greenish
+yellow, scarcely distinguishable from the leaves, among which the bunches
+hang down in a peculiar manner. About sunset, if the evening be calm,
+they diffuse a fragrance around that affects the sense at the distance of
+some hundred yards.
+
+CHAMPAKA.
+
+Champaka (Michelia champaca). This tree grows in a regular, conical
+shape, and is ornamental in gardens. The flowers are a kind of small
+tulip, but close and pointed at top; their colour a deep yellow, the
+scent strong, and at a distance agreeable. They are wrapped in the folds
+of the hair, both by the women, and by young men who aim at gallantry.
+
+TANJONG.
+
+Bunga tanjong (Mimusops elengi, L.) A fair tree, rich in foliage, of a
+dark green; the flowers small, radiated, of a yellowish white, and worn
+in wreaths by the women; their scent, though exquisite at a distance, is
+too powerful when brought nigh. The fruit is a drupe, containing a large
+blackish flatted seed.
+
+GARDENIA.
+
+Sangklapa (Gardenia flore simplice). A handsome shrub with leaves of very
+deep green, long-pointed; the flowers a pure white, without visible
+stamina or pistil, the petals standing angularly to each other. It has
+little or no scent. The pachah-piring (Gardenia florida, described by
+Rumphius under the name of catsjopiri) is a grand white double flower,
+emitting a pleasing and not powerful odour.
+
+HIBISCUS.
+
+The bunga raya (Hibiscus rosa sinensis) is a well-known shrub, with
+leaves of a yellowish green, serrated and curled. Of one sort the flower
+is red, yielding a juice of deep purple, and when applied to leather
+produces a bright black, from whence its vulgar name of the shoe-flower.
+Of another sort the blossom is white. They are without smell.
+
+PLUMERIA.
+
+Bunga or kumbang kamboja (Plumeria obtusa) is likewise named bunga
+kubur-an, from its being always planted about graves. The flower is
+large, white, yellow towards the centre, consisting of five simple,
+smooth,
+thick petals, without visible pistil or stamina, and yielding a strong
+scent. The leaf of the tree is long, pointed, of a deep green, remarkable
+in this, that round the fibres proceeding from the midrib run another set
+near the edge, forming a handsome border. The tree grows in a stunted,
+irregular manner, and even whilst young has a venerable antique
+appearance.
+
+NYCTANTHES.
+
+The bunga malati and bunga malur (Nyctanthes sambac) are different names
+for the same humble plant, called mugri in Bengal. It bears a pretty
+white flower, diffusing a more exquisite fragrance, in the opinion of
+most persons, than any other of which the country boasts. It is much worn
+by the females; sometimes in wreaths, and various combinations, along
+with the bunga tanjong, and frequently the unblown buds are strung in
+imitation of rows of pearls. It should be remarked that the appellative
+bunga, or flower, (pronounced bungo in the south-western parts of
+Sumatra), is almost ever prefixed to the proper name, as buah is to
+fruits. There is also the malati china (Nyctanthes multiflora); the
+elegant bunga malati susun (Nyctanthes acuminata).
+
+PERGULARIA.
+
+And the celebrated bunga tonking (Pergularia odoratissima), whose
+fascinating sweets have been widely dispersed in England by the
+successful culture and liberal participation of Sir Joseph Banks. At
+Madras it obtained the appellation of West-coast, i.e. Sumatran, creeper,
+which marks the quarter from whence it was obtained. At Bencoolen the
+same appellation is familiarly applied to the bunga tali-tali (Ipomoea
+quamoclit), a beautiful, little, monopetalous flower, divided into five
+angular segments, and closing at sunset. From its bright crimson colour
+it received from Rumphius the name of Flos cardinalis. The plant is a
+luxuriant creeper, with a hairlike leaf.
+
+Pavetta indica, ETC.
+
+The angsuka, or bunga jarum-jarum (Pavetta indica), obtained from
+Rumphius, on account of the glowing red colour of its long calices, the
+name of flamma sylvarum peregrina. The bunga marak (Poinciana
+pulcherrima) is a most splendid flower, the colours being a mixture of
+yellow and scarlet, and its form being supposed to resemble the crest of
+the peacock, from whence its Malayan name, which Rumphius translated. The
+nagasari (Calophyllum nagassari) bears a much admired blossom, well known
+in Bengal; but in the upper parts of India, called nagakeh­sir, and in
+the Batavian Transactions Acacia aurea. The bakong, or salandap (Crinum
+asiaticum), is a plant of the lily kind, with six large, white,
+turbinated petals of an agreeable scent. It grows wild near the beach
+amongst those plants which bind the loose sands. Another and beautiful
+species of the bakong has a deep shade of purple mixed with the white.
+The kachubong (Datura metel) appears also to flourish mostly by the
+seaside. It bears a white infundibuliform flower, rather pentagonal than
+round, with a small hook at each angle. The leaves are dark green,
+pointed, broad and unequal at the bottom. The fruit is shaped like an
+apple, very prickly, and full of small seeds. Sundal malam or harlot of
+the night (Polyanthes tuberosa) is so termed from the circumstance of its
+diffusing its sweet odours at that season. It is the tuberose of our
+gardens, but growing with great vigour and luxuriance. The bunga mawur
+(Rosa semperflorens, Curtis, Number 284), is small and of a deep crimson
+colour. Its scent is delicate and by no means so rich as that yielded by
+the roses of our climate. The Amaranthus cristatus (Celosia castrensis,
+L.) is probably a native, being found commonly in the interior of the
+Batta country, where strangers have rarely penetrated. The various
+species of this genus are called by the general name of bayam, of which
+some are edible, as before observed.
+
+PANDAN.
+
+Of the pandan (pandanus), a shrub with very long prickly leaves, like
+those of the pineapple or aloe, there are many varieties, of which some
+are highly fragrant, particularly the pandan wangi (Pandanus
+odoratissima, L.), which produces a brownish white spath or blossom, one
+or two feet in length. This the natives shred fine and wear about their
+persons. The pandan pudak, or keura of Thunberg, which is also fragrant,
+I have reason to believe the same as the wangi. The common sort is
+employed for hedging and called caldera by Europeans in many parts of
+India. In the Nicobar islands it is cultivated and yields a fruit called
+the melori, which is one of the principle articles of food.
+
+EPIDENDRA.
+
+Bunga anggrek (epidendrum). The species or varieties of this remarkable
+tribe of parasitical plants are very numerous, and may be said to exhibit
+a variety of loveliness. Kaempfer describes two kinds by the names of
+angurek warna and katong'ging; the first of which I apprehend to be the
+anggrek bunga putri (Angraecum scriptum, R.) and the other the anggrek
+kasturi (Angraecum moschatum, R.) or scorpion-flower, from its resembling
+that insect, as the former does the butterfly. The musky scent resides at
+the extremity of the tail.*
+
+(*Footnote. Habetur haec planta apud Javanos in deliciis et magno studio
+colitur; tum ob floris eximium odorem, quem spirat, moschi, tum ob
+singularem elegantiam et figuram scorpionis, quam exhibet...spectaculo
+sane jocundissimo, ut negem quicquam elegantius et admiratione dignius in
+regno vegetabili me vidisse...Odorem flos moschi exquisitissimum atque
+adeo copiosum spargit, ut unicus stylus floridus totum conclave impleat.
+Qui vero odor, quod maxi me mireris, in extrema parte petali caudam
+referentis, residet; qua abicissa, omnis cessat odoris expiratio. Amoen
+exoticae, page 868.)
+
+WATER-LILIES, ETC.
+
+The bunga tarati or seruja (Nymphaea nelumbo) as well as several other
+beautiful kinds of aquatic plants are found upon the inland waters of
+this country. Daun gundi or tabung bru (Nepenthes destillatoria) can
+scarcely be termed a flower, but is a very extraordinary climbing plant.
+From the extremity of the leaf a prolongation of the mid-rib, resembling
+the tendril of a vine, terminates in a membrane formed like a tankard
+with the lid or valve half opened; and growing always nearly erect, it is
+commonly half full of pure water from the rain or dews. This monkey-cup
+(as the Malayan name implies) is about four or five inches long and an
+inch in diameter. Giring landak (Crotalaria retusa) is a papilionaceous
+flower resembling the lupin, yellow, and tinged at the extremities with
+red. From the rattling of its seed in the pod it obtains its name, which
+signifies porcupine-bells, alluding to the small bells worn about the
+ankles of children. The daup (bauhinia) is a small, white, semiflosculous
+flower, with a faint smell. The leaves alone attract notice, being
+double, as if united by a hinge, and this peculiarity suggested the
+Linnean name, which was given in compliment to two brothers of the name
+of Bauhin, celebrated botanists, who always worked conjointly.
+
+To the foregoing list, in every respect imperfect, many interesting
+plants might be added by an attentive and qualified observer. The natives
+themselves have a degree of botanical knowledge that surprises Europeans.
+They are in general, and at a very early age, acquainted not only with
+the names, but the properties of every shrub and herb amongst that
+exuberant variety with which the island is clothed. They distinguish the
+sexes of many plants and trees, and divide several of the genera into as
+many species as our professors. Of the paku or fern I have had specimens
+brought to me of twelve sorts, which they told me were not the whole, and
+to each they gave a distinct name.
+
+MEDICINAL HERBS.
+
+Some of the shrubs and herbs employed medicinally are as follows.
+Scarcely any of them are cultivated, being culled from the woods or
+plains as they happen to be wanted.
+
+Lagundi (Vitex trifolia, L.) The botanic characters of this shrub are
+well known. The leaves, which are bitter and pungent rather than
+aromatic, are considered as a powerful antiseptic, and are employed in
+fevers in the place of Peruvian bark. They are also put into granaries
+and among cargoes of rice to prevent the destruction of the grain by
+weevils.
+
+Katupong resembles the nettle in growth, in fruit the blackberry. I have
+not been able to identify it. The leaf, being chewed, is used in dressing
+small fresh wounds.
+
+Siup, a kind of wild fig, is applied to the scurf or leprosy of the Nias
+people, when not inveterate.
+
+Sikaduduk (melastoma) has the appearance of a wild rose. A decoction of
+its leaves is used for the cure of a disorder in the sole of the foot,
+called maltus, resembling the impetigo or ringworm.
+
+Ampadu-bruang or bear's gall (brucea, foliis serratis) is the lussa raja
+of Rumphius, excessively bitter, and applied in infusion for the relief
+of disorders in the bowels.
+
+Kabu (unknown). Of this the bark and root are used for curing the kudis
+or itch, by rubbing it on the part affected.
+
+Marampuyan (a new genus). The young shoots of this, being supposed to
+have a refreshing and corroborating quality, are rubbed over the body and
+limbs after violent fatigue.
+
+Mali-mali (unknown). The leaf of this plant, which bears a white
+umbellated blossom, is applied to reduce swellings.
+
+Chapo (Conyza balsamifera) resembles the sage (salvia) in colour, smell,
+taste, and qualities, but grows to the height of six feet, has a long
+jagged leaf, and its blossom resembles that of groundsel.
+
+Murribungan (unknown). The leaves of this climber are broad, roundish,
+and smooth. The juice of its stalk is applied to heal excoriations of the
+tongue.
+
+Ampi-ampi (unknown). A climbing plant with leaves resembling the box, and
+a small flosculous blossom. It is used as a medicine in fevers.
+
+Kadu (species of piper), with a leaf in shape and taste resembling the
+betel. It is burned to preserve children newly born from the influence of
+evil spirits.
+
+Gumbai (unknown). A shrub with monopetalous, stillated, purple flowers,
+growing in tufts. The leaves are used in disorders of the bowels.
+
+Tabulan bukan (unknown). A shrub bearing a semiflosculous blossom,
+applied to the cure of sore eyes.
+
+Kachang prang (Dolichos ensiformis). The pods of this are of a huge size,
+and the beans, of a fine crimson colour, are used in diseases of the
+pleura.
+
+Sipit, a species of fig, with a large oval leaf, rough to the touch, and
+rigid. An infusion of it is swallowed in iliac affections.
+
+Daun se-dingin (Cotyledon laciniata). This leaf, as the name denotes, is
+of a remarkably cold quality. It is applied to the forehead to cure the
+headache, and sometimes to the body in fevers.
+
+Long pepper (Piper longum) is used medicinally.
+
+Turmeric, also, mixed with rice reduced to powder and then formed into a
+paste, is much used outwardly in cases of colds and pains in the bones;
+and chunam or quick-lime is likewise commonly rubbed on parts of the body
+affected with pain.
+
+In the cure of the kura or boss (from the Portuguese word baco), which is
+an obstruction of the spleen, forming a hard lump in the upper part of
+the abdomen, a decoction of the following plants is externally applied:
+sipit tunggul; madang tandok (a new genus, highly aromatic); ati ayer
+(species of arum ?) tapa besi; paku tiong (a most beautiful fern, with
+leaves like a palm; genus not ascertained); tapa badak (a variety of
+callicarpa); laban (Vitex altissima); pisang ruko (species of musa); and
+paku lamiding (species of polypodium ?); together with a juice extracted
+from the akar malabatei (unknown).
+
+In the cure of the kurap, tetter or ringworm, they apply the daun
+galinggan (Cassia quadri-alata) a herbaceous shrub with large pinnated
+leaves and a yellow blossom. In the more inveterate cases, barangan
+(coloured arsenic, or orpiment), a strong poison, is rubbed in.
+
+The milky exsudation from the sudu-sudu (Euphorbia neriifolia) is valued
+highly by the natives for medicinal purposes. Its leaves eaten by sheep
+or goats occasion present death.
+
+UPAS TREE.
+
+On the subject of the puhn upas or poison tree (Arbor toxicaria, R.), of
+whose properties so extraordinary an account was published in the London
+Magazine for September 1785 by Mr. N.P. Foersch, a surgeon in the service
+of the Dutch East India Company, at that time in England, I shall quote
+the observations of the late ingenious Mr. Charles Campbell, of the
+medical establishment at Fort Marlborough. "On my travels in the country
+at the back of Bencoolen I found the upas tree, about which so many
+ridiculous tales have been told. Some seeds must by this time have
+arrived in London in a packet I forwarded to Mr. Aiton at Kew. The poison
+is certainly deleterious, but not in so terrific a degree as has been
+represented. Some of it in an inspissated state you will receive by an
+early opportunity. As to the tree itself, it does no manner of injury to
+those around it. I have sat under its shade, and seen birds alight upon
+its branches; and as to the story of grass not growing beneath it,
+everyone who has been in a forest must know that grass is not found in
+such situations." For further particulars respecting this poison-tree,
+which has excited so much interest, the reader is referred to Sir George
+Staunton's Account of Lord Macartney's Embassy Volume 1 page 272; to
+Pennant's Outlines of the Globe Volume 4 page 42, where he will find a
+copy of Foersch's original narrative; and to a Dissertation by Professor
+C.P. Thunberg upon the Arbor toxicaria Macassariensis, in the Mem. of the
+Upsal Acad. for 1788. The information given by Rumphius upon the subject
+of the Ipo or Upas, in his Herb. Amboin. Volume 2 page 263, will also be
+perused with satisfaction.* It is evident that some of the exaggerated
+stories related to him by the people of Celebes (the plant not being
+indigenous at Amboina) suggested to Mr. Foersch, the fables with which he
+amused the world.
+
+(*Footnote. Since the above was written I have seen the Dissertation sur
+les Effets d'un Poison de Java, appele Upas tieute, etc.; presentee a la
+Faculte de Medicine de Paris le 6 Juillet 1809, par M. Alire
+Raffeneau-Delile, in which he details a set of curious and interesting
+experiments on this very active poison, made with specimens brought from
+Java by M. Leschenault; and also a second dissertation, in manuscript
+(presented to the Royal Society), upon the effects of similar experiments
+made with what he terms the upas antiar. The former he states to be a
+decoction or extract from the bark of the roots of a climbing plant of
+the genus strychnos, called tieute by the natives of Java; and the latter
+to be a milky, bitter, and yellowish juice, running from an incision in
+the bark of a large tree (new genus) called antiar; the word upas
+meaning, as M. Leschenault understands, vegetable poison of any kind. A
+small branch of the puhn upas, with some of the poisonous gum, was
+brought to England in 1806 by Dr. Roxburgh, who informed Mr. Lambert that
+a plant of it which he had procured from Sumatra was growing rapidly in
+the Company's Botanic Garden at Calcutta. A specimen of the gum, by the
+favour of the latter gentleman, is in my possession.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 6.
+
+BEASTS.
+REPTILES.
+FISH.
+BIRDS.
+INSECTS.
+
+BEASTS.
+
+The animal kingdom claims attention, but, the quadrupeds of the island
+being in general the same as are found elsewhere throughout the East,
+already well described, I shall do little more than furnish a list of
+those which have occurred to my notice; adding a few observations on such
+as may appear to require them.
+
+BUFFALO.
+
+The karbau, or buffalo, constituting a principal part of the food of the
+natives, and, being the only animal employed in their domestic labours,
+it is proper that I should enter into some detail of its qualities and
+uses; although it may be found not to differ materially from the buffalo
+of Italy, and to be the same with that of Bengal. The individuals of the
+species, as is the case with other domesticated cattle, differ extremely
+from each other in their degree of perfection, and a judgment is not to
+be formed of the superior kinds, from such as are usually furnished as
+provision to the ships from Europe. They are distinguished into two
+sorts; the black and the white. Both are equally employed in work, but
+the latter is seldom killed for food, being considered much inferior in
+quality, and by many as unwholesome, occasioning the body to break out in
+blotches. If such be really the effect, it may be presumed that the light
+flesh-colour is itself the consequence of some original disorder, as in
+the case of those of the human species who are termed white negroes. The
+hair upon this sort is extremely thin, scarcely serving to cover the
+hide; nor have the black buffaloes a coat like the cattle of England. The
+legs are shorter than those of the ox, the hoofs larger, and the horns
+are quite peculiar, being rather square or flat than round, excepting
+near the extremities; and whether pointing backward, as in general, or
+forwards, as they often do, are always in the plane of the forehead, and
+not at an angle, as those of the cow-kind. They contain much solid
+substance, and are valuable in manufacture. The tail hangs down to the
+middle joint of the leg only, is small, and terminates in a bunch of
+hair. The neck is thick and muscular, nearly round, but somewhat flatted
+at top, and has little or no dewlap dependant from it. The organ of
+generation in the male has an appearance as if the extremity were cut
+off. It is not a salacious animal. The female goes nine months with calf,
+which it suckles during six, from four teats. When crossing a river it
+exhibits the singular sight of carrying its young one on its back. It has
+a weak cry, in a sharp tone, very unlike the lowing of oxen. The most
+part of the milk and butter required for the Europeans (the natives not
+using either) is supplied by the buffalo, and its milk is richer than
+that of the cow, but not yielded in equal quantity. What these latter
+produce is also very small compared with the dairies of Europe. At
+Batavia, likewise, we are told that their cows are small and lean, from
+the scantiness of good pasture, and do not give more than about an
+English quart of milk, sixteen of which are required to make a pound of
+butter.
+
+The inland people, where the country is tolerably practicable, avail
+themselves of the strength of this animal to draw timber felled in the
+woods: the Malays and other people on the coast train them to the draft,
+and in many places to the plough. Though apparently of a dull, obstinate,
+capricious nature, they acquire from habit a surprising docility, and are
+taught to lift the shafts of the cart with their horns, and to place the
+yoke, which is a curved piece of wood attached to the shafts, across
+their necks; needing no further harness than a breast-band, and a string
+that is made to pass through the cartilage of the nostrils. They are
+also, for the service of Europeans, trained to carry burdens suspended
+from each side of a packsaddle, in roads, or rather paths, where
+carriages cannot be employed. It is extremely slow, but steady in its
+work. The labour it performs, however, falls short of what might be
+expected from its size and apparent strength, any extraordinary fatigue,
+particularly during the heat of the day, being sufficient to put a period
+to its life, which is at all times precarious. The owners frequently
+experience the loss of large herds, in a short space of time, by an
+epidemic distemper, called bandung (obstruction), that seizes them
+suddenly, swells their bodies, and occasions, as it is said, the serum of
+the blood to distil through the tubes of the hairs.
+
+The luxury of the buffalo consists in rolling itself in a muddy pool,
+which it forms, in any spot, for its convenience, during the rainy
+season. This it enjoys in a high degree, dexterously throwing with its
+horn the water and slime, when not of a sufficient depth to cover it,
+over its back and sides. Their blood is perhaps of a hot temperature,
+which may render this indulgence, found to be quite necessary to their
+health, so desirable to their feelings; and the mud, at the same time,
+forming a crust upon their bodies, preserves them from the attack of
+insects, which otherwise prove very troublesome. Their owners light fires
+for them in the evening, in order that the smoke may have the same
+effect, and they have the instinctive sagacity to lay themselves down to
+leeward, that they may enjoy its full benefit.
+
+Although common in every part of the country, they are not understood to
+exist in the proper wild or indigenous state, those found in the woods
+being termed karbau jalang, or stray buffaloes, and considered as the
+subject of property; or if originally wild, they may afterwards, from
+their use in labour and food, have been all caught and appropriated by
+degrees. They are gregarious, and usually found in large numbers
+together, but sometimes met with singly, when they are more dangerous to
+passengers. Like the turkey and some other animals they have an antipathy
+to a red colour, and are excited by it to mischief. When in a state of
+liberty they run with great swiftness, keeping pace with the speed of an
+ordinary horse. Upon an attack or alarm they fly to a short distance, and
+then suddenly face about and draw up in battle-array with surprising
+quickness and regularity; their horns being laid back, and their muzzles
+projecting. Upon the nearer approach of the danger that presses on them
+they make a second flight, and a second time halt and form; and this
+excellent mode of retreat, which but few nations of the human race have
+attained to such a degree of discipline as to adopt, they continue till
+they gain the fastnesses of a neighbouring wood. Their principal foe,
+next to man, is the tiger; but only the weaker sort, and the females fall
+a certain prey to this ravager, as the sturdy male buffalo can support
+the first vigorous stroke from the tiger's paw, on which the fate of the
+battle usually turns.
+
+COW.
+
+The cow, called sapi (in another dialect sampi) and jawi, is obviously a
+stranger to the country, and does not appear to be yet naturalized. The
+bull is commonly of what is termed the Madagascar breed, with a large
+hump upon the shoulders, but from the general small size of the herds I
+apprehend that it degenerates, from the want of good pasture, the
+spontaneous production of the soil being too rank.
+
+THE HORSE.
+
+The horse, kuda: the breed is small, well made, and hardy. The country
+people bring them down in numbers for sale in nearly a wild state;
+chiefly from the northward. In the Batta country they are eaten as food;
+which is a custom also amongst the people of Celebes.
+
+SHEEP, ETC.
+
+Sheep, biri-biri and domba: small breed, introduced probably from Bengal.
+
+
+(PLATE 11a. n.2.
+1. SKULL OF THE KAMBING-UTAN.
+2. SKULL OF THE KIJANG.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.)
+
+
+(PLATE 14. n.1. THE KAMBING-UTAN, OR WILD-GOAT.
+W. Bell delt.)
+
+
+Goat, kambing: beside the domestic species, which is in general small and
+of a light brown colour, there is the kambing utan, or wild goat. One
+which I examined was three feet in height, and four in the length of the
+body. It had something of the gazelle in its appearance, and, with the
+exception of the horns, which were about six inches long and turned back
+with an arch, it did not much resemble the common goat. The hinder parts
+were shaped like those of a bear, the rump sloping round off from the
+back; the tail was very small, and ended in a point; the legs clumsy; the
+hair along the ridge of the back rising coarse and strong, almost like
+bristles; no beard; over the shoulder was a large spreading tuft of
+greyish hair; the rest of the hair black throughout; the scrotum
+globular. Its disposition seemed wild and fierce, and it is said by the
+natives to be remarkably swift.
+
+Hog, babi: that breed we call Chinese.
+
+The wild hog, babi utan.
+
+Dog, anjing: those brought from Europe lose in a few years their
+distinctive qualities, and degenerate at length into the cur with erect
+ears, kuyu, vulgarly called the pariah dog. An instance did not occur of
+any one going mad during the period of my residence. Many of them are
+affected with a kind of gonorrhoea.
+
+
+(PLATE 11. n.1. THE ANJING-AYER, Mustela lutra.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.)
+
+
+(PLATE 13a. n.2. THE ANJING-AYER.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+Otter, anjing ayer (Mustela lutra).
+
+Cat, kuching: these in every respect resemble our common domestic cat,
+excepting that the tails of all are more or less imperfect, with a knob
+or hardness at the end, as if they had been cut or twisted off. In some
+the tail is not more than a few inches in length, whilst in others it is
+so nearly perfect that the defect can be ascertained only by the touch.
+
+Rat, tikus: of the grey kind.
+
+Mouse, tikus kechil.
+
+ELEPHANT.
+
+Elephant, gajah: these huge animals abound in the woods, and from their
+gregarious habits usually traversing the country in large troops
+together, prove highly destructive to the plantations of the inhabitants,
+obliterating the traces of cultivation by merely walking through the
+grounds; but they are also fond of the produce of their gardens,
+particularly of plantain-trees and the sugar-cane, which they devour with
+eagerness. This indulgence of appetite often proves fatal to them, for
+the owners, knowing their attachment to these vegetables, have a practice
+of poisoning some part of the plantation, by splitting the canes and
+putting yellow arsenic into the clefts which the animal unwarily eats of,
+and dies. Not being by nature carnivorous, the elephants are not fierce,
+and seldom attack a man but when fired at or otherwise provoked.
+Excepting a few kept for state by the king of Achin, they are not tamed
+in any part of the island.
+
+RHINOCEROS.
+
+The rhinoceros, badak, both that with a single horn and the double-horned
+species, are natives of these woods. The latter has been particularly
+described by the late ingenious Mr. John Bell (one of the pupils of Mr.
+John Hunter) in a paper printed in Volume 83 of the Philosophical
+Transactions for 1793. The horn is esteemed an antidote against poison,
+and on that account formed into drinking cups. I do not know anything to
+warrant the stories told of the mutual antipathy and the desperate
+encounters of these two enormous beasts.
+
+HIPPOPOTAMUS.
+
+Hippopotamus, kuda ayer: the existence of this quadruped in the island of
+Sumatra having been questioned by M. Cuvier, and not having myself
+actually seen it, I think it necessary to state that the immediate
+authority upon which I included it in the list of animals found there was
+a drawing made by Mr. Whalfeldt, an officer employed on a survey of the
+coast, who had met with it at the mouth of one of the southern rivers,
+and transmitted the sketch along with his report to the government, of
+which I was then secretary. Of its general resemblance to that well-known
+animal there could be no doubt. M. Cuvier suspects that I may have
+mistaken for it the animal called by naturalists the dugong, and vulgarly
+the sea-cow, which will be hereafter mentioned; and it would indeed be a
+grievous error to mistake for a beast with four legs, a fish with two
+pectoral fins serving the purposes of feet; but, independently of the
+authority I have stated, the kuda ayer, or river-horse, is familiarly
+known to the natives, as is also the duyong (from which Malayan word the
+dugong of naturalists has been corrupted); and I have only to add that,
+in a register given by the Philosophical Society of Batavia in the first
+Volume of their Transactions for 1799, appears the article "couda aijeer,
+rivier paard, hippopotamus" amongst the animals of Java.
+
+BEAR, ETC.
+
+Bear, bruang: generally small and black: climbs the coconut-trees in
+order to devour the tender part or cabbage.
+
+
+(PLATE 12. n.1. THE PALANDOK, A DIMINUTIVE SPECIES OF MOSCHUS.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.)
+
+
+(PLATE 12a. n.2. THE KIJANG OR ROE, Cervus muntjak.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+Of the deer kind there are several species: rusa, the stag, of which some
+are very large; kijang, the roe, with unbranched horns, the emblem of
+swiftness and wildness with the Malayan poets; palandok, napu, and
+kanchil, three varieties, of which the last is the smallest, of that most
+delicate animal, termed by Buffon the chevrotin, but which belong to the
+moschus. Of a kanchil measured at Batavia the extreme length was sixteen
+inches, and the height ten behind, and eight at the shoulder.
+
+Babi-rusa, or hog-deer: an animal of the hog kind, with peculiar tusks
+resembling horns. Of this there is a representation in Valentyn, Volume 3
+page 268 fig. c., and also in the very early travels of Cosmas, published
+in Thevenot's Collect. Volume 1 page 2 of the Greek Text.
+
+The varieties of the monkey tribe are innumerable: among them the best
+known are the muniet, karra, bru, siamang (or simia gibbon of Buffon),
+and lutong. With respect to the appellation of orang utan, or wild man,
+it is by no means specific, but applied to any of these animals of a
+large size that occasionally walks erect, and bears the most resemblance
+to the human figure.
+
+Sloth, ku-kang, ka-malas-an (Lemur tardigradus).
+
+Squirrel, tupei; usually small and dark-coloured.
+
+Teleggo, stinkard.
+
+TIGER.
+
+Tiger, arimau, machang: this beast is here of a very large size, and
+proves a destructive foe to man as well as to most other animals. The
+heads being frequently brought in to receive the reward given by the East
+India Company for killing them, I had an opportunity of measuring one,
+which was eighteen inches across the forehead. Many circumstances
+respecting their ravages, and the modes of destroying them, will occur in
+the course of the work.
+
+Tiger-cat, kuching-rimau (said to feed on vegetables as well as flesh).
+
+Civet-cat, tanggalong (Viverra civetta): the natives take the civet, as
+they require it for use, from a peculiar receptacle under the tail of the
+animal. It appears from the Ayin Akbari (Volume 1 page 103) that the
+civet used at Delhi was imported from Achin.
+
+
+(PLATE 9a. THE MUSANG, A SPECIES OF VIVERRA.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+Polecat, musang (Viverra fossa, or a new species).
+
+
+(PLATE 13. n.1. THE LANDAK, Hystrix longicauda.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+Porcupine (Hystrix longicauda) landak, and, for distinction, babi landak.
+
+Hedgehog (erinaceus) landak.
+
+
+(PLATE 10. THE TANGGILING OR PENG-GOLING-SISIK, A SPECIES OF MANIS.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+PENG-GOLING.
+
+Peng-goling, signifying the animal which rolls itself up; or pangolin of
+Buffon: this is distinguished into the peng-goling rambut, or hairy sort
+(myrmophaga), and the peng-goling sisik, or scaly sort, called more
+properly tanggiling (species of manis); the scales of this are esteemed
+by the natives for their medicinal properties. See Asiatic Researches
+Volume 1 page 376 and Volume 2 page 353.
+
+
+(PLATE 9. A SPECIES OF Lemur volans, SUSPENDED FROM THE RAMBEH-TREE.
+Sinensis delt. N. Cardon fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+BATS.
+
+Of the bat kind there is an extraordinary variety: the churi-churi is the
+smallest species, called vulgarly burong tikus, or the mouse-bird; next
+to these is the kalalawar; then the kalambit; and the kaluwang (noctilio)
+is of considerable size; of these I have observed very large flights
+occasionally passing at a great height in the air, as if migrating from
+one country to another, and Captain Forrest notices their crossing the
+Straits of Sunda from Java Head to Mount Pugong; they are also seen
+hanging by hundreds upon trees. The flying-foxes and flying-squirrels
+(Lemur volans), which by means of a membrane extending from what may be
+termed the forelegs to those behind, are enabled to take short flights,
+are also not uncommon.
+
+ALLIGATORS AND OTHER LIZARDS.
+
+Alligators, buaya (Crocodilus biporcatus of Cuvier), abound in most of
+the rivers, grow to a large Size, and do much mischief.
+
+The guana, or iguana, biawak (Lacerta iguana) is another animal of the
+lizard kind, about three or four feet in length, harmless, excepting to
+the poultry and young domestic cattle, and sometimes itself eaten as
+food. The bingkarong is next in size, has hard, dark scales on the back,
+and is often found under heaps of decayed timber; its bite venomous.
+
+The koke, goke, or toke, as it is variously called, is a lizard, about
+ten or twelve inches long, frequenting old buildings, and making a very
+singular noise. Between this and the small house-lizard (chichak) are
+many gradations in size, chiefly of the grass-lizard kind, which is
+smooth and glossy. The former are in length from about four inches down
+to an inch or less, and are the largest reptiles that can walk in an
+inverted situation: one of these, of size sufficient to devour a
+cockroach, runs on the ceiling of a room, and in that situation seizes
+its prey with the utmost facility. This they seem to be enabled to do
+from the rugose structure of their feet, with which they adhere strongly
+to the smoothest surface. Sometimes however, on springing too eagerly at
+a fly, they lose their hold, and drop to the floor, on which occasions a
+circumstance occurs not undeserving of notice. The tail being frequently
+separated from the body by the shock (as it may be at any of the
+vertebrae by the slightest force, without loss of blood or evident pain
+to the animal, and sometimes, as it would seem, from the effect of fear
+alone) within a little time, like the mutilated claw of a lobster, begins
+to renew itself. They are produced from eggs about the size of the
+wren's, of which the female carries two at a time, one in the lower, and
+one in the upper part of the abdomen, on opposite sides; they are always
+cold to the touch, and yet the transparency of their bodies gives an
+opportunity of observing that their fluids have as brisk a circulation as
+those of warm-blooded animals: in none have I seen the peristaltic motion
+so obvious as in these. It may not be useless to mention that these
+phenomena were best observed at night when the lizard was on the outside
+of a pane of glass, with a candle on the inside. There is, I believe, no
+class of living creatures in which the gradations can be traced with such
+minuteness and regularity as in this; where, from the small animal just
+described, to the huge alligator or crocodile, a chain may be traced
+containing almost innumerable links, of which the remotest have a
+striking resemblance to each other, and seem, at first view, to differ
+only in bulk.
+
+CHAMELEON.
+
+The chameleon, gruning: these are about a foot and half long, including
+the tail; the colour, green with brown spots, as I had it preserved; when
+alive in the woods they are generally green, but not from the reflection
+of the leaves, as some have supposed. When first caught they usually turn
+brown, apparently the effect of fear or anger, as men become pale or red;
+but if undisturbed soon resume a deep green on the back, and a yellow
+green on the belly, the tail remaining brown. Along the spine, from the
+head to the middle of the back, little membranes stand up like the teeth
+of a saw. As others of the genus of lacerta they feed on flies and
+grasshoppers, which the large size of their mouths and peculiar structure
+of their bony tongues are well adapted for catching.
+
+
+(PLATE 14a. n.2. THE KUBIN, Draco volans.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+The flying lizard, kubin, or chachak terbang (Draco volans), is about
+eight inches in its extreme length, and the membranes which constitute
+the wings are about two or three inches in extent. These do not connect
+with the fore and hind legs, as in the bat tribe, but are supported by an
+elongation of the alternate ribs, as pointed out by my friend Mr. Everard
+Home. They have flapped ears, and a singular kind of pouch or alphorges,
+under the jaws. In other respects they much resemble the chameleon in
+appearance. They do not take distant flights, but merely from tree to
+tree, or from one bough to another. The natives take them by springs
+fastened to the stems.
+
+FROGS. SNAKES.
+
+With animals of the frog kind (kodok) the swamps everywhere teem; and
+their noise upon the approach of rain is tremendous. They furnish prey to
+the snakes, which are found here of all sizes and in great variety of
+species; the larger proportion harmless, but of some, and those generally
+small and dark-coloured, the bite is mortal. If the cobra capelo, or
+hooded snake, be a native of the island, as some assert, it must be
+extremely rare. The largest of the boa kind (ular sauh) that I had an
+opportunity of observing was no more than twelve feet long. This was
+killed in a hen-house where it was devouring the poultry. It is very
+surprising, but not less true, that snakes will swallow animals of twice
+or three times their own apparent circumference; having in their jaws or
+throat a compressive force that gradually and by great efforts reduces
+the prey to a convenient dimension. I have seen a small snake (ular sini)
+with the hinder legs of a frog sticking out of its mouth, each of them
+nearly equal to the smaller parts of its own body, which in the thickest
+did not exceed a man's little finger. The stories told of their
+swallowing deer, and even buffaloes, in Ceylon and Java, almost choke
+belief, but I cannot take upon me to pronounce them false; for if a snake
+of three inches diameter can gorge a fowl of six, one of thirty feet in
+length and proportionate bulk and strength might well be supposed capable
+of swallowing a beast of the size of a goat; and I have respectable
+authority for the fact that the fawn of a kijang or roe was cut out of
+the body of a very large snake killed at one of the southern settlements.
+The poisonous kinds are distinguished by the epithet of ular bisa, among
+which is the biludak or viper. The ular garang, or sea-snake, is coated
+entirely with scales, both on the belly and tail, not differing from
+those on the back, which are small and hexagonal; the colour is grey,
+with here and there shades of brown. The head and about one-third of the
+body from thence is the smallest part, and it increases in bulk towards
+the tail, which resembles that of the eel. It has not any dog-fangs.
+
+TORTOISE.
+
+The tortoise, kura-kura, and turtle, katong, are both found in these
+seas; the former valuable for its scales, and the latter as food; the
+land­tortoise (Testudo graeca) is brought from the Seychelles Islands.
+
+There is also an extensive variety of shellfish. The crayfish, udang laut
+(Cancer homarus or ecrevisse-de-mer), is as large as the lobster, but
+wants its biting claws. The small freshwater crayfish, the prawns and
+shrimps (all named udang, with distinctive epithets), are in great
+perfection.
+
+The crab, kapiting and katam (cancer), is not equally fine, but exhibits
+many extraordinary varieties.
+
+The kima, or gigantic cockle (chama), has been already mentioned.
+
+The oysters, tiram, are by no means so good as those of Europe. The
+smaller kind are generally found adhering to the roots of the mangrove,
+in the wash of the tide.
+
+The mussel, kupang (mytilus), rimis (donax), kapang (Teredo navalis),
+sea­egg, bulu babi (echinus), bia papeda (nautilus), ruma gorita
+(argonauta), bia unam (murex), bia balang (cuprea), and many others may
+be added to the list. The beauty of the madrepores and corallines, of
+which the finest specimens are found in the recesses of the Bay of
+Tappanuli, is not to be surpassed in any country. Of these a superb
+collection is in the possession of Mr. John Griffiths, who has given, in
+Volume 96 of the Philosophical Transactions, the Description of a rare
+species of Worm-Shells, discovered at an island lying off the North-west
+coast of Sumatra. In the same volume is also a Paper by Mr. Everard Home,
+containing Observations on the Shell of the Sea Worm found on the Coast
+of Sumatra, proving it to belong to a species of Teredo; with an Account
+of the Anatomy of the Teredo navalis. The former he proposes to call the
+Teredo gigantea. The sea-grass, or ladang laut, concerning which Sir
+James Lancaster tells some wonderful stories, partakes of the nature of a
+sea-worm and of a coralline; in its original state it is soft and shrinks
+into the sand from the touch; but when dry it is quite hard, straight,
+and brittle.
+
+FISH.
+
+The duyong is a very large sea-animal or fish, of the order of mammalia,
+with two large pectoral fins serving the purposes of feet. By the early
+Dutch voyagers it was, without any obvious analogy, called the sea-cow;
+and from the circumstance of the head being covered with a kind of shaggy
+hair, and the mammae of the female being placed immediately under the
+pectus, it has given rise to the stories of mermaids in the tropical
+seas. The tusks are applied to the same uses as ivory, especially for the
+handles of krises, and being whiter are more prized. It has much general
+resemblance to the manatee or lamantin of the West Indies, and has been
+confounded with it; but the distinction between them has been ascertained
+by M. Cuvier, Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle 22 cahier page 308.*
+
+(*Footnote. "Some time ago (says Captain Forrest) a large fish, with
+valuable teeth, being cast ashore in the Illana districts, there arose a
+dispute who should have the teeth, but the Magindanoers carried it."
+Voyage to New Guinea page 272. See also Valentyn Volume 3 page 341.)
+
+WHALE.
+
+The grampus whale (species of delphinus) is well known to the natives by
+the names of pawus and gajah mina; but I do not recollect to have heard
+any instance of their being thrown upon the coast.
+
+VOILIER.
+
+Of the ikan layer (genus novum schombro affine) a grand specimen is
+preserved in the British Museum, where it was deposited by Sir Joseph
+Banks;* and a description of it by the late M. Brousonet, under the name
+of le Voilier, is published in the Mem. de l'Acad. de Scien. de Paris for
+1786 page 450 plate 10. It derives its appellation from the peculiarity
+of its dorsal fin, which rises so high as to suggest the idea of a sail;
+but it is most remarkable for what should rather be termed its snout than
+its horn, being an elongation of the frontal bone, and the prodigious
+force with which it occasionally strikes the bottoms of ships, mistaking
+them, as we may presume, for its enemy or prey. A large fragment of one
+of these bones, which had transfixed the plank of an East India ship, and
+penetrated about eighteen inches, is likewise preserved in the same
+national collection, together with the piece of plank, as it was cut out
+of the ship's bottom upon her being docked in England. Several accidents
+of a similar nature are known to have occurred. There is an excellent
+representation of this fish, under the name of fetisso, in Barbot's
+Description of the Coasts of Guinea, plate 18, which is copied in
+Astley's Collection of Voyages, Volume 2 plate 73.
+
+(*Footnote. This fish was hooked by Mr. John Griffiths near the southern
+extremity of the west coast of Sumatra, and was given to Captain Cumming
+of the Britannia indiaman, by whom it was presented to Sir Joseph Banks.)
+
+VARIOUS FISH.
+
+To attempt an enumeration of the species of fish with which these seas
+abound would exceed my power, and I shall only mention briefly some of
+the most obvious; as the shark, hiyu (squalus); skate, ikan pari (raya);
+ikan mua (muraena); ikan chanak (gymnotus); ikan gajah (cepole); ikan
+karang or bonna (chaetodon), described by Mr. John Bell in Volume 82 of
+the Philosophical Transactions. It is remarkable for certain tumours
+filled with oil, attached to its bones. There are also the ikan krapo, a
+kind of rock-cod or sea-perch; ikan marrang or kitang (teuthis), commonly
+named the leather fish, and among the best brought to table; jinnihin, a
+rock-fish shaped like a carp; bawal or pomfret (species of chaetodon);
+balanak, jumpul, and marra, three fish of the mullet kind (mugil); kuru
+(polynemus); ikan lidah, a kind of sole; tingeri, resembles the mackerel;
+gagu, catfish; summa, a river fish, resembling the salmon; ringkis,
+resembles the trout, and is noted for the size of its roe; ikan tambarah,
+I believe the shad of Siak River; ikan gadis, good river fish, about the
+size of a carp; ikan bada, small, like white bait; ikan gorito, sepia;
+ikan terbang, flying-fish (exocoetus). The little seahorse (Syngnathus
+hippocampus) is commonly found here.
+
+BIRDS.
+
+Of birds the variety is considerable, and the following list contains but
+a small portion of those that might be discovered in the island by a
+qualified person who should confine his researches to that branch of
+natural history.
+
+KUWAU.
+
+The kuwau, or Sumatran pheasant (Phasianus argus), is a bird of uncommon
+magnificence and beauty; the plumage being perhaps the most rich, without
+any mixture of gaudiness, of all the feathered race. It is found
+extremely difficult to keep it alive for any considerable time after
+catching it in the woods, yet it has in one instance been brought to
+England; but, having lost its fine feathers by the voyage, it did not
+excite curiosity, and died unnoticed. There is now a good specimen in the
+Liverpool Museum. It has in its natural state an antipathy to the light,
+and in the open day is quite moped and inanimate. When kept in a darkened
+place it seems at its ease, and sometimes makes use of the note or call
+from which it takes its name, and which is rather plaintive than harsh.
+The flesh, of which I have eaten, perfectly resembles that of the common
+pheasant (tugang), also found in the woods, but the body is of much
+larger size. I have reason to believe that it is not, as supposed, a
+native of the North or any part of China. From the Malayan Islands, of
+which it is the boast, it must be frequently carried thither.
+
+PEACOCK, ETC.
+
+The peacock, burong marak (pavo), appears to be well known to the
+natives, though I believe not common.
+
+I should say the same of the eagle and the vulture (coracias), to the one
+or the other of which the name of raja wali is familiarly applied.
+
+The kite, alang (falco), is very common, as is the crow, gadak (corvus),
+and jackdaw, pong (gracula), with several species of the woodpecker.
+
+The kingfisher (alcedo) is named burong buaya, or the alligator-bird.
+
+The bird-of-paradise, burong supan, or elegant-bird, is known here only
+in the dried state, as brought from the Moluccas and coast of New Guinea
+(tanah papuah).
+
+
+(PLATE 15. BEAKS OF THE BUCEROS OR HORN-BILL.
+M. de Jonville delt. Swaine sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+The rhinoceros bird, hornbill, or calao (buceros), called by the natives
+anggang and burong taun, is chiefly remarkable for what is termed the
+horn, which in the most common species extends halfway down the upper
+mandible of its large beak, and then turns up; but the varieties of shape
+are numerous. The length of one I measured whilst alive was ten inches
+and a half; the breadth, including the horn, six and a half; length from
+beak to tail four feet; wings four feet six inches; height one foot;
+length of neck one foot; the beak whitish; the horn yellow and red; the
+body black; the tail white ringed with black; rump, and feathers on the
+legs down to the heel, white; claws three before and one behind; the iris
+red. In a hen chick there was no appearance of a horn, and the iris was
+whitish. They eat either boiled rice or tender fresh meat. Of the use of
+such a singular cavity I could not learn any plausible conjecture. As a
+receptacle for water, it must be quite unnecessary in the country of
+which it is a native.
+
+STORK, ETC.
+
+Of the stork kind there are several species, some of great height and
+otherwise curious, as the burong kambing and burong ular, which frequent
+the rice plantations in wet ground.
+
+We find also the heron, burong kuntul (ardea); the snipe, kandidi
+(scolopax); the coot, or water-hen, ayam ayer (fulica); and the plover,
+cheruling (charadrius).
+
+The cassowary, burong rusa, is brought from the island of Java.
+
+The domestic hen is as common as in most other countries. In some the
+bones (or the periostea) are black, and these are at least equally good
+as food. The hen of the woods, ayam barugo, or ayam utan (which latter
+name is in some places applied to the pheasant), differs little from the
+common sort, excepting in the uniformity of its brown colour. In the
+Lampong country of Sumatra and western part of Java lying opposite to it
+there is a very large breed of fowls, called ayam jago; of these I have
+seen a cock peck from off of a common dining table; when inclined to rest
+they sit on the first joint of the leg and are then taller than the
+ordinary fowls. It is singular if the same country produces likewise the
+diminutive breed that goes by the name of bantam.
+
+A species of partridge is called ayam gunong, or mountain hen.
+
+DOVES.
+
+Beside the pigeon, merapeti and burong darah (columba), and two common
+species of doves, the one of a light brown or dove-colour, called ballum,
+and the other green, called punei, there are of the latter some most
+exquisite varieties: the punei jambu is smaller than the usual size of
+doves; the back, wings, and tail are green; the breast and crop are
+white, but the front of the latter has a slight shade of pink; the
+forepart of the head is of a deep pink, resembling the blossom of the
+jambu fruit, from whence its name; the white of the breast is continued
+in a narrow streak, having the green on one side and the pink on the
+other, half round the eye, which is large, full, and yellow; of which
+colour is also the beak. It will live upon boiled rice and padi; but its
+favourite food, when wild, is the berry of the rumpunnei (Ardisia
+coriacea), perhaps from this circumstance so called. The selaya, or punei
+andu, another variety, has the body and wings of deep crimson, with the
+head, and extremity of its long indented tail, white; the legs red. It
+lives on the worms generated in the decayed part of old trees, and is
+about the size of a blackbird. Of the same size is the burong sawei, a
+bird of a bluish black colour, with a dove-tail, from which extend two
+very long feathers, terminating circularly. It seems to be what is called
+the widow-bird, and is formidable to the kite.
+
+The burong pipit resembles the sparrow in its appearance, habits,
+numbers, and the destruction it causes to the grain.
+
+The quail, puyuh (coturnix); but whether a native or a bird of passage, I
+cannot determine.
+
+The starling (sturnus), of which I know not the Malayan name.
+
+The swallow, layang-layang (hirundo), one species of which, called layang
+buhi, from its being supposed to collect the froth of the sea, is that
+which constructs the edible nests.
+
+The mu­rei, or dial-bird, resembling a small magpie, has a pretty but
+short note. There is not any bird in the country that can be said to
+sing. The ti­yong, or mino, a black bird with yellow gills, has the
+faculty of imitating human speech in greater perfection than any other of
+the feathered tribe. There is also a yellow species, but not loquacious.
+
+Of the parrot kind the variety is not so great as might be expected, and
+consists chiefly of those denominated parakeets. The beautiful luri,
+though not uncommon, is brought from the eastward. The kakatua is an
+inhabitant chiefly of the southern extremity of the island.
+
+The Indian goose, angsa and gangsa (anser); the duck, bebek and itik
+(anas); and the teal, belibi, are common.
+
+INSECTS.
+
+With insects the island may truly be said to swarm; and I doubt whether
+there is any part of the world where greater variety is to be found. Of
+these I shall only attempt to enumerate a few:
+
+The kunang, or firefly, larger than the common fly, (which it resembles),
+with the phosphoric matter in the abdomen, regularly and quickly
+intermitting its light, as if by respiration; by holding one of them in
+my hand I could see to read at night;
+
+Lipas, the cockroach (blatta); chingkarek, the cricket (gryllus);
+
+Lebah, taun, the bee (apis), whose honey is gathered in the woods;
+kumbang, a species of apis, that bores its nest in timber, and thence
+acquires the name of the carpenter;
+
+Sumut, the ant (formica), the multitudes of which overrun the country,
+and its varieties are not less extraordinary than its numbers. The
+following distinctions are the most obvious: the krangga, or great red
+ant, about three-fourths of an inch long, bites severely, and usually
+leaves its head, as a bee its sting, in the wound; it is found mostly on
+trees and bushes, and forms its nest by fastening together, with a
+glutinous matter, a collection of the leaves of a branch, as they grow;
+the common red ant; the minute red ant; the large black ant, not equal in
+size to the krangga, but with a head of disproportioned bulk; the common
+black ant; and the minute black ant: they also differ from each other in
+a circumstance which I believe has not been attended to; and that is the
+sensation with which they affect the taste when put into the mouth, as
+frequently happens unintentionally: some are hot and acrid, some bitter,
+and some sour. Perhaps this will be attributed to the different kinds of
+food they have accidentally devoured; but I never found one which tasted
+sweet, though I have caught them in the fact of robbing a sugar or
+honey-pot. Each species of ant is a declared enemy of the other, and
+never suffers a divided empire. Where one party effects a settlement the
+other is expelled; and in general they are powerful in proportion to
+their bulk, with the exception of the white-ant, sumut putih (termes),
+which is beaten from the field by others of inferior size; and for this
+reason it is a common expedient to strew sugar on the floor of a
+warehouse in order to allure the formicae to the spot, who do not fail to
+combat and overcome the ravaging but unwarlike termites. Of this insect
+and its destructive qualities I had intended to give some description,
+but the subject is so elaborately treated (though with some degree of
+fancy) by Mr. Smeathman, in Volume 71 of the Philosophical Transactions
+for 1781, who had an opportunity of observing them in Africa, that I omit
+it as superfluous.
+
+Of the wasp kind there are several curious varieties. One of them may be
+observed building its nest of moistened clay against a wall, and
+inclosing in each of its numerous compartments a living spider; thus
+revenging upon this bloodthirsty race the injuries sustained by harmless
+flies, and providently securing for its own young a stock of food.
+
+Lalat, the common fly (musca); lalat kuda (tabanus); lalat karbau
+(oestrus);
+
+Niamok, agas, the gnat or mosquito (culex), producing a degree of
+annoyance equal to the sum of all the other physical plagues of a hot
+climate, but even to these I found that habit rendered me almost
+indifferent;
+
+Kala-jingking, the scorpion (scorpio), the sting of which is highly
+inflammatory and painful, but not dangerous;
+
+Sipasan, centipede (scholopendra), not so venomous as the preceding;
+
+Alipan (jules);
+
+Alintah, water-leech (hirudo); achih, small land-leech, dropping from the
+leaves of trees whilst moist with dew, and troublesome to travellers in
+passing through the woods.
+
+To this list I shall only add the suala, tripan, or sea-slug
+(holothurion), which, being collected from the rocks and dried in the
+sun, is exported to China, where it is an article of food.
+
+
+CHAPTER 7.
+
+VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF THE ISLAND CONSIDERED AS ARTICLES OF COMMERCE.
+PEPPER.
+CULTIVATION OF PEPPER.
+CAMPHOR.
+BENZOIN.
+CASSIA, ETC.
+
+
+(PLATE 1. THE PEPPER-PLANT, PIPER NIGRUM.
+E.W. Marsden delt. Engraved by J. Swaine, Queen Street, Golden Square.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+PEPPER.
+
+OF those productions of Sumatra, which are regarded as articles of
+commerce, the most important and most abundant is pepper. This is the
+object of the East India Company's trade thither, and this alone it keeps
+in its own hands; its servants, and merchants under its protection, being
+free to deal in every other commodity.
+
+ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TRADE.
+
+Many of the princes or chiefs in different parts of the island having
+invited the English to form settlements in their respective districts,
+factories were accordingly established, and a permanency and regularity
+thereby given to the trade, which was very uncertain whilst it depended
+upon the success of occasional voyages to the coast; disappointments
+ensuing not only from failure of adequate quantities of pepper to furnish
+cargoes when required, but also from the caprices and chicanery of the
+chiefs with whom the disposal of it lay, the motives of whose conduct
+could not be understood by those who were unacquainted with the language
+and manners of the people. These inconveniencies were obviated when the
+agents of the Company were enabled, by their residence on the spot, to
+obtain an influence in the country, to inspect the state of the
+plantations, secure the collection of the produce, and make an estimate
+of the tonnage necessary for its conveyance to Europe.
+
+In order to bind the chiefs to the observance of their original promises
+and professions, and to establish a plausible and legal claim, in
+opposition to the attempts of rival European powers to interfere in the
+trade of the same country, written contracts, attended with much form and
+solemnity, were entered into with the former; by which they engaged to
+oblige all their dependants to cultivate pepper, and to secure to us the
+exclusive purchase of it; in return for which they were to be protected
+from their enemies, supported in the rights of sovereignty, and to be
+paid a certain allowance or custom on the produce of their respective
+territories.
+
+PRICE.
+
+The price for many years paid to the cultivators for their produce was
+ten Spanish dollars or fifty shillings per bahar of five hundredweight or
+five hundred and sixty pounds. About the year 1780, with a view to their
+encouragement and the increase of investment, as it is termed, the sum
+was augmented to fifteen dollars. To this cost is to be added the custom
+above mentioned, varying in different districts according to specific
+agreements, but amounting in general to one dollar and a half, or two
+dollars on each bahar, which is distributed amongst the chiefs at an
+annual entertainment; and presents are made at the same time to planters
+who have distinguished themselves by their industry. This low price, at
+which the natives submit to cultivate the plantations, affording to each
+man an income of not more than from eight to twelve dollars yearly, and
+the undisturbed monopoly we have so long possessed of the trade, from
+near Indrapura northward to Flat Point southward, are doubtless in a
+principal degree to be attributed to the peculiar manner in which this
+part of the island is shut up, by the surfs which prevail along the
+south-west coast, from communication with strangers, whose competition
+would naturally produce the effect of enhancing the price of the
+commodity. The general want of anchorage too, for so many leagues to the
+northward of the Straits of Sunda, has in all ages deterred the Chinese
+and other eastern merchants from attempting to establish an intercourse
+that must be attended with imminent risk to unskilful navigators; indeed
+I understand it to be a tradition among the natives who border on the
+sea-coast that it is not many hundred years since these parts began to be
+inhabited, and they speak of their descent as derived from the more
+inland country. Thus it appears that those natural obstructions, which we
+are used to lament as the greatest detriment to our trade, are in fact
+advantages to which it in a great measure owes its existence. In the
+northern countries of the island, where the people are numerous and their
+ports good, they are found to be more independent also, and refuse to
+cultivate plantations upon any other terms than those on which they can
+deal with private traders.
+
+CULTIVATION OF PEPPER.
+
+In the cultivation of pepper (Piper nigrum, L.)* the first circumstance
+that claims attention, and on which the success materially depends, is
+the choice of a proper site for the plantation. A preference is usually
+given to level ground lying along the banks of rivers or rivulets,
+provided they are not so low as to be inundated, both on account of the
+vegetable mould commonly found there, and the convenience of
+water-carriage for the produce. Declivities, unless very gentle, are to
+be avoided, because the soil loosened by culture is liable in such
+situations to be washed away by heavy rains. When these plains however
+are naked, or covered with long grass only, they will not be found to
+answer without the assistance of the plough and of manure, their
+fertility being exhausted by exposure to the sun. How far the returns in
+general might be increased by the introduction of these improvements in
+agriculture I cannot take upon me to determine; but I fear that, from the
+natural indolence of the natives, and their want of zeal in the business
+of pepper-planting, occasioned by the smallness of the advantage it
+yields to them, they will never be prevailed upon to take more pains than
+they now do. The planters therefore, depending more upon the natural
+qualities of the soil than on any advantage it might receive from their
+cultivation, find none to suit their purpose better than those spots
+which, having been covered with old woods and long fertilized by decaying
+foliage and trunks, have recently been cleared for ladangs or
+padi-fields, in the manner already described; where it was also observed
+that, being allured by the certainty of abundant produce from a virgin
+soil, and having land for the most part at will, they renew their toil
+annually, and desert the ground so laboriously prepared after occupying
+it for one, or at the furthest for two, seasons. Such are the most usual
+situations chosen for the pepper plantations (kabun) or gardens, as they
+are termed; but, independently of the culture of rice, land is very
+frequently cleared for the pepper in the first instance by felling and
+burning the trees.
+
+(*Footnote. See Remarks on the Species of Pepper (and on its Cultivation)
+at Prince of Wales Island, by Dr. William Hunter, in the Asiatic
+Researches Volume 9 page 383.)
+
+FORMATION OF THE GARDEN.
+
+The ground is then marked out in form of a regular square or oblong, with
+intersections throughout at the distance of six feet (being equal to five
+cubits of the measure of the country), the intended interval between the
+plants, of which there are commonly either one thousand or five hundred
+in each garden; the former number being required from those who are heads
+of families (their wives and children assisting them in their work), and
+the latter from single men. Industrious or opulent persons sometimes have
+gardens of two or three thousand vines. A border twelve feet in width,
+within which limit no tree is suffered to grow, surrounds each garden,
+and it is commonly separated from others by a row of shrubs or irregular
+hedge. Where the nature of the country admits of it the whole or greater
+part of the gardens of a dusun or village lie adjacent to each other,
+both for the convenience of mutual assistance in labour and mutual
+protection from wild beasts; single gardens being often abandoned from
+apprehension of their ravages, and where the owner has been killed in
+such a situation none will venture to replace him.
+
+VEGETATING PROPS.
+
+After lining out the ground and marking the intersections by slight
+stakes the next business is to plant the trees that are to become props
+to the pepper, as the Romans planted elms, and the modern Italians more
+commonly plant poplars and mulberries, for their grape-vines. These are
+cuttings of the chungkariang (Erythrina corallodendron), usually called
+chinkareens, put into the ground about a span deep, sufficiently early to
+allow time for a shoot to be strong enough to support the young
+pepper-plant when it comes to twine about it. The cuttings are commonly
+two feet in length, but sometimes a preference is given to the length of
+six feet, and the vine is then planted as soon as the chinkareen has
+taken root: but the principal objections to this method are that in such
+state they are very liable to fail and require renewal, to the prejudice
+of the garden; and that their shoots are not so vigorous as those of the
+short cuttings, frequently growing crooked, or in a lateral instead of a
+perpendicular direction. The circumstances which render the chinkareen
+particularly proper for this use are its readiness and quickness of
+growth, even after the cuttings have been kept some time in bundles,* if
+put into the ground with the first rains; and the little thorns with
+which it is armed enabling the vine to take a firmer hold. They are
+distinguished into two sorts, the white and red, not from the colour of
+the flowers (as might be supposed) for both are red, but from the tender
+shoots of the one being whitish and of the other being of a reddish hue.
+The bark of the former is of a pale ash colour, of the latter brown; the
+former is sweet, and the food of elephants, for which reason it is not
+much used in parts frequented by those animals; the latter is bitter and
+unpalatable to them; but they are not deterred by the short prickles
+which are common to the branches of both sorts.
+
+(*Footnote. It is a common and useful practice to place these bundles of
+cuttings in water about two inches deep and afterwards to reject such of
+them as in that state do not show signs of vegetation.)
+
+Trial has frequently been made of other trees, and particularly of the
+bangkudu or mangkudu (Morinda citrifolia), but none have been found to
+answer so well for these vegetating props. It has been doubted indeed
+whether the growth and produce of the pepper-vine are not considerably
+injured by the chinkareen, which may rob it of its proper nourishment by
+exhausting the earth; and on this principle, in other of the eastern
+islands (Borneo, for instance), the vine is supported by poles in the
+manner of hops in England. Yet it is by no means clear to me that the
+Sumatran method is so disadvantageous in the comparison as it may seem;
+for, as the pepper-plant lasts many years, whilst the poles, exposed to
+sun and rain, and loaded with a heavy weight, cannot be supposed to
+continue sound above two seasons, there must be a frequent renewal,
+which, notwithstanding the utmost care, must lacerate and often destroy
+the vines. It is probable also that the shelter from the violence of the
+sun's rays afforded by the branches of the vegetating prop, and which,
+during the dry monsoon, is of the utmost consequence, may counterbalance
+the injury occasioned by their roots; not to insist on the opinion of a
+celebrated writer that trees, acting as siphons, derive from the air and
+transmit to the earth as much of the principle of vegetation as is
+expended in their nourishment.
+
+When the most promising shoot of the chinkareen reserved for rearing has
+attained the height of twelve to fifteen feet (which latter it is not to
+exceed), or in the second year of its growth, it must be headed or
+topped; and the branches that then extend themselves laterally, from the
+upper part only, so long as their shade is required, are afterwards
+lopped annually at the commencement of the rainy season (about November),
+leaving little more than the stem; from whence they again shoot out to
+afford their protection during the dry weather. By this operation also
+the damage to the plant that would ensue from the droppings of rain from
+the leaves is avoided.
+
+DESCRIPTION OF THE PEPPER-VINE.
+
+The pepper-vine is, in its own climate, a hardy plant, growing readily
+from cuttings or layers, rising in several knotted stems, twining round
+any neighbouring support, and adhering to it by fibres that shoot from
+every joint at intervals of six to ten inches, and from which it probably
+derives a share of its nourishment. If suffered to run along the ground
+these fibres would become roots; but in this case (like the ivy) it would
+never exhibit any appearance of fructification, the prop being necessary
+for encouraging it to throw out its bearing shoots. It climbs to the
+height of twenty or twenty-five feet, but thrives best when restrained to
+twelve or fifteen, as in the former case the lower part of the vine bears
+neither leaves nor fruit, whilst in the latter it produces both from
+within a foot of the ground. The stalk soon becomes ligneous, and in time
+acquires considerable thickness. The leaves are of a deep green and
+glossy surface, heart-shaped, pointed, not pungent to the taste, and have
+but little smell. The branches are short and brittle, not projecting
+above two feet from the stem, and separating readily at the joints. The
+blossom is small and white, the fruit round, green when young and
+full­grown, and turning to a bright red when ripe and in perfection. It
+grows abundantly from all the branches in long small clusters of twenty
+to fifty grains, somewhat resembling bunches of currants, but with this
+difference, that every grain adheres to the common stalk, which occasions
+the cluster of pepper to be more compact, and it is also less pliant.
+
+MODES OF PROPAGATING IT.
+
+The usual mode of propagating the pepper is by cuttings, a foot or two in
+length, of the horizontal shoots that run along the ground from the foot
+of the old vines (called lado sulur), and one or two of these are planted
+within a few inches of the young chinkareen at the same time with it if
+of the long kind, or six months after if of the short kind, as before
+described. Some indeed prefer an interval of twelve months; as in good
+soil the luxuriancy of the vine will often overpower and bear down the
+prop, if it has not first acquired competent strength. In such soil the
+vine rises two or three feet in the course of the first year, and four or
+five more in the second, by which time, or between the second and third
+year of its growth, it begins to show its blossom (be-gagang), if in fact
+it can be called such, being nothing more than the germ of the future
+bunch of fruit, of a light straw colour, darkening to green as the fruit
+forms. These germs or blossoms are liable to fall untimely (gugur) in
+very dry weather, or to be shaken off in high winds (although from this
+accident the gardens are in general well sheltered by the surrounding
+woods), when, after the fairest promise, the crop fails.
+
+TURNING DOWN THE VINES.
+
+In the rainy weather that succeeds the first appearance of the fruit the
+whole vine is loosened from the chinkareen and turned down again into the
+earth, a hole being dug to receive it, in which it is laid circularly or
+coiled, leaving only the extremity above ground, at the foot of the
+chinkareen, which it now reascends with redoubled vigour, attaining in
+the following season the height of eight or ten feet, and bearing a full
+crop of fruit. There is said to be a great nicety in hitting the exact
+time proper for this operation of turning down; for if it be done too
+soon, the vines have been known not to bear till the third year, like
+fresh plants; and on the other hand the produce is ultimately retarded
+when they omit to turn them down until after the first fruit has been
+gathered; to which avarice of present, at the expense of future
+advantage, sometimes inclines the owners. It is not very material how
+many stems the vine may have in its first growth, but now one only, if
+strong, or two at the most, should be suffered to rise and cling to the
+prop: more would be superfluous and only weaken the whole. The
+supernumerary shoots however are usefully employed, being either
+conducted through narrow trenches to adjacent chinkareens whose vines
+have failed, or taken off at the root and transplanted to others more
+distant, where, coiled round and buried as the former, they rise with the
+same vigour, and the garden is completed of uniform growth, although many
+of its original vines have not succeeded. With these offsets or layers
+(called anggor and tettas) new gardens may be at once formed; the
+necessary chinkareens being previously planted, and of sufficient growth
+to receive them.
+
+This practice of turning down the vines, which appears singular but
+certainly contributes to the duration as well as strength of the plants,
+may yet amount to nothing more than a substitute for transplantation. Our
+people observing that vegetables often fail to thrive when permitted to
+grow up in the same beds where they were first set or sown, find it
+advantageous to remove them, at a certain period of their growth, to
+fresh situations. The Sumatrans observing the same failure have had
+recourse to an expedient nearly similar in its principle but effected in
+a different and perhaps more judicious mode.
+
+In order to lighten the labour of the cultivator, who has also the
+indispensable task of raising grain for himself and his family, it is a
+common practice, and not attended with any detriment to the gardens, to
+sow padi in the ground in which the chinkareens have been planted, and
+when this has become about six inches high, to plant the cuttings of the
+vines, suffering the shoots to creep along the ground until the crop has
+been taken off, when they are trained to the chinkareens, the shade of
+the corn being thought favourable to the young plants.
+
+PROGRESS OF BEARING.
+
+The vines, as has been observed, generally begin to bear in the course of
+the third year from the time of planting, but the produce is retarded for
+one or two seasons by the process just described; after which it
+increases annually for three years, when the garden (about the seventh or
+eighth year) is esteemed in its prime, or at its utmost produce; which
+state it maintains, according to the quality of the soil, from one to
+four years, when it gradually declines for about the same period until it
+is no longer worth the labour of keeping it in order. From some, in good
+ground, fruit has been gathered at the age of twenty years; but such
+instances are uncommon. On the first appearance of decline it should be
+renewed, as it is termed; but, to speak more properly, another garden
+should be planted to succeed it, which will begin to bear before the old
+one ceases.
+
+MODE OF PRUNING.
+
+The vine having acquired its full growth, and being limited by the height
+of the chinkareen, sometimes grows bushy and overhangs at top, which,
+being prejudicial to the lower parts, must be corrected by pruning or
+thinning the top branches, and this is done commonly by hand, as they
+break readily at every joint. Suckers too, or superfluous side­shoots
+(charang), which spring luxuriantly, are to be plucked away. The ground
+of the garden must be kept perfectly clear of weeds, shrubs, and whatever
+might injure or tend to choke the plants. During the hot months of June,
+July, and August the finer kinds of grass may be permitted to cover the
+ground, as it contributes to mitigate the effects of the sun's power, and
+preserves for a longer time the dews, which at that season fall
+copiously; but the rank species, called lalang, being particularly
+difficult to eradicate, should not be suffered to fix itself, if it can
+be avoided. As the vines increase in size and strength less attention to
+the ground is required, and especially as their shade tends to check the
+growth of weeds. In lopping the branches of the chinkareens preparatory
+to the rains, some dexterity is required that they may fall clear of the
+vine, and the business is performed with a sharp prang or bill that
+generally separates at one stroke the light pithy substance of the bough.
+For this purpose, as well as that of gathering the fruit, light
+triangular ladders made of bamboo are employed.
+
+TIME OF GATHERING.
+
+As soon as any of the berries or corns redden, the bunch is reckoned fit
+for gathering, the remainder being then generally full-grown, although
+green; nor would it answer to wait for the whole to change colour, as the
+most mature would drop off.
+
+MODE OF DRYING AND CLEANSING.
+
+It is collected in small baskets slung over the shoulder, and with the
+assistance of the women and children conveyed to a smooth level spot of
+clean hard ground near the garden or the village, where it is spread,
+sometimes upon mats, to dry in the sun, but exposed at the same time to
+the vicissitudes of the weather, which are not much regarded nor thought
+to injure it. In this situation it becomes black and shrivelled, as we
+see it in Europe, and as it dries is hand-rubbed occasionally to separate
+the grains from the stalk. It is then winnowed in large round shallow
+sieves called nyiru, and put in large vessels made of bark (kulitkayu)
+under their houses until the whole of the crop is gathered, or a
+sufficient quantity for carrying (usually by water) to the European
+factory or gadong at the mouth of the river. That which has been gathered
+at the properest stage of maturity will shrivel the least; but, if
+plucked too soon, it will in a short time, by removal from place to
+place, become mere dust. Of this defect trial may be made by the hand;
+but as light pepper may have been mixed with the sound it becomes
+necessary that the whole should be garbled at the scale by machines
+constructed for the purpose. Pepper that has fallen to the ground
+overripe and been gathered from thence will be known by being stripped of
+its outer coat, and in that state is an inferior kind of white pepper.
+
+WHITE PEPPER.
+
+This was for centuries supposed in Europe to be the produce of a
+different plant, and to possess qualities superior to those of the common
+black pepper; and accordingly it sold at a considerably higher price. But
+it has lost in some measure that advantage since it has been known that
+the secret depended merely upon the art of blanching the grains of the
+other sort, by depriving it of the exterior pellicle. For this purpose
+the ripest red grains are picked out and put in baskets to steep, either
+in running water (which is preferred), in pits dug for the occasion near
+the banks of rivers, or in stagnant pools. Sometimes it is only buried in
+the ground. In any of these situations it swells, and in the course of a
+week or ten days bursts its tegument, from which it is afterwards
+carefully separated by drying in the sun, rubbing between the hands, and
+winnowing. It has been much disputed, and is still undetermined, to which
+sort the preference ought to be given. The white pepper has this obvious
+recommendation, that it can be made of no other than the best and
+soundest grains, taken at their most perfect stage of maturity: but on
+the other hand it is argued that, by being suffered to remain the
+necessary time in water, its strength must be considerably diminished;
+and that the outer husk, which is lost by the process, has a peculiar
+flavour distinct from that of the heart, and though not so pungent, more
+aromatic. For the white pepper the planter receives the fourth part of a
+dollar, or fifteen pence, per bamboo or gallon measure, equal to about
+six pounds weight. At the sales in England the prices are at this time in
+the proportion of seventeen to ten or eleven, and the quantity imported
+has for some years been inconsiderable.
+
+APPEARANCE OF THE GARDENS.
+
+The gardens being planted in even rows, running parallel, and at right
+angles with each other, their symmetrical appearance is very beautiful,
+and rendered more striking by the contrast they exhibit to the wild
+scenes of nature which surround them. In highly cultivated countries such
+as England, where landed property is all lined out and bounded and
+intersected with walls and hedges, we endeavour to give our gardens and
+pleasure-grounds the charm of variety and novelty by imitating the
+wildness of nature, in studied irregularities. Winding walks, hanging
+woods, craggy rocks, falls of water, are all looked upon as improvements;
+and the stately avenues, the canals, and rectangular lawns of our
+ancestors, which afforded the beauty of contrast in ruder times are now
+exploded. This difference of taste is not merely the effect of caprice,
+nor entirely of refinement, but results from the change of circumstances.
+A man who should attempt to exhibit in Sumatra the modern or irregular
+style of laying out grounds would attract but little attention, as the
+unimproved scenes adjoining on every side would probably eclipse his
+labours. Could he, on the contrary, produce, amidst its magnificent
+wilds, one of those antiquated parterres, with its canals and fountains,
+whose precision he has learned to despise, his work would create
+admiration and delight. A pepper-garden cultivated in England would not
+in point of external appearance be considered as an object of
+extraordinary beauty, and would be particularly found fault with for its
+uniformity; yet in Sumatra I never entered one, after travelling many
+miles, as is usually the case, through the woods, that I did not find
+myself affected with a strong sensation of pleasure. Perhaps the simple
+view of human industry, so scantily presented in that island, might
+contribute to this pleasure, by awakening those social feelings that
+nature has inspired us with, and which make our breasts glow on the
+perception of whatever indicates the prosperity and happiness of our
+fellow-creatures.
+
+SURVEYS.
+
+Once in every year a survey of all the pepper-plantations is taken by the
+Company's European servants resident at the various settlements, in the
+neighbourhood of which that article is cultivated. The number of vines in
+each particular garden is counted; accurate observation is made of its
+state and condition; orders are given where necessary for further care,
+for completion of stipulated quantity, renewals, changes of situation for
+better soil; and rewards and punishments are distributed to the planters
+as they appear, from the degree of their industry or remissness,
+deserving of either. Minutes of all these are entered in the survey-book,
+which, beside giving present information to the chief, and to the
+governor and council, to whom a copy is transmitted, serves as a guide
+and check for the survey of the succeeding year. An abstract of the form
+of the book is as follows. It is divided into sundry columns, containing
+the name of the village; the names of the planters; the number of
+chinkareens planted; the number of vines just planted; of young vines,
+not in a bearing state, three classes or years; of young vines in a
+bearing state, three classes; of vines in prime; of those on decline; of
+those that are old, but still productive; the total number; and lastly
+the quantity of pepper received during the year. A space is left for
+occasional remarks, and at the conclusion is subjoined a comparison of
+the totals of each column, for the whole district or residency, with
+those of the preceding year. This business the reader will perceive to be
+attended with considerable trouble, exclusive of the actual fatigue of
+the surveys, which from the nature of the country must necessarily be
+performed on foot, in a climate not very favourable to such excursions.
+The journeys in few places can be performed in less than a month, and
+often require a much longer time.
+
+The arrival of the Company's Resident at each dusun is considered as a
+period of festivity. The chief, together with the principal inhabitants,
+entertain him and his attendants with rustic hospitality, and when he
+retires to rest, his slumbers are soothed, or interrupted, by the songs
+of young females, who never fail to pay this compliment to the respected
+guest; and receive in return some trifling ornamental and useful presents
+(such as looking-glasses, fans, and needles) at his departure.
+
+SUCCESSION OF GARDENS.
+
+The inhabitants, by the original contracts of the headmen with the
+Company, are obliged to plant a certain number of vines; each family one
+thousand, and each young unmarried man five hundred; and, in order to
+keep up the succession of produce, so soon as their gardens attain to
+their prime state, they are ordered to prepare others, that they may
+begin to bear as the old ones fall off; but as this can seldom be
+enforced till the decline becomes evident, and as young gardens are
+liable to various accidents which older ones are exempt from, the
+succession is rendered incomplete, and the consequence is that the annual
+produce of each district fluctuates, and is greater or less in the
+proportion of the quantity of bearing vines to the whole number. To enter
+minutely into the detail of this business will not afford much
+information or entertainment to the generality of readers, who will
+however be surprised to hear that pepper-planting, though scarcely an
+art, so little skill appears to be employed in its cultivation, has
+nevertheless been rendered an abstruse science by the investigations
+which able men have bestowed upon the subject. These took their rise from
+censures conveyed for supposed mismanagement, when the investment, or
+annual provision of pepper, decreased in comparison with preceding years,
+and which was not satisfactorily accounted for by unfavourable seasons.
+To obviate such charges it became necessary for those who superintended
+the business to pay attention to and explain the efficient causes which
+unavoidably occasioned this fluctuation, and to establish general
+principles of calculation by which to determine at any time the probable
+future produce of the different residencies. These will depend upon a
+knowledge of the medium produce of a determinate number of vines, and the
+medium number to which this produce is to be applied; both of which are
+to be ascertained only from a comprehensive view of the subject, and a
+nice discrimination. Nothing general can be determined from detached
+instances. It is not the produce of one particular plantation in one
+particular stage of bearing and in one particular season, but the mean
+produce of all the various classes of bearing vines collectively, drawn
+from the experience of several years, that can alone be depended on in
+calculations of this nature. So in regard to the median number of vines
+presumed to exist at any residency in a future year, to which the medium
+produce of a certain number, one thousand, for instance, is to be
+applied, the quantity of young vines of the first, second, and third year
+must not be indiscriminately advanced, in their whole extent, to the next
+annual stage, but a judicious allowance founded on experience must be
+made for the accidents to which, in spite of a resident's utmost care,
+they will be exposed. Some are lost by neglect or death of the owner;
+some are destroyed by inundations, others by elephants and wild
+buffaloes, and some by unfavourable seasons, and from these several
+considerations the number of vines will ever be found considerably
+decreased by the time they have arrived at a bearing state. Another
+important object of consideration in these matters is the comparative
+state of a residency at any particular period with what may be justly
+considered as its medium state. There must exist a determinate proportion
+between any number of bearing vines and such a number of young as are
+necessary to replace them when they go off and keep up a regular
+succession. This will depend in general upon the length of time before
+they reach a bearing state and during which they afterwards continue in
+it. If this certain proportion happens at any time to be disturbed the
+produce must become irregular. Thus, if at any period the number of
+bearing vines shall be found to exceed their just proportion to the total
+number, the produce at such period is to be considered as above the mean,
+and a subsequent decrease may with certainty be predicted, and vice
+versa. If then this proportion can be known, and the state of population
+in a residency ascertained, it becomes easy to determine the true medium
+number of bearing vines in that residency.
+
+There are, agreeably to the form of the survey book, eleven stages or
+classes of vines, each advanced one year. Of these classes six are
+bearing and five young. If therefore the gardens were not liable to
+accidents, but passed on from column to column undiminished, the true
+proportion of the bearing vines to the young would be as six to five, or
+to the total, as six to eleven. But the various contingencies above
+hinted at must tend to reduce this proportion; while, on the other hand,
+if any of the gardens should continue longer than is necessary to pass
+through all the stages on the survey-book, or should remain more than one
+year in a prime state, these circumstances would tend to increase the
+proportion. What then is the true medium proportion can only be
+determined from experience, and by comparing the state of a residency at
+various successive periods. In order to ascertain this point a very
+ingenious gentleman and able servant of the East India Company, Mr. John
+Crisp, to whom I am indebted for the most part of what I have laid before
+the reader on this part of the subject, drew out in the year 1777 a
+general comparative view of Manna residency, from the surveys of twelve
+years, annexing the produce of each year. From the statement it appeared
+that the proportion of the bearing vines to the whole number in that
+district was no more than 5.1 to 11, instead of 6 to 11, which would be
+the proportion if not reduced by accidents; and further that, when the
+whole produce of the twelve years was diffused over the whole number of
+bearing vines during that period, the produce of one thousand vines came
+out to be four hundred and fifty-three pounds, which must therefore be
+estimated as the medium produce of that residency. The same principle of
+calculation being applied to the other residencies, it appeared that the
+mean annual produce of one thousand vines, in all the various stages of
+bearing, taken collectively throughout the country, deduced from the
+experience of twelve years, was four hundred and four pounds. It likewise
+became evident from the statements drawn out by that gentleman that the
+medium annual produce of the Company's settlements on the west coast of
+Sumatra ought to be estimated at twelve hundred tons, of sixteen hundred
+weight; which is corroborated by an average of the actual receipts for
+any considerable number of years.
+
+Thus much will be sufficient to give the reader an idea of
+pepper-planting as a kind of science. How far in a commercial light this
+produce answers the Company's views in supporting the settlements, is
+foreign from my purpose to discuss, though it is a subject on which not a
+little might be said. It is the history of the island and its
+inhabitants, and not of the European interests, that I attempt to lay
+before the public.
+
+SPECIES OF PEPPER.
+
+The natives distinguish three species of pepper, which are called at
+different places by different names. At Laye, in the Rejang country, they
+term them lado kawur, lado manna, and lado jambi, from the parts where
+each sort is supposed to prevail, or from whence it was first brought to
+them. The lado kawur, or Lampong pepper, is the strongest plant, and
+bears the largest leaf and fruit; is slower in coming to perfection than
+the second, but of much longer duration. The leaf and fruit of the lado
+manna are somewhat smaller, and it has this peculiarity, that it bears
+soon and in large quantities, but seldom passes the third or fourth
+year's crop. The jambi, which has deservedly fallen into disrepute, is of
+the smallest leaf and fruit, very short-lived, and not without difficulty
+trained to the chinkareen. In some places to the southward they
+distinguish two kinds only, lado sudul and lado jambi. Lado sulur and
+lado anggor are not distinctions of species; the former denoting the
+cuttings of young creeping shoots commonly planted, in opposition to the
+latter, which is the term for planting by layers.
+
+SEASONS.
+
+The season of the pepper-vines bearing, as well as that of most other
+fruit-trees on Sumatra, is subject to great irregularities, owing perhaps
+to the uncertainty of the monsoons, which are not there so strictly
+periodical as on the western side of India. Generally speaking however
+the pepper produces two crops in the year; one called the greater crop
+(pupul agung) between the months of October and March; the other called
+the lesser or half crop (buah sello) between the months of April and
+September, which is small in proportion as the former has been
+considerable, and vice versa. Sometimes in particular districts they will
+be employed in gathering it in small quantities during the whole year
+round, whilst perhaps in others the produce of that year is confined to
+one crop; for, although the regular period between the appearance of the
+blossom and maturity is about four months, the whole does not ripen at
+once, and blossoms are frequently found on the same vine with green and
+ripe fruit. In Laye residency the principal harvest of pepper in the year
+1766 was gathered between the months of February and May; in 1767 and
+1768 about September and October; in 1778 between June and August; and
+for the four succeeding years was seldom received earlier than November
+and December. Long-continued droughts, which sometimes happen, stop the
+vegetation of the vines and retard the produce. This was particularly
+experienced in the year 1775, when, for a period of about eight months,
+scarcely a shower of rain fell to moisten the earth. The vines were
+deprived of their foliage, many gardens perished and a general
+destruction was expected. But this apparent calamity was attended with a
+consequence not foreseen, though analogous to the usual operations of
+nature in that climate. The natives, when they would force a tree that is
+backward to produce fruit, strip it of its leaves, by which means the
+nutritive juices are reserved for that more important use, and the
+blossoms soon begin to show themselves in abundance. A similar effect was
+displayed in the pepper gardens by the inclemency of the season. The
+vines, as soon as the rains began to descend, threw out blossoms in a
+profusion unknown before; old gardens which had been unprolific for two
+or three years began to bear; and accordingly the crop of 1776/1777
+considerably surpassed that of many preceding years.
+
+TRANSPORTATION OF PEPPER.
+
+The pepper is mostly brought down from the country on rafts (rakit),
+which are sometimes composed of rough timbers, but usually of large
+bamboos, with a platform of split bamboos to keep the cargo dry. They are
+steered at both head and stern, in the more rapid rivers with a kind of
+rudder, or scull rather, having a broad blade fixed in a fork or crutch.
+Those who steer are obliged to exert the whole strength of the body in
+those places especially where the fall of water is steep, and the course
+winding; but the purchase of the scull is of so great power that they can
+move the raft bodily across the river when both ends are acted upon at
+the same time. But, notwithstanding their great dexterity and their
+judgment in choosing the channel, they are liable to meet with
+obstruction in large trees and rocks, which, from the violence of the
+stream, occasion their rafts to be overset, and sometimes dashed to
+pieces.
+
+It is a generally received opinion that pepper does not sustain any
+damage by an immersion in seawater; a circumstance that attends perhaps a
+fourth part of the whole quantity shipped from the coast. The surf,
+through which it is carried in an open boat, called a sampan lonchore,
+renders such accidents unavoidable. This boat, which carries one or two
+tons, being hauled up on the beach and there loaded, is shoved off, with
+a few people in it, by a number collected for that purpose, who watch the
+opportunity of a lull or temporary intermission of the swell. A
+tambangan, or long narrow vessel, built to contain from ten to twenty
+tons, (peculiar to the southern part of the coast), lies at anchor
+without to receive the cargoes from the sampans. At many places, where
+the kwallas, or mouths of the rivers, are tolerably practicable, the
+pepper is sent out at once in the tambangans over the bar; but this,
+owing to the common shallowness of the water and violence of the surfs,
+is attended with considerable risk. Thus the pepper is conveyed either to
+the warehouses at the head-settlement or to the ship from Europe lying
+there to receive it. About one-third part of the quantity of black pepper
+collected, but none of the white, is annually sent to China. Of the
+extent and circumstances of the trade in pepper carried on by private
+merchants (chiefly American) at the northern ports of Nalabu, Susu, and
+Mukki, where it is managed by the subjects of Achin, I have not any
+accurate information, and only know that it has increased considerably
+during the last twelve years.
+
+NUTMEGS AND CLOVES.
+
+It is well known with what jealousy and rigour the Batavian government
+has guarded against the transplantation of the trees producing nutmegs
+and cloves from the islands of Banda and Amboina to other parts of India.
+To elude its vigilance many attempts have been made by the English, who
+considered Sumatra to be well adapted, from its local circumstances, to
+the cultivation of these valuable spices; but all proved ineffectual,
+until the reduction of the eastern settlements in 1796 afforded the
+wished for opportunity, which was eagerly seized by Mr. Robert Broff, at
+that period chief of the Residency of Fort Marlborough. As the culture is
+now likely to become of importance to the trade of this country, and the
+history of its introduction may hereafter be thought interesting, I shall
+give it in Mr. Broff's own words:
+
+The acquisition of the nutmeg and clove plants became an object of my
+solicitude the moment I received by Captain Newcombe, of his Majesty's
+ship Orpheus, the news of the surrender of the islands where they are
+produced; being convinced, from the information I had received, that the
+country in the neighbourhood of Bencoolen, situated as it is in the same
+latitude with the Moluccas, exposed to the same periodical winds, and
+possessing the same kind of soil, would prove congenial to their culture.
+Under this impression I suggested to the other members of the Board the
+expediency of freighting a vessel for the twofold purpose of sending
+supplies to the forces at Amboina, for which they were in distress, and
+of bringing in return as many spice-plants as could be conveniently
+stowed. The proposition was acceded to, and a vessel, of which I was the
+principal owner (no other could be obtained), was accordingly dispatched
+in July 1806; but the plan was unfortunately frustrated by the imprudent
+conduct of a person on the civil establishment to whom the execution was
+entrusted. Soon afterwards however I had the good fortune to be more
+successful, in an application I made to Captain Hugh Moore, who commanded
+the Phoenix country ship, to undertake the importation, stipulating with
+him to pay a certain sum for every healthy plant he should deliver.
+
+FIRST INTRODUCTION.
+
+Complete success attended the measure: he returned in July 1798, and I
+had the satisfaction of planting myself, and distributing for that
+purpose, a number of young nutmeg and a few clove trees in the districts
+of Bencoolen and Silebar, and other more distant spots, in order to
+ascertain from experience the situations best adapted to their growth. I
+particularly delivered to Mr. Charles Campbell, botanist, a portion to be
+under his own immediate inspection; and another to Mr. Edward Coles, this
+gentleman having in his service a family who were natives of a spice
+island and had been used to the cultivation. When I quitted the coast in
+January 1799 I had the gratification of witnessing the prosperous state
+of the plantations, and of receiving information from the quarters where
+they had been distributed of their thriving luxuriantly; and since my
+arrival in England various letters have reached me to the same effect. To
+the merit therefore of introducing this important article, and of forming
+regulations for its successful culture, I put in my exclusive claim; and
+am fully persuaded that if a liberal policy is adopted it will become of
+the greatest commercial advantage to the Company and to the nation.
+
+...
+
+Further light will be thrown upon this subject and the progress of the
+cultivation by the following extract of a letter to me from Mr. Campbell,
+dated in November 1803:
+
+Early in the year 1798 Mr. Broff, to whom the highest praise is due for
+his enterprising and considerative scheme of procuring the spice trees
+from our newly-conquered islands (after experiencing much disappointment
+and want of support) overcame every obstacle, and we received, through
+the agency of Mr. Jones, commercial resident at Amboina, five or six
+hundred nutmeg plants, with about fifty cloves; but these latter were not
+in a vigorous state. They were distributed and put generally under my
+inspection. Their culture was attended with various success, but Mr.
+Coles, from the situation of his farm, near Silebar River but not too
+close to the seashore, and from, I believe, bestowing more personal
+attention than any of us, has outstripped his competitors. Some trees
+which I planted as far inland as the Sugar-loaf Mountain blossomed with
+his, but the fruit was first perfected in his ground. The plants were
+dispatched from Amboina in March 1798, just bursting from the shell, and
+two months ago I plucked the perfect fruit, specimens of which I now send
+you; being a period of five years and nine months only; whereas in their
+native land eight years at least are commonly allowed. Having early
+remarked the great promise of the trees I tried by every means in my
+power to interest the Bengal government in our views, and at length, by
+the assistance of Dr. Roxburgh, I succeeded.
+
+SECOND IMPORTATION OF PLANTS.
+
+A few months ago his son arrived here from Amboina, with twenty-two
+thousand nutmeg plants, and upwards of six thousand cloves, which are
+already in my nurseries, and flourishing like those which preceded them.
+About the time the nutmegs fruited one clove tree flowered. Only three of
+the original importation had survived their transit and the accidents
+attending their planting out. Its buds are now filling, and I hope to
+transmit specimens of them also. The Malay chiefs have eagerly engaged in
+the cultivation of their respective shares. I have retained eight
+thousand nutmegs as a plantation from which the fruit may hereafter be
+disseminated. Every kind of soil and every variety of situation has been
+tried. The cloves are not yet widely dispersed, for, being a tender
+plant, I choose to have them under my own eye.
+
+...
+
+Since the death of Mr. Campbell Mr. Roxburgh has been appointed to the
+superintendence, and the latest accounts from thence justify the sanguine
+expectations formed of the ultimate importance of the trade; there being
+at that period upwards of twenty thousand nutmeg trees in full bearing,
+capable of yielding annually two hundred thousand pounds weight of
+nutmegs, and fifty thousand pounds of mace. The clove plants have proved
+more delicate, but the quality of their spice equal to any produced in
+the Moluccas.
+
+CULTURE LEFT TO INDIVIDUALS.
+
+It is understood that the Company has declined the monopoly of the trade
+and left the cultivation to individual exertion; directing however that
+its own immediate plantations be kept up by the labour of convicts from
+Bengal, and reserving to itself an export duty of ten per cent on the
+value of the spices.
+
+CAMPHOR.
+
+Among the valuable productions of the island as articles of commerce a
+conspicuous place belongs to the camphor.
+
+This peculiar substance, called by the natives kapur-barus,* and
+distinguished by the epithet of native camphor from another sort which
+shall be mentioned hereafter, is a drug for which Sumatra and Borneo have
+been celebrated from the earliest times, and with the virtues of which
+the Arabian physicians appear to have been acquainted. Chemists formerly
+entertained opinions extremely discordant in regard to the nature and the
+properties of camphor; and even at this day they seem to be but
+imperfectly known. It is considered however as a sedative and powerful
+diaphoretic: but my province is to mention such particulars of its
+history as have come within my knowledge, leaving to others to
+investigate its most beneficial uses.
+
+(*Footnote. The word kapur appears to be derived from the Sanskrit
+karpura, and the Arabic and Persian kafur (from whence our camphor) to
+have been adopted from the language of the country where the article is
+produced. Barus is the name of a place in Sumatra.)
+
+PLACE OF GROWTH.
+
+The tree is a native of the northern parts of the island only, not being
+found to the southward of the line, nor yet beyond the third degree of
+north latitude. It grows without cultivation in the woods lying near to
+the sea-coast, and is equal in height and bulk to the largest timber
+trees, being frequently found upwards of fifteen feet in circumference.
+
+WOOD.
+
+For carpenters' purposes the wood is in much esteem, being easy to work,
+light, durable, and not liable to be injured by insects, particularly by
+the kumbang, a species of the bee, whose destructive perforations have
+been already mentioned; but is also said to be more affected than most
+others by the changes of the atmosphere. The leaf is small, of a roundish
+oval, the fibres running straight and parallel to each other, and
+terminates in a remarkably long and slender point. The flower has not yet
+been brought to England. The fruit is described by C.F. Gaertner (De
+Seminibus Volume 3 page 49 tab. 186) by the name of Dryobalanops
+aromatica, from specimens in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks; but he
+has unaccountably mistaken it for the cinnamon tree, and spoken of it as
+a native of Ceylon. It is also described, from the same specimens, by M.
+Correa de Serra (Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle Tome 10 page 159
+plate 8) by the name of Pterigium teres; without any reference whatever
+to the nature of the tree as yielding this valuable drug. A beautiful
+engraving of its very peculiar foliage has been made under the direction
+of Mr. A.B. Lambert.
+
+CAMPHOR FOUND IN THE FISSURES.
+
+The camphor is found in the concrete state in which we see it, in natural
+fissures or crevices of the wood, but does not exhibit any exterior
+appearance by which its existence can be previously ascertained, and the
+persons whose employment it is to collect it usually cut down a number of
+trees, almost at random, before they find one that contains a sufficient
+quantity to repay their labour, although always assisted in their
+research by a professional conjurer, whose skill must be chiefly employed
+in concealing or accounting for his own mistakes. It is said that not a
+tenth part of the number felled is productive either of camphor or of
+camphor-oil (meniak kapur), although the latter is less rare; and that
+parties of men are sometimes engaged for two or three months together in
+the forests, with very precarious success. This scarcity tends to enhance
+the price. The tree when cut down is divided transversely into several
+blocks, and these again are split with wedges into small pieces, from the
+interstices of which the camphor, if any there be, is extracted. That
+which comes away readily in large flakes, almost transparent, is esteemed
+the prime sort or head; the smaller, clean pieces are considered as
+belly, and the minute particles, chiefly scraped from the wood, and often
+mixed with it, are called foot; according to the customary terms adopted
+in the assortment of drugs. The mode of separating it from these and
+other impurities is by steeping and washing it in water, and sometimes
+with the aid of soap. It is then passed through sieves or screens of
+different apertures in order to make the assortment, so far as that
+depends upon the size of the grains; but much of the selection is also
+made by hand, and particular care is taken to distinguish from the more
+genuine kinds that which is produced by an artificial concretion of the
+essential oil.
+
+CAMPHOR OIL.
+
+The inquiries I formerly made on the subject (not having been myself in
+the district where the tree grows) led me to believe with confidence that
+the oil and the dry crystallized resin were not procured from the same
+individual tree; but in this I was first undeceived by Mr. R. Maidman,
+who in June 1788 wrote to me from Tappanuli, where he was resident, to
+the following effect:
+
+I beg your acceptance of a piece of camphor-wood, the genuine quality of
+which I can answer for, being cut by one of my own people, who was
+employed in making charcoal, of which the best for smiths' work is made
+from this wood. On cutting deep into a pretty large tree the fine oil
+suddenly gushed out and was lost for want of a receiver. He felled the
+tree, and, having split it, brought me three or four catties (four or
+five pounds) of the finest camphor I ever saw, and also this log, which
+is very rich. My reason for being thus particular is that the country
+people have a method of pouring oil of inferior camphor-trees into a log
+of wood that has natural cracks, and, by exposing this to the sun every
+day for a week, it appears like genuine camphor; but is the worst sort.
+
+...
+
+This coexistence of the two products has been since confirmed to me by
+others, and is particularly stated by Mr. Macdonald in his ingenious
+paper on certain Natural Productions of Sumatra, published in the Asiatic
+Researches Volume 4 Calcutta 1795. It seems probable on the whole that,
+as the tree advances in age, a greater proportion of this essential oil
+takes a concrete form, and it has been observed to me that, when the
+fresh oil has been allowed to stand and settle, a sediment of camphor is
+procured; but the subject requires further examination by well-informed
+persons on the spot.
+
+PRICE.
+
+Head camphor is usually purchased from those who procure it at the rate
+of six Spanish dollars the pound, or eight dollars the catty, and sells
+in the China market at Canton for nine to twelve dollars the pound, or
+twelve to fifteen hundred dollars the pekul of a hundred catties or one
+hundred thirty-three pounds and a third, avoirdupois. When of superior
+quality it sells for two thousand dollars, and I have been assured that
+some small choice samples have produced upwards of thirty dollars per
+catty.* It is estimated that the whole quantity annually brought down for
+sale on the western side of the island does not exceed fifty pekul. The
+trade is chiefly in the hands of the Achinese settled at Sinkell, who buy
+the article from the Batta people and dispose of it to the Europeans and
+Chinese settlers.
+
+(*Footnote. See Price Currents of the China trade. Camphor was purchased
+in Sumatra by Commodore Beaulieu in 1622 at the rate of fifteen Spanish
+dollars for twenty-eight ounces, which differs but little from the modern
+price. In the Transactions of the Society at Batavia it appears that the
+camphor of Borneo sells in their market for 3200 rix dollars, and that of
+Japan for 50 rix dollars the pekul.)
+
+JAPAN CAMPHOR.
+
+It has been commonly supposed that the people of China or Japan prepare a
+factitious substance resembling native camphor, and impregnated with its
+virtues by the admixture of a small quantity of the genuine, which is
+sold to the Dutch factory for thirty or forty dollars the pekul, sent to
+Holland, and afterwards refined to the state in which we see it in our
+shops, where it is sold at eight to twelve shillings the pound. It
+appears however an extraordinary circumstance that any article could
+possibly be so adulterated, bearing at the same time the likeness and
+retaining the sensible qualities of its original, as that the dealers
+should be enabled, with profit to themselves to resell it for the
+fiftieth part of the price they gave. But, upon inquiry of an ingenious
+person long resident in China, I learned that the Japan camphor is by no
+means a factitious substance, but the genuine produce of a tree growing
+in abundance in the latter country, different in every character from
+that of Sumatra or Borneo, and well known to our botanists by the name of
+Laurus camphora, L. He further informed me that the Chinese never mix the
+Sumatran camphor with that from Japan, but purchase the former for their
+own use, at the before-mentioned extravagant price, from an idea of its
+efficacy, probably superstitious, and export the latter as a drug not
+held in any particular estimation. Thus we buy the leaves of their
+tea-plant at a high rate and neglect herbs, the natives of our own soil,
+possessing perhaps equal virtues. It is known also that the Japan
+camphor, termed factitious, will evaporate till it wholly disappears, and
+at all stages of its diminution retain its full proportion of strength;
+which does not seem the property of an adulterated or compounded body.
+Kaempfer informs us that it is prepared from a decoction of the wood and
+roots of the tree cut into small pieces; and the form of the lumps in
+which it is brought to us shows that it has undergone a process. The
+Sumatran sort, though doubtless from its extreme volatility it must be
+subject to decrease, does not lose any very sensible quantity from being
+kept, as I find from the experience of many years that it has been in my
+possession. It probably may not be very easy to ascertain its superiority
+over the other in the materia medica, not being brought for sale to this
+country, nor generally administered; but from a medical person who
+practised at Bencoolen I learned that the usual dose he gave was from
+half a grain to one or two grains at the most. The oil, although hitherto
+of little importance as an article of commerce, is a valuable domestic
+medicine, and much used by the natives as well as Europeans in cases of
+strains, swellings, and rheumatic pains; its particles, from their
+extreme subtlety, readily entering the pores. It undergoes no
+preparation, and is used in the state in which, upon incision, it has
+distilled from the tree. The kayu putih (Melaleuca leucadendron) oil,
+which is somewhat better known in England, is obtained in the same
+manner; but to procure the meniak kayu or common wood-oil, used for
+preserving timber or boards exposed to the weather, from decay, and for
+boiling with dammar to pay the bottoms of ships and boats, the following
+method is practised. They make a transverse incision into the tree to the
+depth of some inches, and then cut sloping down from the notch, till they
+leave a flat superficies. This they hollow out to a capacity to receive
+about a quart. They then put into the hollow a bit of lighted reed, and
+let it remain for about ten minutes, which, acting as a stimulus, draws
+the fluid to that part. In the space of a night the liquor fills the
+receptacle prepared for it, and the tree continues to yield a lesser
+quantity for three successive nights, when the fire must be again
+applied: but on a few repetitions it is exhausted.
+
+BENZOIN.
+
+Benzoin or Benjamin (Styrax benzoin*) called by the Malays kami­nian, is,
+like the camphor, found almost exclusively in the Batta country, to the
+northward of the equator, but not in the Achinese dominions immediately
+beyond that district. It is also met with, though rarely, south of the
+line, but there, either from natural inferiority or want of skill in
+collecting it, the small quantity produced is black and of little value.
+The tree does not grow to any considerable size, and is of no value as
+timber. The seeds or nuts, which are round, of a brown colour, and about
+the size of a moderate bolus, are sown in the padi-fields and afterwards
+require no other cultivation than to clear away the shrubs from about the
+young plants. In some places, especially near the sea-coast, large
+plantations of it are formed, and it is said that the natives, sensible
+of the great advantage accruing to them from the trade, in a national
+point of view, oblige the proprietors, by legal regulation, to keep up
+the succession.
+
+(*Footnote. See a Botanical Description of this tree by my friend Mr.
+Jonas Dryander, with a plate, in Volume 77 page 307 of the Philosophical
+Transactions for the year 1787.)
+
+MODE OF PROCURING IT.
+
+When the trees have attained the age of about seven years, and are six or
+eight inches in diameter, incisions are made in the bark, from whence the
+balsam or gum (as it is commonly termed, although being soluble in
+spirits and not in water, it is rather a resin) exudes, which is
+carefully pared off. The purest of the gum, or Head benzoin, is that
+which comes from these incisions during the first three years, and is
+white, inclining to yellow, soft, and fragrant; after which it gradually
+changes to the second sort, which is of a reddish yellow, degenerating to
+brown; and at length when the tree, which will not bear a repetition of
+the process for more than ten or twelve years, is supposed to be worn
+out, they cut it down, and when split in pieces procure, by scraping, the
+worst sort, or Foot benzoin, which is dark coloured, hard, and mixed more
+or less with parings of the wood and other impurities. The Head is
+further distinguished into Europe and India-head, of which the first is
+superior, and is the only sort adapted to the home market: the latter,
+with most of the inferior sorts, is exported to Arabia,* Persia, and some
+parts of India, where it is burned to perfume with its smoke their
+temples and private houses, expel troublesome insects, and obviate the
+pernicious effects of unwholesome air or noxious exhalations; in addition
+to which uses, in the Malayan countries, it is always considered as a
+necessary part of the apparatus in administering an oath. It is brought
+down from the country for sale in large cakes, called tampang, covered
+with mats; and these, as a staple commodity, are employed in their
+dealings for a standard of value, to which the price of other things have
+reference, as in most parts of the world to certain metals. In order to
+pack it in chests it is necessary to soften the coarser sorts with
+boiling water; for the finer it is sufficient to break the lumps and to
+expose it to the heat of the sun. The greater part of the quantity
+brought to England is re-exported from thence to countries where the
+Roman Catholic and Mahometan religions prevail, to be there burnt as
+incense in the churches and temples.** The remainder is chiefly employed
+in medicine, being much esteemed as an expectorant and styptic, and
+constitutes the basis of that valuable balsam distinguished by the name
+of Turlington, whose very salutary effects, particularly in healing green
+and other wounds, is well known to persons abroad who cannot always
+obtain surgical assistance. It is also employed, if I am not misinformed,
+in the preparation of court sticking-plaster. The gum or resin called
+dulang is named by us scented benzoin from its peculiar fragrance. The
+rasamala (Lignum papuanum of Rumphius, and Altingia excelsa of the
+Batavian Transactions) is a sort of wild benzoin, of little value, and
+not, in Sumatra, considered as an object of commerce.
+
+(*Footnote. Les Arabes tirent beaucoup d'autres sortes d'encens de
+l'Habbesch, de Sumatra, Siam, Java, etc. et parmi celles-la une qu'ils
+appellent Bachor (bakhor) Java, et que les Anglois nomment Benzoin, est
+tres semblable a l'Oliban. On en exporte en grande quantite en Turquie
+parles golfes d'Arabie et de Perse, et la moindre des trois especes de
+Benzoin, que les marchands vendent, est estimee meilleure que l'Oliban
+d'Arabie. Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie page 126.)
+
+(**Footnote. According to Mr. Jackson the annual importation of Benzoin
+at Mogodor from London is about 13,000 pounds annually.)
+
+CASSIA.
+
+Cassia or kulit manis (Laurus cassia) is a coarse species of cinnamon
+which flourishes chiefly, as well as the two foregoing articles, in the
+northern part of the island; but with this difference, that the camphor
+and benzoin grow only near the coast, whereas the cassia is a native of
+the central parts of the country. It is mostly procured in those
+districts which lie inland of Tapanuli, but it is also found in Musi,
+where Palembang River takes its rise. The leaves are about four inches
+long, narrower than the bay (to which tribe it belongs) and more pointed;
+deep green; smooth surface, and plain edge. The principal fibres take
+their rise from the peduncle. The young leaves are mostly of reddish hue.
+The blossoms grow six in number upon slender foot­stalks, close to the
+bottom of the leaf. They are monopetalous, small, white, stellated in six
+points. The stamina are six, with one stile, growing from the germen,
+which stands up in three brownish segments, resembling a cup. The trees
+grow from fifty to sixty feet high, with large, spreading, horizontal
+branches, almost as low as the earth. The root is said to contain much
+camphor that may be obtained by boiling or other processes unknown on
+Sumatra. No pains is bestowed on the cultivation of the cassia. The bark,
+which is the part in use, is commonly taken from such of the trees as are
+a foot or eighteen inches diameter, for when they are younger it is said
+to be so thin as to lose all its qualities very soon. The difference of
+soil and situation alters considerably the value of the bark. Those trees
+which grow in a high rocky soil have red shoots, and the bark is superior
+to that which is produced in a moist clay, where the shoots are green. I
+have been assured by a person of extensive knowledge that the cassia
+produced on Sumatra is from the same tree which yields the true cinnamon,
+and that the apparent difference arises from the less judicious manner of
+quilling it. Perhaps the younger and more tender branches should be
+preferred; perhaps the age of the tree or the season of the year ought to
+be more nicely attended to; and lastly I have known it to be suggested
+that the mucilaginous slime which adheres to the inside of the fresh
+peeled rind does, when not carefully wiped off, injure the flavour of the
+cassia and render it inferior to that of the cinnamon. I am informed that
+it has been purchased by Dutch merchants at our India sales, where it
+sometimes sold to much loss, and afterwards by them shipped for Spain as
+cinnamon, being packed in boxes which had come from Ceylon with that
+article. The price it bears in the island is about ten or twelve dollars
+the pecul.
+
+RATTANS.
+
+Rattans or rotan (Calamus rotang) furnish annually many large cargoes,
+chiefly from the eastern side of the island, where the Dutch buy them to
+send to Europe; and the country traders for the western parts of India.
+Walking-canes, or tongkat, of various kinds, are also produced near the
+rivers which open to the straits of Malacca.
+
+COTTON.
+
+In almost every part of the country two species of cotton are cultivated,
+namely, the annual sort named kapas (Gossypium herbaceum), and the shrub
+cotton named kapas besar (Gossypium herboreum). The cotton produced from
+both appears to be of very good quality, and might, with encouragement,
+be procured in any quantities; but the natives raise no more than is
+necessary for their own domestic manufactures. The silk cotton or kapok
+(bombax) is also to be met with in every village. This is, to appearance,
+one of the most beautiful raw materials the hand of nature has presented.
+Its fineness, gloss, and delicate softness render it, to the sight and
+touch, much superior to the labour of the silkworm; but owing to the
+shortness and brittleness of the staple it is esteemed unfit for the reel
+and loom, and is only applied to the unworthy purpose of stuffing pillows
+and mattresses. Possibly it has not undergone a fair trial in the hands
+of our ingenious artists, and we may yet see it converted into a valuable
+manufacture. It grows in pods, from four to six inches long, which burst
+open when ripe. The seeds entirely resemble the black pepper, but are
+without taste. The tree is remarkable from the branches growing out
+perfectly straight and horizontal, and being always three, forming equal
+angles, at the same height: the diminutive shoots likewise grow flat; and
+the several gradations of branches observe the same regularity to the
+top. Some travellers have called it the umbrella tree, but the piece of
+furniture called a dumb-waiter exhibits a more striking picture of it.
+
+BETEL-NUT.
+
+The betel-nut or pinang (Areca catechu) before mentioned is a
+considerable article of traffic to the coast of Coromandel or Telinga,
+particularly from Achin.
+
+COFFEE.
+
+The coffee-trees are universally planted, but the fruit produced here is
+not excellent in quality, which is probably owing entirely to the want of
+skill in the management of them. The plants are disposed too close to
+each other, and are so much overshaded by other trees that the sun cannot
+penetrate to the fruit; owing to which the juices are not well ripened,
+and the berries, which become large, do not acquire a proper flavour. Add
+to this that the berries are gathered whilst red, which is before they
+have arrived at a due degree of maturity, and which the Arabs always
+permit them to attain to, esteeming it essential to the goodness of the
+coffee. As the tree is of the same species with that cultivated in Arabia
+there is little doubt but with proper care this article might be produced
+of a quality equal, perhaps superior, to that imported from the West
+Indies; though probably the heavy rains on Sumatra may prevent its
+attaining to the perfection of the coffee of Mocha.*
+
+(*Footnote. For these observations on the growth of the coffee, as well
+as many others on the vegetable productions of the island, I am indebted
+to the letters of Mr. Charles Miller, entered on the Company's records at
+Bencoolen, and have to return him my thanks for many communications since
+his return to England. On the subject of this article of produce I have
+since received the following interesting information from the late Mr.
+Charles Campbell in a letter dated November 1803. "The coffee you
+recollect on this coast I found so degenerated from want of culture and
+care as not to be worth the rearing. But this objection has been removed,
+for more than three years ago I procured twenty-five plants from Mocha;
+they produced fruit in about twenty months, are now in their second crop,
+and loaded beyond any fruit-trees I ever saw. The average produce is
+about eight pounds a tree; but so much cannot be expected in extensive
+plantations, nor in every soil. The berries are in no respect inferior in
+flavour to those of the parent country." This cultivation, I am happy to
+hear, has since been carried to a great extent.)
+
+
+(PLATE 2. THE DAMMAR, A SPECIES OF PINUS.
+Sinensis delt. Swaine Sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+DAMMAR.
+
+The dammar is a kind of turpentine or resin from a species of pine, and
+used for the same purposes to which that and pitch are applied. It is
+exported in large quantities to Bengal and elsewhere. It exudes, or
+flows rather, spontaneously from the tree in such plenty that there is no
+need of making incisions to procure it. The natives gather it in lumps
+from the ground where it has fallen, or collect it from the shores of
+bays and rivers whither it has floated. It hangs from the bough of the
+tree which produces it in large pieces, and hardening in the air it
+becomes brittle and is blown off by the first high wind. When a quantity
+of it has fallen in the same place it appears like a rock, and thence,
+they say, or more probably from its hardness, it is called dammar batu;
+by which name it is distinguished from the dammar kruyen. This is another
+species of turpentine, yielded by a tree growing in Lampong, called
+kruyen, the wood of which is white and porous. It differs from the common
+sort, or dammar batu, in being soft and whitish, having the consistence
+and somewhat the appearance of putty. It is in much estimation for paying
+the bottoms of vessels, for which use, to give it firmness and duration,
+it ought to be mixed with some of the hard kind, of which it corrects the
+brittleness. The natives, in common, do not boil it, but rub or smear it
+on with their hands; a practice which is probably derived from indolence,
+unless, as I have been informed, that boiling it, without oil, renders it
+hard. To procure it, an incision is made in the tree.
+
+DRAGONS-BLOOD.
+
+Dragons-blood, Sanguis draconis, or jaranang, is a drug obtained from a
+large species of rattan, called rotan jaranang, growing abundantly in the
+countries of Palembang and Jambi, where it is manufactured and exported,
+in the first instance to Batavia, and from thence to China, where it is
+held in much estimation; but whether it be precisely the drug of our
+shops, so named, I cannot take upon me to determine. I am informed that
+it is prepared in the following manner: the stamina and other parts of
+fructification of this plant, covered with the farina, are mixed with a
+certain proportion of white dammar, and boiled in water until the whole
+is well incorporated, and the water evaporated; by which time the
+composition has acquired a red colour, and, when rubbed between the
+fingers, comes off in a dry powder. Whilst soft, it is usually poured
+into joints of small bamboo, and shipped in that state. According to this
+account, which I received from my friend Mr. Philip Braham, who had an
+opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of the process, the resinous quality
+of the drug belongs only to the dammar, and not to the rotan.
+
+GAMBIR.
+
+Gambir, or gatah gambir, is a juice extracted from the leaves of a plant
+of that name, inspissated by decoction, strained, suffered to cool and
+harden, and then cut into cakes of different shapes, or formed into
+balls. It is very generally eaten by the natives with their sirih or
+betel, and is supposed to have the property of cleansing and sweetening
+the mouth; for which reason it is also rubbed to the gums of infants. For
+a minute detail of the culture and manufacture of this article at Malacca
+see the Batavian Transactions Volume 2 page 356, where the plant is
+classed between the portlandia and roella of L. In other places it is
+obtained from a climbing or trailing plant, evidently the Funis uncatus
+of Rumphius.* See also Observations on the Nauclea Gambir, by Mr. W.
+Hunter, in the Linnean Transactions Volume 9 page 218. At Siak, Kampar,
+and Indragiri, on the eastern side of Sumatra, it is an important article
+of commerce.
+
+(*Footnote. Hoc unum adhuc addendum est, in Sumatra nempe ac forte in
+Java aliam quoque esse plantam repentem gatta gambir akar dictam, qum
+forte unae eaedemque erunt plantae; ac verbum akar Malaiensibus denotat
+non tantum radicem, sed repentem quoque fruticem. Volume 5 page 64.)
+
+LIGNUM ALOES.
+
+The agallochin, agila-wood, or lignum aloes, called by the natives
+kalambak and kayu gahru, is highly prized in all parts of the East, for
+the fragrant scent it emits in burning. I find these two names used
+indiscriminately in Malayan writings, and sometimes coupled together; but
+Valentyn pronounces the gahru to be an inferior species, and the Batavian
+Catalogue describes it as the heart of the rasamala, and different from
+the genuine kalambak. This unctuous substance, which burns like a resin,
+is understood to be the decayed, and probably disordered, part of the
+tree. It is described by Kaempfer (Amaenit page 903) under the Chinese
+name of sinkoo, and by Dr. Roxburgh under that of Aquillaria agallocha.
+
+TIMBER.
+
+The forests contain an inexhaustible store and endless variety of timber
+trees, many sorts of which are highly valuable and capable of being
+applied to ship-building and other important purposes. On the western
+coast the general want of navigable rivers has materially hindered both
+the export and the employment of timber; but those on the eastern side,
+particularly Siak, have heretofore supplied the city of Batavia with
+great abundance, and latterly the naval arsenal at Pulo Pinang with what
+is required for the construction of ships of war.
+
+TEAK.
+
+The teak however, the pride of Indian forests, called by the Malays jati
+(Tectona grandis, L.), does not appear to be indigenous to this island,
+although flourishing to the northward and southward of it, in Pegu and
+Java; and I believe it is equally a stranger to the Malayan peninsula.
+Attempts have been made by the servants of the Company to promote its
+cultivation. Mr. Robert Hay had a plantation near Bencoolen, but the
+situation seemed unfavourable. Mr. John Marsden, when resident of Laye in
+the year 1776, sowed some seeds of it, and distributed a quantity amongst
+the inhabitants of his district. The former, at least, throve
+exceedingly, as if in their natural soil. The appearance of the tree is
+stately, the leaves are broad and large, and they yield, when squeezed, a
+red juice. The wood is well known to be, in many respects, preferable to
+oak, working more kindly, surpassing it in durability, and having the
+peculiar property of preserving the iron bolts driven into it from rust;
+a property that may be ascribed to the essential oil or tar contained in
+it, and which has lately been procured from it in large quantities by
+distillation at Bombay. Many ships built at that place have continued to
+swim so long that none could recollect the period at which they were
+launched.
+
+POON, ETC.
+
+For masts and yards the wood preferred is the red bintangur (a species of
+uvaria), which in all the maritime parts of India has obtained the name
+of poon or puhn, from the Malayan word signifying tree in general; as
+puhn upas, the poison-tree, puhn kayu, a timber-tree, etc.
+
+The camphor-wood, so useful for carpenters' purposes, has been already
+mentioned.
+
+Kayu pindis or kapini (species of metrosideros), is named also kayu besi,
+or iron-wood, on account of its extraordinary hardness, which turns the
+edge of common tools.
+
+Marbau (Metrosideros amboinensis, R.) grows to a large size, and is used
+for beams both in ship and house­building, as well as for other purposes
+to which oak is applied in Europe. Pinaga is valuable as crooked timber,
+and used for frames and knees of ships, being also very durable. It
+frequently grows in the wash of the sea.
+
+Juar, ebony, called in the Batavian Catalogue kayu arang, or
+charcoal-wood, is found here in great plenty.
+
+Kayu gadis, a wood possessing the flavour and qualities of the sassafras,
+and used for the same purposes in medicine, but in the growth of the tree
+resembling rather our elm than the laurus (to which latter tribe the
+American sassafras belongs), is very common in the plains near Bencoolen.
+
+Kayu arau (Casuarina littorea) is often termed a bastard-pine, and as
+such gave name to the Isle of Pines discovered by Captain Cook. By the
+Malays it is usually called kayu chamara, from the resemblance of its
+branches to the ornamental cowtails of Upper India. It has been already
+remarked of this tree, whose wood is not particularly useful, that it
+delights in a low sandy soil, and is ever the first that springs up from
+land relinquished by the sea.
+
+The rangas or rungi, commonly supposed to be the manchineel of the West
+Indies, but perhaps only from the noxious quality of its juices, is the
+Arbor vernicis of Rumphius, and particularly described in the Batavian
+Transactions Volume 5 under the name of Manga deleteria sylvestris,
+fructu parvo cordiformi. In a list of plants in the same volume, by F.
+Norona, it is termed Anacardium encardium. The wood has some resemblance
+to mahogany, is worked up into articles of furniture, and resists the
+destructive ravages of the white ant, but its hardness and acrid sap,
+which blisters the hands of those employed about it, are objections to
+its general use. I am not aware of the natives procuring a varnish from
+this tree.
+
+Of the various sorts of tree producing dammar, some are said to be
+valuable as timber, particularly the species called dammar laut, not
+mentioned by Rumphius, which is employed at Pulo Pinang for frame timbers
+of ships, beams, and knees.
+
+Kamuning (camunium, R. chalcas paniculata, Lour.) is a light-coloured
+wood, close, and finely grained, takes an exquisite polish, and is used
+for the sheaths of krises. There is also a red-grained sort, in less
+estimation. The appearance of the tree is very beautiful, resembling in
+its leaves the larger myrtle, with a white flower.
+
+The langsani likewise is a wood handsomely veined, and is employed for
+cabinet and carved work.
+
+Beside these the kinds of wood most in use are the madang, ballam,
+maranti, laban, and marakuli. The variety is much greater, but many, from
+their porous nature and proneness to decay, are of very little value, and
+scarcely admit of seasoning before they become rotten.
+
+I cannot quit the vegetable kingdom without noticing a tree which,
+although of no use in manufacture or commerce, not peculiar to the
+island, and has been often described, merits yet, for its extreme
+singularity, that it should not be passed over in silence. This is the
+jawi-jawi and ulang-ulang of the Malays, the banyan tree of the
+continent, the Grossularia domestica of Rumphius, and the Ficus indica or
+Ficus racemosa of Linnaeus. It possesses the uncommon property of
+dropping roots or fibres from certain parts of its boughs, which, when
+they touch the earth, become new stems, and go on increasing to such an
+extent that some have measured, in circumference of the branches, upwards
+of a thousand feet, and have been said to afford shelter to a troop of
+horse.* These fibres, that look like ropes attached to the branches, when
+they meet with any obstruction in their descent conform themselves to the
+shape of the resisting body, and thus occasion many curious
+metamorphoses. I recollect seeing them stand in the perfect shape of a
+gate long after the original posts and cross piece had decayed and
+disappeared; and I have been told of their lining the internal
+circumference of a large bricked well, like the worm in a distiller's
+tub; there exhibiting the view of a tree turned inside out, the branches
+pointing to the centre, instead of growing from it. It is not more
+extraordinary in its manner of growth than whimsical and fantastic in its
+choice of situations. From the side of a wall or the top of a house it
+seems to spring spontaneously. Even from the smooth surface of a wooden
+pillar, turned and painted, I have seen it shoot forth, as if the
+vegetative juices of the seasoned timber had renewed their circulation
+and begun to produce leaves afresh. I have seen it flourish in the centre
+of a hollow tree of a very different species, which however still
+retained its verdure, its branches encompassing those of the adventitious
+plant whilst its decayed trunk enclosed the stem, which was visible, at
+interstices, from nearly the level of the plain on which they grew. This
+in truth appeared so striking a curiosity that I have often repaired to
+the spot to contemplate the singularity of it. How the seed from which it
+is produced happens to occupy stations seemingly so unnatural is not
+easily determined. Some have imagined the berries carried thither by the
+wind, and others, with more appearance of truth, by the birds; which,
+cleansing their bills where they light, or attempt to light, leave, in
+those places, the seeds adhering by the viscous matter which surrounds
+them. However this be, the jawi-jawi, growing on buildings without earth
+or water, and deriving from the genial atmosphere its principle of
+nourishment, proves in its increasing growth highly destructive to the
+fabric where it is harboured; for the fibrous roots, which are at first
+extremely fine, penetrate common cements, and, overcoming as their size
+enlarges the most powerful resistance, split, with the force of the
+mechanic wedge, the most substantial brickwork. When the consistence is
+such as not to admit the insinuation of the fibres the root extends
+itself along the outside, and to an extraordinary length, bearing not
+unfrequently to the stem the proportion of eight to one when young. I
+have measured the former sixty inches, when the latter, to the extremity
+of the leaf, which took up a third part, was no more than eight inches. I
+have also seen it wave its boughs at the apparent height of two hundred
+feet, of which the roots, if we may term them such, occupied at least one
+hundred; forming by their close combination the appearance of a venerable
+gothic pillar. It stood near the plains of Krakap, but, like other
+monuments of antiquity, it had its period of existence, and is now no
+more.
+
+(*Footnote. The following is an account of the dimensions of a remarkable
+banyan or burr tree, near Manjee, twenty miles west of Patna in Bengal.
+Diameter 363 to 375 feet. Circumference of shadow at noon 1116 feet.
+Circumference of the several stems, in number fifty or sixty, 921 feet.
+Under this tree sat a naked Fakir, who had occupied that situation for
+twenty-five years; but he did not continue there the whole year through,
+for his vow obliged him to lie, during the four cold months, up to his
+neck in the waters of the river Ganges.)
+
+
+(PLATE 18. ENTRANCE OF PADANG RIVER.
+With Buffaloes.)
+
+
+(PLATE 18A. VIEW OF PADANG HILL.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 8.
+
+GOLD, TIN, AND OTHER METALS.
+BEESWAX.
+IVORY.
+BIRDS-NEST, ETC.
+IMPORT-TRADE.
+
+GOLD.
+
+Beside those articles of trade afforded by the vegetable kingdom Sumatra
+produces many others, the chief of which is gold. This valuable metal is
+found mostly in the central parts of the island; none (or with few
+exceptions) being observed to the southward of Limun, a branch of Jambi
+River, nor to the northward of Nalabu, from which port Achin is
+principally supplied. Menangkabau has always been esteemed the richest
+seat of it; and this consideration probably induced the Dutch to
+establish their head factory at Padang, in the immediate neighbourhood of
+that kingdom. Colonies of Malays from thence have settled themselves in
+almost all the districts where gold is procured, and appear to be the
+only persons who dig for it in mines, or collect it in streams; the
+proper inhabitants or villagers confining their attention to the raising
+of provisions, with which they supply those who search for the metal.
+Such at least appears to be the case in Limun, Batang Asei, and Pakalang
+jambu, where a considerable gold trade is carried on.
+
+It has been generally understood at the English settlements that earth
+taken up from the beds of rivers, or loosened from the adjacent banks,
+and washed by means of rivulets diverted towards the newly-opened ground,
+furnishes the greater proportion of the gold found in the island, and
+that the natives are not accustomed to venture upon any excavation that
+deserves the name of mining; but our possession, during the present war,
+of the settlements that belonged to the Dutch, has enabled us to form
+juster notions on the subject, and the following account, obtained from
+well-informed persons on the spot, will show the methods pursued in both
+processes, and the degree of enterprise and skill employed by the
+workmen.
+
+In the districts situated inland of Padang, which is the principal mart
+for this article, little is collected otherwise than from mines (tambang)
+by people whose profession it is to work them, and who are known by the
+appellation of orang gulla. The metal brought down for sale is for the
+most part of two sorts, distinguished by the terms amas supayang and amas
+sungei-abu, from the names of places where they are respectively
+procured. The former is what we usually call rock-gold, consisting of
+pieces of quartz more or less intermixed with veins of gold, generally of
+fine quality, running through it in all directions, and forming beautiful
+masses, which, being admired by Europeans, are sometimes sold by weight
+as if the whole were solid metal. The mines yielding this sort are
+commonly situated at the foot of a mountain, and the shafts are driven
+horizontally to the extent of from eight to twenty fathoms. The gold to
+which sungei-abu gives name is on the contrary found in the state of
+smooth solid lumps, in shape like gravel, and of various sizes, the
+largest lump that I have seen weighing nine ounces fifteen grains, and
+one in my possession (for which I am indebted to Mr. Charles Holloway)
+weighing eight grains less than nine ounces. This sort is also termed
+amas lichin or smooth gold, and appears to owe that quality to its having
+been exposed, in some prior state of the soil or conformation of the
+earth, to the action of running water, and deprived of its sharp and
+rough edges by attrition. This form of gravel is the most common in which
+gold is discovered. Gold-dust or amas urei is collected either in the
+channels of brooks running over ground rich in the metal, in standing
+pools of water occasioned by heavy rains, or in a number of holes dug in
+a situation to which a small rapid stream can be directed.
+
+The tools employed in working the mines are an iron crow three feet in
+length, called tabah, a shovel called changkul, and a heavy iron mallet
+or hammer, the head of which is eighteen inches in length and as thick as
+a man's leg, with a handle in the middle. With this they beat the lumps
+of rock till they are reduced to powder, and the pounded mass is then put
+into a sledge or tray five or six feet long and one and a half broad, in
+the form of a boat, and thence named bidu. To this vessel a rope of iju
+is attached, by which they draw it when loaded out of the horizontal mine
+to the nearest place where they can meet with a supply of water, which
+alone is employed to separate the gold from the pulverized quartz.
+
+In the perpendicular mines the smooth or gravel-gold is often found near
+the surface, but in small quantities, improving as the workmen advance,
+and again often vanishing suddenly. This they say is most likely to be
+the case when after pursuing a poor vein they suddenly come to large
+lumps. When they have dug to the depth of four, six, or sometimes eight
+fathoms (which they do at a venture, the surface not affording any
+indications on which they can depend), they work horizontally, supporting
+the shaft with timbers; but to persons acquainted with the berg-werken of
+Germany or Hungary, these pits would hardly appear to merit the
+appellation of mines.* In Siberia however, as in Sumatra, the hills yield
+their gold by slightly working them. Sand is commonly met with at the
+depth of three or four fathoms, and beneath this a stratum of napal or
+steatite, which is considered as a sign that the metal is near; but the
+least fallible mark is a red stone, called batu kawi, lying in detached
+pieces. It is mostly found in red and white clay, and often adhering to
+small stones, as well as in homogeneous lumps. The gold is separated from
+the clay by means of water poured on a hollow board, in the management of
+which the persons employed are remarkably expert.
+
+(*Footnote. It has been observed to me that it is not so much the want of
+windlasses or machines (substitutes for which they are ready enough at
+contriving) that prevents excavation to a great depth as the apprehension
+of earthquakes, the effect of which has frequently been to overwhelm them
+before they could escape even from their shallow mines.)
+
+In these perpendicular mines the water is drawn off by hand in pails or
+buckets. In the horizontal they make two shafts or entries in a direction
+parallel to each other, as far as they mean to extend the work, and there
+connect them by a cross trench. One of these, by a difference in their
+respective levels, serves as a drain to carry off the water, whilst the
+other is kept dry. They work in parties of from four or five to forty or
+fifty in number; the proprietor of the ground receiving one half of the
+produce and the undertakers the other; and it does not appear that the
+prince receives any established royalty. The hill people affect a kind of
+independence or equality which they express by the term of sama rata.
+
+It may well be imagined that mines of this description are very numerous,
+and in the common estimation of the natives they amount to no fewer than
+twelve hundred in the dominions of Menangkabau. A considerable proportion
+of their produce (perhaps one half) never comes into the hands of
+Europeans but is conveyed to the eastern side of the island, and yet I
+have been assured on good authority that from ten to twelve thousand
+ounces have annually been received, on public and private account, at
+Padang alone; at Nalabu about two thousand, Natal eight hundred, and
+Moco-moco six hundred. The quality of the gold collected in the Padang
+districts is inferior to that purchased at Natal and Moco-moco, in
+consequence of the practice of blending together the unequal produce of
+such a variety of mines which in other parts it is customary to keep
+distinct. The gold from the former is of the fineness of from nineteen to
+twenty-one, and from the latter places is generally of from twenty-two to
+twenty-three carats. The finest that has passed through my hands was
+twenty-three carats, one grain and a half, assayed at the Tower of
+London. Gold of an inferior touch, called amas muda from the paleness of
+its colour, is found in the same countries where the other is produced. I
+had some assayed which was two carats three grains worse than standard,
+and contained an alloy of silver, but not in a proportion to be affected
+by the acids. I have seen gold brought from Mampawah in Borneo which was
+in the state of a fine uniform powder, high-coloured, and its degree of
+fineness not exceeding fifteen or sixteen carats. The natives suppose
+these differences to proceed from an original essential inferiority of
+the metal, not possessing the art of separating it from the silver or
+copper. In this island it is never found in the state of ore, but is
+always completely metallic. A very little pale gold is now and then found
+in the Lampong country.
+
+Of those who dig for it the most intelligent, distinguished by the name
+of sudagar or merchants, are intrusted by the rest with their
+collections, who carry the gold to the places of trade on the great
+eastern rivers, or to the settlements on the west coast, where they
+barter it for iron (of which large quantities are consumed in tools for
+working the mines), opium, and the fine piece-goods of Madras and Bengal
+with which they return heavily loaded to their country. In some parts of
+the journey they have the convenience of water-carriage on lakes and
+rivers; but in others they carry on their backs a weight of about eighty
+pounds through woods, over streams, and across mountains, in parties
+generally of one hundred or more, who have frequent occasion to defend
+their property against the spirit of plunder and extortion which prevails
+among the poorer nations through whose districts they are obliged to
+pass. Upon the proposal of striking out any new road the question always
+asked by these intermediate people is, apa ontong kami, what is to be our
+advantage?
+
+PRICE.
+
+When brought to our settlements it was formerly purchased at the rate of
+eighteen Spanish dollars the tail, or about three pounds five shillings
+the ounce, but in later times it has risen to twenty-one dollars, or to
+three pounds eighteen shillings the ounce. Upon exportation to Europe
+therefore it scarcely affords a profit to the original buyer, and others
+who employ it as a remittance incur a loss when insurance and other
+incidental charges are deducted. A duty of five per cent which it had
+been customary to charge at the East India-house was, about twenty years
+ago, most liberally remitted by the Company upon a representation made by
+me to the Directors of the hardship sustained in this respect by its
+servants at Fort Marlborough, and the public benefit that would accrue
+from giving encouragement to the importation of bullion. The long
+continuance of war and peculiar risk of Indian navigation resulting from
+it may probably have operated to counteract these good effects.
+
+It has generally been thought surprising that the European Companies who
+have so long had establishments in Sumatra should not have considered it
+an object to work these mines upon a regular system, with proper
+machinery, and under competent inspection; but the attempt has in fact
+been made, and experience and calculation may have taught them that it is
+not a scheme likely to be attended with success, owing among other causes
+to the dearness of labour, and the necessity it would occasion for
+keeping up a force in distant parts of the country for the protection of
+the persons engaged and the property collected. Europeans cannot be
+employed upon such work in that climate, and the natives are unfit for
+(nor would they submit to) the laborious exertion required to render the
+undertaking profitable. A detailed and in many respects interesting
+account of the working a gold mine at Sileda, with a plate representing a
+section of the mine, is given by Elias Hesse,* who in the year 1682
+accompanied the Bergh-Hoofdman, Benj. Olitzsch, and a party of miners
+from Saxony, sent out by the Dutch East India Company for that purpose.
+The superintendent, with most of his people, lost their lives, and the
+undertaking failed. It is said at Padang that the metal proved to be
+uncommonly poor. Many years later trial was made of a vein running close
+to that settlement; but the returns not being adequate to the expense it
+was let to farm, and in a few years fell into such low repute as to be at
+length disposed of by public auction at a rent of two Spanish dollars.**
+The English company, also having intelligence of a mine said to be
+discovered near Fort Marlborough, gave orders for its being worked; but
+if it ever existed no trace now remains.
+
+(*Footnote. Ost-Indische Reise-beschreibung oder Diarium. Leipzig 1690
+octavo. See also J.W. Vogel's Ost-Indianische Reise-beschreibung.
+Altenburg 1704 octavo.)
+
+(**Footnote. The following is an extract of a letter from Mr. James
+Moore, a servant of the Company, dated from Padang in 1778. "They have
+lately opened a vein of gold in the country inland of this place, from
+which the governor at one time received a hundred and fifty tials (two
+hundred ounces). He has procured a map to be made of a particular part of
+the gold country, which points out the different places where they work
+for it; and also the situation of twenty-one Malay forts, all inhabited
+and in repair. These districts are extremely populous compared to the
+more southern part of the island. They collect and export annually to
+Batavia about two thousand five hundred tials of gold from this place:
+the quantity never exceeds three thousand tials nor falls short of two
+thousand." This refers to the public export on the Company's account,
+which agrees with what is stated in the Batavian Transactions. "In een
+goed Jaar geeven de Tigablas cottas omtrent 3000 Thail, zynde 6 Thail een
+Mark, dus omtrent 500 Mark Goud, van 't gchalte van 19 tot 20 carat.")
+
+Before the gold dust is weighed for sale, in order to cleanse it from all
+impurities and heterogeneous mixtures, whether natural or fraudulent,
+(such as filings of copper or of iron) a skilful person is employed who,
+by the sharpness of his eye and long practice, is able to effect this to
+a surprising degree of nicety. The dust is spread out on a kind of wooden
+platter, and the base particles (lanchong) are touched out from the mass
+and put aside one by one with an instrument, if such it may be termed,
+made of cotton cloth rolled up to a point. If the honesty of these
+gold­cleaners can be depended upon their dexterity is almost infallible;
+and as some check upon the former it is usual to pour the contents of
+each parcel when thus cleansed into a vessel of aqua-fortis, which puts
+their accuracy to the test. The parcels or bulses in which the gold is
+packed up are formed of the integument that covers the heart of the
+buffalo. This has the appearance of bladder, but is both tougher and more
+pliable. In those parts of the country where the traffic in the article
+is considerable it is generally employed as currency instead of coin;
+every man carries small scales about him, and purchases are made with it
+so low as to the weight of a grain or two of padi. Various seeds are used
+as gold weights, but more especially these two: the one called rakat or
+saga-timbangan (Glycine abrus L. or Abrus maculatus of the Batavian
+Transactions) being the well-known scarlet pea with a black spot,
+twenty-four of which constitute a mas, and sixteen mas a tail: the other
+called saga­puhn and kondori batang (Adenanthera pavonia, L.), a scarlet
+or rather coral bean, much larger than the former and without the black
+spot. It is the candarin-weight of the Chinese, of which a hundred make a
+tail, and equal, according to the tables published by Stevens, to 5.7984
+gr. troy; but the average weight of those in my possession is 10.50
+grains. The tail differs however in the northern and southern parts of
+the island, being at Natal twenty-four pennyweights nine grains, and at
+Padang, Bencoolen, and elsewhere, twenty-six pennyweights twelve grains.
+At Achin the bangkal of thirty pennyweights twenty-one grains, is the
+standard. Spanish dollars are everywhere current, and accounts are kept
+in dollars, sukus (imaginary quarter-dollars) and kepping or copper cash,
+of which four hundred go to the dollar. Beside these there are silver
+fanams, single, double, and treble (the latter called tali) coined at
+Madras, twenty-four fanams or eight talis being equal to the Spanish
+dollar, which is always valued in the English settlements at five
+shillings sterling. Silver rupees have occasionally been struck in Bengal
+for the use of the settlements on the coast of Sumatra, but not in
+sufficient quantities to become a general currency; and in the year 1786
+the Company contracted with the late Mr. Boulton of Soho for a copper
+coinage, the proportions of which I was desired to adjust, as well as to
+furnish the inscriptions; and the same system, with many improvements
+suggested by Mr. Charles Wilkins, has since been extended to the three
+Presidencies of India. At Achin small thin gold and silver coins were
+formerly struck and still are current; but I have not seen any of the
+pieces that bore the appearance of modern coinage; nor am I aware that
+this right of sovereignty is exercised by any other power in the island.
+
+TIN.
+
+Tin, called timar, is a very considerable article of trade, and many
+cargoes of it are yearly carried to China, where the consumption is
+chiefly for religious purposes. The mines are situated in the island of
+Bangka, lying near Palembang, and are said to have been accidentally
+discovered there in 1710, by the burning of a house. They are worked by a
+colony of Chinese (said in the Batavian Transactions to consist of
+twenty-five thousand persons) under the nominal direction of the king of
+Palembang, but for the account and benefit of the Dutch Company, which
+has endeavoured to monopolize the trade, and actually obtained two
+millions of pounds yearly; but the enterprising spirit of private
+merchants, chiefly English and American, finds means to elude the
+vigilance of its cruisers, and the commerce is largely participated by
+them. It is exported for the most part in small pieces or cakes called
+tampang, and sometimes in slabs. M. Sonnerat reports that this tin (named
+calin by the French writers), was analysed by M. Daubenton, who found it
+to be the same metal as that produced in England; but it sells something
+higher than our grain-tin. In different parts of Sumatra, there are
+indications of tin-earth, or rather sand, and it is worked at the
+mountain of Sungei-pagu, but not to any great extent. Of this sand, at
+Bangka, a pikul, or 133 pounds is said to yield about 75 pounds of the
+metal.
+
+COPPER.
+
+A rich mine of copper is worked at Mukki near Labuan-haji, by the
+Achinese. The ore produces half its original weight in pure metal, and is
+sold at the rate of twenty dollars the pikul. A lump which I deposited in
+the Museum of the East India Company is pronounced to be native copper.
+The Malays are fond of mixing this metal with gold in equal quantities,
+and using the composition, which they name swasa, in the manufacture of
+buttons, betel-boxes, and heads of krises. I have never heard silver
+spoken of as a production of this part of the East.
+
+IRON.
+
+Iron ore is dug at a place named Turawang, in the eastern part of
+Menangkabau, and there smelted, but not, I apprehend, in large
+quantities, the consumption of the natives being amply supplied with
+English and Swedish bar-iron, which they are in the practice of
+purchasing by measure instead of weight.
+
+SULPHUR.
+
+Sulphur (balerang), as has been mentioned, is abundantly procured from
+the numerous volcanoes, and especially from that very great one which is
+situated about a day's journey inland from Priaman. Yellow Arsenic
+(barangan) is also an article of traffic.
+
+SALTPETRE.
+
+In the country of Kattaun, near the head of Urei River, there are
+extensive caves (goha) from the soil of which saltpetre (mesiyu mantah)
+is extracted. M. Whalfeldt, who was employed as a surveyor, visited them
+in March 1773. Into one he advanced seven hundred and forty­three feet,
+when his lights were extinguished by the damp vapour. Into a second he
+penetrated six hundred feet, when, after getting through a confined
+passage about three feet wide and five in height, an opening in the rock
+led to a spacious place forty feet high. The same caves were visited by
+Mr. Christopher Terry and Mr. Charles Miller. They are the habitation of
+innumerable birds, which are perceived to abound the more the farther you
+proceed. Their nests are formed about the upper parts of the cave, and it
+is thought to be their dung simply that forms the soil (in many places
+from four to six feet deep, and from fifteen to twenty broad) which
+affords the nitre. A cubic foot of this earth, measuring seven gallons,
+produced on boiling seven pounds fourteen ounces of saltpetre, and a
+second experiment gave a ninth part more. This I afterwards saw refined
+to a high degree of purity; but I conceive that its value would not repay
+the expense of the process.
+
+BIRDS-NEST.
+
+The edible birds-nest, so much celebrated as a peculiar luxury of the
+table, especially amongst the Chinese, is found in similar caves in
+different parts of the island, but chiefly near the sea-coast, and in the
+greatest abundance at its southern extremity. Four miles up the river
+Kroi there is one of considerable size. The birds are called
+layang-layang, and resemble the common swallow, or perhaps rather the
+martin. I had an opportunity of giving to the British Museum some of
+these nests with the eggs in them. They are distinguished into white and
+black, of which the first are by far the more scarce and valuable, being
+found in the proportion of one only to twenty-five. The white sort sells
+in China at the rate of a thousand to fifteen hundred dollars the pikul
+(according to the Batavian Transactions for nearly its weight in silver),
+the black is usually disposed of at Batavia at about twenty or thirty
+dollars for the same weight, where I understand it is chiefly converted
+into a kind of glue. The difference between the two sorts has by some
+been supposed to be owing to the mixture of the feathers of the birds
+with the viscous substance of which the nests are formed; and this they
+deduce from the experiment of steeping the black nests for a short time
+in hot water, when they are said to become white to a certain degree.
+Among the natives I have heard a few assert that they are the work of a
+different species of bird. It was also suggested to me that the white
+might probably be the recent nests of the season in which they were
+taken, and the black such as had been used for several years
+successively. This opinion appearing plausible, I was particular in my
+inquiries as to that point, and learned what seems much to corroborate
+it. When the natives prepare to take the nests they enter the cave with
+torches, and, forming ladders of bamboos notched according to the usual
+mode, they ascend and pull down the nests, which adhere in numbers
+together, from the sides and top of the rock. I was informed that the
+more regularly the cave is thus stripped the greater proportion of white
+nests they are sure to find, and that on this experience they often make
+a practice of beating down and destroying the old nests in larger
+quantities than they trouble themselves to carry away, in order that they
+may find white nests the next season in their room. The birds, I am
+assured, are seen, during the building time, in large flocks upon the
+beach, collecting in their beaks the foam thrown up by the surf, of which
+there appears little doubt of their constructing their gelatinous nests,
+after it has undergone, perhaps, some preparation from commixture with
+their saliva or other secretion in the beak or the craw; and that this is
+the received opinion of the natives appears from the bird being very
+commonly named layang-buhi, the foam-swallow. Linnaeus however has
+conjectured, and with much plausibility, that it is the animal substance
+frequently found on the beach which fishermen call blubber or jellies,
+and not the foam of the sea, that these birds collect; and it is proper
+to mention that, in a Description of these Nests by M. Hooyman, printed
+in Volume 3 of the Batavian Transactions, he is decidedly of opinion that
+the substance of them has nothing to do with the sea-foam but is
+elaborated from the food of the bird. Mr. John Crisp informed me that he
+had seen at Padang a common swallow's nest, built under the eaves of a
+house, which was composed partly of common mud and partly of the
+substance that constitutes the edible nests. The young birds themselves
+are said to be very delicate food, and not inferior in richness of
+flavour to the beccafico.
+
+TRIPAN.
+
+The swala, tripan, or sea-slug (holothurion), is likewise an article of
+trade to Batavia and China, being employed, as birds-nest or vermicelli,
+for enriching soups and stews, by a luxurious people. It sells at the
+former place for forty-five dollars per pikul, according to the degree of
+whiteness and other qualities.
+
+WAX.
+
+Beeswax is a commodity of great importance in all the eastern islands,
+from whence it is exported in large oblong cakes to China, Bengal, and
+other parts of the continent. No pains are taken with the bees, which are
+left to settle where they list (generally on the boughs of trees) and are
+never collected in hives. Their honey is much inferior to that of Europe,
+as might be expected from the nature of the vegetation.
+
+GUM-LAC.
+
+Gum-lac, called by the natives ampalu or ambalu, although found upon
+trees and adhering strongly to the branches, is known to be the work of
+insects, as wax is of the bee. It is procured in small quantities from
+the country inland of Bencoolen; but at Padang is a considerable article
+of trade. Foreign markets however are supplied from the countries of Siam
+and Camboja. It is chiefly valued in Sumatra for the animal part, found
+in the nidus of the insect, which is soluble in water, and yields a very
+fine purple dye, used for colouring their silks and other webs of
+domestic manufacture. Like the cochineal it would probably, with the
+addition of a solution of tin, become a good scarlet. I find in a Bisayan
+dictionary that this substance is employed by the people of the
+Philippine Islands for staining their teeth red. For an account of the
+lac insect see in the Philosophical Transactions Volume 71 page 374 a
+paper by Mr. James Kerr.
+
+IVORY.
+
+The forests abounding with elephants, ivory (gading) is consequently
+found in abundance, and is carried both to the China and Europe markets.
+The animals themselves were formerly the objects of a considerable
+traffic from Achin to the coast of Coromandel, or kling country, and
+vessels were built expressly for their transport; but it has declined, or
+perhaps ceased altogether, from the change which the system of warfare
+has undergone, since the European tactics have been imitated by the
+princes of India.
+
+FISH-ROES.
+
+The large roes of a species of fish (said to be like the shad, but more
+probably of the mullet-kind) taken in great quantities at the mouth of
+Siak River, are salted and exported from thence to all the Malayan
+countries, where they are eaten with boiled rice, and esteemed a
+delicacy. This is the botarga of the Italians, and here called trobo and
+telur-trobo.
+
+IMPORT-TRADE.
+
+The most general articles of import-trade are the following:
+
+From the coast of Coromandel various cotton goods, as long-cloth, blue
+and white, chintz, and coloured handkerchiefs, of which those
+manufactured at Pulicat are the most prized; and salt.
+
+From Bengal muslins, striped and plain, and several other kinds of cotton
+goods, as cossaes, baftaes, hummums, etc., taffetas and some other silks;
+and opium in considerable quantities.
+
+From the Malabar coast various cotton goods, mostly of a coarse raw
+fabric.
+
+From China coarse porcelain, kwalis or iron pans, in sets of various
+sizes, tobacco shred very fine, gold thread, fans, and a number of small
+articles.
+
+From Celebes (known here by the names of its chief provinces, Mangkasar,
+Bugis, and Mandar), Java, Balli, Ceram, and other eastern islands, the
+rough, striped cotton cloth called kain-sarong, or vulgarly
+bugis-clouting, being the universal body-dress of the natives; krises and
+other weapons, silken kris-belts, tudongs or hats, small pieces of
+ordnance, commonly of brass, called rantaka, spices, and also salt of a
+large grain, and sometimes rice, chiefly from Balli.
+
+From Europe silver, iron, steel, lead, cutlery, various sorts of
+hardware, brass wire, and broadcloths, especially scarlet.
+
+It is not within my plan to enlarge on this subject by entering into a
+detail of the markets for, or prices of, the several articles, which are
+extremely fluctuating, according to the more or less abundant or scanty
+supply. Most of the kinds of goods above enumerated are incidentally
+mentioned in other parts of the work, as they happen to be connected with
+the account of the natives who purchase them.
+
+
+CHAPTER 9.
+
+ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
+ART OF MEDICINE.
+SCIENCES.
+ARITHMETIC.
+GEOGRAPHY.
+ASTRONOMY.
+MUSIC, ETC.
+
+ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
+
+I shall now take a view of those arts and manufactures which the
+Sumatrans are skilled in, and which are not merely domestic but
+contribute rather to the conveniences, and in some instances to the
+luxuries, than to the necessaries of life. I must remind the reader that
+my observations on this subject are mostly drawn from the Rejangs, or
+those people of the island who are upon their level of improvement. We
+meet with accounts in old writers of great foundries of cannon in the
+dominion of Achin, and it is certain that firearms as well as krises are
+at this day manufactured in the country of Menangkabau; but my present
+description does not go to these superior exertions of art, which
+certainly do not appear among those people of the island whose manners,
+more immediately, I am attempting to delineate.
+
+FILIGREE.
+
+What follows, however, would seem an exception to this limitation; there
+being no manufacture in that part of the world, and perhaps I might be
+justified in saying, in any part of the world, that has been more admired
+and celebrated than the fine gold and silver filigree of Sumatra. This
+indeed is, strictly speaking, the work of the Malayan inhabitants; but as
+it is in universal use and wear throughout the country, and as the
+goldsmiths are settled everywhere along the coast, I cannot be guilty of
+much irregularity in describing here the process of their art.
+
+MODE OF WORKING IT.
+
+There is no circumstance that renders the filigree a matter of greater
+curiosity than the coarseness of the tools employed in the workmanship,
+and which, in the hands of a European, would not be thought sufficiently
+perfect for the most ordinary purposes. They are rudely and
+inartificially formed by the goldsmith (pandei) from any old iron he can
+procure. When you engage one of them to execute a piece of work his first
+request is usually for a piece of iron hoop to make his wire-drawing
+instrument; an old hammer head, stuck in a block, serves for an anvil;
+and I have seen a pair of compasses composed of two old nails tied
+together at one end. The gold is melted in a piece of a priuk or earthen
+rice-pot, or sometimes in a crucible of their own making, of common clay.
+In general they use no bellows but blow the fire with their mouths
+through a joint of bamboo, and if the quantity of metal to be melted is
+considerable three or four persons sit round their furnace, which is an
+old broken kwali or iron pot, and blow together. At Padang alone, where
+the manufacture is more considerable, they have adopted the Chinese
+bellows. Their method of drawing the wire differs but little from that
+used by European workmen. When drawn to a sufficient fineness they
+flatten it by beating it on their anvil; and when flattened they give it
+a twist like that in the whalebone handle of a punch-ladle, by rubbing it
+on a block of wood with a flat stick. After twisting they again beat it
+on the anvil, and by these means it becomes flat wire with indented
+edges. With a pair of nippers they fold down the end of the wire, and
+thus form a leaf or element of a flower in their work, which is cut off.
+The end is again folded and cut off till they have got a sufficient
+number of leaves, which are all laid on singly. Patterns of the flowers
+or foliage, in which there is not very much variety, are prepared on
+paper, of the size of the gold plate on which the filigree is to be laid.
+According to this they begin to dispose on the plate the larger
+compartments of the foliage, for which they use plain flat wire of a
+larger size, and fill them up with the leaves before mentioned. To fix
+their work they employ a glutinous substance made of the small red pea
+with a black spot before mentioned, ground to a pulp on a rough stone.
+This pulp they place on a young coconut about the size of a walnut, the
+top and bottom being cut off. I at first imagined that caprice alone
+might have directed them to the use of the coconut for this purpose; but
+I have since reflected on the probability of the juice of the young fruit
+being necessary to keep the pulp moist, which would otherwise speedily
+become dry and unfit for the work. After the leaves have been all placed
+in order and stuck on, bit by bit, a solder is prepared of gold filings
+and borax, moistened with water, which they strew or daub over the plate
+with a feather, and then putting it in the fire for a short time the
+whole becomes united. This kind of work on a gold plate they call karrang
+papan: when the work is open, they call it karrang trus. In executing the
+latter the foliage is laid out on a card, or soft kind of wood covered
+with paper, and stuck on, as before described, with the paste of the red
+seed; and the work, when finished, being strewed over with their solder,
+is put into the fire, when, the card or soft wood burning away, the gold
+remains connected. The greatest skill and attention is required in this
+operation as the work is often made to run by remaining too long or in
+too hot a fire. If the piece be large they solder it at several times.
+When the work is finished they give it that fine high colour they so much
+admire by an operation which they term sapoh. This consists in mixing
+nitre, common salt, and alum, reduced to powder and moistened, laying the
+composition on the filigree and keeping it over a moderate fire until it
+dissolves and becomes yellow. In this situation the piece is kept for a
+longer or shorter time according to the intensity of colour they wish the
+gold to receive. It is then thrown into water and cleansed. In the
+manufacture of baju buttons they first make the lower part flat, and,
+having a mould formed of a piece of buffalo's horn, indented to several
+sizes, each like one half of a bullet mould, they lay their work over one
+of these holes, and with a horn punch they press it into the form of the
+button. After this they complete the upper part. The manner of making the
+little balls with which their works are sometimes ornamented is as
+follows. They take a piece of charcoal, and, having cut it flat and
+smooth, they make in it a small hole, which they fill with gold dust, and
+this melted in the fire becomes a little ball. They are very inexpert at
+finishing and polishing the plain parts, hinges, screws, and the like,
+being in this as much excelled by the European artists as these fall
+short of them in the fineness and minuteness of the foliage. The Chinese
+also make filigree, mostly of silver, which looks elegant, but wants
+likewise the extraordinary delicacy of the Malayan work. The price of the
+workmanship depends upon the difficulty or novelty of the pattern. In
+some articles of usual demand it does not exceed one-third of the value
+of the gold; but, in matters of fancy, it is generally equal to it. The
+manufacture is not now (1780) held in very high estimation in England,
+where costliness is not so much the object of luxury as variety; but, in
+the revolution of taste, it may probably be again sought after and
+admired as fashionable.
+
+IRON MANUFACTURES.
+
+But little skill is shown amongst the country people in forging iron.
+They make nails however, though not much used by them in building, wooden
+pins being generally substituted; also various kinds of tools, as the
+prang or bill, the banchi, rembe, billiong, and papatil, which are
+different species of adzes, the kapak or axe, and the pungkur or hoe.
+Their fire is made with charcoal; the fossil coal which the country
+produces being rarely, if ever, employed, except by the Europeans; and
+not by them of late years, on the complaint of its burning away too
+quickly: yet the report made of it in 1719 was that it gave a surer heat
+than the coal from England. The bed of it (described rather as a large
+rock above ground) lies four days' journey up Bencoolen River, from
+whence quantities are washed down by the floods. The quality of coal is
+rarely good near the surface. Their bellows are thus constructed: two
+bamboos, of about four inches diameter and five feet in length, stand
+perpendicularly near the fire, open at the upper end and stopped below.
+About an inch or two from the bottom a small joint of bamboo is inserted
+into each, which serve as nozzles, pointing to, and meeting at, the fire.
+To produce a stream of air bunches of feathers or other soft substance,
+being fastened to long handles, are worked up and down in the upright
+tubes, like the piston of a pump. These, when pushed downwards, force the
+air through the small horizontal tubes, and, by raising and sinking each
+alternately, a continual current or blast is kept up; for which purpose a
+boy is usually placed on a high seat or stand. I cannot retrain from
+remarking that the description of the bellows used in Madagascar, as
+given by Sonnerat, Volume 2 page 60, so entirely corresponds with this
+that the one might almost pass for a copy of the other.
+
+CARPENTER'S WORK.
+
+The progress they have made in carpenter's work has been already pointed
+out, where there buildings were described.
+
+TOOLS.
+
+They are ignorant of the use of the saw, excepting where we have
+introduced it among them. Trees are felled by chopping at the stems, and
+in procuring boards they are confined to those the direction of whose
+grain or other qualities admit of their being easily split asunder. In
+this respect the species called maranti and marakuli have the preference.
+The tree, being stripped of its branches and its bark, is cut to the
+length required, and by the help of wedges split into boards. These being
+of irregular thickness are usually dubbed upon the spot. The tool used
+for this purpose is the rembe, a kind of adze. Most of their smaller
+work, and particularly on the bamboo, is performed with the papatil,
+which resembles in shape as much as in name the patupatu of the New
+Zealanders, but has the vast superiority of being made of iron. The
+blade, which is fastened to the handle with a nice and curious kind of
+rattan-work, is so contrived as to turn in it, and by that means can be
+employed either as an adze or small hatchet. Their houses are generally
+built with the assistance of this simple instrument alone. The billiong
+is no other than a large papatil, with a handle of two or three feet in
+length, turning, like that, in its socket.
+
+CEMENTS.
+
+The chief cement they employ for small work is the curd of buffalo­milk,
+called prakat. It is to be observed that butter is made (for the use of
+Europeans only; the words used by the Malays, for butter and cheese,
+monteiga and queijo, being pure Portuguese) not as with us, by churning,
+but by letting the milk stand till the butter forms of itself on the top.
+It is then taken off with a spoon, stirred about with the same in a flat
+vessel, and well washed in two or three waters. The thick sour milk left
+at the bottom, when the butter or cream is removed, is the curd here
+meant. This must be well squeezed, formed into cakes, and left to dry,
+when it will grow nearly as hard as flint. For use you must scrape some
+of it off, mix it with quick lime, and moisten it with milk. I think
+there is no stronger cement in the world, and it is found to hold,
+particularly in a hot and damp climate, much better than glue; proving
+also effectual in mending chinaware. The viscous juice of the saga-pea
+(abrus) is likewise used in the country as a cement.
+
+INK.
+
+Ink is made by mixing lamp-black with the white of egg. To procure the
+former they suspend over a burning lamp an earthen pot, the bottom of
+which is moistened, in order to make the soot adhere to it.
+
+DESIGNING.
+
+Painting and drawing they are quite strangers to. In carving, both in
+wood and ivory, they are curious and fanciful, but their designs are
+always grotesque and out of nature. The handles of the krises are the
+most common subjects of their ingenuity in this art, which usually
+exhibit the head and beak of a bird, with the folded arms of a human
+creature, not unlike the representation of one of the Egyptian deities.
+In cane and basketwork they are particularly neat and expert; as well as
+in mats, of which some kinds are much prized for their extreme fineness
+and ornamental borders.
+
+LOOMS.
+
+Silk and cotton cloths, of varied colours, manufactured by themselves,
+are worn by the natives in all parts of the country; especially by the
+women. Some of their work is very fine, and the patterns prettily
+fancied. Their loom or apparatus for weaving (tunun) is extremely
+defective, and renders their progress tedious. One end of the warp being
+made fast to a frame, the whole is kept tight, and the web stretched out
+by means of a species of yoke, which is fastened behind the body, when
+the person weaving sits down. Every second of the longitudinal threads,
+or warp, passes separately through a set of reeds, like the teeth of a
+comb, and the alternate ones through another set. These cross each other,
+up and down, to admit the woof, not from the extremities, as in our
+looms, nor effected by the feet, but by turning edgeways two flat sticks
+which pass between them. The shuttle (turak) is a hollow reed about
+sixteen inches long, generally ornamented on the outside, and closed at
+one end, having in it a small bit of stick, on which is rolled the woof
+or shoot. The silk cloths have usually a gold head. They use sometimes
+another kind of loom, still more simple than this, being no more than a
+frame in which the warp is fixed, and the woof darned with a long
+small-pointed shuttle. For spinning the cotton they make use of a machine
+very like ours. The women are expert at embroidery, the gold and silver
+thread for which is procured from China, as well as their needles. For
+common work their thread is the pulas before mentioned, or else filaments
+of the pisang (musa).
+
+EARTHENWARE.
+
+Different kinds of earthenware, I have elsewhere observed, are
+manufactured in the island.
+
+PERFUMES.
+
+They have a practice of perfuming their hair with oil of benzoin, which
+they distil themselves from the gum by a process doubtless of their own
+invention. In procuring it a priuk, or earthen rice-pot, covered close,
+is used for a retort. A small bamboo is inserted in the side of the
+vessel, and well luted with clay and ashes, from which the oil drops as
+it comes over. Along with the benzoin they put into the retort a mixture
+of sugar-cane and other articles that contribute little or nothing to the
+quantity or quality of the distillation; but no liquid is added. This oil
+is valued among them at a high price, and can only be used by the
+superior rank of people.
+
+OIL.
+
+The oil in general use is that of the coconut, which is procured in the
+following manner. The fleshy part being scraped out of the nut, which for
+this use must be old, is exposed for some time to the heat of the sun. It
+is then put into a mat bag and placed in the press (kampahan) between two
+sloping timbers, which are fixed together in a socket in the lower part
+of the frame, and forced towards each other by wedges in a groove at top,
+compressing by this means the pulp of the nut, which yields an oil that
+falls into a trough made for its reception below. In the farther parts of
+the country this oil also, owing to the scarcity of coconuts, is dear;
+and not so much used for burning as that from other vegetables, and the
+dammar or rosin, which is always at hand.
+
+TORCHES.
+
+When travelling at night they make use of torches or links, called suluh,
+the common sort of which are nothing more than dried bamboos of a
+convenient length, beaten at the joints till split in every part, without
+the addition of any resinous or other inflammable substance. A superior
+kind is made by filling with dammar a young bamboo, about a cubit long,
+well dried, and having the outer skin taken off.
+
+These torches are carried with a view, chiefly, to frighten away the
+tigers, which are alarmed at the appearance of fire; and for the same
+reason it is common to make a blaze with wood in different parts round
+their villages. The tigers prove to the inhabitants, both in their
+journeys and even their domestic occupations, most fatal and destructive
+enemies. The number of people annually slain by these rapacious tyrants
+of the woods is almost incredible. I have known instances of whole
+villages being depopulated by them. Yet, from a superstitious prejudice,
+it is with difficulty they are prevailed upon, by a large reward which
+the India Company offers, to use methods of destroying them till they
+have sustained some particular injury in their own family or kindred, and
+their ideas of fatalism contribute to render them insensible to the risk.
+
+TIGER-TRAPS.
+
+Their traps, of which they can make variety, are very ingeniously
+contrived. Sometimes they are in the nature of strong cages, with falling
+doors, into which the beast is enticed by a goat or dog enclosed as a
+bait; sometimes they manage that a large timber shall fall, in a groove,
+across his back; he is noosed about the loins with strong rattans, or he
+is led to ascend a plank, nearly balanced, which, turning when he is past
+the centre, lets him fall upon sharp stakes prepared below. Instances
+have occurred of a tiger being caught by one of the former modes, which
+had many marks in his body of the partial success of this last expedient.
+The escapes, at times, made from them by the natives are surprising, but
+these accounts in general carry too romantic an air to admit of being
+repeated as facts. The size and strength of the species which prevails on
+this island are prodigious. They are said to break with a stroke of their
+forepaw the leg of a horse or a buffalo; and the largest prey they kill
+is without difficulty dragged by them into the woods. This they usually
+perform on the second night, being supposed, on the first, to gratify
+themselves with sucking the blood only. Time is by this delay afforded to
+prepare for their destruction; and to the methods already enumerated,
+beside shooting them, I should add that of placing a vessel of water,
+strongly impregnated with arsenic, near the carcase, which is fastened to
+a tree to prevent its being carried off: The tiger having satiated
+himself with the flesh, is prompted to assuage his thirst with the
+tempting liquor at hand, and perishes in the indulgence. Their chief
+subsistence is most probably the unfortunate monkeys with which the woods
+abound. They are described as alluring them to their fate, by a
+fascinating power, similar to what has been supposed of the snake, and I
+am not incredulous enough to treat the idea with contempt, having myself
+observed that when an alligator, in a river, comes under an overhanging
+bough of a tree, the monkeys, in a state of alarm and distraction, crowd
+to the extremity, and, chattering and trembling, approach nearer and
+nearer to the amphibious monster that waits to devour them as they drop,
+which their fright and number renders almost unavoidable. These
+alligators likewise occasion the loss of many inhabitants, frequently
+destroying the people as they bathe in the river, according to their
+regular custom, and which the perpetual evidence of the risk attending it
+cannot deter them from. A superstitious idea of their sanctity also (or,
+perhaps, of consanguinity, as related in the journal of the Endeavour's
+voyage) preserves these destructive animals from molestation, although,
+with a hook of sufficient strength, they may be taken without much
+difficulty. A musket-ball appears to have no effect upon their
+impenetrable hides.
+
+FISHING.
+
+Besides the common methods of taking fish, of which the seas that wash
+the coasts of Sumatra afford an extraordinary variety and abundance, the
+natives employ a mode, unpractised, I apprehend, in any part of Europe.
+They steep the root of a certain climbing plant, called tuba, of strong
+narcotic qualities, in the water where the fish are observed, which
+produces such an effect that they become intoxicated and to appearance
+dead, float on the surface of the water, and are taken with the hand.
+This is generally made use of in the basins of water formed by the ledges
+of coral rock which, having no outlet, are left full when the tide has
+ebbed.* In the manufacture and employment of the casting-net they are
+particularly expert, and scarcely a family near the sea-coast is without
+one. To supply this demand great quantities of the pulas twine are
+brought down from the hill-country to be there worked up; and in this
+article we have an opportunity of observing the effect of that
+conformation which renders the handiwork of orientals (unassisted by
+machinery) so much more delicate than that of the western people. Mr.
+Crisp possessed a net of silk, made in the country behind Padang, the
+meshes of which were no wider than a small fingernail, that opened
+sixteen feet in diameter. With such they are said to catch small fish in
+the extensive lake situated on the borders of Menangkabau.
+
+(*Footnote. In Captain Cook's second voyage is a plate representing a
+plant used for the same purpose at Otaheite, which is the exact
+delineation of one whose appearance I was well acquainted with in
+Sumatra, and which abounds in many parts of the sea-beach, but which is a
+different plant from the tuba-akar, but may be another kind, named
+tuba-biji. In South America also, we are informed, the inhabitants
+procure fish after this extraordinary manner, employing three different
+kinds of plants; but whether any of them be the same with that of
+Otaheite or Sumatra I am ignorant. I have lately been informed that this
+practice is not unknown in England, but has been prohibited. It is termed
+foxing: the drug made use of was the Coculus indicus.)
+
+BIRD-CATCHING.
+
+Birds, particularly the plover (cheruling) and quails (puyu) are caught
+by snares or springs laid for them in the grass. These are of iju, which
+resembles horsehair, many fathoms in length, and disposed in such a
+manner as to entangle their feet; for which purpose they are gently
+driven towards the snares. In some parts of the country they make use of
+clasp-nets. I never observed a Sumatran to fire a shot at a bird, though
+many of them, as well as the more eastern people, have a remarkably fine
+aim; but the mode of letting off the matchlocks, which are the pieces
+most habitual to them, precludes the possibility of shooting flying.
+
+GUNPOWDER.
+
+Gunpowder is manufactured in various parts of the island, but less in the
+southern provinces than amongst the people of Menangkabau, the Battas,
+and Achinese, whose frequent wars demand large supplies. It appears
+however, by an agreement upon record, formed in 1728, that the
+inhabitants of Anak-sungei were restricted from the manufacture, which
+they are stated to have carried to a considerable extent. It is made, as
+with us, of proportions of charcoal, sulphur, and nitre, but the
+composition is very imperfectly granulated, being often hastily prepared
+in small quantities for immediate use. The last article, though found in
+the greatest quantity in the saltpetre-caves before spoken of, is most
+commonly procured from goat's dung, which is always to be had in plenty.
+
+SUGAR.
+
+Sugar (as has already been observed) is commonly made for domestic use
+from the juice of a species of palm, boiled till a consistence is formed,
+but scarcely at all granulated, being little more than a thick syrup.
+This spread upon leaves to dry, made into cakes, and afterwards folded up
+in a peculiar vegetable substance called upih, which is the sheath that
+envelopes the branch of the pinang tree where it is inserted in the stem.
+In this state it is called jaggri, and, beside its ordinary uses as
+sugar, it is mixed with chunam in making cement for buildings, and that
+exquisite plaster for walls which, on the coast of Coromandel, equals
+Parian marble in whiteness and polish. But in many parts of the island
+sugar is also made from the sugar-cane. The rollers of the mill used for
+this purpose are worked by the endless screw instead of cogs, and are
+turned with the hand by means of a bar passing through one of the rollers
+which is higher than the other. As an article of traffic amongst the
+natives it is not considerable, nor have they the art of distilling
+arrack, the basis of which is molasses, along with the juice of the anau
+or of the coconut palm in a state of fermentation. Both however are
+manufactured by Europeans.*
+
+(*Footnote. Many attempts have been made by the English to bring to
+perfection the manufacture of sugar and arrack from the canes; but the
+expenses, particularly of the slaves, were always found to exceed the
+advantages. Within these few years (about 1777) that the plantations and
+works were committed to the management of Mr. Henry Botham, it has
+manifestly appeared that the end is to be obtained by employing the
+Chinese in the works of the field and allowing them a proportion of the
+produce for their labour. The manufacture had arrived at considerable
+perfection when the breaking out of war gave a check to its progress; but
+the path is pointed out, and it may be worth pursuing. The sums of money
+thrown into Batavia for arrack and sugar have been immense.)
+
+SALT.
+
+Salt is here, as in most other countries, an article of general
+consumption. The demand for it is mostly supplied by cargoes imported,
+but they also manufacture it themselves. The method is tedious. They
+kindle a fire close to the sea-beach, and gradually pour upon it sea
+water. When this has been continued for a certain time, the water
+evaporating, and the salt being precipitated among the ashes, they gather
+these in baskets, or in funnels made of the bark or leaves of trees, and
+again pour seawater on them till the particles of salt are well
+separated, and pass with the water into a vessel placed below to receive
+them. This water, now strongly impregnated, is boiled till the salt
+adheres in a thick crust to the bottom and sides of the vessel. In
+burning a square fathom of firewood a skilful person procures about five
+gallons of salt. What is thus made has so considerable a mixture of the
+salt of the wood that it soon dissolves, and cannot be carried far into
+the country. The coarsest grain is preferred.
+
+ART OF MEDICINE.
+
+The art of medicine among the Sumatrans consists almost entirely in the
+application of simples, in the virtues of which they are well skilled.
+Every old man and woman is a physician, and their rewards depend upon
+their success; but they generally procure a small sum in advance under
+the pretext of purchasing charms.* The mode of practice is either by
+administering the juices of certain trees and herbs inwardly, or by
+applying outwardly a poultice of leaves chopped small upon the breast or
+part affected, renewing it as soon as it becomes dry. For internal pains
+they rub oil on a large leaf of a stimulant quality, and, heating it
+before the fire, clap it on the body of the patient as a blister, which
+produces very powerful effects. Bleeding they never use, but the people
+of the neighbouring island of Nias are famous for their skill in cupping,
+which they practise in a manner peculiar to themselves.
+
+(*Footnote. Charms are there hung about the necks of children, as in
+Europe, and also worn by persons whose situations expose them to risk.
+They are long narrow scrolls of paper, filled with incoherent scraps of
+verse, which are separated from each other by a variety of fanciful
+drawings. A charm against an ague I once accidentally met with, which
+from circumstances I conclude to be a translation of such as are employed
+by the Portuguese Christians in India. Though not properly belonging to
+my subject, I present it to the reader. "(Sign of the cross). When Christ
+saw the cross he trembled and shaked; and they said unto him hast thou an
+ague? and he said unto them, I have neither ague nor fever; and whosoever
+bears these words, either in writing or in mind, shall never be troubled
+with ague or fever. So help thy servants, O Lord, who put their trust in
+thee!" From the many folds that appear in the original I have reason to
+apprehend that it had been worn, and by some Englishmen, whom frequent
+sickness and the fond love of life had rendered weak and superstitious
+enough to try the effects of this barbarous and ridiculous quackery.)
+
+FEVERS.
+
+In fevers they give a decoction of the herb lakun, and bathe the patient,
+for two or three mornings, in warm water. If this does not prove
+effectual, they pour over him, during the paroxysm, a quantity of cold
+water, rendered more chilly by the daun sedingin (Cotyledon laciniata)
+which, from the sudden revulsion it causes, brings on a copious
+perspiration. Pains and swellings in the limbs are likewise cured by
+sweating; but for this purpose they either cover themselves over with
+mats and sit in the sunshine at noon, or, if the operation be performed
+within doors, a lamp, and sometimes a pot of boiling herbs, is enclosed
+in the covering with them.
+
+LEPROSY.
+
+There are two species of leprosy known in these parts. The milder sort,
+or impetigo, as I apprehend it to be, is very common among the
+inhabitants of Nias, great numbers of whom are covered with a white scurf
+or scales that renders them loathsome to the sight. But this distemper,
+though disagreeable from the violent itching and other inconveniences
+with which it is attended, does not appear immediately to affect the
+health, slaves in that situation being bought and sold for field and
+other outdoor work. It is communicated from parents to their offspring,
+but though hereditary it is not contagious. I have sometimes been induced
+to think it nothing more than a confirmed stage of the serpigo or
+ringworm, or it may be the same with what is elsewhere termed the
+shingles. I have known a Nias man who has effected a temporary removal of
+this scurf by the frequent application of the golinggang or daun kurap
+(Cassia alata) and such other herbs as are used to cure the ringworm, and
+sometimes by rubbing gunpowder and strong acids to his skin; but it
+always returned after some time. The other species with which the country
+people are in some instances affected is doubtless, from the description
+given of its dreadful symptoms, that severe kind of leprosy which has
+been termed elephantiasis, and is particularly described in the Asiatic
+Researches Volume 2, the skin coming off in flakes, and the flesh falling
+from the bones, as in the lues venerea. This disorder being esteemed
+highly infectious, the unhappy wretch who labours under it is driven from
+the village he belonged to into the woods, where victuals are left for
+him from time to time by his relations. A prang and a knife are likewise
+delivered to him, that he may build himself a hut, which is generally
+erected near to some river or lake, continual bathing being supposed to
+have some effect in removing the disorder, or alleviating the misery of
+the patient. Few instances of recovery have been known. There is a
+disease called the nambi which bears some affinity to this, attacking the
+feet chiefly, the flesh of which it eats away. As none but the lowest
+class of people seem to suffer from this complaint I imagine it proceeds
+in a great degree from want of cleanliness.
+
+SMALLPOX.
+
+The smallpox (katumbuhan) sometimes visits the island and makes terrible
+ravages. It is regarded as a plague, and drives from the country
+thousands whom the infection spares. Their method of stopping its
+progress (for they do not attempt a cure) is by converting into a
+hospital or receptacle for the rest that village where lie the greatest
+number of sick, whither they send all who are attacked by the disorder
+from the country round. The most effectual methods are pursued to prevent
+any person's escape from this village, which is burnt to the ground as
+soon as the infection has spent itself or devoured all the victims thus
+offered to it. Inoculation was an idea long unthought of, and, as it
+could not be universal, it was held to be a dangerous experiment for
+Europeans to introduce it partially, in a country where the disorder
+makes its appearance at distant intervals only, unless those periods
+could be seized and the attempts made when and where there might be
+well-founded apprehension of its being communicated in the natural way.
+Such an opportunity presented itself in 1780, when great numbers of
+people (estimated at a third of the population) were swept away in the
+course of that and the two following years; whilst upon those under the
+immediate influence of the English and Dutch settlements inoculation was
+practised with great success. I trust that the preventive blessing of
+vaccination has or will be extended to a country so liable to be
+afflicted with this dreadful scourge. A distemper called chachar, much
+resembling the smallpox, and in its first stages mistaken for it, is not
+uncommon. It causes an alarm but does not prove mortal, and is probably
+what we term the chickenpox.
+
+VENEREAL DISEASE.
+
+The venereal disease, though common in the Malay bazaars, is in the
+inland country almost unknown. A man returning to his village with the
+infection is shunned by the inhabitants as an unclean and interdicted
+person. The Malays are supposed to cure it with the decoction of a
+china-root, called by them gadong, which causes a salivation.
+
+INSANITY.
+
+When a man is by sickness or otherwise deprived of his reason, or when
+subject to convulsion fits, they imagine him possessed by an evil spirit,
+and their ceremony of exorcism is performed by putting the unfortunate
+wretch into a hut, which they set fire to about his ears, suffering him
+to make his escape through the flames in the best manner he can. The
+fright, which would go nigh to destroy the intellects of a reasonable
+man, may perhaps have under contrary circumstances an opposite effect.
+
+SCIENCES.
+
+The skill of the Sumatrans in any of the sciences, is, as may be
+presumed, very limited.
+
+ARITHMETIC.
+
+Some however I have met with who, in arithmetic, could multiply and
+divide, by a single multiplier or divisor, several places of figures.
+Tens of thousands (laksa) are the highest class of numbers the Malay
+language has a name for. In counting over a quantity of small articles
+each tenth, and afterwards each hundredth piece is put aside; which
+method is consonant with the progress of scientific numeration, and
+probably gave it origin. When they may have occasion to recollect at a
+distance of time the tale of any commodities they are carrying to market,
+or the like, the country people often assist their memory by tying knots
+on a string, which is produced when they want to specify the number. The
+Peruvian quipos were I suppose an improvement upon this simple invention.
+
+MEASURES.
+
+They estimate the quantity of most species of merchandise by what we call
+dry measure, the use of weights, as applied to bulky articles, being
+apparently introduced among them by foreigners; for the pikul and catti
+are used only on the sea-coast and places which the Malays frequent. The
+kulah or bamboo, containing very nearly a gallon, is the general standard
+of measure among the Rejangs: of these eight hundred make a koyan: the
+chupah is one quarter of a bamboo. By this measure almost all articles,
+even elephants' teeth, are bought and sold; but by a bamboo of ivory they
+mean so much as is equal in weight to a bamboo of rice. This still
+includes the idea of weight, but is not attended with their principal
+objection to that mode of ascertaining quantity which arises, as they
+say, from the impossibility of judging by the eye of the justness of
+artificial weights, owing to the various materials of which they may be
+composed, and to which measurement is not liable. The measures of length
+here, as perhaps originally among every people upon earth, are taken from
+the dimensions of the human body. The deppa, or fathom, is the extent of
+the arms from each extremity of the fingers: the etta, asta, or cubit, is
+the forearm and hand; kaki is the foot; jungka is the span; and jarri,
+which signifies a finger, is the inch. These are estimated from the
+general proportions of middle-sized men, others making an allowance in
+measuring, and not regulated by an exact standard.
+
+GEOGRAPHY.
+
+The ideas of geography among such of them as do not frequent the sea are
+perfectly confined, or rather they entertain none. Few of them know that
+the country they inhabit is an island, or have any general name for it.
+Habit renders them expert in travelling through the woods, where they
+perform journeys of weeks and months without seeing a dwelling. In places
+little frequented, where they have occasion to strike out new paths (for
+roads there are none), they make marks on trees for the future guidance
+of themselves and others. I have heard a man say, "I will attempt a
+passage by such a route, for my father, when living, told me that he had
+left his tokens there." They estimate the distance of places from each
+other by the number of days, or the proportion of the day, taken up in
+travelling it, and not by measurement of the space. Their journey, or
+day's walk, may be computed at about twenty miles; but they can bear a
+long continuance of fatigue.
+
+ASTRONOMY.
+
+The Malays as well as the Arabs and other Mahometan nations fix the
+length of the year at three hundred and fifty-four days, or twelve lunar
+months of twenty-nine days and a half; by which mode of reckoning each
+year is thrown back about eleven days. The original Sumatrans rudely
+estimate their annual periods from the revolution of the seasons, and
+count their years from the number of their crops of grain (taun padi); a
+practice which, though not pretending to accuracy, is much more useful
+for the general purposes of life than the lunar period, which is merely
+adapted to religious observances. They as well as the Malays compute time
+by lunations, but do not attempt to trace any relation or correspondence
+between these smaller measures and the solar revolution. Whilst more
+polished nations were multiplying mistakes and difficulties in their
+endeavours to ascertain the completion of the sun's course through the
+ecliptic, and in the meanwhile suffering their nominal seasons to become
+almost the reverse of nature, these people, without an idea of
+intercalation, preserved in a rude way the account of their years free
+from essential, or at least progressive, error and the confusion which
+attends it. The division of the month into weeks I believe to be unknown
+except where it has been taught with Mahometanism; the day of the moon's
+age being used instead of it where accuracy is required; nor do they
+subdivide the day into hours. To denote the time of day at which any
+circumstance they find it necessary to speak of happened, they point with
+their finger to the height in the sky at which the sun then stood. And
+this mode is the more general and precise as the sun, so near the
+equator, ascends and descends almost perpendicularly, and rises and sets
+at all seasons of the year within a few minutes of six o'clock. Scarcely
+any of the stars or constellations are distinguished by them. They notice
+however the planet Venus, but do not imagine her to be the same at the
+different periods of her revolution when she precedes the rising, and
+follows the setting sun. They are aware of the night on which the new
+moon should make its appearance, and the Malays salute it with the
+discharge of guns. They also know when to expect the returns of the
+tides, which are at their height, on the south-western coast of the
+island, when that luminary is in the horizon, and ebb as it rises. When
+they observe a bright star near the moon (or rubbing against her, as they
+express it), they are apprehensive of a storm, as European sailors
+foretell a gale from the sharpness of her horns. These are both, in part,
+the consequence of an unusual clearness in the air, which, proceeding
+from an extraordinary alteration of the state of the atmosphere, may
+naturally be followed by a violent rushing of the circumjacent parts to
+restore the equilibrium, and thus prove the prognostic of high wind.
+During an eclipse they make a loud noise with sounding-instruments to
+prevent one luminary from devouring the other, as the Chinese, to
+frighten away the dragon, a superstition that has its source in the
+ancient systems of astronomy (particularly the Hindu) where the nodes of
+the moon are identified with the dragon's head and tail. They tell of a
+man in the moon who is continually employed in spinning cotton, but that
+every night a rat gnaws his thread and obliges him to begin his work
+afresh. This they apply as an emblem of endless and ineffectual labour,
+like the stone of Sisyphus, and the sieves of the Danaides.
+
+With history and chronology the country people are but little acquainted,
+the memory of past events being preserved by tradition only.
+
+MUSIC.
+
+They are fond of music and have many instruments in use among them, but
+few, upon inquiry, appear to be original, being mostly borrowed from the
+Chinese and other more eastern people; particularly the kalintang, gong,
+and sulin. The violin has found its way to them from the westward. The
+kalintang resembles the sticcado and the harmonica; the more common ones
+having the cross-pieces, which are struck with two little hammers, of
+split bamboo, and the more perfect of a certain composition of metal
+which is very sonorous. The gongs, a kind of bell, but differing much in
+shape and struck on the outside, are cast in sets regularly tuned to
+thirds, fourth, fifth, and octave, and often serve as a bass, or under
+part, to the kalintang. They are also sounded for the purpose of calling
+together the inhabitants of the village upon any particular occasion; but
+the more ancient and still common instrument for this use is a hollowed
+log of wood named katut. The sulin is the Malayan flute. The country
+flute is called serdum. It is made of bamboo, is very imperfect, having
+but few stops, and resembles much an instrument described as found among
+the people of Otaheite. A single hole underneath is covered with the
+thumb of the left hand, and the hole nearest the end at which it is
+blown, on the upper side, with a finger of the same hand. The other two
+holes are stopped with the right-hand fingers. In blowing they hold it
+inclined to the right side. They have various instruments of the drum
+kind, particularly those called tingkah, which are in pairs and beaten
+with the hands at each end. They are made of a certain kind of wood
+hollowed out, covered with dried goat-skins, and laced with split
+rattans. It is difficult to obtain a proper knowledge of their division
+of the scale, as they know nothing of it in theory. The interval we call
+an octave seems to be divided with them into six tones, without any
+intermediate semitones, which must confine their music to one key. It
+consists in general of but few notes, and the third is the interval that
+most frequently occurs. Those who perform on the violin use the same
+notes as in our division, and they tune the instrument by fifths to a
+great nicety. They are fond of playing the octave, but scarcely use any
+other chord. The Sumatran tunes very much resemble, to my ear, those of
+the native Irish, and have usually, like them, a flat third: the same has
+been observed of the music of Bengal, and probably it will be found that
+the minor key obtains a preference amongst all people at a certain stage
+of civilization.
+
+
+CHAPTER 10.
+
+LANGUAGES.
+MALAYAN.
+ARABIC CHARACTER USED.
+LANGUAGES OF THE INTERIOR PEOPLE.
+PECULIAR CHARACTERS.
+SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES AND OF ALPHABETS.
+
+LANGUAGES.
+
+Before I proceed to an account of the laws, customs, and manners of the
+people of the island it is necessary that I should say something of the
+different languages spoken on it, the diversity of which has been the
+subject of much contemplation and conjecture.
+
+MALAYAN.
+
+The Malayan language, which has commonly been supposed original in the
+peninsula of Malayo, and from thence to have extended itself throughout
+the eastern islands, so as to become the lingua franca of that part of
+the globe, is spoken everywhere along the coasts of Sumatra, prevails
+without the mixture of any other in the inland country of Menangkabau and
+its immediate dependencies, and is understood in almost every part of the
+island. It has been much celebrated, and justly, for the smoothness and
+sweetness of its sound, which have gained it the appellation of the
+Italian of the East. This is owing to the prevalence of vowels and
+liquids in the words (with many nasals which may be thought an objection)
+and the infrequency of any harsh combination of mute consonants. These
+qualities render it well adapted to poetry, which the Malays are
+passionately addicted to.
+
+SONGS.
+
+They amuse all their leisure hours, including the greater portion of
+their lives, with the repetition of songs which are, for the most part,
+proverbs illustrated, or figures of speech applied to the occurrences of
+life. Some that they rehearse, in a kind of recitative, at their bimbangs
+or feasts, are historical love tales like our old English ballads, and
+are often extemporaneous productions. An example of the former species is
+as follows:
+
+Apa guna passang palita,
+Kallo tidah dangan sumbu'nia?
+Apa guna bermine matta,
+Kalla tidah dangan sunggu'nia?
+
+What signifies attempting to light a lamp,
+If the wick be wanting?
+What signifies playing with the eyes,
+If nothing in earnest be intended?
+
+It must be observed however that it often proves a very difficult matter
+to trace the connexion between the figurative and the literal sense of
+the stanza. The essentials in the composition of the pantun, for such
+these little pieces are called, the longer being called dendang, are the
+rhythmus and the figure, particularly the latter, which they consider as
+the life and spirit of the poetry. I had a proof of this in an attempt
+which I made to impose a pantun of my own composing on the natives as a
+work of their countrymen. The subject was a dialogue between a lover and
+a rich coy mistress: the expressions were proper to the occasion, and in
+some degree characteristic. It passed with several, but an old lady who
+was a more discerning critic than the others remarked that it was "katta
+katta saja"--mere conversation; meaning that it was destitute of the
+quaint and figurative expressions which adorn their own poetry. Their
+language in common speaking is proverbial and sententious. If a young
+woman prove with child before marriage they observe it is daulu buah,
+kadian bunga--the fruit before the flower. Hearing of a person's death
+they say, nen matti, matti; nen idup, bekraja: kallo sampi janji'nia, apa
+buli buat?--Those who are dead, are dead; those who survive must work: if
+his allotted time was expired, what resource is there? The latter phrase
+they always make use of to express their sense of inevitability, and has
+more force than any translation of it I can employ.
+
+ARABIC CHARACTER USED BY MALAYS.
+
+Their writing is in the Arabic character, with modifications to adapt
+that alphabet to their language, and, in consequence of the adoption of
+their religion from the same quarter, a great number of Arabic words are
+incorporated with the Malayan. The Portuguese too have furnished them
+with several terms, chiefly for such ideas as they have acquired since
+the period of European discoveries to the eastward. They write on paper,
+using ink of their own composition, with pens made of the twig of the
+anau tree. I could never discover that the Malays had any original
+written characters peculiar to themselves before they acquired those now
+in use; but it is possible that such might have been lost, a fate that
+may hereafter attend the Batta, Rejang, and others of Sumatra, on which
+the Arabic daily makes encroachments. Yet I have had frequent occasion to
+observe the former language written by inland people in the country
+character; which would indicate that the speech is likely to perish
+first. The Malayan books are very numerous, both in prose and verse. Many
+of them are commentaries on the koran, and others romances or heroic
+tales.
+
+The purest or most elegant Malayan is said, and with great appearance of
+reason, to be spoken at Malacca. It differs from the dialect used in
+Sumatra chiefly in this, that words, in the latter, made to terminate in
+"o," are in the former, sounded as ending in "a." Thus they pronounce
+lada (pepper) instead of lado. Those words which end with "k" in writing,
+are, in Sumatra, always softened in speaking, by omitting it; as tabbe
+bannia, many compliments, for tabbek banniak; but the Malaccans, and
+especially the more eastern people, who speak a very broad dialect, give
+them generally the full sound. The personal pronouns also differ
+materially in the respective countries.
+
+Attempts have been made to compose a grammar of this tongue upon the
+principles on which those of the European languages are formed. But the
+inutility of such productions is obvious. Where there is no inflexion of
+either nouns or verbs there can be no cases, declensions, moods, or
+conjugations. All this is performed by the addition of certain words
+expressive of a determinate meaning, which should not be considered as
+mere auxiliaries, or as particles subservient to other words. Thus, in
+the instance of rumah, a house; deri pada rumah signifies from a house;
+but it would be talking without use or meaning to say that deri pada is
+the sign of the ablative case of that noun, for then every preposition
+should equally require an appropriate case, and as well as of, to, and
+from, we should have a case for deatas rumah, on top of the house. So of
+verbs: kallo saya buli jalan, If I could walk: this may be termed the
+preter-imperfect tense of the subjunctive or potential mood of the verb
+jalan; whereas it is in fact a sentence of which jalan, buli, etc. are
+constituent words. It is improper, I say, to talk of the case of a noun
+which does not change its termination, or the mood of a verb which does
+not alter its form. A useful set of observations might be collected for
+speaking the language with correctness and propriety, but they must be
+independent of the technical rules of languages founded on different
+principles.*
+
+(*Footnote. I have ventured to make this attempt, and have also prepared
+a Dictionary of the language which it is my intention to print with as
+little delay as circUmstances will admit.)
+
+INTERIOR PEOPLE USE LANGUAGES DIFFERENT FROM THE MALAYAN.
+
+Beside the Malayan there are a variety of languages spoken in Sumatra
+which however have not only a manifest affinity among themselves, but
+also to that general language which is found to prevail in, and to be
+indigenous to all the islands of the eastern sea; from Madagascar to the
+remotest of Captain Cook's discoveries; comprehending a wider extent than
+the Roman or any other tongue has yet boasted. Indisputable examples of
+this connexion and similarity I have exhibited in a paper which the
+Society of Antiquaries have done me the honour to publish in their
+Archaeologia, Volume 6. In different places it has been more or less
+mixed and corrupted, but between the most dissimilar branches an evident
+sameness of many radical words is apparent, and in some, very distant
+from each other in point of situation, as for instance the Philippines
+and Madagascar, the deviation of the words is scarcely more than is
+observed in the dialects of neighbouring provinces of the same kingdom.
+To render this comparison of languages more extensive, and if possible to
+bring all those spoken throughout the world into one point of view, is an
+object of which I have never lost sight, but my hopes of completing such
+a work are by no means sanguine.
+
+PECULIAR WRITTEN CHARACTERS.
+
+The principal of these Sumatran languages are the Botta, the Rejang, and
+the Lampong, whose difference is marked not so much by the want of
+correspondence in the terms as by the circumstance of their being
+expressed in distinct and peculiar written characters. But whether this
+apparent difference be radical and essential, or only produced by
+accident and the lapse of time, may be thought to admit of doubt; and, in
+order that the reader may be enabled to form his own judgment, a plate
+containing the Alphabetical characters of each, with the mode of applying
+the orthographical marks to those of the Rejang language in particular,
+is annexed. It would indeed be extraordinary, and perhaps singular in the
+history of human improvement, that divisions of people in the same
+island, with equal claims to originality, in stages of civilization
+nearly equal, and speaking languages derived from the same source, should
+employ characters different from each other, as well as from the rest of
+the world. It will be found however that the alphabet used in the
+neighbouring island of Java (given by Corneille Le Brun), that used by
+the Tagala people of the Philippines (given by Thevenot), and by the
+Bugis people of Celebes (given by Captain Forrest), vary at least as much
+from these and from each other as the Rejang from the Batta. The Sanskrit
+scholar will at the same time perceive in several of them an analogy to
+the rhythmical arrangement, terminating with a nasal, which distinguishes
+the alphabet of that ancient language whose influence is known to have
+been extensive in this quarter. In the country of Achin, where the
+language differs considerably from the Malayan, the Arabic character has
+nevertheless been adopted, and on this account it has less claim to
+originality.
+
+ON BARK OF TREES AND BAMBOO.
+
+Their manuscripts of any bulk and importance are written with ink of
+their own making on the inner bark of a tree cut into slips of several
+feet in length and folded together in squares; each square or fold
+answering to a page or leaf. For more common occasions they write on the
+outer coat of a joint of bamboo, sometimes whole but generally split into
+pieces of two or three inches in breadth, with the point of the weapon
+worn at their side, which serves the purpose of a stylus; and these
+writings, or scratchings rather, are often performed with a considerable
+degree of neatness. Thus the Chinese also are said by their historians to
+have written on pieces of bamboo before they invented paper. Of both
+kinds of manuscript I have many specimens in my possession. The lines are
+formed from the left hand towards the right, contrary to the practice of
+the Malays and the Arabians.
+
+In Java, Siam, and other parts of the East, beside the common language of
+the country, there is established a court language spoken by persons of
+rank only; a distinction invented for the purpose of keeping the vulgar
+at a distance, and inspiring them with respect for what they do not
+understand. The Malays also have their bhasa dalam, or courtly style,
+which contains a number of expressions not familiarly used in common
+conversation or writing, but yet by no means constituting a separate
+language, any more than, in English, the elevated style of our poets and
+historians. Amongst the inhabitants of Sumatra in general disparity of
+condition is not attended with much ceremonious distance of behaviour
+between the persons.
+
+(TABLE OF SUMATRAN ALPHABETS.)
+
+(TABLE OF SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN SUMATRA.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 11.
+
+COMPARATIVE STATE OF THE SUMATRANS IN CIVIL SOCIETY.
+DIFFERENCE OF CHARACTER BETWEEN THE MALAYS AND OTHER INHABITANTS.
+GOVERNMENT.
+TITLES AND POWER OF THE CHIEFS AMONG THE REJANGS.
+INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEANS.
+GOVERNMENT IN PASSUMMAH.
+
+COMPARATIVE STATE OF SUMATRANS IN SOCIETY.
+
+Considered as a people occupying a certain rank in the scale or civil
+society, it is not easy to determine the proper situation of the
+inhabitants of this island. Though far distant from that point to which
+the polished states of Europe have aspired, they yet look down, with an
+interval almost as great, on the savage tribes of Africa and America.
+Perhaps if we distinguish mankind summarily into five classes; but of
+which each would admit of numberless subdivisions; we might assign a
+third place to the more civilized Sumatrans, and a fourth to the
+remainder. In the first class I should of course include some of the
+republics of ancient Greece, in the days of their splendour; the Romans,
+for some time before and after the Augustan age; France, England, and
+other refined nations of Europe, in the latter centuries; and perhaps
+China. The second might comprehend the great Asiatic empires at the
+period of their prosperity; Persia, the Mogul, the Turkish, with some
+European kingdoms. In the third class, along with the Sumatrans and a few
+other states of the eastern archipelago, I should rank the nations on the
+northern coast of Africa, and the more polished Arabs. The fourth class,
+with the less civilized Sumatrans, will take in the people of the new
+discovered islands in the South Sea; perhaps the celebrated Mexican and
+Peruvian empires; the Tartar hordes, and all those societies of people in
+various parts of the globe, who, possessing personal property, and
+acknowledging some species of established subordination, rise one step
+above the Caribs, the New Hollanders, the Laplanders, and the Hottentots,
+who exhibit a picture of mankind in its rudest and most humiliating
+aspect.
+
+FEW IMPROVEMENTS ADOPTED FROM EUROPEANS.
+
+As mankind are by nature so prone to imitation it may seem surprising
+that these people have not derived a greater share of improvement in
+manners an arts from their long connection with Europeans, particularly
+with the English, who have now been settled among them for a hundred
+years. Though strongly attached to their own habits they are nevertheless
+sensible of their inferiority, and readily admit the preference to which
+our attainments in science, and especially in mechanics, entitle us. I
+have heard a man exclaim, after contemplating the structure and uses of a
+house-clock, "Is it not fitting that such as we should be slaves to
+people who have the ingenuity to invent, and the skill to construct, so
+wonderful a machine as this?" "The sun," he added, "is a machine of this
+nature." "But who winds it up?" said his companion. "Who but Allah," he
+replied. This admiration of our superior attainments is however not
+universal; for, upon an occasion similar to the above, a Sumatran
+observed, with a sneer, "How clever these people are in the art of
+getting money."
+
+Some probable causes of this backwardness may be suggested. We carry on
+few or no species of manufacture at our settlements; everything is
+imported ready wrought to its highest perfection; and the natives
+therefore have no opportunity of examining the first process, or the
+progress of the work. Abundantly supplied with every article of
+convenience from Europe, and prejudiced in their favour because from
+thence, we make but little use of the raw materials Sumatra affords. We
+do not spin its cotton; we do not rear its silkworms; we do not smelt its
+metals; we do not even hew its stone: neglecting these, it is in vain we
+exhibit to the people, for their improvement in the arts, our rich
+brocades, our timepieces, or display to them in drawings the elegance of
+our architecture. Our manners likewise are little calculated to excite
+their approval and imitation. Not to insist on the licentiousness that
+has at times been imputed to our communities; the pleasures of the table;
+emulation in wine; boisterous mirth; juvenile frolics, and puerile
+amusements, which do not pass without serious, perhaps contemptuous,
+animadversion--setting these aside it appears to me that even our best
+models are but ill adapted for the imitation of a rude, incurious, and
+unambitious people. Their senses, not their reason, should be acted on,
+to rouse them from their lethargy; their imaginations must be warmed; a
+spirit of enthusiasm must pervade and animate them before they will
+exchange the pleasures of indolence for those of industry. The
+philosophical influence that prevails and characterizes the present age
+in the western world is unfavourable to the producing these effects. A
+modern man of sense and manners despises, or endeavours to despise,
+ceremony, parade, attendance, superfluous and splendid ornaments in his
+dress or furniture: preferring ease and convenience to cumbrous pomp, the
+person first in rank is no longer distinguished by his apparel, his
+equipage, or his number of servants, from those inferior to him; and
+though possessing real power is divested of almost every external mark of
+it. Even our religious worship partakes of the same simplicity. It is far
+from my intention to condemn or depreciate these manners, considered in a
+general scale of estimation. Probably, in proportion as the prejudices of
+sense are dissipated by the light of reason, we advance towards the
+highest degree of perfection our natures are capable of; possibly
+perfection may consist in a certain medium which we have already stepped
+beyond; but certainly all this refinement is utterly incomprehensible to
+an uncivilized mind which cannot discriminate the ideas of humility and
+meanness. We appear to the Sumatrans to have degenerated from the more
+splendid virtues of our predecessors. Even the richness of their laced
+suits and the gravity of their perukes attracted a degree of admiration;
+and I have heard the disuse of the large hoops worn by the ladies
+pathetically lamented. The quick, and to them inexplicable, revolutions
+of our fashions, are subject of much astonishment, and they naturally
+conclude that those modes can have but little intrinsic merit which we
+are so ready to change; or at least that our caprice renders us very
+incompetent to be the guides of their improvement. Indeed in matters of
+this kind it is not to be supposed that an imitation should take place,
+owing to the total incongruity of manners in other respects, and the
+dissimilarity of natural and local circumstances. But perhaps I am
+superfluously investigating minute and partial causes of an effect which
+one general one may be thought sufficient to produce. Under the frigid,
+and more especially the torrid zone, the inhabitants will naturally
+preserve an uninterrupted similarity and consistency of manners, from the
+uniform influence of their climate. In the temperate zones, where this
+influence is equivocal, the manners will be fluctuating, and dependent
+rather on moral than physical causes.
+
+DIFFERENCE IN CHARACTER BETWEEN THE MALAYS AND OTHER SUMATRANS.
+
+The Malays and the other native Sumatrans differ more in the features of
+their mind than in those of their person. Although we know not that this
+island, in the revolutions of human grandeur, ever made a distinguished
+figure in the history of the world (for the Achinese, though powerful in
+the sixteenth century, were very low in point of civilization) yet the
+Malay inhabitants have an appearance of degeneracy, and this renders
+their character totally different from that which we conceive of a
+savage, however justly their ferocious spirit of plunder on the eastern
+coast may have drawn upon them that name. They seem rather to be sinking
+into obscurity, though with opportunities of improvement, than emerging
+from thence to a state of civil or political importance. They retain a
+strong share of pride, but not of that laudable kind which restrains men
+from the commission of mean and fraudulent actions. They possess much low
+cunning and plausible duplicity, and know how to dissemble the strongest
+passions and most inveterate antipathy beneath the utmost composure of
+features till the opportunity of gratifying their resentment offers.
+Veracity, gratitude, and integrity are not to be found in the list of
+their virtues, and their minds are almost strangers to the sentiments of
+honour and infamy. They are jealous and vindictive. Their courage is
+desultory, the effect of a momentary enthusiasm which enables them to
+perform deeds of incredible desperation; but they are strangers to that
+steady magnanimity, that cool heroic resolution in battle, which
+constitutes in our idea the perfection of this quality, and renders it a
+virtue.* Yet it must be observed that, from an apathy almost paradoxical,
+they suffer under sentence of death, in cases where no indignant passions
+could operate to buoy up the mind to a contempt of punishment, with
+astonishing composure and indifference; uttering little more on these
+occasions than a proverbial saying, common among them, expressive of the
+inevitability of fate--apa buli buat? To this stoicism, their belief in
+predestination, and very imperfect ideas of a future, eternal existence,
+doubtless contribute.
+
+(*Footnote. In the history of the Portuguese wars in this part of the
+East there appear some exceptions to this remark, and particularly in the
+character of Laksamanna (his title of commander-in-chief being mistaken
+for his proper name), who was truly a great man and most consummate
+warrior.)
+
+Some writer has remarked that a resemblance is usually found between the
+disposition and qualities of the beasts proper to any country and those
+of the indigenous inhabitants of the human species, where an intercourse
+with foreigners has not destroyed the genuineness of their character. The
+Malay may thus be compared to the buffalo and the tiger. In his domestic
+state he is indolent, stubborn, and voluptuous as the former, and in his
+adventurous life he is insidious, bloodthirsty, and rapacious as the
+latter. Thus also the Arab is said to resemble his camel, and the placid
+Hindu his cow.
+
+CHARACTER OF NATIVE SUMATRANS.
+
+The Sumatran of the interior country, though he partakes in some degree
+of the Malayan vices, and this partly from the contagion of example,
+possesses many exclusive virtues; but they are more properly of the
+negative than the positive kind. He is mild, peaceable, and forbearing,
+unless his anger be roused by violent provocation, when he is implacable
+in his resentments. He is temperate and sober, being equally abstemious
+in meat and drink. The diet of the natives is mostly vegetable; water is
+their only beverage; and though they will kill a fowl or a goat for a
+stranger, whom perhaps they never saw before, nor ever expect to see
+again, they are rarely guilty of that extravagance for themselves; nor
+even at their festivals (bimbang), where there is a plenty of meat, do
+they eat much of anything but rice. Their hospitality is extreme, and
+bounded by their ability alone. Their manners are simple; they are
+generally, except among the chiefs, devoid of the Malay cunning and
+chicane; yet endued with a quickness of apprehension, and on many
+occasions discovering a considerable degree of penetration and sagacity.
+In respect to women they are remarkably continent, without any share of
+insensibility. They are modest; particularly guarded in their
+expressions; courteous in their behaviour; grave in their deportment,
+being seldom or never excited to laughter; and patient to a great degree.
+On the other hand, they are litigious; indolent; addicted to gaming;
+dishonest in their dealings with strangers, which they esteem no moral
+defect; suspicious; regardless of truth; mean in their transactions;
+servile; though cleanly in their persons, dirty in their apparel, which
+they never wash. They are careless and improvident of the future, because
+their wants are few, for though poor they are not necessitous; nature
+supplying, with extraordinary facility, whatever she has made requisite
+for their existence. Science and the arts have not, by extending their
+views, contributed to enlarge the circle of their desires; and the
+various refinements of luxury, which in polished societies become
+necessaries of life, are totally unknown to them. The Makassar and Bugis
+people, who come annually in their praws from Celebes to trade at
+Sumatra, are looked up to by the inhabitants as their superiors in
+manners. The Malays affect to copy their style of dress, and frequent
+allusions to the feats and achievements of these people are made in their
+songs. Their reputation for courage, which certainly surpasses that of
+all other people in the eastern seas, acquires them this flattering
+distinction. They also derive part of the respect paid them from the
+richness of the cargoes they import, and the spirit with which they spend
+the produce in gaming, cock-fighting, and opium-smoking.
+
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+Having endeavoured to trace the character of these people with as much
+fidelity and accuracy as possible, I shall now proceed to give an account
+of their government, laws, customs, and manners; and, in order to convey
+to the reader the clearest ideas in my power, I shall develop the various
+circumstances in such order and connection as shall appear best to answer
+this intent, without confining myself, in every instance, to a rigid and
+scrupulous arrangement under distinct heads.
+
+REJANGS DIVIDED INTO TRIBES.
+
+The Rejang people, whom, for reasons before assigned, I have fixed upon
+for a standard of description, but which apply generally to the orang
+ulu, or inhabitants of the inland country, are distinguished into tribes,
+the descendants of different ancestors. Of these there are four
+principal, who are said to trace their origin to four brothers, and to
+have been united from time immemorial in a league offensive and
+defensive; though it may be presumed that the permanency of this bond of
+union is to be attributed rather to considerations of expediency
+resulting from their situation than to consanguinity or any formal
+compact.
+
+THEIR GOVERNMENT.
+
+The inhabitants live in villages, called dusun, each under the government
+of a headman or magistrate, styled dupati, whose dependants are termed
+his ana-buah, and in number seldom exceed one hundred. The dupatis
+belonging to each river (for here, the villages being almost always
+situated by the waterside, the names we are used to apply to countries or
+districts are properly those of the rivers) meet in a judicial capacity
+at the kwalo, where the European factory is established, and are then
+distinguished by the name of proattin.
+
+PANGERAN.
+
+The pangeran (a Javanese title), or feudal chief of the country, presides
+over the whole. It is not an easy matter to describe in what consists the
+fealty of a dupati to his pangeran, or of his ana-buah to himself, so
+very little in either case is practically observed. Almost without arts,
+and with but little industry, the state of property is nearly equal among
+all the inhabitants, and the chiefs scarcely differ but in title from the
+bulk of the people.
+
+HIS AUTHORITY.
+
+Their authority is no more than nominal, being without that coercive
+power necessary to make themselves feared and implicitly obeyed. This is
+the natural result of poverty among nations habituated to peace; where
+the two great political engines of interest and military force are
+wanting. Their government is founded in opinion, and the submission of
+the people is voluntary. The domestic rule of a private family beyond a
+doubt suggested first the idea of government in society, and, this people
+having made but small advances in civil policy, theirs continues to
+retain a strong resemblance of its original. It is connected also with
+the principle of the feudal system, into which it would probably settle
+should it attain to a greater degree of refinement. All the other
+governments throughout the island are likewise a mixture of the
+patriarchal and feudal; and it may be observed that, where a spirit of
+conquest has reduced the inhabitants under the subjection of another
+power, or has added foreign districts to their dominion, there the feudal
+maxims prevail: where the natives, from situation or disposition, have
+long remained undisturbed by revolutions, there the simplicity of
+patriarchal rule obtains; which is not only the first and natural form of
+government of all rude nations rising from imperceptible beginnings, but
+is perhaps also the highest state of perfection at which they can
+ultimately arrive. It is not in this art alone that we perceive the next
+step from consummate refinement, leading to simplicity.
+
+MUCH LIMITED.
+
+The foundation of right to government among these people seems, as I
+said, to be the general consent. If a chief exerts an undue authority, or
+departs from their long established customs and usages, they conceive
+themselves at liberty to relinquish their allegiance. A commanding
+aspect, an insinuating manner, a ready fluency in discourse, and a
+penetration and sagacity in unravelling the little intricacies of their
+disputes, are qualities which seldom fail to procure to their possessor
+respect and influence, sometimes perhaps superior to that of an
+acknowledged chief. The pangean indeed claims despotic sway, and as far
+as he can find the means scruples not to exert it; but, his revenues
+being insufficient to enable him to keep up any force for carrying his
+mandates into execution, his actual powers are very limited, and he has
+seldom found himself able to punish a turbulent subject any otherwise
+than by private assassination. In appointing the heads of dusuns he does
+little more than confirm the choice already made among the inhabitants,
+and, were he arbitrarily to name a person of a different tribe or from
+another place, he would not be obeyed. He levies no tax, nor has any
+revenue (what he derives from the India Company being out of the
+question), or other emolument from his subjects than what accrues to him
+from the determination of causes. Appeals lie to him in all cases, and
+none of the inferior courts or assemblies of proattins are competent to
+pronounce sentence of death. But, all punishments being by the laws of
+the country commutable for fines, and the appeals being attended with
+expense and loss of time, the parties generally abide by the first
+decision. Those dusuns which are situated nearest to the residence of the
+pangeran, at Sungey-lamo, acknowledge somewhat more of subordination than
+the distant ones, which even in case of war esteem themselves at liberty
+to assist or not, as they think proper, without being liable to
+consequences. In answer to a question on this point, "we are his
+subjects, not his slaves," replied one of the proattins. But from the
+pangeran you hear a tale widely different. He has been known to say, in a
+political conversation, "such and such dusuns there will be no trouble
+with; they are my powder and shot;" explaining himself by adding that he
+could dispose of the inhabitants, as his ancestors had done, to purchase
+ammunition in time of war.
+
+ORIGIN OF THE PANGERAN IN RAJANG.
+
+The father of Pangeran Mangko Raja (whose name is preserved from oblivion
+by the part he took in the expulsion of the English from Fort Marlborough
+in the year 1719) was the first who bore the title of pangeran of
+Sungey-lamo. He had before been simply Baginda Sabyam. Until about a
+hundred years ago the southern coast of Sumatra as far as Urei River was
+dependant on the king of Bantam, whose Jennang (lieutenant or deputy)
+came yearly to Silebar or Bencoolen, collected the pepper and filled up
+the vacancies by nominating, or rather confirming in their appointments,
+the proattins. Soon after that time, the English having established a
+settlement at Bencoolen, the jennang informed the chiefs that he should
+visit them no more, and, raising the two headmen of Sungey-lamo and
+Sungey-itam (the latter of whom is chief of the Lemba country in the
+neighbourhood of Bencoolen River; on which however the former possesses
+some villages, and is chief of the Rejang tribes), to the dignity of
+pangeran, gave into their hands the government of the country, and
+withdrew his master's claim. Such is the account given by the present
+possessors of the origin of their titles, which nearly corresponds with
+the recorded transactions of the period. It followed naturally that the
+chief thus invested should lay claim to the absolute authority of the
+king whom he represented, and on the other hand that the proattins should
+still consider him but as one of themselves, and pay him little more than
+nominal obedience. He had no power to enforce his plea, and they retain
+their privileges, taking no oath of allegiance, nor submitting to be
+bound by any positive engagement. They speak of him however with respect,
+and in any moderate requisition that does not affect their adat or
+customs they are ready enough to aid him (tolong, as they express it),
+but rather as matter of favour than acknowledged obligation.
+
+The exemption from absolute subjection, which the dupatis contend for,
+they allow in turn to their ana-buahs, whom they govern by the influence
+of opinion only. The respect paid to one of these is little more than as
+to an elder of a family held in esteem, and this the old men of the dusun
+share with him, sitting by his side in judgment on the little differences
+that arise among themselves. If they cannot determine the cause, or the
+dispute be with one of a separate village, the neighbouring proattins of
+the same tribe meet for the purpose. From these litigations arise some
+small emoluments to the dupati, whose dignity in other respects is rather
+an expense than an advantage. In the erection of public works, such as
+the ballei or town hall, he contributes a larger share of materials. He
+receives and entertains all strangers, his dependants furnishing their
+quotas of provision on particular occasions; and their hospitality is
+such that food and lodging are never refused to those by whom they are
+required.
+
+SUCCESSION OF DUPATIS.
+
+Though the rank of dupati is not strictly hereditary the son, when of age
+and capable, generally succeeds the father at his decease: if too young,
+the father's brother, or such one of the family as appears most
+qualified, assumes the post; not as a regent but in his own right; and
+the minor comes in perhaps at the next vacancy. If this settlement
+happens to displease any portion of the inhabitants they determine
+amongst themselves what chief they will follow, and remove to his
+village, or a few families, separating themselves from the rest, elect a
+chief, but without contesting the right of him whom they leave. The
+chiefs, when nominated, do not however assume the title of dupati until
+confirmed by the pangeran, or by the Company's Resident. On every river
+there is at least one superior proattin, termed a pambarab, who is chosen
+by the rest and has the right or duty of presiding at those suits and
+festivals in which two or more villages are concerned, with a larger
+allotment of the fines, and (like Homer's distinguished heroes) of the
+provisions also. If more tribes than one are settled on the same river
+each has usually its pambarab. Not only the rivers or districts but
+indeed each dusun is independent of, though not unconnected with, its
+neighbours, acting in concert with them by specific consent.
+
+INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEANS.
+
+The system of government among the people near the sea-coast, who,
+towards the southern extreme of the island, are the planters of pepper,
+is much influenced by the power of the Europeans, who are virtually the
+lords paramount, and exercise in fact many of the functions of
+sovereignty. The advantages derived to the subject from their sway, both
+in a political and civil sense, are infinitely greater than persons at a
+distance are usually inclined to suppose. Oppressions may be some times
+complained of at the hands of individuals, but, to the honour of the
+Company's service let me add, they have been very rare and of
+inconsiderable magnitude. Where a degree of discretionary power is
+intrusted to single persons abuses will, in the nature of things, arise
+in some instances; cases may occur in which the private passions of the
+Resident will interfere with his public duty; but the door has ever been
+open for redress, and examples have been made. To destroy this influence
+and authority in order to prevent these consequences were to cut off a
+limb in order to remove a partial complaint. By the Company's power the
+districts over which it extends are preserved in uninterrupted peace.
+Were it not for this power every dusun of every river would be at war
+with its neighbour. The natives themselves allow it, and it was evinced,
+even in the short space of time during which the English were absent from
+the coast, in a former war with France. Hostilities of district against
+district, so frequent among the independent nations to the northward,
+are, within the Company's jurisdiction, things unheard of; and those
+dismal catastrophes which in all the Malayan islands are wont to attend
+on private feuds but very rarely happen. "I tell you honestly," said a
+dupati, much irritated against one of his neighbours, "that it is only
+you," pointing to the Resident of Laye, "that prevents my plunging this
+weapon into his breast." The Resident is also considered as the protector
+of the people from the injustice and oppression of the chiefs. This
+oppression, though not carried on in the way of open force, which the
+ill-defined nature of their authority would not support, is scarcely less
+grievous to the sufferer. Expounders of the law, and deeply versed in the
+chicanery of it, they are ever lying in wait to take advantage of the
+necessitous and ignorant, till they have stripped them of their property,
+their family, and their personal liberty. To prevent these practices the
+partial administration of justice in consequence of bribes, the
+subornation of witnesses, and the like iniquities, a continual exertion
+of the Resident's attention and authority is required, and, as that
+authority is accidentally relaxed, the country falls into confusion.
+
+It is true that this interference is not strictly consonant with the
+spirit of the original contracts entered into by the Company with the
+native chiefs, who, in consideration of protection from their enemies,
+regular purchase of the produce of their country, and a gratuity to
+themselves proportioned to the quantity of that produce, undertake on
+their part to oblige their dependants to plant pepper, to refrain from
+the use of opium, the practice of gaming, and other vicious excesses, and
+to punish them in case of non-compliance. But, however prudent or equal
+these contracts might have been at the time their form was established, a
+change of circumstances, the gradual and necessary increase of the
+Company's sway which the peace and good of the country required, and the
+tacit consent of the chiefs themselves (among whom the oldest living have
+never been used to regard the Company, who have conferred on them their
+respective dignities, as their equals, or as trading in their districts
+upon sufferance), have long antiquated them; and custom and experience
+have introduced in their room an influence on one side, and a
+subordination on the other, more consistent with the power of the Company
+and more suitable to the benefits derived from the moderate and humane
+exercise of that power. Prescription has given its sanction to this
+change, and the people have submitted to it without murmuring, as it was
+introduced not suddenly but with the natural course of events, and
+bettered the condition of the whole while it tended to curb the rapacity
+of the few. Then let not short-sighted or designing persons, upon false
+principles of justice, or ill-digested notions of liberty, rashly
+endeavour to overturn a scheme of government, doubtless not perfect, but
+which seems best adapted to the circumstances it has respect to, and
+attended with the fewest disadvantages. Let them not vainly exert
+themselves to procure redress of imaginary grievances, for persons who
+complain not, or to infuse a spirit of freedom and independence, in a
+climate where nature possibly never intended they should flourish, and
+which, if obtained, would apparently be attended with effects that all
+their advantages would badly compensate.
+
+GOVERNMENT IN PASSUMMAH.
+
+In Passummah, which nearly borders upon Rejang, to the southward, there
+appears some difference in the mode of government, though the same spirit
+pervades both; the chiefs being equally without a regular coercive power,
+and the people equally free in the choice of whom they will serve. This
+is an extensive and comparatively populous country, bounded on the north
+by that of Lamattang, and on the south-east by that of Lampong, the river
+of Padang-guchi marking the division from the latter, near the sea-coast.
+It is distinguished into Passummah lebbar, or the broad, which lies
+inland, extending to within a day's journey of Muaro Mulang, on Palembang
+River; and Passummah ulu Manna, which is on the western side of the range
+of hills, whither the inhabitants are said to have mostly removed in
+order to avoid the government of Palembang.
+
+It is governed by four pangerans, who are independent of each other but
+acknowledge a kind of sovereignty in the sultan of Palembang, from whom
+they hold a chap (warrant) and receive a salin (investiture) on their
+accession. This subordination is the consequence of the king of Bantam's
+former influence over this part of the island, Palembang being a port
+anciently dependent on him, and now on the Dutch, whose instrument the
+sultan is. There is an inferior pangeran in almost every dusun (that
+title being nearly as common in Passummah as dupati towards the
+sea-coast) who are chosen by the inhabitants, and confirmed by the
+superior pangeran, whom they assist in the determination of causes. In
+the low country, where the pepper-planters reside, the title of kalippah
+prevails; which is a corruption of the Arabic word khalifah, signifying a
+vicegerent. Each of these presides over various tribes, which have been
+collected at different times (some of them being colonists from Rejang,
+as well as from a country to the eastward of them, named Haji) and have
+ranged themselves, some under one and some under another chief; having
+also their superior proattin, or pambarab, as in the northern districts.
+On the rivers of Peeno, Manna, and Bankannon are two kalippahs
+respectively, some of whom are also pangerans, which last seems to be
+here rather a title of honour, or family distinction, than of magistracy.
+They are independent of each other, owning no superior; and their number,
+according to the ideas of the people, cannot be increased.
+
+
+CHAPTER 12.
+
+LAWS AND CUSTOMS.
+MODE OF DECIDING CAUSES.
+CODE OF LAWS.
+
+LAWS OR CUSTOMS.
+
+There is no word in the languages of the island which properly and
+strictly signifies law; nor is there any person or class of persons among
+the Rejangs regularly invested with a legislative power. They are
+governed in their various disputes by a set of long-established customs
+(adat), handed down to them from their ancestors, the authority of which
+is founded on usage and general consent. The chiefs, in pronouncing their
+decisions, are not heard to say, "so the law directs," but "such is the
+custom." It is true that, if any case arises for which there is no
+precedent on record (of memory), they deliberate and agree on some mode
+that shall serve as a rule in future similar circumstances. If the affair
+be trifling that is seldom objected to; but when it is a matter of
+consequence the pangeran, or kalippah (in places where such are present),
+consults with the proattins, or lower order of chiefs, who frequently
+desire time to consider of it, and consult with the inhabitants of their
+dusun. When the point is thus determined the people voluntarily submit to
+observe it as an established custom; but they do not acknowledge a right
+in the chiefs to constitute what laws they think proper, or to repeal or
+alter their ancient usages, of which they are extremely tenacious and
+jealous. It is notwithstanding true that, by the influence of the
+Europeans, they have at times been prevailed on to submit to innovations
+in their customs; but, except when they perceived a manifest advantage
+from the change, they have generally seized an opportunity of reverting
+to the old practice.
+
+MODE OF DECIDING CAUSES.
+
+All causes, both civil and criminal, are determined by the several chiefs
+of the district, assembled together at stated times for the purpose of
+distributing justice. These meetings are called becharo (which signifies
+also to discourse or debate), and among us, by an easy corruption,
+bechars. Their manner of settling litigations in points of property is
+rather a species of arbitration, each party previously binding himself to
+submit to the award, than the exertion of a coercive power possessed by
+the court for the redress of wrongs.
+
+The want of a written criterion of the laws and the imperfect stability
+of traditionary usage must frequently, in the intricacies of their suits,
+give rise to contradictory decisions; particularly as the interests and
+passions of the chiefs are but too often concerned in the determination
+of the causes that come before them.
+
+COMPILATION OF LAWS.
+
+This evil had long been perceived by the English Residents, who, in the
+countries where we are settled, preside at the bechars, and, being
+instigated by the splendid example of the Governor-general of Bengal (Mr.
+Hastings), under whose direction a code of the laws of that empire was
+compiled (and translated by Mr. Halhed), it was resolved that the
+servants of the Company at each of the subordinates should, with the
+assistance of the ablest and most experienced of the natives, attempt to
+reduce to writing and form a system of the usages of the Sumatrans in
+their respective residencies. This was accordingly executed in some
+instances, and, a translation of that compiled in the residency of Laye
+coming into my possession, I insert it here, in the original form, as
+being attended with more authority and precision than any account
+furnished from my own memorandums could pretend to.
+
+REJANG LAWS.
+
+For the more regular and impartial administration of justice in the
+Residency of Laye, the laws and customs of the Rejangs, hitherto
+preserved by tradition, are now, after being discussed, amended, and
+ratified, in an assembly of the pangeran, pambarabs, and proattins,
+committed to writing in order that they may not be liable to alteration;
+that those deserving death or fine may meet their reward; that causes may
+be brought before the proper judges, and due amends made for defaults;
+that the compensation for murder may be fully paid; that property may be
+equitably divided; that what is borrowed may be restored; that gifts may
+become the undoubted property of the receiver; that debts may be paid and
+credits received agreeably to the customs that have been ever in force
+beneath the heavens and on the face of the earth. By the observance of
+the laws a country is made to flourish, and where they are neglected or
+violated ruin ensues.
+
+BECHARS, SUITS, OR TRIALS.
+
+PROCESS IN SUITS.
+
+The plaintiff and defendant first state to the bench the general
+circumstances of the case. If their accounts differ, and they consent to
+refer the matter to the decision of the proattins or bench, each party is
+to give a token, to the value of a suku, that he will abide by it, and to
+find security for the chogo, a sum stated to them, supposed to exceed the
+utmost probable damages.
+
+If the chogo do not exceed 30 dollars the bio or fee paid by each is
+  1 1/4 dollars.
+If the chogo do not exceed 30 to 50 dollars the bio or fee paid by each
+  is 2 1/2 dollars.
+If the chogo do not exceed 50 to 100 dollars the bio or fee paid by each
+  is 5 dollars.
+If the chogo do not exceed 100 dollars and upwards the bio or fee paid by
+  each is 9 dollars.
+
+All chiefs of dusuns, or independent tallangs, are entitled to a seat on
+the bench upon trials.
+
+If the pangeran sits at the bechar he is entitled to one half of all bio,
+and of such fines, or shares of fines, as fall to the chiefs, the
+pambarabs, and other proattins dividing the remainder.
+
+If the pangeran be not present the pambarabs have one-third, and the
+other proattins two-thirds of the foregoing. Though a single pambarab
+only sit he is equally entitled to the above one-third. Of the other
+proattins five are requisite to make a quorum.
+
+No bechar, the chogo of which exceeds five dollars, to be held by the
+proattins, except in the presence of the Company's Resident, or his
+assistant.
+
+If a person maliciously brings a false accusation and it is proved such,
+he is liable to pay a sum equal to that which the defendant would have
+incurred had his design succeeded; which sum is to be divided between the
+defendant and the proattins, half and half.
+
+The fine for bearing false witness is twenty dollars and a buffalo.
+
+The punishment of perjury is left to the superior powers (orang alus).
+Evidence here is not delivered on previous oath.
+
+LAWS OF INHERITANCE.
+
+If the father leaves a will, or declares before witnesses his intentions
+relative to his effects or estate, his pleasure is to be followed in the
+distribution of them amongst his children.
+
+If he dies intestate and without declaring his intentions the male
+children inherit, share and share alike, except that the house and pusako
+(heirlooms, or effects on which, from various causes, superstitious value
+is placed) devolve invariably to the eldest.
+
+The mother (if by the mode of marriage termed jujur, which, with the
+other legal terms, will be hereafter explained) and the daughters are
+dependant on the sons.
+
+If a man, married by semando, dies, leaving children, the effects remain
+to the wife and children. If the woman dies, the effects remain to the
+husband and children. If either dies leaving no children the family of
+the deceased is entitled to half the effects.
+
+OUTLAWRY.
+
+Any person unwilling to be answerable for the debts or actions of his son
+or other relation under his charge may outlaw him, by which he, from that
+period, relinquishes all family connexion with him, and is no longer
+responsible for his conduct.
+
+The outlaw to be delivered up to the Resident or pangeran, accompanied
+with his writ of outlawry, in duplicate, one copy to be lodged with the
+Resident, and one with the outlaw's pambarab.
+
+The person who outlaws must pay all debts to that day.
+
+On amendment, the outlaw may be recalled to his family, they paying such
+debts as he may have contracted whilst outlawed, and redeeming his writ
+by payment of ten dollars and a goat, to be divided among the pangeran
+and pambarabs.
+
+If an outlaw commits murder he is to suffer death.
+
+If murdered, a bangun, or compensation, of fifty dollars, is to be paid
+for him to the pangeran.
+
+If an outlaw wounds a person he becomes a slave to the Company or
+pangeran for three years. If he absconds and is afterwards killed no
+bangun is to be paid for him.
+
+If an outlaw wounds a person and is killed in the scuffle no bangun is to
+be paid for him.
+
+If the relations harbour an outlaw they are held willing to redeem him,
+and become answerable for his debts.
+
+THEFT.
+
+A person convicted of theft pays double the value of the goods stolen,
+with a fine of twenty dollars and a buffalo, if they exceed the value of
+five dollars: if under five dollars the fine is five dollars and a goat;
+the value of the goods still doubled.
+
+All thefts under five dollars, and all disputes for property, or offences
+to that amount, may be compromised by the proattins whose dependants are
+concerned.
+
+Neither assertion nor oath of the prosecutor are sufficient for
+conviction without token (chino) of the robbery, namely, some article
+recovered of the goods stolen; or evidence sufficient.
+
+If any person, having permission to pass the night in the house of
+another, shall leave it before daybreak, without giving notice to the
+family, he shall be held accountable for any thing that may be that night
+missing.
+
+If a person passing the night in the house of another does not commit his
+effects to the charge of the owner of it, the latter is not accountable
+if they are stolen during the night. If he has given them in charge, and
+the stranger's effects only are lost during the night, the owner of the
+house becomes accountable. If effects both of the owner and lodger are
+stolen, each is to make oath to the other that he is not concerned in the
+robbery, and the parties put up with their loss, or retrieve it as they
+can.
+
+Oaths are usually made on the koran, or at the grave of an ancestor,
+according as the Mahometan religion prevails more or less. The party
+intended to be satisfied by the oath generally prescribes the mode and
+purport of it.
+
+BANGUN, OR COMPENSATION FOR MURDER.
+
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of a pambarab is 500 dollars.
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of an inferior proattin is 250
+  dollars.
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of a common person, man or boy,
+  is 80 dollars.
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of a common person, woman or girl,
+  is 150 dollars.
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of the legitimate children or
+  wife of a pambarab is 250 dollars.
+
+Exclusive of the above, a fine of fifty dollars and a buffalo as tippong
+bumi (expiation), is to be paid on the murder of a pambarab; of twenty
+dollars and a buffalo on the murder of any other; which goes to the
+pambarab and proattins.
+
+The bangun of an outlaw is fifty dollars without tippong bumi.
+
+No bangun is to be paid for a person killed in the commission of a robbery.
+
+The bangun of pambarabs and proattins is to be divided between the pangeran
+and pambarabs one half; and the family of the deceased the other half.
+
+The bangun of private persons is to be paid to their families; deducting
+the adat ulasan of ten per cent to the pambarabs and proattins.
+
+If a man kills his slave he pays half his price as bangun to the
+pangeran, and the tippong bumi to the proattins.
+
+If a man kills his wife by jujur he pays her bangun to her family, or to
+the proattins, according as the tali kulo subsists or not.
+
+If a man kills or wounds his wife by semando he pays the same as for a
+stranger.
+
+If a man wounds his wife by jujur slightly he pays one tail or two
+dollars.
+
+If a man wounds his wife by jujur with a weapon and an apparent intention
+of killing her he pays a fine of twenty dollars.
+
+If the tali kulo (tie of relationship) is broken the wife's family can no
+longer claim bangun or fine: they revert to the proattins.
+
+If a pambarab wounds his wife by jujur he pays five dollars and a goat.
+
+If a pambarab's daughter, married by jujur, is wounded by her husband he
+pays five dollars and a goat.
+
+For a wound occasioning the loss of an eye or limb or imminent danger of
+death half the bangun is to be paid.
+
+For a wound on the head the pampas or compensation is twenty dollars.
+
+For other wounds the pampas from twenty dollars downwards.
+
+If a person is carried off and sold beyond the hills the offender, if
+convicted, must pay the bangun. If the person has been recovered previous
+to the trial the offender pays half the bangun.
+
+If a man kills his brother he pays to the proattins the tippong bumi.
+
+If a wife kills her husband she must suffer death.
+
+If a wife by semando wounds her husband her relations must pay what they
+would receive if he wounded her.
+
+DEBTS AND CREDITS.
+
+DEBTS.
+
+On the death of a person in debt (unless he die an outlaw, or married
+byambel-anak) his nearest relation becomes accountable to the creditors.
+
+Of a person married by ambel-anak the family he married into is
+answerable for debts contracted during the marriage: such as were
+previous to it his relations must pay.
+
+A father, or head of a family, has hitherto been in all cases liable to
+the debts of his sons, or younger relations under his care; but to
+prevent as much as possible his suffering by their extravagance it is now
+resolved:
+
+That if a young unmarried man (bujang) borrows money, or purchases goods
+without the concurrence of his father, or of the head of his family, the
+parent shall not be answerable for the debt. Should the son use his
+father's name in borrowing it shall be at the lender's risk if the father
+disavows it.
+
+If any person gives credit to the debtor of another (publicly known as
+such, either in the state of mengiring, when the whole of his labour
+belongs to the creditor, or of be-blah, when it is divided) the latter
+creditor can neither disturb the debtor for the sum nor oblige the former
+to pay it. He must either pay the first debt (membulati, consolidate) or
+let his claim lie over till the debtor finds means to discharge it.
+
+Interest of money has hitherto been three fanams per dollar per month, or
+one hundred and fifty per cent per annum. It is now reduced to one fanam,
+or fifty per cent per annum, and no person is to receive more, under
+penalty of fine, according to the circumstances of the case.
+
+No more than double the principal can in any case be recovered at law. A
+person lending money at interest, and letting it lie over beyond two
+years, loses the surplus.
+
+No pepper-planter to be taken as a debtor mengiring, under penalty of
+forty dollars.
+
+A planter in debt may engage in any work for hire that does not interfere
+with the care of his garden, but must on no account mengiring, even
+though his creditor offers to become answerable for the care of his
+garden.
+
+If a debtor mengiring absconds from his master (or creditor, who has a
+right to his personal service) without leave of absence he is liable to
+an increase of debt at the rate of three fanams per day. Females have
+been hitherto charged six fanams, but are now put upon a footing the same
+as the men.
+
+If a debtor mengiring, without security, runs away, his debt is liable to
+be doubled if he is absent above a week.
+
+If a man takes a person mengiring, without security for the debt, should
+the debtor die in that predicament the creditor loses his money, having
+no claim on the relations for it.
+
+If a person takes up money under promise of mengiring at a certain
+period, should he not perform his agreement he must pay interest for the
+money at one fanam per dollar per month.
+
+If a person, security for another, is obliged to pay the debt he is
+entitled to demand double from the debtor; but this claim to be moderated
+according to circumstances.
+
+If a person sues for a debt which is denied the onus probandi lies with
+the plaintiff. If he fails in proof the defendant, on making oath to the
+justness of his denial, shall be acquitted.
+
+If a debtor taking care of a pepper garden, or one that gives half
+produce to his creditor (be-blah), neglects it, the person in whose debt
+he is must hire a man to do the necessary work; and the hire so paid
+shall be added to the debt. Previous notice shall however be given to the
+debtor, that he may if he pleases avoid the payment of the hire by doing
+the work himself.
+
+If a person's slave, or debtor mengiring, be carried off and sold beyond
+the hills the offender is liable to the bangun, if a debtor, or to his
+price, if a slave. Should the person be recovered the offender is liable
+to a fine of forty dollars, of which the person that recovers him has
+half, and the owner or creditor the remainder. If the offender be not
+secured the reward shall be only five dollars to the person that brings
+the slave, and three dollars the debtor, if on this side the hills; if
+from beyond the hills the reward is doubled.
+
+LAWS REGARDING MARRIAGE.
+
+The modes of marriage prevailing hitherto have been principally by jujur,
+or by ambel-anak, the Malay semando being little used. The obvious ill
+consequences of the two former, from the debt or slavery they entailed
+upon the man that married, and the endless lawsuits they gave rise to,
+have at length induced the chiefs to concur in their being as far as
+possible laid aside; adopting in lieu of them the semando malayo, or
+mardiko, which they now strongly recommend to their dependants as free
+from the encumbrances of the other modes, and tending, by facilitating
+marriage, and the consequent increase of population, to promote the
+welfare of their country. Unwilling, however, to abolish arbitrarily a
+favourite custom of their ancestors, marriage by jujur is still permitted
+to take place, but under such restrictions as will, it is hoped,
+effectually counteract its hitherto pernicious consequences. Marriage by
+ambel-anak, which rendered a man and his descendants the property of the
+family he married into, is now prohibited, and none permitted for the
+future, but, by semando, or jujur, subject to the following regulations.
+
+The jujur of a virgin (gadis) has been hitherto one hundred and twenty
+dollars: the adat annexed to it have been tulis-tanggil, fifteen dollars;
+upah daun kodo, six dollars, and tali kulo, five dollars:
+
+The jujur of a widow, eighty dollars, without the adat; unless her
+children by the former marriage went with her, in which case the jujur
+gadis was paid in full.
+
+It is now determined that, on a man's giving his daughter in marriage by
+jujur for the future, there shall, in lieu of the above, be fixed a sum
+not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars, to be in full for jujur and
+all adat whatever. That this sum shall, when the marriage takes place, be
+paid upon the spot; that if credit is given for the whole, or any part,
+it shall not be recoverable by course of law; and as the sum includes the
+tali kulo, or bond of relationship, the wife thereby becomes the absolute
+property of the husband. The marriage by jujur being thus rendered
+equivalent to actual sale, and the difficulty enhanced by the necessity
+of paying the full price upon the spot, it is probable that the custom
+will in a great measure cease, and, though not positively, be virtually
+abolished. Nor can a lawsuit follow from any future jujur.
+
+The adat, or custom, of the semando malayo or mardiko, to be paid by the
+husband to the wife's family upon the marriage taking place, is fixed at
+twenty dollars and a buffalo, for such as can afford it; and at ten
+dollars and a goat, for the poorer class of people.
+
+Whatever may be acquired by either party during the subsistence of the
+marriage becomes joint property, and they are jointly liable to debts
+incurred, if by mutual consent. Should either contract debts without the
+knowledge and consent of the other the party that contracts must alone
+bear them in case of a divorce.
+
+If either party insists upon, or both agree in it, a divorce must follow.
+No other power can separate them. The effects, debts, and credits in all
+cases to be equally divided. If the man insists upon the divorce he pays
+a charo of twenty dollars to the wife's family, if he obtained her a
+virgin; if a widow, ten dollars. If the woman insists on the divorce no
+charo is to be paid. If both agree in it the man pays half the charo.
+
+If a man married by semando dies--Vide Inheritance.
+
+If a man carries off a woman with her consent, and is willing either to
+pay her price at once by jujur, or marry her by semando, as the father or
+relations please, they cannot reclaim the woman, and the marriage takes
+place.
+
+If a man carries off a girl under age (which is determined by her not
+having her ears bored and teeth filed--bulum bertinde berdabong), though
+with her own consent, he pays, exclusive of the adat jujur, or semando,
+twenty dollars if she be the daughter of a pambarab, and ten dollars for
+the daughter of any other, whether the marriage takes place or not.
+
+If a risau, or person without property and character, carries off a woman
+(though with her own consent) and can neither pay the jujur, nor adat
+semando, the marriage shall not take place, but the man be fined five
+dollars and a goat for misdemeanour. If she be under age, his fine ten
+dollars and a goat.
+
+If a man has but one daughter, whom, to keep her near him, he wishes to
+give in marriage by semando; should a man carry her off, he shall not be
+allowed to keep her by jujur, though he offer the money upon the spot. If
+he refuses to marry her by semando, no marriage takes place, and he
+incurs a fine to the father of ten dollars and a goat.
+
+If a man carries off a woman under pretence of marriage he must lodge her
+immediately with some reputable family. If he carries her elsewhere, for
+a single night he incurs a fine of fifty dollars, payable to her parents
+or relations.
+
+If a man carries off a virgin against her inclination (me-ulih) he incurs
+a fine of twenty dollars and a buffalo: if a widow, ten dollars and a
+goat, and the marriage does not take place. If he commits a rape, and the
+parents do not choose to give her to him in marriage, he incurs a fine of
+fifty dollars.
+
+The adat libei, or custom of giving one woman in exchange for another
+taken in marriage, being a modification of the jujur, is still admitted
+of; but if the one be not deemed an equivalent for the other the
+necessary compensation (as the pangalappang, for nonage) must be paid
+upon the spot, or it is not recoverable by course of law. If a virgin is
+carried off (te-lari gadis) and another is given in exchange for her, by
+adat libei, twelve dollars must be paid with the latter as adat ka-salah.
+
+A man married by ambel-anak may redeem himself and family on payment of
+the jujur and adat of a virgin before-mentioned.
+
+The charo of a jujur marriage is twenty-five dollars. If the jujur be not
+yet paid in full and the man insists on a divorce he receives back what
+he has paid, less twenty-five dollars. If the woman insists no charo can
+be claimed by her relations. If the tali kulo is putus (broken) the wife
+is the husband's property and he may sell her if he pleases.
+
+If a man compels a female debtor of his to cohabit with him her debt, if
+the fact be proved, is thereby discharged, if forty dollars and upwards:
+if under forty the debt is cleared and he pays the difference. If she
+accuses her master falsely of this offence her debt is doubled. If he
+cohabits with her by her consent her parents may compel him to marry her,
+either by jujur or semando, as they please.
+
+If an unmarried woman proves with child the man against whom the fact is
+proved must marry her; and they pay to the proattins a joint fine of
+twenty dollars and a buffalo. This fine, if the parties agree to it, may
+be levied in the country by the neighbouring proattins (without bringing
+it before the regular court).
+
+If a woman proves with child by a relation within the prohibited degrees
+they pay to the proattins a joint fine of twice fifty dollars and two
+buffaloes (hukum duo akup).
+
+A marriage must not take place between relations within the third degree,
+or tungal nene. But there are exceptions for the descendants of females
+who, passing into other families, become as strangers. Of two brothers,
+the children may not intermarry. A sister's son may marry a brother's
+daughter; but a brother's son may not marry a sister's daughter.
+
+If relations within the prohibited degrees intermarry they incur a fine
+of twice fifty dollars and two buffaloes, and the marriage is not valid.
+
+On the death of a man married by jujur or purchase, any of his brothers,
+the eldest in preference, if he pleases, may succeed to his bed. If no
+brother chooses it they may give the woman in marriage to any relation on
+the father's side, without adat, the person who marries her replacing the
+deceased (mangabalu). If no relation takes her and she is given in
+marriage to a stranger he may be either adopted into the family to
+replace the deceased, without adot, or he may pay her jujur, or take her
+by semando, as her relations please.
+
+If a person lies with a man's wife by force he is deserving of death; but
+may redeem his head by payment of the bangun, eighty dollars, to be
+divided between the husband and proattins.
+
+If a man surprises his wife in the act of adultery he may put both man
+and woman to death upon the spot, without being liable to any bangun. If
+he kills the man and spares his wife he must redeem her life by payment
+of fifty dollars to the proattins. If the husband spares the offender, or
+has only information of the fact from other persons, he may not
+afterwards kill him, but has his remedy at law, the fine for adultery
+being fifty dollars, to be divided between the husband and the proattins.
+If he divorces his wife on this account he pays no charo.
+
+If a younger sister be first married, the husband pays six dollars, adat
+pelalu, for passing over the elder.
+
+GAMING.
+
+All gaming, except cock-fighting at stated periods, is absolutely
+prohibited. The fine for each offence is fifty dollars. The person in
+whose house it is carried on, if with his knowledge, is equally liable to
+the fine with the gamesters. A proattin knowing of gaming in his dusun
+and concealing it incurs a fine of twenty dollars. One half of the fines
+goes to the informer, the other to the Company, to be distributed among
+the industrious planters at the yearly payment of the customs.
+
+OPIUM FARM.
+
+The fine for the retailing of opium by any other than the person who
+farms the license is fifty dollars for each offence: one half to the
+farmer, and the other to the informer.
+
+EXECUTIVE POWER.
+
+The executive power for enforcing obedience to these laws and customs,
+and for preserving the peace of the country, is, with the concurrence of
+the pangeran and proattins, vested in the Company's Resident.
+
+Done at Laye, in the month Rabia-al akhir, in the year of the Hejra 1193,
+answering to April 1779.
+
+JOHN MARSDEN, Resident.
+
+...
+
+LAWS OR ADAT OF MANNA.
+
+Having procured likewise a copy of the regulations sanctioned by the
+chiefs of the Passummah country assembled at Manna, I do not hesitate to
+insert it, not only as varying in many circumstances from the preceding,
+but because it may eventually prove useful to record the document.
+
+INHERITANCE.
+
+If a person dies having children these inherit his effects in equal
+portions, and become answerable for the debts of the deceased. If any of
+his brothers survive they may be permitted to share with their nephews,
+but rather as matter of courtesy than of right, and only when the effects
+of the deceased devolved to him from his father or grandfather. If he was
+a man of rank it is common for the son who succeeds him in title to have
+a larger share. This succession is not confined to the eldest born but
+depends much on private agreement in the family. If the deceased person
+leaves no kindred behind him the tribe to which he belonged shall inherit
+his effects, and be answerable for his debts.
+
+DEBTS.
+
+When a debt becomes due and the debtor is unable to pay his creditors, or
+has no effects to deposit, he shall himself, or his wife, or his
+children, live with the creditor as a bond-slave or slaves until redeemed
+by the payment of the debt.
+
+If a debt is contracted without any promise of interest none shall be
+demanded, although the debt be not paid until some time after it first
+became due. The rate of interest is settled at twenty per cent per annum;
+but in all suits relating to debts on interest, how long soever they may
+have been outstanding, the creditor shall not be entitled to more
+interest than may amount to a sum equal to the capital: if the debt is
+recent it shall be calculated as above. If any person lends to another a
+sum exceeding twenty-five dollars and sues for payment before the chiefs
+he shall be entitled only to one year's interest on the sum lent. If
+money is lent to the owner of a padi-plantation, on an agreement to pay
+interest in grain, and after the harvest is over the borrower omits to
+pay the stipulated quantity, the lender shall be entitled to receive at
+the rate of fifteen dollars for ten lent; and if the omission should be
+repeated another season the lender shall be entitled to receive double
+the principal. In all cases of debt contested the onus probandi lies with
+the demandant, who must make good his claim by creditable evidence, or in
+default thereof the respondent may by oath clear himself from the debt.
+On the other hand, if the respondent allows such a debt to have existed
+but asserts a previous payment, it rests with him to prove such payment
+by proper evidence, or in defect the demandant shall by oath establish
+his debt.
+
+EVIDENCE AND OATHS.
+
+EVIDENCE.
+
+In order to be deemed a competent and unexceptionable evidence person
+must be of a different family and dusun from the person in whose behalf
+he gives evidence, of good character, and a free man: but if the dispute
+be between two inhabitants of the same dusun persons of such dusun are
+allowed to be complete evidence. In respect to the oath taken by the
+principals in a dispute the hukuman (or comprehensive quality of the
+oath) depends on the nature of the property in dispute: if it relates to
+the effects of the grandfather the hukuman must extend to the descendants
+from the grandfather; if it relates to the effects of the father it
+extends to the descendants of the father, etc. If any of the parties
+proposed to be included in the operation of the oath refuse to subject
+themselves to the oath the principal in the suit loses his cause.
+
+PAWNS OR PLEDGES.
+
+If any person holding a pawn or pledge such as wearing-apparel, household
+effects, or krises, swords, or kujur (lances), shall pledge it for a
+larger sum than he advanced for it, he shall be answerable to the owner
+for the full value of it, on payment of the sum originally advanced. If
+any person holding as a pledge man, woman, or child shall pledge them to
+any other at an advanced sum, or without the knowledge of the owner, and
+by these means the person pledged should be sold as a slave, he shall
+make good to the owner the full value of such slave, and pay a fine of
+twenty-eight dollars. If any person whatever holding man, woman, or child
+as a pawn, either with janji lalu (term expired) or not, or with or
+without the consent of the original owner, shall sell such person as a
+slave without the knowledge of the Resident and Chiefs, he shall be fined
+twenty-eight dollars.
+
+BUFFALOES.
+
+CATTLE.
+
+All persons who keep buffaloes shall register at the godong
+(factory­house) their tingas or mark; and, in case any dispute shall
+arise about a marked buffalo, no person shall be allowed to plead a mark
+that is not registered. If any wild (stray) buffalo or buffaloes,
+unmarked, shall be taken in a kandang (staked inclosure) they shall be
+adjudged the property of any who takes upon himself to swear to them;
+and, if it should happen that two or more persons insist upon swearing to
+the same buffaloes, they shall be divided among them equally. If no
+individual will swear to the property the buffaloes are to be considered
+as belonging to the kalippah or magistrate of the district where they
+were caught. The person who takes any buffaloes in his kandang shall be
+entitled to a gratuity of two dollars per head. If any buffaloes get into
+a pepper-garden, either by day or night, the owner of the garden shall
+have liberty to kill them, without being answerable to the owner of the
+buffaloes: yet, if it shall appear on examination that the garden was not
+properly fenced, and from this defect suffers damage, the owner shall be
+liable to such fine as the Resident and Chiefs shall judge it proper to
+impose.
+
+THEFT.
+
+A person convicted of stealing money, wearing-apparel, household effects,
+arms, or the like shall pay the owner double the value of the goods
+stolen and be fined twenty-eight dollars. A person convicted of stealing
+slaves shall pay to the owner at the rate of eighty dollars per head,
+which is estimated to be double the value, and fined twenty­eight
+dollars. A person convicted of stealing betel, fowls, or coconuts shall
+pay the owner double the value and be fined seven dollars, half of which
+fine is to be received by the owner. If buffaloes are stolen they shall
+be valued at twelve dollars per head: padi at four bakul (baskets) for
+the dollar. If the stolen goods be found in the possession of a person
+who is not able to account satisfactorily how he came by them he shall be
+deemed the guilty person. If a person attempting to seize a man in the
+act of thieving shall get hold of any part of his clothes which are
+known, or his kris or siwah, this shall be deemed a sufficient token of
+the theft. If two witnesses can be found who saw the stolen goods in
+possession of a third person such person shall be deemed guilty unless he
+can account satisfactorily how he became possessed of the goods. The oath
+taken by such witnesses shall either include the descendants of their
+father, or simply their own descendants, according to the discretion of
+the chiefs who sit as judges. If several people sleep in one house, and
+one of them leaves the house in the night without giving notice to any of
+the rest, and a robbery be committed in the house that night, the person
+so leaving the house shall be deemed guilty of the crime, provided the
+owner of the stolen goods be willing to subject himself to an oath on the
+occasion; and provided the other persons sleeping in the house shall
+clear themselves by oath from being concerned in the theft: but if it
+should happen that a person so convicted, being really innocent, should
+in after time discover the person actually guilty, he shall have liberty
+to bring his suit and recover. If several persons are sleeping in a house
+and a robbery is committed that night, although none leave the house the
+whole shall be obliged to make oath that they had no knowledge of, or
+concern in, the theft, or on refusal shall be deemed guilty. In all cases
+of theft where only a part of the stolen goods is found the owner must
+ascertain upon oath the whole amount of his loss.
+
+MURDER, WOUNDING, AND ASSAULT.
+
+A person convicted of murder shall pay to the relations of the deceased a
+bangun of eighty-eight dollars, one suku, and seventy-five cash; to the
+chiefs a fine of twenty-eight dollars; the bhasa lurah, which is a
+buffalo and one hundred bamboos of rice; and the palantan, which is
+fourteen dollars. If a son kills his father, or a father his son, or a
+man kills his brother, he shall pay a fine of twenty-eight dollars, and
+the bhasa lurah as above. If a man kills his wife the relations of the
+deceased shall receive half a bangun: if any other kills a man's wife the
+husband is entitled to the bangun, but shall pay out of it to the
+relations of the wife ten dollars. In wounds a distinction is made in the
+parts of the body. A wound in any part from the hips upward is esteemed
+more considerable than in the lower parts. If a person wounds another
+with sword, kris, kujur, or other weapon, and the wound is considerable,
+so as to maim him, he shall pay to the person wounded a half-bangun, and
+to the chiefs half of the fine for murder, with half of the bhasa lurah,
+etc. If the wound is trifling but fetches blood he shall pay the person
+wounded the tepong of fourteen dollars, and be fined fourteen dollars. If
+a person wounds another with a stick, bamboo, etc., he shall simply pay
+the tepong of fourteen dollars. If in any dispute between two people
+krises are drawn the person who first drew his kris shall be fined
+fourteen dollars. If any person having a dispute assembles together his
+friends with arms, he shall be fined twenty-eight dollars.
+
+MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, ETC.
+
+MARRIAGE.
+
+There are two modes of marriage used here: one by purchase, called jujur
+or kulu, the other by adoption, called ambel anak. First of jujur.
+
+JUJUR.
+
+When a person is desirous of marrying he deposits a sum of money in the
+hands of the father of the virgin, which is called the pagatan. This sum
+is not esteemed part of the purchase, but as an equivalent for the
+dandanan (paraphernalia, or ornamental apparel) of the bride, and is not
+fixed but varies according to the circumstances and rank of the father.
+The amount of the jujur is fixed at seventy dollars, including the hurup
+niawa (price of life), forty dollars, a kris with gold about the head and
+silver about the sheath, valued at ten dollars, and the meniudakan billi
+or putus kulo (completion of purchase) at twenty. If a young man runs
+away with a gadis or virgin without the consent of the father he does not
+act contrary to the laws of the country; but if he refuses to pay the
+full jujur on demand he shall be fined twenty­eight dollars. If the
+father, having received the pagatan of one man, marries his daughter to
+another before he returns the money to the first, he shall be fined
+fourteen dollars, and the man who marries the daughter shall also be
+fined fourteen dollars. In case of divorce (which may take place at the
+will of either party) the dandanan brought by the wife is to be valued
+and to be deducted from the purchase-money. If a divorce originates from
+the man, and before the whole purchase­money is paid, the man shall
+receive back what he has advanced after deducting the dandanan as above,
+and fourteen dollars, called penusutan. If the divorce originates with
+the woman the whole purchase-money shall be returned, and the children,
+if any, remain with the father. If a divorce originates with the man,
+when the whole purchase-money has been paid, or kulo sudah putus, he
+shall not be entitled to receive back the purchase-money, but may recall
+his wife whenever it shall be agreeable to him. An exact estimation is
+made of the value of the woman's ornaments, and what are not restored
+with her must be made good by the husband. If there are children they are
+in this case to be divided, or if there be only one the husband is to
+allow the woman fifteen dollars, and to take the child. Secondly, of
+ambel anak.
+
+AMBEL ANAK.
+
+When a man marries after the custom called ambel anak he pays no money to
+the father of the bride, but becomes one of his family, and is entirely
+upon the footing of a son, the father of his wife being thenceforward
+answerable for his debts, etc., in the same manner as for his own
+children. The married man becomes entirely separate from his original
+family, and gives up his right of inheritance. It is however in the power
+of the father of the wife to divorce from her his adopted son whenever he
+thinks proper, in which case the husband is not entitled to any of the
+children, nor to any effects other than simply the clothes on his back:
+but if the wife is willing still to live with him, and he is able to
+redeem her and the children by paying the father a hundred dollars, it is
+not at the option of the father to refuse accepting this sum; and in that
+case the marriage becomes a kulo or jujur, and is subject to the same
+rules. If any unmarried woman is convicted of incontinence, or a married
+woman of adultery, they shall pay to the chiefs a fine of forty dollars,
+or in defect thereof become slaves, and the man with whom the crime was
+committed shall pay a fine of thirty dollars, or in like manner become a
+slave; and the parties between them shall also be at the expense of a
+buffalo and a hundred bamboos of rice. This is called the gawe pati or
+panjingan. If an unmarried woman proves with child and refuses to name
+the man with whom she was guilty she shall pay the whole fine of seventy
+dollars, and furnish the buffalo, etc. If a woman after marriage brings
+forth a child before the due course of nature she shall be fined
+twenty-eight dollars. If a man keeps a young woman in his house for any
+length of time, and has a child by her without being regularly married,
+he shall be fined twenty-eight dollars, and furnish a buffalo and a
+hundred bamboos of rice. If a person detects the offenders in the act of
+adultery, and, attempting to seize the man, is obliged to kill him in
+self-defence, he shall not pay the bangun, nor be fined, but only pay the
+bhasa lurah, which is a buffalo and a hundred bamboos of rice. On the
+other hand, if the guilty person kills the one who attempts to seize him,
+he shall be deemed guilty of murder and pay the bangun and fine
+accordingly. If a man holding a woman as a pawn, or in the condition of
+mengiring shall commit fornication with her, he shall forfeit his claim
+to the debt, and the woman become free.
+
+OUTLAWRY.
+
+If the members of a family have suffered inconvenience from the ill
+conduct of any of their relations by having been rendered answerable for
+their debts, etc., it shall be in their power to clear themselves from
+all future responsibility on his account by paying to the chiefs the sum
+of thirty dollars, a buffalo, and a hundred bamboos of rice. This is
+termed buang surat. Should the person so cast out be afterwards murdered
+the relations have forfeited their right to the bangun, which devolves to
+the chiefs.
+
+Dated at Manna, July 1807.
+
+JOHN CRISP, Resident.
+
+
+CHAPTER 13.
+
+REMARKS ON, AND ELUCIDATION OF, THE VARIOUS LAWS AND CUSTOMS.
+MODES OF PLEADING.
+NATURE OF EVIDENCE.
+OATHS.
+INHERITANCE.
+OUTLAWRY.
+THEFT, MURDER, AND COMPENSATION FOR IT.
+ACCOUNT OF A FEUD.
+DEBTS.
+SLAVERY.
+
+REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING LAWS.
+
+The foregoing system of the adat, or customs of the country, being
+digested chiefly for the use of the natives, or of persons well
+acquainted with their manners in general, and being designed, not for an
+illustration of the customs, but simply as a standard of right, the
+fewest and concisest terms possible have been made use of, and many parts
+must necessarily be obscure to the bulk of readers. I shall therefore
+revert to those particulars that may require explanation, and endeavour
+to throw a light upon the spirit and operation of such of their laws
+especially as seem most to clash with our ideas of distributive justice.
+This comment is the more requisite as it appears that some of their
+regulations, which were judged to be inconsistent with the prosperity of
+the people, were altered and amended through the more enlightened reason
+of the persons who acted as the representatives of the English company;
+and it may be proper to recall the idea of the original institutions.
+
+MODE OF PLEADING.
+
+The plaintiff and defendant usually plead their own cause, but if
+circumstances render them unequal to it they are allowed to pinjam mulut
+(borrow a mouth). Their advocate may be a proattin, or other person
+indifferently; nor is there any stated compensation for the assistance,
+though if the cause be gained a gratuity is generally given, and too apt
+to be rapaciously exacted by these chiefs from their clients, when their
+conduct is not attentively watched. The proattin also, who is security
+for the damages, receives privately some consideration; but none is
+openly allowed of. A refusal on his part to become security for his
+dependant or client is held to justify the latter in renouncing his civil
+dependence and choosing another patron.
+
+EVIDENCE.
+
+Evidence is used among these people in a manner very different from the
+forms of our courts of justice. They rarely admit it on both sides of the
+question; nor does the witness first make a general oath to speak the
+truth, and nothing but the truth. When a fact is to be established,
+either on the part of the plaintiff or of the defendant, he is asked if
+he can produce any evidence to the truth of what he asserts. On answering
+in the affirmative he is directed to mention the person. This witness
+must not be a relation, a party concerned, nor even belong to the same
+dusun. He must be a responsible man, having a family, and a determinate
+place of residence. Thus qualified, his evidence may be admitted. They
+have a settled rule in respect to the party that is to produce evidence.
+For instance; A. sues B. for a debt: B. denies the debt: A. is now to
+bring evidence to the debt, or, on failure thereof, it remains with B. to
+clear himself of the debt by swearing himself not indebted. Had B.
+acknowledged that such a debt had formerly subsisted but was since paid,
+it would be incumbent on B. to prove the payment by evidence, or on
+failure it would rest with A. to confirm the debt's being still due, by
+his oath. This is an invariable mode, observed in all cases of property.
+
+OATHS.
+
+As their manner of giving evidence differs from ours so also does the
+nature of an oath among them differ from our idea of it. In many cases it
+is requisite that they should swear to what it is not possible in the
+nature of things they should know to be true. A. sues B. for a debt due
+from the father or grandfather of B. to the father or grandfather of A.
+The original parties are dead and no witness of the transaction survives.
+How is the matter to be decided? It remains with B. to make oath that his
+father or grandfather never was indebted to those of A.; or that if he
+was indebted the debt had been paid. This, among us, would be esteemed a
+very strange method of deciding causes; but among these people something
+of the kind is absolutely necessary. As they have no sort of written
+accounts, nor anything like records or registers among them, it would be
+utterly impossible for the plaintiff to establish the debt by a positive
+proof in a multitude of cases; and were the suit to be dismissed at once,
+as with us, for want of such proof, numbers of innocent persons would
+lose the debts really due to them through the knavery of the persons
+indebted, who would scarce ever fail to deny a debt. On the side of the
+defendant again; if he was not permitted to clear himself of the debt by
+oath, but that it rested with the plaintiff only to establish the fact by
+a single oath, there would be a set of unprincipled fellows daily
+swearing debts against persons who never were indebted to any of their
+generation. In such suits, and there are many of them, it requires no
+small discernment to discover, by the attendant circumstances, where the
+truth lies; but this may be done in most instances by a person who is
+used to their manners and has a personal knowledge of the parties
+concerned. But what they mean by their oath, in those cases where it is
+impossible they should be acquainted with the facts they design to prove,
+is no more than this; that they are so convinced of the truth of the
+matter as to be willing to subject themselves to the paju sumpah
+(destructive consequences of perjury) if what they assert is believed by
+them to be false. The form of words used is nearly as follows: "If what I
+now declare, namely" (here the fact is recited) "is truly and really so,
+may I be freed and clear from my oath: if what I assert is wittingly
+false, may my oath be the cause of my destruction." But it may be easily
+supposed that, where the punishment for a false oath rests altogether
+with the invisible powers, where no direct infamy, no corporal punishment
+is annexed to the perjury, there cannot fail to be many who would makan
+sumpah (swallow an oath), and willingly incur the guilt, in order to
+acquire a little of their neighbour's property.
+
+Although an oath, as being an appeal to the superior powers, is supposed
+to come within their cognizance alone, and that it is contrary to the
+spirit of the customs of these people to punish a perjury by human means,
+even if it were clearly detected; yet, so far prevalent is the opinion of
+their interposition in human affairs that it is very seldom any man of
+substance, or who has a family that he fears may suffer by it, will
+venture to forswear himself; nor are there wanting apparent examples to
+confirm them in this notion. Any accident that happens to a man who has
+been known to take a false oath, or to his children or grandchildren, is
+carefully recorded in memory, and attributed to this sole cause. The
+dupati of Gunong Selong and his family have afforded an instance that is
+often quoted among the Rejangs, and has evidently had great weight. It
+was notorious that he had, about the year 1770, taken in the most solemn
+manner a false oath. He had at that time five sons grown up to manhood.
+One of them, soon after, in a scuffle with some bugis (country soldiers)
+was wounded and died. The dupati the next year lost his life in the issue
+of a disturbance he had raised in the district. Two of the sons died
+afterwards, within a week of each other. Mas Kaddah, the fourth, is
+blind; and Treman, the fifth, lame. All this is attributed to, and firmly
+believed to be the consequence of, the father's perjury.
+
+COLLATERAL OATHS.
+
+In administering an oath, if the matter litigated respects the property
+of the grandfather, all the collateral branches of the family descended
+from him are understood to be included in its operation: if the father's
+effects only are concerned, or the transaction happened in his lifetime,
+his descendants are included: if the affair regards only the present
+parties and originated with them, they and their immediate descendants
+only are comprehended in the consequences of the oath; and if any single
+one of these descendants refuses to join in the oath it vitiates the
+whole; that is, it has the same effect as if the party himself refused to
+swear; a case that not unfrequently occurs. It may be observed that the
+spirit of this custom tends to the requiring a weight of evidence and an
+increase of the importance of the oath in proportion as the distance of
+time renders the fact to be established less capable of proof in the
+ordinary way.
+
+Sometimes the difficulty of the case alone will induce the court to
+insist on administering the oath to the relations of the parties,
+although they are nowise concerned in the transaction. I recollect an
+instance where three people were prosecuted for a theft. There was no
+positive proof against them, yet the circumstances were so strong that it
+appeared proper to put them to the test of one of these collateral oaths.
+They were all willing, and two of them swore. When it came to the turn of
+the third he could not persuade his relations to join with him, and he
+was accordingly brought in for the whole amount of the goods stolen, and
+penalties annexed.
+
+These customs bear a strong resemblance to the rules of proof established
+among our ancestors, the Anglo-Saxons, who were likewise obliged, in the
+case of oaths taken for the purpose of exculpation, to produce a certain
+number of compurgators; but, as these might be any indifferent persons,
+who would take upon them to bear testimony to the truth of what their
+neighbour swore, from an opinion of his veracity, there seems to be more
+refinement and more knowledge of human nature in the Sumatran practice.
+The idea of devoting to destruction, by a wilful perjury, not himself
+only, but all, even the remotest branches, of a family which constitutes
+his greatest pride, and of which the deceased heads are regarded with the
+veneration that was paid to the dii lares of the ancients, has doubtless
+restrained many a man from taking a false oath, who without much
+compunction would suffer thirty or a hundred compurgators of the former
+description to take their chance of that fate. Their strongest prejudices
+are here converted to the most beneficial purposes.
+
+CEREMONY OF TAKING AN OATH.
+
+The place of greatest solemnity for administering an oath is the krammat
+or burying-ground of their ancestors, and several superstitious
+ceremonies are observed on the occasion. The people near the sea-coast,
+in general, by long intercourse with the Malays, have an idea of the
+Koran, and usually employ this in swearing, which the priests do not fail
+to make them pay for; but the inland people keep, laid up in their
+houses, certain old reliques, called in the Rejang language pesakko, and
+in Malayan, sactian, which they produce when an oath is to be taken. The
+person who has lost his cause, and with whom it commonly rests to bind
+his adversary by an oath, often desires two or three days' time to get
+ready these his swearing apparatus, called on such occasions sumpahan, of
+which some are looked upon as more sacred and of greater efficacy than
+others. They consist of an old rusty kris, a broken gun barrel, or any
+ancient trumpery, to which chance or caprice has annexed an idea of
+extraordinary virtue. These they generally dip in water, which the person
+who swears drinks off, after having pronounced the form of words before
+mentioned.* The pangeran of Sungei-lamo has by him certain copper bullets
+which had been steeped in water drunk by the Sungei­etam chiefs, when
+they bound themselves never to molest his districts: which they have only
+done since as often as they could venture it with safety, from the
+relaxation of our government. But these were political oaths. The most
+ordinary sumpahan is a kris, and on the blade of this they sometimes drop
+lime-juice, which occasions a stain on the lips of the person performing
+the ceremony; a circumstance that may not improbably be supposed to make
+an impression on a weak and guilty mind. Such would fancy that the
+external stain conveyed to the beholders an image of the internal. At
+Manna the sumpahan most respected is a gun barrel. When produced to be
+sworn on it is carried to the spot in state, under an umbrella, and
+wrapped in silk. This parade has an advantageous effect by influencing
+the mind of the party with a high idea of the importance and solemnity of
+the business. In England the familiarity of the object and the summary
+method of administering oaths are well known to diminish their weight,
+and to render them too often nugatory. They sometimes swear by the earth,
+laying their hands upon it and wishing that it may never produce aught
+for their nourishment if they speak falsely. In all these ceremonies they
+burn on the spot a little gum benzoin--Et acerra thuris plena, positusque
+carbo in cespite vivo.
+
+(*Footnote. The form of taking an oath among the people of Madagascar
+very nearly resembles the ceremonies used by the Sumatrans. There is a
+strong similarity in the articles they swear on and in the circumstance
+of their drinking the consecrated water.)
+
+It is a striking circumstance that practices which boast so little of
+reason in their foundation, which are in fact so whimsical and childish,
+should yet be common to nations the most remote in situation, climate,
+language, complexion, character, and everything that can distinguish one
+race of people from another. Formed of like materials, and furnished with
+like original sentiments, the uncivilized tribes of Europe and of
+India trembled from the same apprehensions, excited by similar ideas, at
+a time when they were ignorant, or even denied the possibility of each
+other's existence. Mutual wrong and animosity, attended with disputes and
+accusations, are not by nature confined to either description of people.
+Each, in doubtful litigations, might seek to prove their innocence by
+braving, on the justice of their cause, those objects which inspired
+amongst their countrymen the greatest terror. The Sumatran, impressed
+with an idea of invisible powers, but not of his own immortality, regards
+with awe the supposed instruments of their agency, and swears on krises,
+bullets, and gun barrels; weapons of personal destruction. The German
+Christian of the seventh century, more indifferent to the perils of this
+life, but not less superstitious, swore on bits of rotten wood and rusty
+nails, which he was taught to revere as possessing efficacy to secure him
+from eternal perdition.
+
+INHERITANCE.
+
+When a man dies his effects, in common course, descend to his male
+children in equal shares; but if one among them is remarkable for his
+abilities above the rest, though not the eldest, he usually obtains the
+largest proportion, and becomes the head of the tungguan or house; the
+others voluntarily yielding him the superiority. A pangeran of Manna left
+several children; none of them succeeded to the title, but a name of
+distinction was given to one of the younger, who was looked upon as chief
+of the family after the father's decease. Upon asking the eldest how it
+happened that the name of distinction passed over him and was conferred
+on his younger brother, he answered with great naivete, "because I am
+accounted weak and silly." If no male children are left and a daughter
+only remains they contrive to get her married by the mode of ambel anak,
+and thus the tungguan of the father continues. An equal distribution of
+property among children is more natural and conformable to justice than
+vesting the whole in the eldest son, as prevails throughout most part of
+Europe; but where wealth consists in landed estate the latter mode,
+beside favouring the pride of family, is attended with fewest
+inconveniences. The property of the Sumatrans being personal merely, this
+reason does not operate with them. Land is so abundant in proportion to
+the population that they scarcely consider it as the subject of right any
+more than the elements of air and water; excepting so far as in
+speculation the prince lays claim to the whole. The ground however on
+which a man plants or builds, with the consent of his neighbours, becomes
+a species of nominal property, and is transferable; but as it costs him
+nothing beside his labour it is only the produce which is esteemed of
+value, and the compensation he receives is for this alone. A temporary
+usufruct is accordingly all that they attend to, and the price, in case
+of sale, is generally ascertained by the coconut, durian, and other
+fruit-trees that have been planted on it; the buildings being for the
+most part but little durable. Whilst any of those subsist the descendants
+of the planter may claim the ground, though it has been for years
+abandoned. If they are cut down he may recover damages; but if they have
+disappeared in the course of nature the land reverts to the public.
+
+They have a custom of keeping by them a sum of money as a resource
+against extremity of distress, and which common exigencies do not call
+forth. This is a refined antidote against despair, because, whilst it
+remains possible to avoid encroaching on that treasure, their affairs are
+not at the worst, and the idea of the little hoard serves to buoy up
+their spirits and encourage them to struggle with wretchedness. It
+usually therefore continues inviolate and descends to the heir, or is
+lost to him by the sudden exit of the parent. From their apprehension of
+dishonesty and insecurity of their houses their money is for the most
+part concealed in the ground, the cavity of an old beam, or other secret
+place; and a man on his death-bed has commonly some important discovery
+of this nature to make to his assembled relations.
+
+OUTLAWRY.
+
+The practice of outlawing an individual of a family by the head of it
+(called lepas or buang dangan surat, to let loose, or cast out with a
+writing) has its foundation in the custom which obliges all the branches
+to be responsible for the debts contracted by any one of the kindred.
+When an extravagant and unprincipled spendthrift is running a career that
+appears likely to involve his family in ruinous consequences, they have
+the right of dissolving the connexion and clearing themselves of further
+responsibility by this public act, which, as the writ expresses it, sends
+forth the outcast, as a deer into the woods, no longer to be considered
+as enjoying the privileges of society. This character is what they term
+risau, though it is sometimes applied to persons not absolutely outlawed,
+but of debauched and irregular manners.
+
+In the Saxon law we find a strong resemblance to this custom; the kindred
+of a murderer being exempt from the feud if they abandoned him to his
+fate. They bound themselves in this case neither to converse with him nor
+to furnish him with meat or other necessaries. This is precisely the
+Sumatran outlawry, in which it is always particularly specified (beside
+what relates to common debts) that if the outlaw kills a person the
+relations shall not pay the compensation, nor claim it if he is killed.
+But the writ must have been issued before the event, and they cannot free
+themselves by a subsequent process, as it would seem the Saxons might. If
+an outlaw commits murder the friends of the deceased may take personal
+revenge on him, and are not liable to be called to an account for it; but
+if such be killed, otherwise than in satisfaction for murder, although
+his family have no claim, the prince of the country is entitled to a
+certain compensation, all outlaws being nominally his property, like
+other wild animals.
+
+COMPENSATION FOR MURDER.
+
+It seems strange to those who are accustomed to the severity of penal
+laws, which in most instances inflict punishment exceeding by many
+degrees the measure of the offence, how a society can exist in which the
+greatest of all crimes is, agreeably to established custom, expiated by
+the payment of a certain sum of money; a sum not proportioned to the rank
+and ability of the murderer, nor to the premeditation, or other
+aggravating circumstances of the fact, but regulated only by the quality
+of the person murdered. The practice had doubtless its source in the
+imbecility of government, which, being unable to enforce the law of
+retaliation, the most obvious rule of punishment, had recourse to a
+milder scheme of retribution as being preferable to absolute indemnity.
+The latter it was competent to carry into execution because the guilty
+persons readily submit to a penalty which effectually relieves them from
+the burden of anxiety for the consequences of their action. Instances
+occur in the history of all states, particularly those which suffer from
+internal weakness, of iniquities going unpunished, owing to the rigour of
+the pains denounced against them by the law, which defeats its own
+purpose. The original mode of avenging a murder was probably by the arm
+of the person nearest in consanguinity, or friendship, to the deceased;
+but this was evidently destructive of the public tranquillity, because
+thereby the wrong became progressive, each act of satisfaction, or
+justice, as it was called, being the source of a new revenge, till the
+feud became general in the community; and some method would naturally be
+suggested to put a stop to such confusion. The most direct step is to
+vest in the magistrate or the law the rights of the injured party, and to
+arm them with a vindictive power; which principle the policy of more
+civilized societies has refined to that of making examples in terrorem,
+with a view of preventing future, not of revenging past crimes. But this
+requires a firmness of authority to which the Sumatran governments are
+strangers. They are without coercive power, and the submission of the
+people is little other than voluntary; especially of the men of
+influence, who are held in subjection rather by the sense of general
+utility planted in the breast of mankind, attachment to their family and
+connexions, and veneration for the spot in which their ancestors were
+interred, than by the apprehension of any superior authority. These
+considerations however they would readily forego, renounce their fealty,
+and quit their country, if in any case they were in danger of paying with
+life the forfeit of their crimes; to lesser punishments those ties induce
+them to submit; and to strengthen this hold their customs wisely enjoin
+that every the remotest branch of the family shall be responsible for the
+payment of their adjudged and other debts; and in cases of murder the
+bangun, or compensation, may be levied on the inhabitants of the village
+the culprit belonged to, if it happens that neither he nor any of his
+relations can be found.
+
+The equality of punishment, which allows to the rich man the faculty of
+committing, with small inconvenience, crimes that bring utter destruction
+on the poor man and his family, and which is in fact the greatest
+inequality, originates certainly from the interested design of those
+through whose influence the regulation came to be adopted. Its view was
+to establish a subordination of persons. In Europe the absolute
+distinction between rich and poor, though too sensibly felt, is not
+insisted upon in speculation, but rather denied or explained away in
+general reasoning. Among the Sumatrans it is coolly acknowledged, and a
+man without property, family, or connexions never, in the partiality of
+self-love, considers his own life as being of equal value with that of a
+man of substance. A maxim, though not the practice, of their law, says,
+"that he who is able to pay the bangun for murder must satisfy the
+relations of the deceased; he who is unable, must suffer death." But the
+avarice of the relations prefers selling the body of the delinquent for
+what his slavery will fetch them (for such is the effect of imposing a
+penalty that cannot be paid) to the satisfaction of seeing the murder
+revenged by the public execution of a culprit of that mean description.
+Capital punishments are therefore almost totally out of use among them;
+and it is only par la loi du plus fort that the Europeans take the
+liberty of hanging a notorious criminal now and then, whom however their
+own chiefs always condemn, and formally sentence.
+
+CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.
+
+Corporal punishment of any kind is rare. The chain, and a sort of stocks,
+made of the pinang tree, are adopted from us; the word pasong, now
+commonly used to denote the latter, originally signifying and being still
+frequently applied to confinement in general. A kind of cage made use of
+in the country is probably their own invention. "How do you secure a
+prisoner (a man was asked) without employing a chain or our stocks?" "We
+pen him up," said he, "as we would a bear!" The cage is made of bamboos
+laid horizontally in a square, piled alternately, secured by timbers at
+the corners, and strongly covered in at top. To lead a runaway they
+fasten a rattan round his neck, and, passing it through a bamboo somewhat
+longer than his arms, they bring his hands together and make them fast to
+the bamboo, in a state rather of constraint than of pain, which I believe
+never is wantonly or unnecessarily inflicted. If the offender is of a
+desperate character they bind him hands and feet and sling him on a pole.
+When they would convey a person from accident or otherwise unable to walk
+they make a palanquin by splitting a large bamboo near the middle of its
+length, where they contrive to keep it open so that the cavity forms a
+bed, the ends being preserved whole, to rest upon their shoulders.
+
+The custom of exacting the bangun for murder seems only designed with a
+view of making a compensation to the injured family, and not of punishing
+the offender. The word signifies awaking or raising up, and the deceased
+is supposed to be replaced, or raised again to his family, in the payment
+of a sum proportioned to his rank, or equivalent to his or her personal
+value. The price of a female slave is generally more than that of a male,
+and therefore, I heard a chief say, is the bangun of a woman more than
+that of a man. It is upon this principle that their laws take no
+cognizance of the distinction between a wilful murder and what we term
+manslaughter. The loss is the same to the family, and therefore the
+compensations are alike. A dupati of Laye, in an ill hour, stepped
+unwarily across the mouth of a cannon at the instant it was fired off for
+a salute, and was killed by the explosion, upon which his relations
+immediately sued the sergeant of the country-guard, who applied the
+match, for the recovery of the bangun; but they were cast, and upon these
+grounds: that the dupati was instrumental in his own death, and that the
+Company's servants, being amenable to other laws for their crimes, were
+not, by established custom, subject to the bangun or other penalties
+inflicted by the native chiefs, for accidents resulting from the
+execution of their duty. The tippong bumi, expiation, or purification of
+the earth from the stain it has received, was however gratuitously paid.
+No plea was set up that the action was unpremeditated, and the event
+chance-medley.
+
+The introduction of this custom is beyond the extent of Sumatran
+tradition, and has no connexion with, or dependence on, Mahometanism,
+being established amongst the most inland people from time immemorial. In
+early ages it was by no means confined to that part of the world. The
+bangun is perfectly the same as the compensation for murder in the rude
+institutions of our Saxon ancestors and other northern nations. It is the
+eric of Ireland, and the apoinon of the Greeks. In the compartments of
+the shield of Achilles Homer describes the adjudgment of a fine for
+homicide. It would seem then to be a natural step in the advances from
+anarchy to settled government, and that it can only take place in such
+societies as have already a strong idea of the value of personal
+property, who esteem its possession of the next importance to that of
+life, and place it in competition with the strongest passion that seizes
+the human soul.
+
+The compensation is so regularly established among the Sumatrans that any
+other satisfaction is seldom demanded. In the first heat of resentment
+retaliation is sometimes attempted, but the spirit soon evaporates, and
+application is usually made, upon the immediate discovery of the fact, to
+the chiefs of the country for the exertion of their influence to oblige
+the criminal to pay the bangun. His death is then not thought of unless
+he is unable, and his family unwilling, to raise the established sum.
+Instances, it is true, occur in which the prosecutor, knowing the
+European law in such case, will, from motives of revenge, urge to the
+Resident the propriety of executing the offender rather than receive the
+money; but if the latter is ready to pay it it is contrary to their laws
+to proceed further. The degree of satisfaction that attends the payment
+of the bangun is generally considered as absolute to the parties
+concerned; they receive it as full compensation, and pretend to no
+farther claim upon the murderer and his family. Slight provocations
+however have been sometimes known to renew the feud, and there are not
+wanting instances of a son's revenging his father's murder and willingly
+refunding the bangun. When in an affray there happen to be several
+persons killed on both sides, the business of justice is only to state
+the reciprocal losses, in the form of an account current, and order the
+balance to be discharged, if the numbers be unequal. The following is a
+relation of the circumstances of one of these bloody feuds, which
+happened whilst I was in the island, but which become every year more
+rare where the influence of our government extends.
+
+ACCOUNT OF A FEUD.
+
+Raddin Siban was the head of a tribe in the district of Manna, of which
+Pangeran Raja-Kalippah was the official chief; though by the customs of
+the country he had no right of sovereignty over him. The pangeran's not
+allowing him what he thought an adequate share of fines, and other
+advantages annexed to his rank, was the foundation of a jealousy and ill
+will between them, which an event that happened a few years since raised
+to the highest pitch of family feud. Lessut, a younger brother of the
+pangeran, had a wife who was very handsome, and whom Raddin Siban had
+endeavoured to procure, whilst a virgin, for HIS younger brother, who was
+in love with her: but the pangeran had contrived to circumvent him, and
+obtained the girl for Lessut. However it seems the lady herself had
+conceived a violent liking for the brother of Raddin Siban, who found
+means to enjoy her after she was married, or was violently suspected so
+to have done. The consequence was that Lessut killed him to revenge the
+dishonour of his bed. Upon this the families were presently up in arms,
+but the English Resident interfering preserved the peace of the country,
+and settled the affair agreeably to the customs of the place by bangun
+and fine. But this did not prove sufficient to extinguish the fury which
+raged in the hearts of Raddin Siban's family, whose relation was
+murdered. It only served to delay the revenge until a proper opportunity
+offered of gratifying it. The people of the country being called together
+on a particular occasion, the two inimical families were assembled, at
+the same time, in Manna bazaar. Two younger brothers (they had been five
+in all) of Raddin Siban, going to the cockpit, saw Raja Muda the next
+brother of the pangeran, and Lessut his younger brother, in the open part
+of a house which they passed. They quickly returned, drew their krises,
+and attacked the pangeran's brothers, calling to them, if they were men,
+to defend themselves. The challenge was instantly accepted, Lessut, the
+unfortunate husband, fell; but the aggressors were both killed by Raja
+Muda, who was himself much wounded. The affair was almost over before the
+scuffle was perceived. The bodies were lying on the ground, and Raja Muda
+was supporting himself against a tree which stood near the spot, when
+Raddin Siban, who was in a house on the opposite side of the bazaar at
+the time the affray happened, being made acquainted with the
+circumstances, came over the way, with his lance in his hand. He passed
+on the contrary side of the tree, and did not see Raja Muda, but began to
+stab with his weapon the dead body of Lessut, in excess of rage, on
+seeing the bloody remains of his two brothers. Just then, Raja Muda, who
+was half dead, but had his kris in his hand, still unseen by Raddin
+Siban, crawled a step or two and thrust the weapon into his side, saying
+"Matti kau"--"die thou!" Raddin Siban spoke not a word, but put his hand
+on the wound and walked across to the house from whence he came, at the
+door of which he dropped down and expired. Such was the catastrophe. Raja
+Muda survived his wounds, but being much deformed by them lives a
+melancholy example of the effects of these barbarous feuds.
+
+PROOF OF THEFT.
+
+In cases of theft the swearing a robbery against a person suspected is of
+no effect, and justly, for were it otherwise nothing would be more common
+than the prosecution of innocent persons. The proper proofs are either
+seizure of the person in the fact before witnesses, or discovery of the
+goods stolen in possession of one who can give no satisfactory account
+how he came by them. As it frequently happens that a man finds part only
+of what he had lost it remains with him, when the robbery is proved, to
+ascertain the whole amount, by oath, which in that point is held
+sufficient.
+
+LAW RESPECTING DEBTS.
+
+The law which renders all the members of a family reciprocally bound for
+the security of each others' debts forms a strong connexion among them,
+and occasions the elder branches to be particularly watchful of the
+conduct of those for whose imprudence they must be answerable.
+
+When a debtor is unable to pay what he owes, and has no relation or
+friends capable of doing it for him, or when the children of a deceased
+person do not find property enough to discharge the debts of their
+parent, they are forced to the state which is called mengiring, which
+simply means to follow or be dependent on, but here implies the becoming
+a species of bond-slaves to the creditor, who allows them subsistence and
+clothing but does not appropriate the produce of their labour to the
+diminution of their debt. Their condition is better than that of pure
+slavery in this, that the creditor cannot strike them, and they can
+change their masters by prevailing on another person to pay their debt
+and accept of their labour on the same terms. Of course they may obtain
+their liberty if they can by any means procure a sum equal to their debt;
+whereas a slave, though possessing ever so large property, has not the
+right of purchasing his liberty. If however the creditor shall demand
+formally the amount of his debt from a person mengiring, at three several
+times, allowing a certain number of days between each demand, and the
+latter is not able to persuade anyone to redeem him, he becomes, by the
+custom of the country, a pure slave, upon the creditor's giving notice to
+the chief of the transaction. This is the resource he has against the
+laziness or untoward behaviour of his debtor, who might otherwise, in the
+state of mengiring, be only a burden to him. If the children of a
+deceased debtor are too young to be of service the charge of their
+maintenance is added to the debt. This opens a door for many iniquitous
+practices, and it is in the rigorous and frequently perverted exertion of
+these rights which a creditor has over his debtor that the chiefs are
+enabled to oppress the lower class of people, and from which abuses the
+English Residents find it necessary to be the most watchful to restrain
+them. In some cases one half of the produce of the labour is applied to
+the reduction of the debt, and this situation of the insolvent debtor is
+termed be-blah. Meranggau is the condition of a married woman who remains
+as a pledge for a debt in the house of the creditor of her husband. If
+any attempt should be made upon her person the proof of it annuls the
+debt; but should she bring an accusation of that nature, and be unable to
+prove it to the satisfaction of the court, and the man takes an oath in
+support of his innocence, the debt must be immediately paid by the
+family, or the woman be disposed of as a slave.
+
+When a man of one district or country has a debt owing to him from the
+inhabitant of a neighbouring country, of which he cannot recover payment,
+an usual resource is to seize on one or more of his children and carry
+them off; which they call andak. The daughter of a Rejang dupati was
+carried off in this manner by the Labun people. Not hearing for some time
+from her father, she sent him cuttings of her hair and nails, by which
+she intimated a resolution of destroying herself if not soon released.
+
+SLAVERY.
+
+The right of slavery is established in Sumatra, as it is throughout the
+East, and has been all over the world; yet but few instances occur of the
+country people actually having slaves; though they are common enough in
+the Malayan, or sea-port towns. Their domestics and labourers are either
+dependant relations, or the orang mengiring above described, who are
+usually called debtors, but should be distinguished by the term of
+insolvent debtors. The simple manners of the people require that their
+servants should live, in a great measure, on a footing of equality with
+the rest of the family, which is inconsistent with the authority
+necessary to be maintained over slaves who have no principle to restrain
+them but that of personal fear,* and know that their civil condition
+cannot be altered for the worse.
+
+(*Footnote. I do not mean to assert that all men in the condition of
+slaves are devoid of principle: I have experienced the contrary, and
+found in them affection and strict honesty: but that there does not
+result from their situation as slaves any principle of moral rectitude;
+whereas every other condition of society has annexed to it ideas of duty
+and mutual obligation arising from a sense of general utility. That
+sublime species of morality derived from the injunctions of religion it
+is almost universally their fate to be likewise strangers to, because
+slavery is found inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel, not merely
+as inculcating philanthropy but inspiring a principle of equality amongst
+mankind.)
+
+There is this advantage also, that when a debtor absconds they have
+recourse to his relations for the amount of his debt, who, if unable to
+pay it, must mengiring in his room; whereas when a slave makes his escape
+the law can give no redress, and his value is lost to the owner. These
+people moreover are from habit backward to strike, and the state of
+slavery unhappily requires the frequent infliction of punishment in that
+mode. A slave cannot possess independently any property; yet it rarely
+happens that a master is found mean and sordid enough to despoil them of
+the fruits of their industry; and their liberty is generally granted them
+when in a condition to purchase it, though they cannot demand it of
+right. It is nothing uncommon for those belonging to the Europeans to
+possess slaves of their own, and to acquire considerable substance. Their
+condition is here for the most part less unhappy than that of persons in
+other situations of life. I am far from wishing to diminish the horror
+that should ever accompany the general idea of a state which, whilst it
+degrades the species, I am convinced is not necessary among mankind; but
+I cannot help remarking, as an extraordinary fact, that if there is one
+class of people eminently happy above all others upon earth it is the
+body of Caffres, or negro slaves belonging to the India Company at
+Bencoolen. They are well clothed and fed, and supplied with a proper
+allowance of liquor; their work is by no means severe; the persons
+appointed as their immediate overseers are chosen for their merit from
+amongst themselves; they have no occasion of care or anxiety for the past
+or future, and are naturally of a lively and open temper. The
+contemplation of the effects which such advantages produce must afford
+the highest gratification to a benevolent mind. They are usually seen
+laughing or singing whilst at work, and the intervals allowed them are
+mostly employed in dancing to their rude instrumental music, which
+frequently begins at sunset and ceases only with the daylight that
+recalls them to their labour. Since they were first carried thither, from
+different parts of Africa and Madagascar, to the present hour, not so
+much as the rumour of disturbance or discontent has ever been known to
+proceed from them. They hold the natives of the island in contempt, have
+a degree of antipathy towards them, and enjoy any mischief they can do
+them; and these in their turn regard the Caffres as devils half
+humanized.
+
+The practice said to prevail elsewhere of men selling themselves for
+slaves is repugnant to the customs of the Sumatrans, as it seems to
+reason. It is an absurdity to barter anything valuable, much more civil
+existence, for a sum which, by the very act of receiving, becomes again
+the property of the buyer. Yet if a man runs in debt without a prospect
+of paying, he does virtually the same thing, and this in cases of
+distress is not uncommon, in order to relieve, perhaps, a beloved wife,
+or favourite child, from similar bondage. A man has even been known to
+apply in confidence to a friend to sell him to a third person, concealing
+from the purchaser the nature of the transaction till the money was
+appropriated.
+
+Ignorant stragglers are often picked up in the country by lawless knaves
+in power and sold beyond the hills. These have sometimes procured their
+liberty again, and prosecuting their kidnappers have recovered large
+damages. In the district of Allas a custom prevails by which, if a man
+has been sold to the hill people, however unfairly, he is restricted on
+his return from associating with his countrymen as their equal unless he
+brings with him a sum of money and pays a fine for his re-enfranchisement
+to his kalippah or chief. This regulation has taken its rise from an idea
+of contamination among the people, and from art and avarice among the
+chiefs.
+
+
+CHAPTER 14.
+
+MODES OF MARRIAGE, AND CUSTOMS RELATIVE THERETO.
+POLYGAMY.
+FESTIVALS.
+GAMES.
+COCK-FIGHTING.
+USE AND EFFECTS OF OPIUM.
+
+MOTIVES FOR ALTERING SOME OF THEIR MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.
+
+By much the greater number of the legal disputes among these people have
+their source in the intricacy attending their marriage contracts. In most
+uncivilized countries these matters are very simple, the dictates of
+nature being obeyed, or the calls of appetite satisfied, with little
+ceremony or form of convention; but with the Sumatrans the difficulties,
+both precedent and subsequent, are increased to a degree unknown even in
+the most refined states. To remedy these inconveniences, which might be
+supposed to deter men from engaging in marriage, was the view of the
+Resident of Laye, before mentioned, who prevailed upon them to simplify
+their engagements, as the means of preventing litigation between
+families, and of increasing the population of the country. How far his
+liberal views will be answered by having thus influenced the people to
+change their customs, whether they will not soon relapse into the ancient
+track; and whether in fact the cause that he supposed did actually
+contribute to retard population, I shall not pretend to determine; but as
+the last is a point on which a difference of opinion prevails I shall
+take the liberty of quoting here the sentiments of another servant of the
+Company (the late Mr. John Crisp) who possessed an understanding highly
+enlightened.
+
+REASONS AGAINST THIS ALTERATION.
+
+This part of the island is in a low state of population, but it is an
+error to ascribe this to the mode of obtaining wives by purchase. The
+circumstance of children constituting part of the property of the parents
+proves a most powerful incentive to matrimony, and there is not perhaps
+any country on the face of the earth where marriage is more general than
+here, instances of persons of either sex passing their lives in a state
+of celibacy being extremely rare. The necessity of purchasing does not
+prove such an obstacle to matrimony as is supposed. Was it indeed true
+that every man was obliged to remain single till he had accumulated, from
+the produce of his pepper-garden, a sum adequate to the purchase of a
+wife, married pairs would truly be scarce. But the people have other
+resources; there are few families who are not in possession of some small
+substance; they breed goats and buffaloes, and in general keep in reserve
+some small sum for particular purposes. The purchase-money of the
+daughter serves also to provide wives for the sons. Certain it is that
+the fathers are rarely at a loss for money to procure them wives so soon
+as they become marriageable. In the districts under my charge are about
+eight thousand inhabitants, among whom I do not conceive it would be
+possible to find ten instances of men of the age of thirty years
+unmarried. We must then seek for other causes of the paucity of
+inhabitants, and indeed they are sufficiently obvious; among these we may
+reckon that the women are by nature unprolific, and cease gestation at an
+early age; that, almost totally unskilled in the medical art, numbers
+fall victims to the endemic diseases of a climate nearly as fatal to its
+indigenous inhabitants as to the strangers who settle among them: to
+which we may add that the indolence and inactivity of the natives tend to
+relax and enervate the bodily frame, and to abridge the natural period of
+their lives.
+
+...
+
+MODES OF MARRIAGE.
+
+The modes of marriage, according to the original institutions of these
+people, are by jujur, by ambel anak, or by semando. The jujur is a
+certain sum of money given by one man to another as a consideration for
+the person of his daughter, whose situation, in this case, differs not
+much from that of a slave to the man she marries, and to his family. His
+absolute property in her depends however upon some nice circumstances.
+Beside the batang jujur (or main sum) there are certain appendages or
+branches, one of which, the tali kulo, of five dollars, is usually, from
+motives of delicacy or friendship, left unpaid, and so long as that is
+the case a relationship is understood to subsist between the two
+families, and the parents of the woman have a right to interfere on
+occasions of ill treatment: the husband is also liable to be fined for
+wounding her, with other limitations of absolute right. When that sum is
+finally paid, which seldom happens but in cases of violent quarrel, the
+tali kulo (tie of relationship) is said to be putus (broken), and the
+woman becomes to all intents the slave of her lord.*
+
+(*Footnote. I cannot omit to remark here that, however apposite the word
+tali, which in Malayan signifies a cord, may be to the subject of the
+marriage tie, there is very strong evidence of the term, as applied to
+this ceremony, having been adopted from the customs of the Hindu
+inhabitants of the peninsula of India, in whose language it has a
+different meaning. Among others who have described their rites is M.
+Sonnerat. In speaking of the mode of marriage called pariam, which, like
+the jujur, n'est autre chose qu'un achat que le mari fait de sa femme, he
+says, le mari doit aussi fournir le tali, petit joyau d'or, qu'il attache
+avec un cordon au col de la fille; c'est la derniere ceremonie; elle
+donne la sanction au marriage, qui ne peut plus etre rompu des que le
+tali est attache. Voyage aux Indes etc. tome 1 page 70. The reader will
+also find the Sumatran mode of marriage by ambel anak, or adoption,
+exactly described at page 72. An engraving of the tali is given by P.
+Paolino, Systema Brahmanicum tab. 22. This resemblance is not confined to
+the rites of marriage, for it is remarked by Sir W. Jones that, "among
+the laws of the Sumatrans two positive rules concerning sureties and
+interest appear to be taken word for word from the Indian legislators."
+Asiatic Researches Volume 3 page 9.)
+
+She has then no title to claim a divorce in any predicament; and he may
+sell her, making only the first offer to her relations. The other
+appendages as already mentioned are the tulis tanggil (the meaning of
+which I cannot satisfactorily ascertain, this and many other of the legal
+terms being in the Rejang or the Passummah and not the Malayan language)
+and the upah daun kodo, which is a consideration for the expense of the
+marriage feast, paid to the girl's parent, who provides it. But sometimes
+it is deposited at the wedding, when a distribution is made of it amongst
+the old people present. The words allude to the leaf in which the rice is
+served up. These additional sums are seldom paid or claimed before the
+principal is defrayed, of which a large proportion, as fifty, eighty, and
+sometimes a hundred and four dollars, is laid down at the time of
+marriage, or in the first visit (after the parties are determined in
+their regards) made by the father of the young man, or the bujang
+himself, to the father of the woman. Upon opening his design this money
+is tendered as a present, and the other's acceptance of it is a token
+that he is inclined to forward the match. It lies often in his hands
+three, six, or twelve months before the marriage is consummated. He
+sometimes sends for more, and is seldom refused. Until at least fifty
+dollars are thus deposited the man cannot take his wife home; but so long
+as the matter continues dalam rasa-an (under consideration) it would be
+deemed scandalous in the father to listen to any other proposals. When
+there is a difficulty in producing the necessary sum it is not uncommon
+to resort to an expedient termed mengiring jujur, that is, to continue a
+debtor with the family until he can raise money sufficient to redeem
+himself; and after this long credit is usually given for the remainder.
+Years often elapse, if the families continue on good terms, without the
+debt being demanded, particularly when a hundred and four dollars have
+been paid, unless distress obliges them to it. Sometimes it remains
+unadjusted to the second and third generation, and it is not uncommon to
+see a man suing for the jujur of the sister of his grandfather. These
+debts constitute in fact the chief part of their substance; and a person
+is esteemed rich who has several of them due to him for his daughters,
+sisters, aunts, and great aunts. Debts of this nature are looked upon as
+sacred, and are scarcely ever lost. In Passummah, if the race of a man is
+extinct, and some of these remain unpaid, the dusun or village to which
+the family belonged must make it good to the creditor; but this is not
+insisted upon amongst the Rejangs.
+
+In lieu of paying the jujur a barter transaction, called libei, sometimes
+takes place, where one gadis (virgin) is given in exchange for another;
+and it is not unusual to borrow a girl for this purpose from a friend or
+relation, the borrower binding himself to replace her or pay her jujur
+when required, A man who has a son and daughter gives the latter in
+exchange for a wife to the former. The person who receives her disposes
+of her as his own child or marries her himself. A brother will give his
+sister in exchange for a wife, or, in default of such, procure a cousin
+for the purpose. If the girl given in exchange be under age a certain
+allowance per annum is made till she becomes marriageable. Beguppok is a
+mode of marriage differing a little from the common jujur, and probably
+only taking place where a parent wants to get off a child labouring under
+some infirmity or defect. A certain sum is in this case fixed below the
+usual custom, which, when paid, is in full for her value, without any
+appendages. In other cases likewise the jujur is sometimes lessened and
+sometimes increased by mutual agreement; but on trials it is always
+estimated at a hundred and twenty dollars. If a wife dies soon after
+marriage, or at any time without children, the full jujur cannot be
+claimed; it is reduced to eighty dollars; but should more than that have
+been laid down in the interim there is no refunding. The jujur of a
+widow, which is generally eighty dollars, without appendages, is again
+reduced upon a third marriage, allowances being made for dilapidation. A
+widow being with child cannot marry again till she is delivered, without
+incurring a penalty. In divorces it is the same. If there be no
+appearance of pregnancy she must yet abstain from making another choice
+during the period of three months and ten days.
+
+When the relations and friends of the man go in form to the parents of
+the girl to settle the terms of the marriage they pay at that time the
+adat besasala, or earnest, of six dollars generally; and these kill a
+goat or a few fowls to entertain them. It is usually some space of time
+(except in cases of telari gadis or elopement) after the payment of the
+besasala, before the wedding takes place; but, when the father has
+received that, he cannot give his daughter to any other person without
+incurring a fine, which the young lady sometimes renders him liable to;
+for whilst the old folk are planning a match by patutan, or regular
+agreement between families, it frequently happens that miss disappears
+with a more favoured swain and secures a match of her own choice. The
+practice styled telari gadis is not the least common way of determining a
+marriage, and from a spirit of indulgence and humanity, which few codes
+can boast, has the sanction of the laws. The father has only the power
+left of dictating the mode of marriage, but cannot take his daughter away
+if the lover is willing to comply with the custom in such cases. The girl
+must be lodged, unviolated, in the house of some respectable family till
+the relations are advised of the enlevement and settle the terms. If
+however upon immediate pursuit they are overtaken on the road, she may be
+forced back, but not after she has taken sanctuary.
+
+By the Mosaic law, if a man left a widow without children his brother was
+to marry her. Among the Sumatrans, with or without children, the brother,
+or nearest male relation of the deceased, unmarried (the father
+excepted), takes the widow. This is practised both by Malays and country
+people. The brother, in taking the widow to himself, becomes answerable
+for what may remain due of her purchase money, and in every respect
+represents the deceased. This is phrased ganti tikar
+bantal'nia--supplying his place on his mat and pillow.
+
+CHASTITY OF THE WOMEN.
+
+Chastity prevails more perhaps among these than any other people. It is
+so materially the interest of the parents to preserve the virtue of their
+daughters unsullied, as they constitute the chief of their substance,
+that they are particularly watchful in this respect. But as marriages in
+general do not take place so early as the forwardness of nature in that
+climate would admit, it will sometimes happen, notwithstanding their
+precaution, that a young woman, not choosing to wait her father's
+pleasure, tastes the fruit by stealth. When this is discovered he can
+oblige the man to marry her, and pay the jujur; or, if he chooses to keep
+his daughter, the seducer must make good the difference he has occasioned
+in her value, and also pay the fine, called tippong bumi, for removing
+the stain from the earth. Prostitution for hire is I think unknown in the
+country, and confined to the more polite bazaars, where there is usually
+a concourse of sailors and others who have no honest settlement of their
+own, and whom, therefore, it is impossible to restrain from promiscuous
+concubinage. At these places vice generally reigns in a degree
+proportioned to the number and variety of people of different nations who
+inhabit them or occasionally resort thither. From the scenes which these
+sea-ports present travellers too commonly form their judgment, and
+imprudently take upon them to draw, for the information of the world, a
+picture of the manners of a people.
+
+The different species of horrid and disgustful crimes, which are
+emphatically denominated, against nature, are unknown on Sumatra; nor
+have any of their languages terms to express such ideas.
+
+INCEST.
+
+Incest, or the intermarriage of persons within a certain degree of
+consanguinity, which is, perhaps (at least after the first degree),
+rather an offence against the institutions of human prudence than a
+natural crime, is forbidden by their customs and punishable by fine: yet
+the guilt is often expiated by a ceremony, and the marriages in many
+instances confirmed.
+
+ADULTERY.
+
+Adultery is punishable by fine; but the crime is rare, and suits on the
+subject still less frequent. The husband, it is probable, either conceals
+his shame or revenges it with his own hand.
+
+DIVORCES.
+
+If a man would divorce a wife he has married by jujur he may claim back
+what he has paid in part, less twenty-five dollars, the adat charo, for
+the damage he has done her; but if he has paid the jujur in full the
+relations may choose whether they will receive her or not; if not he may
+sell her. If a man has paid part of a jujur but cannot raise the
+remainder, though repeatedly dunned for it, the parents of the girl may
+obtain a divorce; but if it is not with the husband's concurrence they
+lose the advantage of the charo, and must refund all they have received.
+A woman married by jujur must bring with her effects to the amount of ten
+dollars, or, if not, it is deducted from the sum; if she brings more the
+husband is accountable for the difference. The original ceremony of
+divorce consists in cutting a rattan­cane in two, in presence of the
+parties, their relations, and the chiefs of the country.
+
+SECOND MODE OF MARRIAGE.
+
+In the mode of marriage by ambel anak the father of a virgin makes choice
+of some young man for her husband, generally from an inferior family,
+which renounces all further right to, or interest in, him, and he is
+taken into the house of his father-in-law, who kills a buffalo on the
+occasion, and receives twenty dollars from the son's relations. After
+this the buruk baik'nia (the good and bad of him) is vested in the wife's
+family. If he murders or robs they pay the bangun, or the fine. If he is
+murdered they receive the bangun. They are liable to any debts he may
+contract after marriage; those prior to it remaining with his parents. He
+lives in the family in a state between that of a son and a debtor. He
+partakes as a son of what the house affords, but has no property in
+himself. His rice plantation, the produce of his pepper-garden, with
+everything that he can gain or earn, belong to the family. He is liable
+to be divorced at their pleasure, and, though he has children, must leave
+all, and return naked as he came. The family sometimes indulge him with
+leave to remove to a house of his own, and take his wife with him; but
+he, his children, and effects are still their property. If he has not
+daughters by the marriage he may redeem himself and wife by paying her
+jujur; but if there are daughters before they become emancipated the
+difficulty is enhanced, because the family are likewise entitled to their
+value. It is common however when they are upon good terms to release him
+on the payment of one jujur, or at most with the addition of an adat of
+fifty dollars. With this addition he may insist upon a release whilst his
+daughters are not marriageable. If the family have paid any debts for him
+he must also make them good. Should he contract more than they approve
+of, and they fear his adding to them, they procure a divorce, and send
+him back to his parents; but must pay his debts to that time. If he is a
+notorious spendthrift they outlaw him by means of a writ presented to the
+magistrate. These are inscribed on slips of bamboo with a sharp
+instrument, and I have several of them in my possession. They must banish
+him from home, and if they receive him again, or assist him with the
+smallest sum, they are liable to all his debts. On the prodigal son's
+return, and assurance of amendment, this writ may be redeemed on payment
+of five dollars to the proattins, and satisfying the creditors. This kind
+of marriage is productive of much confusion, for till the time it takes
+place the young man belongs to one dusun and family, and afterwards to
+another, and as they have no records to refer to there is great
+uncertainty in settling the time when debts were contracted, and the
+like. Sometimes the redemption of the family and their return to the
+former dusun take place in the second or third generation; and in many
+cases it is doubtful whether they ever took place or not; the two parties
+contradicting each other, and perhaps no evidence to refer to. Hence
+arise various and intricate bechars.
+
+THIRD, OR MALAYAN MODE OF MARRIAGE.
+
+Besides the modes of marriage above described, a third form, called
+semando, has been adopted from the Malays, and thence termed semando
+malayo or mardika (free). This marriage is a regular treaty between the
+parties, on the footing of equality. The adat paid to the girl's friends
+has usually been twelve dollars. The agreement stipulates that all
+effects, gains, or earnings are to be equally the property of both, and
+in case of divorce by mutual consent the stock, debts, and credits are to
+be equally divided. If the man only insists on the divorce he gives the
+woman her half of the effects, and loses the twelve dollars he has paid.
+If the woman only claims the divorce she forfeits her right to the
+proportion of the effects, but is entitled to keep her tikar, bantal, and
+dandan (paraphernalia), and her relations are liable to pay back the
+twelve dollars; but it is seldom demanded. This mode, doubtless the most
+conformable to our ideas of conjugal right and felicity, is that which
+the chiefs of the Rejang country have formally consented to establish
+throughout their jurisdiction, and to their orders the influence of the
+Malayan priests will contribute to give efficacy.
+
+In the ambel anak marriage, according to the institutions of Passummah,
+when the father resolves to dismiss the husband of his daughter and send
+him back to his dusun the sum for which he can redeem his wife and family
+is a hundred dollars: and if he can raise that, and the woman is willing
+to go with him, the father cannot refuse them; and now the affair is
+changed into a kulo marriage; the man returns to his former tungguan
+(settlement or family) and becomes of more consequence in society. These
+people are no strangers to that sentiment which we call a regard to
+family. There are some families among them more esteemed than others,
+though not graced with any title or employment in the state. The origin
+of this distinction it is difficult to trace; but it may have arisen from
+a succession of men of abilities, or from the reputation for wisdom or
+valour of some ancestor. Everyone has a regard to his race; and the
+probability of its being extinct is esteemed a great unhappiness. This is
+what they call tungguan putus, and the expression is used by the lowest
+member of the community. To have a wife, a family, collateral relations,
+and a settled place of residence is to have a tungguan, and this they are
+anxious to support and perpetuate. It is with this view that, when a
+single female only remains of a family, they marry her by ambel anak; in
+which mode the husband's consequence is lost in the wife's, and in her
+children the tungguan of her father is continued. They find her a husband
+that will menegga tungguan, or, as it is expressed amongst the Rejangs
+menegga rumah, set up the house again.
+
+The semando marriage is little known in Passummah. I recollect that a
+pangeran of Manna, having lost a son by a marriage of this kind with a
+Malay woman, she refused upon the father's death to let the boy succeed
+to his dignities, and at the same time become answerable for his debts,
+and carried him with her from the country; which was productive of much
+confusion. The regulations there in respect to incontinence have much
+severity, and fall particularly hard on the girl's father, who not only
+has his daughter spoiled but must also pay largely for her frailty. To
+the northward the offence is not punished with so much rigour, yet the
+instances are there said to be rarer, and marriage is more usually the
+consequence. In other respects the customs of Passummah and Rejang are
+the same in these matters.
+
+RITES OF MARRIAGE.
+
+The rites of marriage, nikah (from the Arabian), consist simply in
+joining the hands of the parties and pronouncing them man and wife,
+without much ceremony excepting the entertainment which is given on the
+occasion. This is performed by one of the fathers or the chief of the
+dusun, according to the original customs of the country; but where
+Mahometanism has found its way, a priest or imam executes the business.
+
+COURTSHIP.
+
+But little apparent courtship precedes their marriages. Their manners do
+not admit of it, the bujang and gadis (youth of each sex) being carefully
+kept asunder, and the latter seldom trusted from under the wing of their
+mothers. Besides, courtship with us includes the idea of humble entreaty
+on the man's side, and favour and condescension on the part of the woman,
+who bestows person and property for love. The Sumatran on the contrary,
+when he fixes his choice and pays all that he is worth for the object of
+it, may naturally consider the obligation on his side. But still they are
+not without gallantry. They preserve a degree of delicacy and respect
+towards the sex, which might justify their retorting on many of the
+polished nations of antiquity the epithet of barbarians. The
+opportunities which the young people have of seeing and conversing with
+each other are at the bimbangs, or public festivals, held at the balei,
+or town hall of the dusun. On these occasions the unmarried people meet
+together and dance and sing in company. It may be supposed that the young
+ladies cannot be long without their particular admirers. The men, when
+determined in their regards, generally employ an old woman as their
+agent, by whom they make known their sentiments and send presents to the
+female of their choice. The parents then interfere and, the preliminaries
+being settled, a bimbang takes place.
+
+MARRIAGE FESTIVALS.
+
+At these festivals a goat, a buffalo, or several, according to the rank
+of the parties, are killed, to entertain not only the relations and
+invited guests but all the inhabitants of the neighbouring country who
+choose to repair to them. The greater the concourse the more is the
+credit of the host, who is generally on these occasions the father of the
+girl; but the different branches of the family, and frequently all the
+people of the dusun, contribute a quota of rice.
+
+ORDER OBSERVED.
+
+The young women proceed in a body to the upper end of the balei where
+there is a part divided off for them by a curtain. The floor is spread
+with their best mats, and the sides and ceiling of that extremity of the
+building are hung with pieces of chintz, palampores, and the like. They
+do not always make their appearance before dinner; that time, with part
+of the afternoon, previous to a second or third meal, being appropriated
+to cock-fighting and other diversions peculiar to the men. Whilst the
+young are thus employed the old men consult together upon any affair that
+may be at the time in agitation; such as repairing a public building or
+making reprisals upon the cattle of a neighbouring people. The bimbangs
+are often given on occasions of business only, and, as they are apt to be
+productive of cabals, the Europeans require that they shall not be held
+without their knowledge and approbation. To give authority to their
+contracts and other deeds, whether of a public or private nature, they
+always make one of these feasts. Writings, say they, may be altered or
+counterfeited, but the memory of what is transacted and concluded in the
+presence of a thousand witnesses
+must remain sacred. Sometimes, in token of the final determination of an
+affair, they cut a notch in a post, before the chiefs, which they call
+taka kayu.
+
+AMUSEMENT OF DANCING.
+
+In the evening their softer amusements take place, of which the dances
+are the principal. These are performed either singly or by two women, two
+men, or with both mixed. Their motions and attitudes are usually slow,
+and too much forced to be graceful; approaching often to the lascivious,
+and not unfrequently the ludicrous. This is I believe the general opinion
+formed of them by Europeans, but it may be the effect of prejudice.
+Certain I am that our usual dances are in their judgment to the full as
+ridiculous. The minuets they compare to the fighting of two game-cocks,
+alternately approaching and receding. Our country dances they esteem too
+violent and confused, without showing grace or agility. The stage dances
+I have not a doubt would please them. Part of the female dress, called
+the salendang, which is usually of silk with a gold head, is tied round
+the waist, and the ends of this they at times extend behind them with
+their hands. They bend forward as they dance, and usually carry a fan,
+which they close and strike smartly against their elbows at particular
+cadences. They keep time well, and the partners preserve a consistency
+with each other though the figure and steps are ad libitum. A brisker
+movement is sometimes adopted which proves more conformable to the taste
+of the English spectators.
+
+SINGING.
+
+Dancing is not the only amusement on these occasions. A gadis sometimes
+rises and, leaning her face on her arm, supporting herself against a
+pillar, or the shoulder of one of her companions, with her back to the
+audience, begins a tender song. She is soon taken up and answered by one
+of the bujangs in company, whose greatest pretensions to gallantry and
+fashion are founded on an adroitness at this polite accomplishment. The
+uniform subject on such occasions is love, and, as the words are
+extempore, there are numberless degrees of merit in the composition,
+which is sometimes surprisingly well turned, quaint, and even witty.
+Professed story-tellers are sometimes introduced, who are raised on a
+little stage and during several hours arrest the attention of their
+audience by the relation of wonderful and interesting adventures. There
+are also characters of humour amongst them who, by buffoonery, mimicry,
+punning, repartee, and satire (rather of the sardonic kind) are able to
+keep the company in laughter at intervals during the course of a night's
+entertainment. The assembly seldom breaks up before daylight, and these
+bimbangs are often continued for several days and nights together till
+their stock of provisions is exhausted. The young men frequent them in
+order to look out for wives, and the lasses of course set themselves off
+to the best advantage.
+
+DRESSES.
+
+They wear their best silken dresses, of their own weaving; as many
+ornaments of filigree as they possess; silver rings upon their arms and
+legs; and earrings of a particular construction. Their hair is variously
+adorned with flowers and perfumed with oil of benzoin. Civet is also in
+repute, but more used by the men.
+
+COSMETIC USED, AND MODE OF PREPARING IT.
+
+To render their skin fine, smooth, and soft they make use of a white
+cosmetic called pupur. The mode of preparing it is as follows. The basis
+is fine rice, which is a long time steeped in water and let to ferment,
+during which process the water becomes of a deep red colour and highly
+putrid, when it is drained off, and fresh added successively until the
+water remains clear, and the rice subsides in the form of a fine white
+paste. It is then exposed to the sun to dry, and, being reduced to a
+powder, they mix with it ginger, the leaves of a plant called by them
+dilam, and by Europeans patch-leaf (Melissa lotoria, R.), which gives to
+it a peculiar smell, and also, as is supposed, a cooling quality. They
+add likewise the flowers of the jagong (maize); kayu chendana
+(sandalwood); and the seeds of a plant called there kapas antu
+(fairy-cotton), which is the Hibiscus abelmoschus, or musk seed. All
+these ingredients, after being moistened and well mixed together, are
+made up into little balls, and when they would apply the cosmetic these
+are diluted with a drop of water, rubbed between the hands, and then on
+the face, neck, and shoulders. They have an apprehension, probably well
+founded, that a too abundant or frequent application will, by stopping
+the pores of the skin, bring on a fever. It is used with good effect to
+remove that troublesome complaint, so well known to Europeans in India,
+by the name of the prickly heat; but it is not always safe for strangers
+thus to check the operations of nature in a warm climate. The Sumatran
+girls, as well as our English maidens, entertain a favourable opinion of
+the virtues of morning dew as a beautifier, and believe that by rubbing
+it to the roots of the hair it will strengthen and thicken it. With this
+view they take pains to catch it before sunrise in vessels as it falls.
+
+CONSUMMATION OF MARRIAGES.
+
+If a wedding is the occasion of the bimbang the couple are married,
+perhaps, the second or third day; but it may be two or three more ere the
+husband can get possession of his bride; the old matrons making it a rule
+to prevent him, as long as possible, and the bride herself holding it a
+point of honour to defend to extremity that jewel which she would yet be
+disappointed in preserving.*
+
+(*Footnote. It is recorded that the jealousy between the English and
+Dutch at Bantam arose from a preference shown to the former by the king
+at a festival which he gave upon obtaining a victory of this nature,
+which his bride had long disputed with him. For a description of a
+Malayan wedding, with an excellent plate representing the conclusion of
+the ceremony and the sleeping apartment, I beg to refer the reader to
+Captain Forrest's Voyage to New Guinea page 286 quarto edition. The
+bed-place is described at page 232 and the processional car (per­arakan)
+at page 241. His whole account of the domestic manners of the people of
+Mindanao, at the court of which he lived on terms of familiarity, will be
+found highly amusing.)
+
+They sit up in state at night on raised cushions, in their best clothes
+and trinkets. They are sometimes loaded on the occasion with all the
+finery of their relations, or even the whole dusun, and carefully eased
+of it when the ceremony is over. But this is not the case with the
+children of persons of rank. I remember being present at the marriage of
+a young woman, whose beauty would not have disgraced any country, with a
+son of Raddin, prince of Madura, to whom the English gave protection from
+the power of the Dutch after his father had fallen a sacrifice.* She was
+decked in unborrowed plumes. Her dress was eminently calculated to do
+justice to a fine person; her hair, in which consists their chief pride,
+was disposed with extreme grace; and an uncommon elegance and taste were
+displayed in the workmanship and adjustment of her ornaments. It must be
+confessed however that this taste is by no means general, especially
+amongst the country people. Simplicity, so essential to the idea, is the
+characteristic of a rude and quite uncivilized people, and is again
+adopted by men in their highest state of refinement. The Sumatrans stand
+removed from both these extremes. Rich and splendid articles of dress and
+furniture, though not often procured, are the objects of their vanity and
+ambition.
+
+(*Footnote. The circumstances of this disgraceful affair are preserved in
+a book entitled A Voyage to the East Indies in 1747 and 1748. This Raddin
+Tamanggung, a most intelligent and respectable man, died at Bencoolen in
+the year 1790. His sons possess the good qualities of their father, and
+are employed in the Company's service.)
+
+The bimbangs are conducted with great decorum and regularity. The old
+women are very attentive to the conduct of the girls, and the male
+relations are highly jealous of any insults that may be shown them. A lad
+at one of these entertainments asked another his opinion of a gadis who
+was then dancing. "If she was plated with gold," replied he, "I would not
+take her for my concubine, much less for my wife." A brother of the girl
+happened to be within hearing, and called him to account for the
+reflection thrown on his sister. Krises were drawn but the bystanders
+prevented mischief. The brother appeared the next day to take the law of
+the defamer, but the gentleman, being of the risau description, had
+absconded, and was not to be found.
+
+NUMBER OF WIVES.
+
+The customs of the Sumatrans permit their having as many wives by jujur
+as they can compass the purchase of or afford to maintain; but it is
+extremely rare that an instance occurs of their having more than one, and
+that only among a few of the chiefs. This continence they in some measure
+owe to their poverty. The dictates of frugality are more powerful with
+them than the irregular calls of appetite, and make them decline an
+indulgence that their law does not restrain them from. In talking of
+polygamy they allow it to be the privilege of the rich, but regard it as
+a refinement which the poor Rejangs cannot pretend to. Some young risaus
+have been known to take wives in different places, but the father of the
+first, as soon as he hears of the second marriage, procures a divorce. A
+man married by semando cannot take a second wife without repudiating the
+first for this obvious reason that two or more persons could not be
+equally entitled to the half of his effects.
+
+QUESTION OF POLYGAMY.
+
+Montesquieu infers that the law which permits polygamy is physically
+conformable to the climate of Asia. The season of female beauty precedes
+that of their reason, and from its prematurity soon decays. The empire of
+their charms is short. It is therefore natural, the president observes,
+that a man should leave one wife to take another: that he should seek a
+renovation of those charms which had withered in his possession. But are
+these the real circumstances of polygamy? Surely not. It implies the
+contemporary enjoyment of women in the same predicament; and I should
+consider it as a vice that has its source in the influence of a warm
+atmosphere upon the passions of men, which, like the cravings of other
+disordered appetites, make them miscalculate their wants. It is probably
+the same influence, on less rigid nerves, that renders their thirst of
+revenge so much more violent than among northern nations; but we are not
+therefore to pronounce murder to be physically conformable to a southern
+climate. Far be it from my intention however to put these passions on a
+level; I only mean to show that the president's reasoning proves too
+much. It must further be considered that the genial warmth which expands
+the desires of the men, and prompts a more unlimited exertion of their
+faculties, does not inspire their constitutions with proportionate
+vigour; but on the contrary renders them in this respect inferior to the
+inhabitants of the temperate zone; whilst it equally influences the
+desires of the opposite sex without being found to diminish from their
+capacity of enjoyment. From which I would draw this conclusion, that if
+nature intended that one woman only should be the companion of one man,
+in the colder regions of the earth it appears also intended a fortiori
+that the same law should be observed in the hotter; inferring nature's
+design, not from the desires, but from the abilities with which she has
+endowed mankind.
+
+Montesquieu has further suggested that the inequality in the comparative
+numbers of each sex born in Asia, which is represented to be greatly
+superior on the female side, may have a relation to the law that allows
+polygamy. But there is strong reason to deny the reality of this supposed
+excess. The Japanese account, taken from Kaempfer, which makes them to be
+in the proportion of twenty-two to eighteen, is very inconclusive, as the
+numbering of the inhabitants of a great city can furnish no proper test;
+and the account of births at Bantam, which states the number of girls to
+be ten to one boy, is not only manifestly absurd, but positively false. I
+can take upon me to assert that the proportion of the sexes throughout
+Sumatra does not sensibly differ from that ascertained in Europe; nor
+could I ever learn from the inhabitants of the many eastern islands whom
+I have conversed with that they were conscious of any disproportion in
+this respect.
+
+CONNEXION BETWEEN POLYGAMY AND PURCHASE OF WIVES.
+
+But from whatever source we derive polygamy its prevalence seems to be
+universally attended with the practice of giving a valuable consideration
+for the woman, instead of receiving a dowry with her. This is a natural
+consequence. Where each man endeavours to engross several, the demand for
+the commodity, as a merchant would express it, is increased, and the
+price of course enhanced. In Europe on the contrary, where the demand is
+small; whether owing to the paucity of males from continual diminution;
+their coldness of constitution, which suffers them rather to play with
+the sentimental than act from the animal passion; their corruption of
+manners leading them to promiscuous concubinage; or, in fine, the
+extravagant luxury of the times, which too often renders a family an
+insupportable burden--whatever may be the cause it becomes necessary, in
+order to counteract it and produce an additional incitement to the
+marriage state, that a premium be given with the females. We find in the
+history of the earliest ages of the world that, where a plurality of
+women was allowed of, by law or custom, they were obtained by money or
+service. The form of marriage by semando among the Malays, which admits
+but of one partner, requires no sum to be paid by the husband to the
+relations of the wife except a trifle, by way of token, or to defray the
+expenses of the wedding-feast. The circumstance of the rejangs confining
+themselves to one, and at the same time giving a price for their wives,
+would seem an exception to the general rule laid down; but this is an
+accidental and perhaps temporary restraint, arising, it may be, from the
+European influence, which tends to make them regular and industrious, but
+keeps them poor: affords the means of subsistence to all, but the
+opportunity of acquiring riches to few or none. In their genuine state
+war and plunder caused a rapid fluctuation of property; the little wealth
+now among them, derived mostly from the India Company's expenditure,
+circulates through the country in an equal stream, returning chiefly,
+like the water exhaled in vapours from the sea, to its original source.
+The custom of giving jujurs had most probably its foundation in polygamy;
+and the superstructure subsists, though its basis is partly mouldered
+away; but, being scarcely tenantable, the inhabitants are inclined to
+quit, and suffer it to fall to the ground. Moderation in point of women
+destroying their principle, the jujurs appear to be devoid of policy.
+Open a new spring of luxury, and polygamy, now confined to a few
+individuals amongst the chiefs, will spread throughout the people. Beauty
+will be in high request; each fair one will be sought for by many
+competitors; and the payment of the jujur be again esteemed a reasonable
+equivalent for possession. Their acknowledging the custom under the
+present circumstances to be a prejudicial one, so contrary to the spirit
+of eastern manners, which is ever marked with a blind veneration for the
+establishments of antiquity, contributes to strengthen considerably the
+opinion I have advanced.
+
+GAMING.
+
+Through every rank of the people there prevails a strong spirit of
+gaming, which is a vice that readily insinuates itself into minds
+naturally indisposed to the avocations of industry; and, being in general
+a sedentary occupation, is more adapted to a warm climate, where bodily
+exertion is in few instances considered as an amusement.
+
+DICE. OTHER MODES.
+
+Beside the common species of gambling with dice, which, from the term
+dadu applied to it, was evidently introduced by the Portuguese, they have
+several others; as the judi, a mode of playing with small shells, which
+are taken up by handfuls, and, being counted out by a given number at a
+time (generally that of the party engaged), the success is determined by
+the fractional number remaining, the amount of which is previously
+guessed at by each of the party.
+
+CHESS.
+
+They have also various games on chequered boards or other delineations,
+and persons of superior rank are in general versed in the game of chess,
+which they term main gajah, or the game of the elephant, naming the
+pieces as follows: king, raja; queen or vizir, mantri; bishop or
+elephant, gajah; knight or horse, kuda; castle, rook, or chariot, ter;
+and pawn or foot-soldier, bidak. For check they use the word sah; and for
+checkmate, mat or mati. Among these names the only one that appears to
+require observation as being peculiar is that for the castle or rook,
+which they have borrowed from the Tamul language of the peninsula of
+India, wherein the word ter (answering to the Sanskrit rat'ha) signifies
+a chariot (particularly such as are drawn in the processions of certain
+divinities), and not unaptly transferred to this military game to
+complete the constituent parts of an army. Gambling, especially with
+dice, is rigorously forbidden throughout the pepper districts, because it
+is not only the child, but the parent of idleness, and by the events of
+play often throws whole villages into confusion. Debts contracted on this
+account are declared to be void.
+
+COCK-FIGHTING.
+
+To cock-fighting they are still more passionately addicted, and it is
+indulged to them under certain regulations. Where they are perfectly
+independent their propensity to it is so great that it resembles rather a
+serious occupation than a sport. You seldom meet a man travelling in the
+country without a cock under his arm, and sometimes fifty persons in a
+company when there is a bimbang in one of the neighbouring villages. A
+country-man coming down, on any occasion, to the bazaar or settlement at
+the mouth of the river, if he boasts the least degree of spirit must not
+be unprovided with this token of it. They often game high at their
+meetings; particularly when a superstitious faith in the invincibility of
+their bird has been strengthened by past success. A hundred Spanish
+dollars is no very uncommon risk, and instances have occurred of a
+father's staking his children or wife, and a son his mother or sisters,
+on the issue of a battle, when a run of ill luck has stripped them of
+property and rendered them desperate. Quarrels, attended with dreadful
+consequences, have often arisen on these occasions.
+
+RULES OF COCKING.
+
+By their customs there are four umpires appointed to determine on all
+disputed points in the course of the battles; and from their decision
+there lies no appeal except the Gothic appeal to the sword. A person who
+loses and has not the ability to pay is immediately proscribed, departs
+with disgrace, and is never again suffered to appear at the galan­gang.
+This cannot with propriety be translated a cockpit, as it is generally a
+spot on the level ground, or a stage erected, and covered in. It is
+inclosed with a railing which keeps off the spectators; none but the
+handlers and heelers being admitted withinside. A man who has a high
+opinion of and regard for his cock will not fight him under a certain
+number of dollars, which he places in order on the floor: his poorer
+adversary is perhaps unable to deposit above one half: the standers-by
+make up the sum, and receive their dividends in proportion if successful.
+A father at his deathbed has been known to desire his son to take the
+first opportunity of matching a certain cock for a sum equal to his whole
+property, under a blind conviction of its being betuah, or invulnerable.
+
+MATCHES.
+
+Cocks of the same colour are never matched but a grey against a pile, a
+yellow against a red, or the like. This might have been originally
+designed to prevent disputes or knavish impositions. The Malay breed of
+cocks is much esteemed by connoisseurs who have had an opportunity of
+trying them. Great pains is taken in the rearing and feeding; they are
+frequently handled and accustomed to spar in public, in order to prevent
+any shyness. Contrary to our laws, the owner is allowed to take up and
+handle his cock during the battle to clear his eye of a feather or his
+mouth of blood. When a cock is killed, or runs, the other must have
+sufficient spirit and vigour left to peck at him three times, on his
+being held to him for that purpose, or it becomes a drawn battle; and
+sometimes an experienced cocker will place the head of his vanquished
+bird in such an uncouth posture as to terrify the other and render him
+unable to give this proof of victory. The cocks are never trimmed, but
+matched in full feather. The artificial spur used in Sumatra resembles in
+shape the blade of a scimitar, and proves a more destructive weapon than
+the European spur. It has no socket but is tied to the leg, and in the
+position of it the nicety of the match is regulated. As in horse-racing
+weight is proportioned to inches, so in cocking a bird of superior weight
+and size is brought to an equality with his adversary by fixing the steel
+spur so many scales of the leg above the natural spur, and thus obliging
+him to fight with a degree of disadvantage. It rarely happens that both
+cocks survive the combat.
+
+In the northern parts of the island, where gold-dust is the common medium
+of gambling, as well as of trade, so much is accidentally dropped in
+weighing and delivering that at some cock-pits, where the resort of
+people is great, the sweepings are said, probably with exaggeration, to
+be worth upwards of a thousand dollars per annum to the owner of the
+ground; beside his profit of two fanams (five pence) for each battle.
+
+QUAIL-FIGHTING.
+
+In some places they match quails, in the manner of cocks. These fight
+with great inveteracy, and endeavour to seize each other by the tongue.
+The Achinese bring also into combat the dial-bird (murei) which resembles
+a small magpie, but has an agreeable though imperfect note. They
+sometimes engage one another on the wing, and drop to the ground in the
+struggle.
+
+FENCING.
+
+They have other diversions of a more innocent nature. Matches of fencing,
+or a species of tournament, are exhibited on particular days; as at the
+breaking up of their annual fast, or month of ramadan, called there the
+puasa. On these occasions they practise strange attitudes, with violent
+contortions of the body, and often work themselves up to a degree of
+frenzy, when the old men step in and carry them off. These exercises in
+some circumstances resemble the idea which the ancients have given us of
+the pyrrhic or war dance; the combatants moving at a distance from each
+other in cadence, and making many turns and springs unnecessary in the
+representation of a real combat. This entertainment is more common among
+the Malays than in the country. The chief weapons of offence used by
+these people are the kujur or lance and the kris. This last is properly
+Malayan, but in all parts of the island they have a weapon equivalent,
+though in general less curious in its structure, wanting that waving in
+the blade for which the kris is remarkable, and approaching nearer to
+daggers or knives.
+
+Among their exercises we never observe jumping or running. They smile at
+the Europeans, who in their excursions take so many unnecessary leaps.
+The custom of going barefoot may be a principal impediment to this
+practice in a country overrun with thorny shrubs, and where no fences
+occur to render it a matter of expediency.
+
+DIVERSION OF TOSSING A BALL.
+
+They have a diversion similar to that described by Homer as practised
+among the Phaeacians, which consists in tossing an elastic wicker ball or
+round basket of split rattans into the air, and from one player to
+another, in a peculiar manner. This game is called by the Malays sipak
+raga, or, in the dialect of Bencoolen, chipak rago, and is played by a
+large party standing in an extended circle, who endeavour to keep up the
+ball by striking it either perpendicularly, in order to receive it again,
+or obliquely to some other person of the company, with the foot or the
+hand, the heel or the toe, the knee, the shoulder, the head, or with any
+other part of the body; the merit appearing to consist in producing the
+effect in the least obvious or most whimsical manner; and in this sport
+many of them attain an extraordinary degree of expertness. Among the
+plates of Lord Macartney's Embassy will be found the representation of a
+similar game, as practised by the natives of Cochin­china.
+
+SMOKING OF OPIUM.
+
+The Sumatrans, and more particularly the Malays, are much attached, in
+common with many other eastern people, to the custom of smoking opium.
+The poppy which produces it not growing on the island, it is annually
+imported from Bengal in considerable quantities, in chests containing a
+hundred and forty pounds each. It is made up in cakes of five or six
+pounds weight, and packed with dried leaves; in which situation it will
+continue good and vendible for two years, but after that period grows
+hard and diminishes considerably in value. It is of a darker colour, and
+is supposed to have less strength than the Turkey opium. About a hundred
+and fifty chests are consumed annually on the west coast of Sumatra,
+where it is purchased, on an average, at three hundred dollars the chest,
+and sold again in smaller quantities at five or six. But on occasions of
+extraordinary scarcity I have known it to sell for its weight in silver,
+and a single chest to fetch upwards of three thousand dollars.
+
+PREPARATION.
+
+The method of preparing it for use is as follows. The raw opium is first
+boiled or seethed in a copper vessel; then strained through a cloth to
+free it from impurities; and then a second time boiled. The leaf of the
+tambaku, shred fine, is mixed with it, in a quantity sufficient to absorb
+the whole; and it is afterwards made up into small pills, about the size
+of a pea, for smoking. One of these being put into the small tube that
+projects from the side of the opium pipe, that tube is applied to a lamp,
+and the pill being lighted is consumed at one whiff or inflation of the
+lungs, attended with a whistling noise. The smoke is never emitted by the
+mouth, but usually receives vent through the nostrils, and sometimes, by
+adepts, through the passage of the ears and eyes. This preparation of the
+opium is called maddat, and is often adulterated in the process by mixing
+jaggri, or pine sugar, with it; as is the raw opium, by incorporating
+with it the fruit of the pisang or plantain.
+
+EFFECTS OF OPIUM.
+
+The use of opium among these people, as that of intoxicating liquors
+among other nations, is a species of luxury which all ranks adopt
+according to their ability, and which, when once become habitual, it is
+almost impossible to shake off. Being however like other luxuries
+expensive, few only among the lower or middling class of people can
+compass the regular enjoyment of it, even where its use is not
+restrained, as it is among the pepper-planters, to the times of their
+festivals. That the practice of smoking opium must be in some degree
+prejudicial to the health is highly probable; yet I am inclined to think
+that effects have been attributed to it much more pernicious to the
+constitution than it in reality causes. The bugis soldiers and others in
+the Malay bazaars whom we see most attached to it, and who use it to
+excess, commonly appear emaciated; but they are in other respects
+abandoned and debauched. The Limun and Batang Assei gold-traders, on the
+contrary, who are an active, laborious class of men but yet indulge as
+freely in opium as any others whatever, are notwithstanding the most
+healthy and vigorous people to be met with on the island. It has been
+usual also to attribute to the practice destructive consequences of
+another nature from the frenzy it has been supposed to excite in those
+who take it in quantities. But this should probably rank with the many
+errors that mankind have been led into by travellers addicted to the
+marvellous; and there is every reason to believe that the furious
+quarrels, desperate assassinations, and sanguinary attacks, which the use
+of opium is said to give birth to, are idle notions, originally adopted
+through ignorance and since maintained from the mere want of
+investigation, without having any solid foundation. It is not to be
+controverted, that those desperate acts of indiscriminate murder, called
+by us mucks, and by the natives mengamok, do actually take place, and
+frequently too in some parts of the East (in Java in particular) but it
+is not equally evident that they proceed from any intoxication except
+that of their unruly passions. Too often they are occasioned by excess of
+cruelty and injustice in their oppressors. On the west coast of Sumatra
+about twenty thousand pounds weight of this drug are consumed annually,
+yet instances of this crime do not happen (at least within the scope of
+our knowledge) above once in two or three years. During my residence
+there I had an opportunity of being an eyewitness but to one muck. The
+slave of a Portuguese woman, a man of the island of Nias, who in all
+probability had never handled an opium pipe in his life, being treated by
+his mistress with extreme severity for a trifling offence, vowed he would
+have revenge if she attempted to strike him again, and ran down the steps
+of the house with a knife in each hand, as it is said. She cried out,
+mengamok! The civil guard was called, who, having the power in these
+cases of exercising summary justice, fired half a dozen rounds into an
+outhouse where the unfortunate wretch had sheltered himself on their
+approach, and from whence he was at length dragged, covered with wounds.
+Many other mucks might perhaps be found, upon scrutiny, of the nature of
+the foregoing, where a man of strong feelings was driven by excess of
+injury to domestic rebellion.
+
+It is true that the Malays, when in a state of war they are bent on any
+daring enterprise, fortify themselves with a few whiffs of opium to
+render them insensible to danger, as the people of another nation are
+said to take a dram for the same purpose; but it must be observed that
+the resolution for the act precedes, and is not the effect of, the
+intoxication. They take the same precaution previous to being led to
+public execution; but on these occasions show greater signs of stupidity
+than frenzy. Upon the whole it may be reasonably concluded that the
+sanguinary achievements, for which the Malays have been famous, or
+infamous rather, in history, are more justly to be attributed to the
+natural ferocity of their disposition, or to the influence upon their
+manners of a particular state of society, than to the qualities of any
+drug whatever. The pretext of the soldiers of the country-guard for using
+opium is that it may render them watchful on their nightly posts: we on
+the contrary administer it to procure sleep, and according to the
+quantity it has either effect. The delirium it produces is known to be so
+very pleasing that Pope has supposed this to have been designed by Homer
+when he describes the delicious draught prepared by Helen, called
+nepenthe, which exhilarated the spirits and banished from the mind the
+recollection of woe.
+
+It is remarkable that at Batavia, where the assassins just now described,
+when taken alive, are broken on the wheel, with every aggravation of
+punishment that the most rigorous justice can inflict, the mucks yet
+happen in great frequency, whilst at Bencoolen, where they are executed
+in the most simple and expeditious manner, the offence is extremely rare.
+Excesses of severity in punishment may deter men from deliberate and
+interested acts of villainy, but they add fuel to the atrocious
+enthusiasm of desperadoes.
+
+PIRATICAL ADVENTURES.
+
+A further proof of the influence that mild government has upon the
+manners of people is that the piratical adventures so common on the
+eastern coast of the island are unknown on the western. Far from our
+having apprehensions of the Malays, the guards at the smaller English
+settlements are almost entirely composed of them, with a mixture of Bugis
+or Makasar people. Europeans, attended by Malays only, are continually
+travelling through the country. They are the only persons employed in
+carrying treasure to distant places; in the capacity of secretaries for
+the country correspondence; as civil officers in seizing delinquents
+among the planters and elsewhere; and as masters and supercargoes of the
+tambangans, praws, and other small coasting vessels. So great is the
+effect of moral causes and habit upon a physical character esteemed the
+most treacherous and sanguinary.
+
+
+CHAPTER 15.
+
+CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.
+EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.
+ORATORY.
+CHILDREN.
+NAMES.
+CIRCUMCISION.
+FUNERALS.
+RELIGION.
+
+CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.
+
+Whether to blunt the edge of painful reflection, or owing to an aversion
+our natures have to total inaction, most nations have been addicted to
+the practice of enjoying by mastication or otherwise the flavour of
+substances possessing an inebriating quality. The South Americans chew
+the cocoa and mambee, and the eastern people the betel and areca, or, as
+they are called in the Malay language, sirih and pinang. This custom has
+been accurately described by various writers, and therefore it is almost
+superfluous to say more on the subject than that the Sumatrans
+universally use it, carry the ingredients constantly about them, and
+serve it to their guests on all occasions--the prince in a gold stand,
+and the poor man in a brass box or mat bag. The betel-stands of the
+better rank of people are usually of silver embossed with rude figures.
+The Sultan of Moco-moco was presented with one by the India Company, with
+their arms on it; and he possesses beside another of gold filigree. The
+form of the stand is the frustum of a hexagonal pyramid reversed, about
+six or eight inches in diameter. It contains many smaller vessels fitted
+to the angles, for holding the nut, leaf, and chunam, which is quicklime
+made from calcined shells; with places for the instruments (kachip)
+employed in cutting the first, and spatulas for spreading the last.
+
+When the first salutation is over, which consists in bending the body,
+and the inferior's putting his joined hands between those of the
+superior, and then lifting them to his forehead, the betel is presented
+as a token of hospitality and an act of politeness. To omit it on the one
+hand or to reject it on the other would be an affront; as it would be
+likewise in a person of subordinate rank to address a great man without
+the precaution of chewing it before he spoke. All the preparation
+consists in spreading on the sirih leaf a small quantity of the chunam
+and folding it up with a slice of the pinang nut. Some mix with these
+gambir, which is a substance prepared from the leaves of a tree of that
+name by boiling their juices to a consistence, and made up into little
+balls or squares, as before spoken of: tobacco is likewise added, which
+is shred fine for the purpose, and carried between the lip and upper row
+of teeth. From the mastication of the first three proceeds a juice which
+tinges the saliva of a bright red, and which the leaf and nut, without
+the chunam, will not yield. This hue being communicated to the mouth and
+lips is esteemed ornamental; and an agreeable flavour is imparted to the
+breath. The juice is usually (after the first fermentation produced by
+the lime) though not always swallowed by the chewers of betel. We might
+reasonably suppose that its active qualities would injure the coats of
+the stomach, but experience seems to disprove such a consequence. It is
+common to see the teeth of elderly persons stand loose in the gums, which
+is probably the effect of this custom, but I do not think that it affects
+the soundness of the teeth themselves. Children begin to chew betel very
+young, and yet their teeth are always beautifully white till pains are
+taken to disfigure them by filing and staining them black. To persons who
+are not habituated to the composition it causes a strong giddiness,
+astringes and excoriates the tongue and fauces, and deadens for a time
+the faculty of taste. During the puasa, or fast of ramadan, the
+Mahometans among them abstain from the use of betel whilst the sun
+continues above the horizon; but excepting at this season it is the
+constant luxury of both sexes from an early period of childhood, till,
+becoming toothless, they are reduced to the necessity of having the
+ingredients previously reduced to a paste for them, that without further
+effort the betel may dissolve in the mouth. Along with the betel, and
+generally in the chunam, is the mode of conveying philtres, or love
+charms. How far they prove effectual I cannot take upon me to say, but
+suppose that they are of the nature of our stimulant medicines, and that
+the direction of the passion is of course indiscriminate. The practice of
+administering poison in this manner is not followed in latter times; but
+that the idea is not so far eradicated as entirely to prevent suspicion
+appears from this circumstance, that the guest, though taking a leaf from
+the betel-service of his entertainer, not unfrequently applies to it his
+own chunam, and never omits to pass the former between his thumb and
+forefinger in order to wipe off any extraneous matter. This mistrustful
+procedure is so common as not to give offence.
+
+TOBACCO.
+
+Beside the mode before-mentioned of enjoying the flavour of tobacco it is
+also smoked by the natives and for this use--after shredding it fine
+whilst green and drying it well it is rolled up in the thin leaves of a
+tree, and is in that form called roko, a word they appear to have
+borrowed from the Dutch. The rokos are carried in the betel-box, or more
+commonly under the destar or handkerchief which, in imitation of a
+turband, surrounds the head. Much tobacco is likewise imported from China
+and sells at a high price. It seems to possess a greater pungency than
+the Sumatran plant, which the people cultivate for their own use in the
+interior parts of the island.
+
+EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.
+
+The custom of sending emblematical presents in order to make known, in a
+covert manner, the birth, progress, or change of certain affections of
+the mind, prevails here, as in some other parts of the East; and not only
+flowers of various kinds have their appropriate meaning, but also
+cayenne-pepper, betel-leaf, salt, and other articles are understood by
+adepts to denote love, jealousy, resentment, hatred, and other strong
+feelings.
+
+ORATORY.
+
+The Sumatrans in general are good speakers. The gift of oratory seems
+natural to them. I knew many among them whose harangues I have listened
+to with pleasure and admiration. This may be accounted for perhaps from
+the constitution of their government, which being far removed from
+despotism seems to admit, in some degree, every member of the society to
+a share in the public deliberations. Where personal endowments, as has
+been observed, will often raise a private man to a share of importance in
+the community,superior to that of a nominal chief, there is abundant
+inducement for the acquisition of these valuable talents. The forms of
+their judicial proceedings likewise, where there are no established
+advocates and each man depends upon his own or his friend's abilities for
+the management of his cause, must doubtless contribute to this habitual
+eloquence. We may add to these conjectures the nature of their domestic
+manners, which introduce the sons at an early period of life into the
+business of the family, and the counsels of their elders. There is little
+to be perceived among them of that passion for childish sports which
+marks the character of our boys from the seventh to the fourteenth year.
+In Sumatra you may observe infants, not exceeding the former age, full
+dressed and armed with a kris, seated in the circle of the old men of the
+dusun, and attending to their debates with a gravity of countenance not
+surpassed by their grandfathers. Thus initiated they are qualified to
+deliver an opinion in public at a time of life when an English schoolboy
+could scarcely return an answer to a question beyond the limits of his
+grammar or syntax, which he has learned by rote. It is not a little
+unaccountable that this people, who hold the art of speaking in such high
+esteem, and evidently pique themselves on the attainment of it, should
+yet take so much pains to destroy the organs of speech in filing down and
+otherwise disfiguring their teeth; and likewise adopt the uncouth
+practice of filling their mouths with betel whenever they prepare to hold
+forth. We must conclude that it is not upon the graces of elocution they
+value an orator, but his artful and judicious management of the subject
+matter; together with a copiousness of phrase, a perspicuity of thought,
+an advantageous arrangement, and a readiness, especially, at unravelling
+the difficulties and intricacies of their suits.
+
+CHILD-BEARING.
+
+The curse entailed on women in the article of child-bearing does not fall
+so heavy in this as in the northern countries. Their pregnancy scarcely
+at any period prevents their attendance on the ordinary domestic duties;
+and usually within a few hours after their delivery they walk to the
+bathing-place, at a small distance from the house. The presence of a sage
+femme is often esteemed superfluous. The facility of parturition may
+probably be owing to the relaxation of the frame from the warmth of the
+climate; to which cause also may be attributed the paucity of children
+borne by the Sumatran women and the early decay of their beauty and
+strength. They have the tokens of old age at a season of life when
+European women have not passed their prime. They are like the fruits of
+the country, soon ripe and soon decayed. They bear children before
+fifteen, are generally past it at thirty, and grey-headed and shrivelled
+at forty. I do not recollect hearing of any woman who had six children
+except the wife of Raddin of Madura, who had more; and she, contrary to
+the universal custom, did not give suck to hers.
+
+TREATMENT OF CHILDREN.
+
+Mothers carry the children not on the arm, as our nurses do, but
+straddling on the hip, and usually supported by a cloth which ties in a
+knot on the opposite shoulder. This practice I have been told is common
+in some parts of Wales. It is much safer than the other method, less
+tiresome to the nurse, and the child has the advantage of sitting in a
+less constrained posture: but the defensive armour of stays, and
+offensive weapons called pins, might be some objection to the general
+introduction of the fashion in England. The children are nursed but
+little, not confined by any swathing or bandages, and, being suffered to
+roll about the floor, soon learn to walk and shift for themselves. When
+cradles are used they are swung suspended from the ceiling of the rooms.
+
+AGE OF THE PEOPLE.
+
+The country people can very seldom give an account of their age, being
+entirely without any species of chronology. Among those country people
+who profess themselves Mahometans to very few is the date of the Hejra
+known; and even of those who in their writings make use of it not one in
+ten can pronounce in what year of it he was born. After a few taun padi
+(harvests) are elapsed they are bewildered in regard to the date of an
+event, and only guess at it from some contemporary circumstance of
+notoriety, as the appointment of a particular dupati, the incursion of a
+certain enemy, or the like. As far as can be judged from observation it
+would seem that not a great proportion of the men attain to the age of
+fifty, and sixty years is accounted a long life.
+
+NAMES.
+
+The children among the Rejangs have generally a name given to them by
+their parents soon after their birth, which is called namo daging. The
+galar (cognomen), another species of name, or title, as we improperly
+translate it, is bestowed at a subsequent, but not at any determinate,
+period: sometimes as the lads rise to manhood, at an entertainment given
+by the parent, on some particular occasion; and often at their marriage.
+It is generally conferred by the old men of the neighbouring villages,
+when assembled; but instances occur of its being irregularly assumed by
+the persons themselves; and some never obtain any galar. It is also not
+unusual, at a convention held on business of importance, to change the
+galar of one or two of the principal personages to others of superior
+estimation; though it is not easy to discover in what this pre-eminence
+consists, the appellations being entirely arbitrary, at the fancy of
+those who confer them: perhaps in the loftier sound, or more pompous
+allusion in the sense, which latter is sometimes carried to an
+extraordinary pitch of bombast, as in the instance of Pengunchang bumi,
+or Shaker of the World, the title of a pangeran of Manna. But a climax is
+not always perceptible in the change.
+
+FATHER NAMED FROM HIS CHILD.
+
+The father, in many parts of the country, particularly in Passummah, is
+distinguished by the name of his first child, as Pa-Ladin, or Pa-Rindu
+(Pa for bapa, signifying the father of), and loses in this acquired his
+own proper name. This is a singular custom, and surely less conformable
+to the order of nature than that which names the son from the father.
+There it is not usual to give them a galar on their marriage, as with the
+Rejangs, among whom the filionymic is not so common, though sometimes
+adopted, and occasionally joined with the galar; as Radin-pa-Chirano. The
+women never change the name given them at the time of their birth; yet
+frequently they are called, through courtesy, from their eldest child,
+Ma-si-ano, the mother of such a one; but rather as a polite description
+than a name. The word or particle Si is prefixed to the birth-names of
+persons, which almost ever consist of but a single word, as Si Bintang,
+Si Tolong; and we find from Captain Forrest's voyage that in the island
+of Mindanao the infant son of the Raja Muda was named Se Mama.
+
+HESITATE TO PRONOUNCE THEIR OWN NAME.
+
+A Sumatran ever scrupulously abstains from pronouncing his own name; not
+as I understand from any motive of superstition, but merely as a
+punctilio in manners. It occasions him infinite embarrassment when a
+stranger, unacquainted with their customs, requires it of him. As soon as
+he recovers from his confusion he solicits the interposition of his
+neighbour.
+
+ADDRESS IN THE THIRD PERSON.
+
+He is never addressed, except in the case of a superior dictating to his
+dependant, in the second person, but always in the third; using his name
+or title instead of the pronoun; and when these are unknown a general
+title of respect is substituted, and they say, for instance, apa orang
+kaya punia suka, what is his honour's pleasure for what is your, or your
+honour's pleasure? When criminals or other ignominious persons are spoken
+to use is made of the pronoun personal kau (a contraction of angkau)
+particularly expressive of contempt. The idea of disrespect annexed to
+the use of the second person in discourse, though difficult to be
+accounted for, seems pretty general in the world. The Europeans, to avoid
+the supposed indecorum, exchange the singular number for the plural; but
+I think with less propriety of effect than the Asiatic mode; if to take
+off from the bluntness of address be the object aimed at.
+
+CIRCUMCISION.
+
+The boys are circumcised, where Mahometanism prevails, between the sixth
+and tenth year. The ceremony is called krat kulop and buang or lepas malu
+(casting away their shame), and a bimbang is usually given on the
+occasion; as well as at the ceremony of boring the ears and filing the
+teeth of their daughters (before described), which takes place at about
+the age of ten or twelve; and until this is performed they cannot with
+propriety be married.
+
+FUNERALS.
+
+At their funerals the corpse is carried to the place of interment on a
+broad plank, which is kept for the public service of the dusun, and lasts
+for many generations. It is constantly rubbed with lime, either to
+preserve it from decay or to keep it pure. No coffin is made use of; the
+body being simply wrapped in white cloth, particularly of the sort called
+hummums. In forming the grave (kubur), after digging to a convenient
+depth they make a cavity in the side, at bottom, of sufficient dimensions
+to contain the body, which is there deposited on its right side. By this
+mode the earth literally lies light upon it; and the cavity, after
+strewing flowers in it, they stop up by two boards fastened angularly to
+each other, so that the one is on the top of the corpse, whilst the other
+defends it on the open side, the edge resting on the bottom of the grave.
+The outer excavation is then filled up with earth, and little white flags
+or streamers are stuck in order around. They likewise plant a shrub,
+bearing a white flower, called kumbang­kamboja (Plumeria obtusa), and in
+some places wild marjoram. The women who attend the funeral make a
+hideous noise, not much unlike the Irish howl. On the third and seventh
+day the relations perform a ceremony at the grave, and at the end of
+twelve months that of tegga batu, or setting up a few long elliptical
+stones at the head and foot, which, being scarce in some parts of the
+country, bear a considerable price. On this occasion they kill and feast
+on a buffalo, and leave the head to decay on the spot as a token of the
+honour they have done to the deceased, in eating to his memory.* The
+ancient burying-places are called krammat, and are supposed to have been
+those of the holy men by whom their ancestors were converted to the
+faith. They are held in extraordinary reverence, and the least
+disturbance or violation of the ground, though all traces of the graves
+be obliterated, is regarded as an unpardonable sacrilege.
+
+(*Footnote. The above ceremonies (with the exception of the last) are
+briefly described in the following lines, extracted from a Malayan poem.
+
+Setelah sudah de tangisi, nia
+Lalu de kubur de tanamkan 'nia
+De ambel koran de ajikan 'nia
+Sopaya lepas deri sangsara 'nia
+Mengaji de kubur tujuh ari
+Setelah de khatam tiga kali
+Sudah de tegga batu sakali
+Membayer utang pada si-mati.)
+
+RELIGION.
+
+In works descriptive of the manners of people little known to the world
+the account of their religion usually constitutes an article of the first
+importance. Mine will labour under the contrary disadvantage. The ancient
+and genuine religion of the Rejangs, if in fact they ever had any, is
+scarcely now to be traced; and what principally adds to its obscurity,
+and the difficulty of getting information on the subject, is that even
+those among them who have not been initiated in the principles of
+Mahometanism yet regard those who have as persons advanced a step in
+knowledge beyond them, and therefore hesitate to own circumstantially
+that they remain still unenlightened. Ceremonies are fascinating to
+mankind, and without comprehending with what views they were instituted
+the profanum vulgus naturally give them credit for something mysterious
+and above their capacities, and accordingly pay them a tribute of
+respect. With Mahometanism a more extensive field of knowledge (I speak
+in comparison) is open to its converts, and some additional notions of
+science are conveyed. These help to give it importance, though it must be
+confessed they are not the most pure tenets of that religion which have
+found their way to Sumatra; nor are even the ceremonial parts very
+scrupulously adhered to. Many who profess to follow it give themselves
+not the least concern about its injunctions, or even know what they
+require. A Malay at Manna upbraided a countryman with the total ignorance
+of religion his nation laboured under. "You pay a veneration to the tombs
+of your ancestors: what foundation have you for supposing that your dead
+ancestors can lend you assistance?" "It may be true," answered the other,
+"but what foundation have you for expecting assistance from Allah and
+Mahomet?" "Are you not aware, replied the Malay, that it is written in a
+Book? Have you not heard of the Koran?" The native of Passummah, with
+conscious inferiority, submitted to the force of this argument.
+
+If by religion is meant a public or private form of worship of any kind,
+and if prayers, processions, meetings, offerings, images, or priests are
+any of them necessary to constitute it, I can pronounce that the Rejangs
+are totally without religion and cannot with propriety be even termed
+pagans, if that, as I apprehend, conveys the idea of mistaken worship.
+They neither worship God, devil, nor idols. They are not however without
+superstitious beliefs of many kinds, and have certainly a confused
+notion, though perhaps derived from their intercourse with other people,
+of some species of superior beings who have the power of rendering
+themselves visible or invisible at pleasure. These they call orang alus,
+fine, or impalpable beings, and regard them as possessing the faculty of
+doing them good or evil, deprecating their wrath as the sense of present
+misfortunes or apprehension of future prevails in their minds. But when
+they speak particularly of them they call them by the appellations of
+maleikat and jin, which are the angels and evil spirits of the Arabians,
+and the idea may probably have been borrowed at the same time with the
+names. These are the powers they also refer to in an oath. I have heard a
+dupati say, "My grandfather took an oath that he would not demand the
+jujur of that woman, and imprecated a curse on any of his descendants
+that should do it: I never have, nor could I without salah kapada
+maleikat--an offence against the angels." Thus they say also, de talong
+nabi, maleikat, the prophet and angels assisting. This is pure
+Mahometanism.
+
+NO NAME FOR THE DEITY.
+
+The clearest proof that they never entertained an idea of Theism or the
+belief of one supreme power is that they have no word in their language
+to express the person of God, except the Allah tala of the Malays,
+corrupted by them to Ulah tallo. Yet when questioned on the subject they
+assert their ancestors' knowledge of a deity, though their thoughts were
+never employed about him; but this evidently means no more than that
+their forefathers as well as themselves had heard of the Allah of the
+Mahometans (Allah orang islam).
+
+IDEA OF INVISIBLE BEINGS.
+
+They use, both in Rejang and Passummah, the word dewa to express a
+superior invisible class of beings; but each country acknowledges it to
+be of foreign derivation, and they suppose it Javanese. Radin, of Madura,
+an island close to Java, who was well conversant with the religious
+opinions of most nations, asserted to me that dewa was an original word
+of that country for a superior being, which the Javans of the interior
+believed in, but with regard to whom they used no ceremonies or forms of
+worship:* that they had some idea of a future life, but not as a state of
+retribution, conceiving immortality to be the lot of rich rather than of
+good men. I recollect that an inhabitant of one of the islands farther
+eastward observed to me, with great simplicity, that only great men went
+to the skies; how should poor men find admittance there? The Sumatrans,
+where untinctured with Mahometanism, do not appear to have any notion of
+a future state. Their conception of virtue or vice extends no farther
+than to the immediate effect of actions to the benefit or prejudice of
+society, and all such as tend not to either of these ends are in their
+estimation perfectly indifferent.
+
+(*Footnote. In the Transactions of the Batavian Society Volumes 1 and 3
+is to be found a History of these Dewas of the Javans, translated from an
+original manuscript. The mythology is childish and incoherent. The Dutch
+commentator supposes them to have been a race of men held sacred, forming
+a species of Hierarchy, like the government of the Lamas in Tartary.)
+
+Notwithstanding what is asserted of the originality of the word dewa, I
+cannot help remarking its extreme affinity to the Persian word div or
+diw, which signifies an evil spirit or bad genius. Perhaps, long
+antecedent to the introduction of the faith of the khalifs among the
+eastern people, this word might have found its way and been naturalized
+in the islands; or perhaps its progress was in a contrary direction. It
+has likewise a connexion in sound with the names used to express a deity
+or some degree of superior being by many other people of this region of
+the earth. The Battas, inhabitants of the northern end of Sumatra, whom I
+shall describe hereafter, use the word daibattah or daivattah; the
+Chingalese of Ceylon dewiju, the Telingas of India dai-wundu, the Biajus
+of Borneo dewattah, the Papuas of New Guinea 'wat, and the Pampangos of
+the Philippines diuata. It bears likewise an affinity (perhaps
+accidental) to the deus and deitas of the Romans.*
+
+(*Footnote. At the period when the above was written I was little aware
+of the intimate connexion now well understood to have anciently subsisted
+between the Hindus and the various nations beyond the Ganges. The most
+evident proofs appear of the extensive dissemination both of their
+language and mythology throughout Sumatra, Java, Balli (where at this day
+they are best preserved), and the other eastern islands. To the Sanskrit
+words dewa and dewata, signifying divinities in that great mother-tongue,
+we are therefore to look for the source of the terms, more or less
+corrupted, that have been mentioned in the text. See Asiatic Researches
+Volume 4 page 223.)
+
+VENERATION FOR THE MANES AND TOMBS OF THEIR ANCESTORS.
+
+The superstition which has the strongest influence on the minds of the
+Sumatrans, and which approaches the nearest to a species of religion, is
+that which leads them to venerate, almost to the point of worshipping,
+the tombs and manes of their deceased ancestors (nenek puyang). These
+they are attached to as strongly as to life itself, and to oblige them to
+remove from the neighbourhood of their krammat is like tearing up a tree
+by the roots; these the more genuine country people regard chiefly, when
+they take a solemn oath, and to these they apostrophise in instances of
+sudden calamity. Had they the art of making images or other
+representations of them they would be perfect lares, penates, or
+household gods. It has been asserted to me by the natives (conformably to
+what we are told by some of the early travellers) that in very ancient
+times the Sumatrans made a practice of burning the bodies of their dead,
+but I could never find any traces of the custom, or any circumstances
+that corroborated it.
+
+METEMPSYCHOSIS.
+
+They have an imperfect notion of a metempsychosis, but not in any degree
+systematic, nor considered as an article of religious faith. Popular
+stories prevail amongst them of such a particular man being changed into
+a tiger or other beast. They seem to think indeed that tigers in general
+are actuated with the spirits of departed men, and no consideration will
+prevail on a countryman to catch or to wound one but in self-defence, or
+immediately after the act of destroying a friend or relation. They speak
+of them with a degree of awe, and hesitate to call them by their common
+name (rimau or machang), terming them respectfully satwa (the wild
+animals), or even nenek (ancestors), as really believing them such, or by
+way of soothing and coaxing them; as our ignorant country folk call the
+fairies the good people. When a European procures traps to be set, by the
+means of persons less superstitious, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood
+have been known to go at night to the place and practise some forms in
+order to persuade the animal, when caught, or when he shall perceive the
+bait, that it was not laid by them, or with their consent. They talk of a
+place in the country where the tigers have a court and maintain a regular
+form of government, in towns, the houses of which are thatched with
+women's hair. It happened that in one month seven or eight people were
+killed by these prowling beasts in Manna district; upon which a report
+became current that fifteen hundred of them were come down from
+Passummah, of which number four were without understanding (gila), and
+having separated from the rest ran about the country occasioning all the
+mischief that was felt. The alligators also are highly destructive, owing
+to the constant practice of bathing in the rivers, and are regarded with
+nearly the same degree of religious terror. Fear is the parent of
+superstition, by ignorance. Those two animals prove the Sumatran's
+greatest scourge. The mischief the former commit is incredible, whole
+villages being often depopulated by them, and the suffering people learn
+to reverence as supernatural effects the furious ravages of an enemy they
+have not resolution to oppose.
+
+The Sumatrans are firmly persuaded that various particular persons are
+what they term betuah (sacred, impassive, invulnerable, not liable to
+accident), and this quality they sometimes extend to things inanimate, as
+ships and boats. Such an opinion, which we should suppose every man might
+have an opportunity of bringing to the test of truth, affords a
+humiliating proof of the weakness and credulity of human nature, and the
+fallibility of testimony, when a film of prejudice obscures the light of
+the understanding. I have known two men, whose honesty, good faith, and
+reasonableness in the general concerns of life were well established, and
+whose assertions would have weight in transactions of consequence: these
+men I have heard maintain, with the most deliberate confidence and an
+appearance of inward conviction of their own sincerity, that they had
+more than once in the course of their wars attempted to run their weapons
+into the naked body of their adversary, which they found impenetrable,
+their points being continually and miraculously turned without any effort
+on the part of the orang betuah: and that hundreds of instances of the
+like nature, where the invulnerable man did not possess the smallest
+natural means of opposition, had come within their observation. An
+English officer, with more courage and humour than discretion, exposed
+one imposture of this kind. A man having boasted in his presence that he
+was endowed with this supernatural privilege, the officer took an
+opportunity of applying to his arm the point of a sword and drew the
+blood, to the no little diversion of the spectators, and mortification of
+the pretender to superior gifts, who vowed revenge, and would have taken
+it had not means been used to keep him at a distance. But a single
+detection of charlatanerie is not effectual to destroy a prevalent
+superstition. These impostors are usually found among the Malays and not
+the more simple country people.
+
+NO MISSIONARIES.
+
+No attempts, I have reason to think, have ever been made by missionaries
+or others to convert the inhabitants of the island to Christianity, and I
+have much doubt whether the most zealous and able would meet with any
+permanent success in this pious work. Of the many thousands baptized in
+the eastern islands by the celebrated Francis Xavier in the sixteenth
+century not one of their descendants are now found to retain a ray of the
+light imparted to them; and probably, as it was novelty only and not
+conviction that induced the original converts to embrace a new faith, the
+impression lasted no longer than the sentiment which recommended it, and
+disappeared as rapidly as the itinerant apostle. Under the influence
+however of the Spanish government at Manila and of the Dutch at Batavia
+there are many native Christians, educated as such from children. In the
+Malayan language Portuguese and Christians are confounded under the same
+general name; the former being called orang Zerani, by corruption for
+Nazerani. This neglect of missions to Sumatra is one cause that the
+interior of the country has been so little known to the civilized world.
+
+
+CHAPTER 16.
+
+THE COUNTRY OF LAMPONG AND ITS INHABITANTS.
+LANGUAGE.
+GOVERNMENT.
+WARS.
+PECULIAR CUSTOMS.
+RELIGION.
+
+Having thus far spoken of the manners and customs of the Rejangs more
+especially, and adverted, as occasion served, to those of the Passummah
+people, who nearly resemble them, I shall now present a cursory view of
+those circumstances in which their southern neighbours, the inhabitants
+of the Lampong country, differ from them, though this dissimilitude is
+not very considerable; and shall add such information as I have been
+enabled to obtain respecting the people of Korinchi and other tribes
+dwelling beyond the ranges of hills which bound the pepper-districts.
+
+LIMITS OF THE LAMPONG COUNTRY.
+
+By the Lampong country is understood a portion of the southern extreme of
+the island, beginning, on the west coast, at the river of Padang-guchi,
+which divides it from Passummah, and extending across as far as
+Palembang, on the north-east side, at which last place the settlers are
+mostly Javans. On the south and east sides it is washed by the sea,
+having several ports in the Straits of Sunda, particularly Keysers and
+Lampong Bays; and the great river Tulang-bawang runs through the heart of
+it, rising from a considerable lake between the ranges of mountains. That
+division which is included by Padang-guchi, and a place called Nassal, is
+distinguished by the name of Briuran, and from thence southward to Flat
+Point, by that of Laut-Kawur; although Kawur, properly so called, lies in
+the northern division.
+
+TULANG BAWANG RIVER.
+
+Upon the Tulang-bawang, at a place called Mangala, thirty-six leagues
+from its mouth, the Dutch have a fortified post. There also the
+representative of the king of Bantam, who claims the dominion of the
+whole country of Lampong, has his residence, the river Masusi, which runs
+into the former, being the boundary of his territories and those of the
+sultan of Palembang. In the neighbourhood of these rivers the land is so
+low as to be overflowed in the rainy season, or months of January and
+February, when the waters have been known to rise many feet in the course
+of a few hours, the villages, situated on the higher spots, appearing as
+islands. The houses of those immediately on the banks are built on piles
+of ironwood timber, and each has before it a floating raft for the
+convenience of washing. In the western parts, towards Samangka, on the
+contrary, the land is mountainous, and Keyser's Peak, as well as Pugong,
+are visible to a great distance at sea.
+
+INHABITANTS.
+
+The country is best inhabited in the central and mountainous parts, where
+the people live independent, and in some measure secure from the inroads
+of their eastern neighbours, the Javans, who, from about Palembang and
+the Straits, frequently attempt to molest them. It is probably within but
+a very few centuries that the south-west coast of this country has been
+the habitation of any considerable number of people; and it has been
+still less visited by strangers, owing to the unsheltered nature of the
+sea thereabouts, and want of soundings in general, which renders the
+navigation wild and dangerous for country vessels; and to the rivers
+being small and rapid, with shallow bars and almost ever a high surf. If
+you ask the people of these parts from whence they originally came they
+answer, from the hills, and point out an inland place near the great lake
+from whence they say their forefathers emigrated: and further than this
+it is impossible to trace. They of all the Sumatrans have the strongest
+resemblance to the Chinese, particularly in the roundness of face and
+constructure of the eyes. They are also the fairest people of the island,
+and the women are the tallest and esteemed the most handsome.
+
+LANGUAGE.
+
+Their language differs considerably, though not essentially, from that of
+the Rejangs, and the characters they use are peculiar to themselves, as
+may be observed in the specimens exhibited.
+
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+The titles of government are pangeran (from the Javans), kariyer, and
+kiddimong or nebihi; the latter nearly answering to dupati among the
+Rejangs. The district of Kroi, near Mount Pugong, is governed by five
+magistrates called Panggau-limo, and a sixth, superior, called by way of
+eminence Panggau; but their authority is said to be usurped and is often
+disputed. The word in common signifies a gladiator or prizefighter. The
+pangeran of Suko, in the hills, is computed to have four or five thousand
+dependants, and sometimes, on going a journey, he levies a tali, or
+eighth part of a dollar, on each family, which shows his authority to be
+more arbitrary and probably more strictly feudal than among the Rejangs,
+where the government is rather patriarchal. This difference has doubtless
+its source in the wars and invasions to which the former people are
+exposed.
+
+WARS.
+
+The Javanese banditti, as has been observed, often advance into the
+country, and commit depredations on the inhabitants, who are not, in
+general, a match for them. They do not make use of firearms. Beside the
+common weapons of the island they fight with a long lance which is
+carried by three men, the foremost guiding the point and covering himself
+and his companions with a large shield. A compact body thus armed would
+have been a counterpart of the Macedonian phalanx, but can prove, I
+should apprehend, of but little use among a people with whom war is
+carried on in a desultory manner, and more in the way of ambuscade than
+of general engagement, in which alone troops so armed could act with
+effect.
+
+Inland of Samangka, in the Straits of Sunda, there is a district, say the
+Lampongs, inhabited by a ferocious people called orang Abung, who were a
+terror to the neighbouring country until their villages were destroyed
+some years ago by an expedition from the former place. Their mode of
+atoning for offences against their own community, or, according to a
+Malayan narrative in my possession, of entitling themselves to wives, was
+by bringing to their dusuns the heads of strangers. The account may be
+true, but without further authentication such stories are not to be too
+implicitly credited on the faith of a people who are fond of the
+marvellous and addicted to exaggeration. Thus they believed the
+inhabitants of the island Engano to be all females, who were impregnated
+by the wind, like the mares in Virgil's Georgics.
+
+MANNERS.
+
+The manners of the Lampongs are more free, or rather licentious, than
+those of any other native Sumatrans. An extraordinary liberty of
+intercourse is allowed between the young people of different sexes, and
+the loss of female chastity is not a very uncommon consequence. The
+offence is there however thought more lightly of, and instead of
+punishing the parties, as in Passummah and elsewhere, they prudently
+endeavour to conclude a legal match between them. But if this is not
+effected the lady still continues to wear the insignia of virginity, the
+fillet and arm-rings, and takes her place as such at festivals. It is not
+only on these public occasions that the young men and women have
+opportunities of forming arrangements, as in most other parts of the
+island. They frequently associate together at other times; and the former
+are seen gallantly reclining in the maiden's lap, whispering soft
+nonsense, whilst she adjusts and perfumes his hair, or does a friendly
+office of less delicacy to a European apprehension. At bimbangs the women
+often put on their dancing dress in the public hall, letting that garment
+which they mean to lay aside dexterously drop from under, as the other
+passes over the head, but sometimes, with an air of coquetry, displaying
+as if by chance enough to warm youthful imaginations. Both men and women
+anoint themselves before company when they prepare to dance; the women
+their necks and arms, and the men their breasts. They also paint each
+others faces; not, seemingly, with a view of heightening or imitating the
+natural charms, but merely as matter of fashion; making fantastic spots
+with the finger on the forehead, temples, and cheeks, of white, red,
+yellow, and other hues. A brass salver (tallam) covered with little china
+cups, containing a variety of paints, is served up for this purpose.
+
+Instances have happened here, though rarely, of very disagreeable
+conclusions to their feasts. A party of risaus among the young fellows
+have been known suddenly to extinguish the lights for the purpose of
+robbing the girls, not of their chastity, as might be apprehended, but of
+the gold and silver ornaments of their persons. An outrage of this nature
+I imagine could only happen in Lampong, where their vicinity to Java
+affords the culprits easier and surer means of escape, than in the
+central parts of the island; and here too their companies appear to be
+more mixed, collected from greater distances, and not composed, as with
+the Rejang people, of a neighbourly assemblage of the old men and women
+of a few contiguous villages with their sons and daughters, for the sake
+of convivial mirth, of celebrating a particular domestic event, and
+promoting attachments and courtship amongst the young people.
+
+PARTICULAR CUSTOMS.
+
+In every dusun there is appointed a youth, well fitted by nature and
+education for the office, who acts as master of ceremonies at their
+public meetings, arranges the young men and women in their proper places,
+makes choice of their partners, and regulates all other circumstances of
+the assembly except the important economy of the festival part or cheer,
+which comes under the cognizance of one of the elders. Both parts of the
+entertainment are preceded by long complimentary speeches, delivered by
+the respective stewards, who in return are answered and complimented on
+their skill, liberality, and other qualities, by some of the best bred
+amongst the guests. Though the manner of conducting, and the appendages
+of these feasts, are superior in style to the rustic hospitality of some
+of the northern countries, yet they are esteemed to be much behind those
+in the goodness and mode of dressing their food. The Lampongs eat almost
+all kinds of flesh indiscriminately, and their guleis (curries or made
+dishes) are said, by connoisseurs, to have no flavour. They serve up the
+rice divided into portions for each person, contrary to the practice in
+the other countries; the tallam being covered with a handsome crimson
+napkin manufactured for that use. They are wont to entertain strangers
+with much more profusion than is met with in the rest of the island. If
+the guest is of any consequence they do not hesitate to kill, beside
+goats and fowls, a buffalo, or several, according to the period of his
+stay, and the number of his attendants. One man has been known to
+entertain a person of rank and his suite for sixteen days, during which
+time there were not less than a hundred dishes of rice spread each day,
+containing some one, some two bamboos. They have dishes here, of a
+species of china or earthenware, called batu benauang, brought from the
+eastward, remarkably heavy, and very dear, some of them being valued at
+forty dollars a piece. The breaking one of them is a family loss of no
+small importance.
+
+RECEPTION OF STRANGERS.
+
+Abundantly more ceremony is used among these people at interviews with
+strangers than takes place in the countries adjacent to them. Not only
+the chief person of a party travelling, but every one of his attendants,
+is obliged, upon arriving at a town, to give a formal account of their
+business, or occasion of coming that way. When the principal man of the
+dusun is acquainted by the stranger with the motives of his journey he
+repeats his speech at full length before he gives an answer; and if it is
+a person of great consequence, the words must pass through two or three
+mouths before they are supposed to come with sufficient ceremony to his
+ears. This in fact has more the air of adding to his own importance and
+dignity than to that of the guest; but it is not in Sumatra alone that
+respect is manifested by this seeming contradiction.
+
+The terms of the jujur, or equivalent for wives, is the same here,
+nearly, as with the Rejangs. The kris-head is not essential to the
+bargain, as among the people of Passummah. The father of the girl never
+admits of the putus tali kulo, or whole sum being paid, and thereby
+withholds from the husband, in any case, the right of selling his wife,
+who, in the event of a divorce, returns to her relations. Where the putus
+tali is allowed to take place, he has a property in her, little differing
+from that of a slave, as formerly observed. The particular sums which
+constitute the jujur are less complex here than at other places. The
+value of the maiden's golden trinkets is nicely estimated, and her jujur
+regulated according to that and the rank of her parents. The semando
+marriage scarcely ever takes place but among poor people, where there is
+no property on either side, or in the case of a slip in the conduct of
+the female, when the friends are glad to make up a match in this way
+instead of demanding a price for her. Instances have occurred however of
+countrymen of rank affecting a semando marriage in order to imitate the
+Malayan manners; but it has been looked upon as improper and liable to
+create confusion.
+
+The fines and compensation for murder are in every respect the same as in
+the countries already described.
+
+RELIGION.
+
+The Mahometan religion has made considerable progress amongst the
+Lampongs, and most of their villages have mosques in them: yet an
+attachment to the original superstitions of the country induces them to
+regard with particular veneration the ancient burying-places of their
+fathers, which they piously adorn and cover in from the weather.
+
+SUPERSTITIOUS OPINIONS.
+
+In some parts, likewise, they superstitiously believe that certain trees,
+particularly those of a venerable appearance (as an old jawi-jawi or
+banyan tree) are the residence, or rather the material frame of spirits
+of the woods; an opinion which exactly answers to the idea entertained by
+the ancients of the dryads and hamadryads. At Benkunat in the Lampong
+country there is a long stone, standing on a flat one, supposed by the
+people to possess extraordinary power or virtue. It is reported to have
+been once thrown down into the water and to have raised itself again to
+its original position, agitating the elements at the same time with a
+prodigious storm. To approach it without respect they believe to be the
+source of misfortune to the offender.
+
+The inland people of that country are said to pay a kind of adoration to
+the sea, and to make to it an offering of cakes and sweetmeats on their
+beholding it for the first time, deprecating its power of doing them
+mischief. This is by no means surprising when we consider the natural
+proneness of unenlightened mankind to regard with superstitious awe
+whatever has the power of injuring them without control, and particularly
+when it is attended with any circumstances mysterious and inexplicable to
+their understandings. The sea possesses all these qualities. Its
+destructive and irresistible power is often felt, and especially on the
+coasts of India where tremendous surfs are constantly breaking on the
+shore, rising often to their greatest degree of violence without any
+apparent external cause. Add to this the flux and reflux and perpetual
+ordinary motion of that element, wonderful even to philosophers who are
+acquainted with the cause, unaccountable to ignorant men, though long
+accustomed to the effects; but to those who only once or twice in their
+lives have been eyewitnesses to the phenomena, supernatural and divine.
+It must not however be understood that anything like a regular worship is
+paid to the sea by these people, any more than we should conclude that
+people in England worship witches when they nail a horseshoe on the
+threshold to prevent their approach, or break the bottoms of eggshells to
+hinder them from sailing in them. It is with the inhabitants of Lampong
+no more than a temporary sentiment of fear and respect, which a little
+familiarity soon effaces. Many of them indeed imagine it endowed with a
+principle of voluntary motion. They tell a story of an ignorant fellow
+who, observing with astonishment its continual agitation, carried a
+vessel of sea water with him, on his return to the country, and poured it
+into a lake, in full expectation of seeing it perform the same fanciful
+motions he had admired it for in its native bed.*
+
+(*Footnote. The manners of the natives of the Philippine or Luzon Islands
+correspond in so many striking particulars with those of the inland
+Sumatrans, and especially where they differ most from the Malays, that I
+think no doubt can be entertained, if not of a sameness of origin, at
+least of an intercourse and connection in former times which now no
+longer exists. The following instances are taken from an essay preserved
+by Thevenot, entitled Relation des Philippines par un religieux; traduite
+d'un manuscrit Espagnol du cabinet de Monsieur Dom. Carlo del Pezzo
+(without date), and from a manuscript communicated to me by Alex
+Dalrymple, Esquire. "The chief Deity of the Tagalas is called Bathala mei
+Capal, and also Diuata; and their principal idolatry consists in adoring
+those of their ancestors who signalised themselves for courage or
+abilities, calling them Humalagar, i.e. manes: They make slaves of the
+people who do not keep silence at the tombs of their ancestors. They have
+great veneration for the crocodile, which they call nono, signifying
+grandfather, and make offerings to it. Every old tree they look upon as a
+superior being, and think it a crime to cut it down. They worship also
+stones, rocks, and points of land, shooting arrows at these last as they
+pass them. They have priests who, at their sacrifices, make many
+contortions and grimaces, as if possessed with a devil. The first man and
+woman, they say, were produced from a bamboo, which burst in the island
+of Sumatra; and they quarrelled about their marriage. The people mark
+their bodies in various figures, and render them of the colour of ashes,
+have large holes in their ears, blacken and file their teeth, and make an
+opening which they fill up with gold, they used to write from top to
+bottom till the Spaniards taught them to write from left to right,
+bamboos and palm leaves serve them for paper. They cover their houses
+with straw, leaves of trees, or bamboos split in two which serve for
+tiles. They hire people to sing and weep at their funerals, burn benzoin,
+bury their dead on the third day in strong coffins, and sometimes kill
+slaves to accompany their deceased masters.")
+
+The latter account is more particular, and appears of modern date.
+
+They held the caiman, or alligator, in great reverence, and when they saw
+him they called him nono, or grandfather, praying with great tenderness
+that he would do them no harm, and to this end, offered him of whatever
+they had in their boats, throwing it into the water. There was not an old
+tree to which they did not offer divine worship, especially that called
+balete; and even at this time they have some respect for them. Beside
+these they had certain idols inherited from their ancestors, which the
+Tagalas called Anita, and the Bisayans, Divata. Some of these were for
+the mountains and plains, and they asked their leave when they would pass
+them: others for the corn fields, and to these they recommend them, that
+they might be fertile, placing meat and drink in the fields for the use
+of the Anitos. There was one, of the sea, who had care of their fishing
+and navigation; another of the house, whose favour they implored at the
+birth of a child, and under whose protection they placed it. They made
+Anitos also of their deceased ancestors, and to these were their first
+invocations in all difficulties and dangers. They reckoned amongst these
+beings, all those who were killed by lightning or alligators, or had any
+disastrous death, and believed that they were carried up to the happy
+state, by the rainbow, which they call Balan-gao. In general they
+endeavoured to attribute this kind of divinity to their fathers, when
+they died in years, and the old men, vain with this barbarous notion,
+affected in their sickness a gravity and composure of mind, as they
+conceived, more than human, because they thought themselves commencing
+Anitos. They were to be interred at places marked out by themselves, that
+they might be discovered at a distance and worshipped. The missionaries
+have had great trouble in demolishing their tombs and idols; but the
+Indians, inland, still continue the custom of pasing tabi sa nano, or
+asking permission of their dead ancestors, when they enter any wood,
+mountain, or corn field, for hunting or sowing; and if they omit this
+ceremony imagine their nonos will punish them with bad fortune.
+
+Their notions of the creation of the world, and formation of mankind, had
+something ridiculously extravagant. They believed that the world at first
+consisted only of sky and water, and between these two, a glede; which,
+weary with flying about, and finding no place to rest, set the water at
+variance with the sky, which, in order to keep it in bounds, and that it
+should not get uppermost, loaded the water with a number of islands, in
+which the glede might settle and leave them at peace. Mankind, they said,
+sprang out of a large cane with two joints, that, floating about in the
+water, was at length thrown by the waves against the feet of the glede,
+as it stood on shore, which opened it with its bill, and the man came out
+of one joint, and the woman out of the other. These were soon after
+married by consent of their God, Batkala Meycapal, which caused the first
+trembling of the earth; and from thence are descended the different
+nations of the world.")
+
+
+CHAPTER 17.
+
+ACCOUNT OF THE INLAND COUNTRY OF KORINCHI.
+EXPEDITION TO THE SERAMPEI AND SUNGEI-TENANG COUNTRIES.
+
+COUNTRY OF KORINCHI.
+
+At the back of the range of high mountains by which the countries of
+Indrapura and Anak-sungei are bounded lies the district or valley of
+Korinchi, which, from its secluded situation, has hitherto been little
+known to Europeans. In the year 1800 Mr. Charles Campbell, whose name I
+have had frequent occasion to mention, was led to visit this spot, in the
+laudable pursuit of objects for the improvement of natural history, and
+from his correspondence I shall extract such parts as I have reason to
+hope will be gratifying to the reader.
+
+MR. CAMPBELL'S JOURNEY.
+
+Says this indefatigable traveller:
+
+The country of Korinchi first occupied my attention. From the sea-coast
+at Moco-moco to the foot of the mountains cost us three days' weary
+journey, and although our path was devious I cannot estimate the distance
+at less than thirty miles, for it was late on the fourth day when we
+began to ascend. Your conjecture that the ridge is broader betwixt the
+plains of Anak-sungei and valley of Korinchi than that which we see from
+Bencoolen is just. Our route in general lay north-east until we attained
+the summit of the first high range, from which elevated situation,
+through an opening in the wood, the Pagi or Nassau Islands were clearly
+visible. During the next day our course along the ridge of hills was a
+little to the northward of north­west, and for the two following days
+almost due north, through as noble a forest as was ever penetrated by
+man. On the evening of the last we descended by a steep and seemingly
+short path from the summit of the second range (for there are obviously
+two) into the Korinchi country.
+
+SITUATION OF LAKE.
+
+This descent did not occupy us more than twenty minutes, so that the
+valley must lie at a great height above the level of the sea; but it was
+yet a few days march to the inhabited and cultivated land on the border
+of the great lake, which I conjecture to be situated directly behind
+Indrapura, or north-east from the mouth of that river. There are two
+lakes, but one of them is inconsiderable. I sailed for some time on the
+former, which may be nearly as broad as the strait between Bencoolen and
+Rat Island. My companions estimated it at seven miles; but the eye is
+liable to much deception, and, having seen nothing for many days but
+rivulets, the grandeur of the sheet of water, when it first burst upon
+our sight, perhaps induced us to form too high a notion of its extent.
+Its banks were studded with villages; it abounds with fish, particularly
+the summah, a species of cyprinus; its waters are clear and beautiful
+from the reflection of the black and shining sand which covers the bottom
+in many places to the depth of eight or ten inches.
+
+INHABITANTS.
+
+The inhabitants are below the common stature of the Malays, with harder
+visages and higher cheekbones, well knit in their limbs, and active; not
+deficient in hospitality, but jealous of strangers. The women, excepting
+a few of the daughters of the chiefs, were in general ill­favoured, and
+even savage in their aspect. At the village of In-juan on the borders of
+the lake I saw some of them with rings of copper and shells among their
+hair; they wore destars round their heads like the men, and almost all of
+them had siwars or small daggers at their sides. They were not shut up or
+concealed from us, but mixed with our party, on the contrary, with much
+frankness.
+
+BUILDINGS.
+
+The people dwell in hordes, many families being crowded together in one
+long building. That in which I lived gave shelter to twenty-five
+families. The front was one long undivided verandah, where the unmarried
+men slept; the back part was partitioned into small cabins, each of which
+had a round hole with a door to fit it, and through this the female
+inmates crept backwards and forwards in the most awkward manner and
+ridiculous posture. This house was in length two hundred and thirty feet,
+and elevated from the ground. Those belonging to the chiefs were smaller,
+well constructed of timber and plank, and covered with shingles or thin
+plates of board bound on with rattans, about the size and having much the
+appearance of our slates.
+
+DRESSES.
+
+The dresses of the young women of rank were pretty enough. A large blue
+turband, woven with silver chains, which, meeting behind and crossing,
+were fastened to the earrings in festoons, decorated their heads. In this
+was placed a large plume of cock's feathers, bending forward over the
+face. The jacket was blue, of a silky texture, their own work, and
+bordered with small gold chain. The body-dress, likewise of their own
+weaving, was of cotton mingled with silk, richly striped and mixed with
+gold thread; but they wear it no lower than the knees. The youths of
+fashion were in a kind of harlequin habit, the forepart of the trousers
+white, the back-part blue; their jacket after the same fashion. They
+delighted much in an instrument made from some part of the iju palm-tree,
+which resembled and produced a sound like the jews-harp.
+
+COOKERY.
+
+Their domestic economy (I speak of the houses of the chiefs) seemed
+better regulated than it generally is in these countries; they seemed
+tolerably advanced in the art of cookery, and had much variety of food;
+such as the flesh of deer, which they take in rattan snares, wild ducks,
+abounding on the lake; green pigeons, quails innumerable; and a variety
+of fish beside the summah already mentioned, and the ikan gadis, a
+species of carp which attains to a greater size here than in the rivers.
+
+ESCULENT VEGETABLES.
+
+The potato, which was introduced there many years ago, is now a common
+article of food, and cultivated with some attention. Their plantations
+supply many esculent herbs, fruits, and roots; but the coconut, although
+reared as a curiosity, is abortive in these inland regions, and its place
+is supplied by the buah kras (Juglans camirium), of which they also make
+their torches. Excellent tobacco is grown there, also cotton and indigo,
+the small leafed kind. They get some silk from Palembang, and rear a
+little themselves. The communication is more frequent with the north-west
+shore than with the eastern, and of late, since the English have been
+settled at Pulo Chinco, they prefer going there for opium to the more
+tedious (though less distant) journey by which they formerly sought it at
+Moco-moco.
+
+GOLD.
+
+In their cockpits the gold-scales are frequent, and I have seen
+considerable quantities weighed out by the losers. This metal, I am
+informed, they get in their own country, although they studiously evaded
+all inquiries on the subject.
+
+GUNPOWDER.
+
+They make gunpowder, and it is a common sport among the young boys to
+fire it out of bamboos. In order to increase its strength, in their
+opinion, they mingle it with pepper-dust.
+
+LEPERS.
+
+In a small recess on the margin of the lake, overhung with very rugged
+cliffs and accessible only by water, I saw one of those receptacles of
+misery to which the leprous and others afflicted with diseases supposed
+to be contagious are banished. I landed much against the remonstrances of
+my conductors, who would not quit the boat. There were in all seven of
+these unfortunate people basking on the beach and warming the wretched
+remains of their bodies in the sun. They were fed at stated periods by
+the joint contribution of the neighbouring villages, and I was given to
+understand that any attempt to quit this horrid exile was punished with
+death.
+
+PECULIAR PLANTS.
+
+I had little time for botanizing; but I found there many plants unknown
+to the lowlands. Among them were a species of prune, the water-hemlock,
+and the strawberry. This last was like that species which grows in our
+woods; but it was insipid. I brought the roots with me to Fort
+Marlborough, where it lingered a year or two after fruiting and gradually
+died.* I found there also a beautiful kind of the Hedychium coronarium,
+now ranked among the kaempferias. It was of a pale orange, and had a most
+grateful odour. The girls wear it in their hair, and its beautiful head
+of lily flowers is used in the silent language of love, to the practice
+of which, during your stay here, I suppose you were no stranger, and
+which indicates a delicacy of sentiment one would scarcely expect to find
+in the character of so rude a people.
+
+(*Footnote. This plant has fruited also in England, but doubts are
+entertained of its being really a fragaria, By Dr. Smith it is termed a
+potentilla.)
+
+CHARACTER OF PEOPLE.
+
+Although the chiefs received us with hospitality yet the mass of people
+considered our intentions as hostile, and seemed jealous of our
+intrusion. Of their women however they were not at all jealous, and the
+familiarity of these was unrestrained. They entertained us with dances
+after their fashion, and made some rude attempts at performing a sort of
+pantomime. I may now close this detail with observing that the natives of
+this mountainous region have stronger animal spirits than those of the
+plains, and pass their lives with more variety than the torpid
+inhabitants of the coast; that they breathe a spirit of independence, and
+being frequently engaged in warfare, village against village, they would
+be better prepared to resist any invasion of their liberties.
+
+SUSPICIONS.
+
+They took great offence at a large package carried by six men which
+contained our necessaries, insisting that within it we had concealed a
+priuk api, for so they call a mortar or howitzer, one of which had been
+used with success against a village on the borders of their country
+during the rebellion of the son of the sultan of Moco-moco; and even when
+satisfied respecting this they manifested so much suspicion that we found
+it necessary to be constantly on our guard, and were once nearly provoked
+by their petulance and treachery to proceed to violence. When they found
+our determination they seemed humble, but were not even then to be
+trusted; and when we were on our return a friendly chief sent us
+intelligence that an ambuscade had been laid for us in one of the narrow
+passes of the mountains. We pursued our journey however without meeting
+any obstruction.
+
+...
+
+On the subject of gold I have only to add to Mr. Campbell's information
+that, in the enumeration by the natives of places where there are
+gold-mines, Karinchi is always included.
+
+EXPEDITION TO INTERIOR COUNTRY.
+
+Opportunities of visiting the interior parts of the island have so seldom
+occurred, or are likely to occur, that I do not hesitate to present to
+the reader an abstract of the Journal kept by Lieutenant Hastings Dare
+(now a captain on the Bengal establishment) whilst commanding an
+expedition to the countries of Ipu, Serampei, and Sungei-tenang, which
+border to the south-east on that of Korinchi above described; making at
+the same time my acknowledgments to that gentleman for his obliging
+communication of the original, and my apologies for the brevity to which
+my subject renders it necessary to confine the narrative.
+
+ORIGIN OF DISTURBANCES.
+
+Sultan Asing, brother to the present sultan of Moco-moco, in conjunction
+with Pa Muncha and Sultan Sidi, two hill-chiefs his relations, residing
+at Pakalang-jambu and Jambi, raised a small force with which, in the
+latter part of the year 1804, they made a descent on Ipu, one of the
+Company's districts, burnt several villages and carried off a number of
+the inhabitants. The guard of native Malay troops not being sufficiently
+strong to check these depredations, a party was ordered from Fort
+Marlborough under the command of Lieutenant Hastings Dare, consisting of
+eighty-three sepoy officers and men, with five lascars, twenty­two Bengal
+convicts, and eighteen of the Bugis-guard; in the whole one hundred and
+twenty-eight.
+
+November 22 1804. Marched from Fort Marlborough, and December 3 arrived
+at Ipu. The roads extremely bad from the torrents of rain that fell. 4th.
+Mr. Hawthorne, the Resident, informed us that the enemy had fortified
+themselves at a place called Tabe-si-kuddi, but, on hearing of the
+approach of the detachment, had gone off to the hills in the
+Sungei­tenang country and fortified themselves at Koto Tuggoh, a village
+that had been a receptacle for all the vagabonds from the districts near
+the coast. 13th. Having procured coolies and provisions, for which we
+have been hitherto detained, quitted Ipu in an east-north-east direction,
+and passed through several pepper and rice plantations. At dusun Baru one
+of our people caught a fine large fish, called ikan gadis. 14th. Marched
+in a south-east direction; crossed several rivulets, and reached again
+the banks of Ipu river, which we crossed. It was about four feet deep and
+very rapid. Passed the night at dusun Arah. The country rather hilly;
+thermometer 88 degrees at noon. 15th. Reached dusun Tanjong, the last
+place in the Ipu district where rice or any other provision is to be
+found, and these were sent on from Talang Puttei, this place being
+deserted by its inhabitants, several of whom the enemy had carried off
+with them as slaves. The country very hilly, and roads, in consequence of
+the heavy rains, bad and slippery. 16th. Marched in a north and east
+direction.
+
+HOT SPRINGS.
+
+After crossing the Ayer Ikan stream twice we arrived at some hot springs,
+about three or four miles in the winding course we were obliged to take
+from dusun Tanjong, situated in a low swampy spot, about sixty yards in
+circumference. This is very hot in every part of it, excepting (which is
+very extraordinary) one place on its eastern side, where, although a hot
+spring is bubbling up within one yard of it, the water running from it is
+as cold as common spring water. In consequence of the excessive heat of
+the place and softness of the ground none of us could get close to the
+springs; but upon putting the thermometer within three yards of them it
+immediately rose to 120 degrees of Fahrenheit. We could not bear our
+fingers any time in the water. It tasted copperish and bitter; there was
+a strong sulphurous smell at the place, and a green sediment at the
+bottom and sides of the spring, with a reddish or copper-coloured scum
+floating on the surface. After again crossing the Ikan stream we arrived
+at dusun Simpang. The enemy had been here, and had burned nearly half of
+the village and carried off the inhabitants. The road from Tanjong to
+Simpang was entirely through a succession of pepper-gardens and rice
+plantations. We are now among the hills. Country in a higher state of
+cultivation than near the coast, but nearly deserted, and must soon
+become a waste. Could not get intelligence of the enemy. Built huts on
+Ayer Ikan at Napah Kapah. 17th. Marched in a south direction and crossed
+Ayer Tubbu, passing a number of durian trees on its bank. Again crossed
+the stream several times. Arrived early at Tabe-si-kuddi, a small talang,
+where the enemy had built three batteries or entrenchments and left
+behind them a quantity of grain, but vegetating and unfit for use.
+Previously to our reaching these entrenchments some of the detachment got
+wounded in the feet with ranjaus, set very thickly in the ground in every
+direction, and which obliged us to be very cautious in our steps until we
+arrived at the banks of a small rivulet, called the Nibong, two or three
+miles beyond them.
+
+RANJAUS.
+
+Ranjaus are slips of bamboo sharpened at each end, the part that is stuck
+in the ground being thicker than the opposite end, which decreases to a
+fine thin point, and is hardened by dipping it in oil and applying it to
+the smoke of a lamp near the flame. They are planted in the footpaths,
+sometimes erect, sometimes sloping, in small holes, or in muddy and miry
+places, and when trodden upon (for they are so well concealed as not to
+be easily seen) they pierce through the foot and make a most disagreeable
+wound, the bamboo leaving in it a rough hairy stuff it has on its
+outside, which irritates, inflames, and prevents it from healing. The
+whole of the road this day lay over a succession of steep hills, and in
+the latter part covered with deep forests. The whole of the detachment
+did not reach our huts on the bank of the Nibong stream till evening,
+much time being consumed in bringing on the mortar and magazine. Picked
+up pouches, musket stocks, etc., and saw new huts, near one of which was
+a quantity of clotted blood and a fresh grave. 18th. Proceeded
+east-north-east and passed several rivulets. Regained the banks of the
+Ipu river, running north-east to south-west here tolerably broad and
+shallow, being a succession of rapids over a rough stony bed. Encamped
+both this night and the last where the enemy had built huts. 19th.
+Marched in a north direction. More of the detachment wounded by ranjaus
+planted in the pathways. Roads slippery and bad from rains, and the hills
+so steep it is with difficulty we get the mortar and heavy baggage
+forward. Killed a green snake with black spots along its back, about four
+feet long, four to five inches in girt, and with a thick stumpy tail. The
+natives say its bite is venomous. Our course today has been north along
+the banks of the Ipu river; the noise of the rapids so great that when
+near it we can with difficulty hear each other speak. 20th. Continued
+along the river, crossing it several times. Came to a hot spring in the
+water of which the thermometer rose to 100 degrees at a considerable
+distance from its source. The road today tolerably level and good.
+
+LEECHES.
+
+We were much plagued by a small kind of leech, which dropped on us from
+the leaves of the trees, and got withinside our clothes. We were in
+consequence on our halting every day obliged to strip and bathe ourselves
+in order to detach them from our bodies, filled with the blood they had
+sucked from us. They were not above an inch in length, and before they
+fixed themselves as thin as a needle, so that they could penetrate our
+dress in any part. We encamped this evening at the conflux of the Simpang
+stream and Ipu river. Our huts were generally thatched with the puar or
+wild cardamum leaf, which grows in great abundance on the banks of the
+rivers in this part of the country. It bears a pleasant acid fruit,
+growing much in the same way as the maize. In long journeys through the
+woods, when other provisions fail, the natives live principally on this.
+The leaf is something like that of the plantain, but not nearly so large.
+21st. Arrived at a spot called Dingau-benar, from whence we were obliged
+to return on account of the coolies not being able to descend a hill
+which was at least a hundred and fifty yards high, and nearly
+perpendicular. In effecting it we were obliged to cling to the trees and
+roots, without which assistance it would have been impracticable. It was
+nearly evening before one half of the detachment had reached the bottom,
+and it rained so excessively hard that we were obliged to remain divided
+for the night; the rear party on the top of the steep hill, and the
+advanced on the brow of another hill. One of the guides and a Malay
+coolie were drowned in attempting to find a ford across the Ipu river. I
+was a long time before we could get any fire, everything being completely
+soaked through, and the greater part of the poor fellows had not time to
+build huts for themselves. Military disposition for guarding baggage,
+preventing surprise, etc. 22nd. We had much difficulty in getting the
+mortar and its bed down, being obliged to make use of long thick rattans
+tied to them and successively to several trees. It was really admirable
+to observe the patience of the sepoys and Bengal convicts on this
+occasion. On mustering the coolies, found that nearly one half had run
+during the night, which obliged us to fling away twenty bags of rice,
+besides salt and other articles. Our course lay north, crossing the river
+several times. My poor faithful dog Gruff was carried away by the
+violence of the stream and lost. We were obliged to make bridges by
+cutting down tall trees, laying them across the stream, and interlacing
+them with rattans.
+
+We were now between two ranges of very high hills; on our right hand
+Bukit Pandang, seen from a great distance at sea; the road shockingly
+bad. Encamped on the western bank. 23rd. Marched in a north direction,
+the roads almost impassable. The river suddenly swelled so much that the
+rear party could not join the advanced, which was so fortunate as to
+occupy huts built by the enemy. There were fires in two of them. We were
+informed however that the Serampei and Sungei-tenang people often come
+this distance to catch fish, which they dry and carry back to their
+country. At certain times of the year great quantities of the ringkis and
+ikan-gadis are taken, besides a kind of large conger-eel. We frequently
+had fish when time would admit of the people catching them. It is
+impossible to describe the difficulties we had to encounter in
+consequence of the heavy rains, badness of the roads, and rapidity of the
+river. The sepoy officer and many men ill of fluxes and fevers, and lame
+with swelled and sore feet. 24th. Military precautions. Powder damaged.
+Thunder and lightning with torrents of rain. Almost the whole of the rice
+rotten or sour. 25th. Continued to march up the banks of the river. No
+inhabitants in this part of the country.
+
+IRREGULARITY OF COMPASS.
+
+The compass for these several days has been very irregular. We have two
+with us and they do not at all agree. The road less bad. At one place we
+saw bamboos of the thickness of a man's thigh. There were myriads of very
+small flies this evening, which teased us much. Occupied some huts we
+found on the eastern bank. This is Christmas evening; to us, God knows, a
+dull one. Our wines and liquors nearly expended, and we have but one
+miserable half-starved chicken left although we have been on short
+allowance the whole way. 26th. Roads tolerable. Passed a spot called
+Kappah, and soon after a waterfall named Ipu-machang, about sixty feet
+high. Picked up a sick man belonging to the enemy. He informed us that
+there were between two and three hundred men collected at Koto Tuggoh,
+under the command of Sutan Sidi, Sutan Asing, and Pa Muncha. These three
+chiefs made a festival, killing buffaloes, as is usual with the natives
+of Sumatra on such occasions, at this place, and received every
+assistance from the principal Dupati, who is also father-in-law to Pa
+Muncha. They possess sixty stand of muskets, beside blunderbusses and
+wall-pieces. They had quitted the Company's districts about twenty-three
+days ago, and are gone, some to Koto Tuggoh, and others to
+Pakalang-jambu. 27th. Marched in a north-north-east direction; passed
+over a steep hill which took us three hours hard walking. The river is
+now very narrow and rapid, not above twelve feet across; it is a
+succession of waterfalls every three or four yards. After this our road
+was intricate, winding, and bad. We had to ascend a high chasm formed in
+the rock, which was effected by ladders from one shelf to another.
+Arrived at the foot of Bukit Pandang, where we found huts, and occupied
+them for the night. We have been ascending the whole of this day. Very
+cold and rainy. At night we were glad to make large fires and use our
+blankets and woollen clothes. Having now but little rice left we were
+obliged to put ourselves to an allowance of one bamboo or gallon measure
+among ten men; and the greater part of that rotten.
+
+ASCEND A HIGH MOUNTAIN.
+
+28th. Ascended Bukit Pandang in an east-north-east direction. Reached a
+small spring of water called Pondo Kubang, the only one to be met with
+till the hill is descended. About two miles from the top, and from thence
+all the way up, the trees and ground were covered very thick with moss;
+the trees much stunted, and altogether the appearance was barren and
+gloomy; to us particularly so, for we could find little or nothing
+wherewith to build our huts, nor procure a bit of dry wood to light a
+fire. In order to make one for dressing the victuals, Lieutenant Dare was
+compelled to break up one of his boxes, otherwise he and Mr. Alexander,
+the surgeon, must have eaten them raw. It rained hard all night, and the
+coolies and most of the party were obliged to lie
+down on the wet ground in the midst of it.
+
+MEN DIE FROM SEVERITY OF THE WEATHER.
+
+It was exceedingly cold to our feelings; in the evening the thermometer
+was down to 50 degrees, and in the night to 45 degrees. In consequence of
+the cold, inclemency, and fatigue to which the coolies were exposed,
+seven of them died that night. The lieutenant and surgeon made themselves
+a kind of shelter with four tarpaulins that were fortunately provided to
+cover the medicine chest and surgical instruments, but the place was so
+small that it scarcely held them both. In the evening when the former was
+sitting on his camp­stool, whilst the people were putting up the
+tarpaulins, a very small bird, perfectly black, came hopping about the
+stool, picking up the worms from the moss. It was so tame and fearless
+that it frequently perched itself on his foot and on different parts of
+the stool; which shows that these parts of the country must be very
+little frequented by human beings. 29th. Descended Bukit Pandang. Another
+coolie died this morning. We are obliged to fling away shells. After
+walking some time many of the people recovered, as it was principally
+from cold and damps they suffered. Crossed a stream called Inum where we
+saw several huts. In half an hour more arrived at the banks of the
+greater Ayer Dikit River, which is here shallow, rapid, and about eighty
+yards broad. We marched westerly along its banks, and reached a hut
+opposite to a spot called Rantau Kramas, where we remained for the night,
+being prevented from crossing by a flood. 30th. Cut down a large tree and
+threw it across the river; it reached about halfway over. With this and
+the assistance of rattans tied to the opposite side we effected our
+passage and arrived at Rantau Kramas. Sent off people to Ranna Alli, one
+of the Serampei villages, about a day's march from hence, for provisions.
+Thermometer 59 degrees.
+
+The greater Ayer Dikit river, on the north side of which this place lies,
+runs nearly from east to west. There are four or five bamboo huts at it,
+for the temporary habitation of travellers passing and repassing this
+way, being in the direction from the Serampei to the Sungei-tenang
+country. These huts are covered with bamboos (in plenty here) split and
+placed like pantiles transversely over each other, forming, when the
+bamboos are well-grown, a capital and lasting roof (see above). 31st. A
+Malay man and woman taken by our people report that the enemy thirteen
+days ago had proceeded two days march beyond Koto Tuggoh. Received some
+provisions from Ranna Alli. The enemy, we are informed, have dug holes
+and put long stakes into them, set spring-spears, and planted the road
+very thickly with ranjaus, and were collecting their force at Koto Tuggoh
+(signifying the strong fortress) to receive us. 1805. January 1st and
+2nd. Received some small supplies of provisions.
+
+COME UP WITH THE ENEMY.
+
+On the 3rd we were saluted by shouting and firing of the enemy from the
+heights around us. Parties were immediately sent off in different
+directions as the nature of the ground allowed.
+
+ATTACK.
+
+The advanced party had only time to fire two rounds when the enemy
+retired to a strong position on the top of a steep hill where they had
+thrown up a breastwork, which they disputed for a short time. On our
+getting possession of it they divided into three parties and fled. We had
+one sepoy killed and several of the detachment wounded by the ranjaus.
+Many of the enemy were killed and wounded and the paths they had taken
+covered with blood; but it is impossible to tell their numbers as they
+always carry them off the moment they drop, considering it a disgrace to
+leave them on the field of battle. If they get any of the bodies of their
+enemies they immediately strike off the head and fix it on a long pole,
+carrying it to their village as a trophy, and addressing to it every sort
+of abusive language. Those taken alive in battle are made slaves. After
+completely destroying everything in the battery we marched, and arrived
+at the top of a very high hill, where we built our huts for the evening.
+The road was thickly planted with ranjaus which, with the heavy rains,
+impeded our progress and prevented us from reaching a place called
+Danau-pau. Our course today has been north-east and easterly, the roads
+shockingly bad, and we were obliged to leave behind several coolies and
+two sepoys who were unable to accompany us. 4th. Obliged to fling away
+the bullets of the cartridges, three-fourths of which were damaged, and
+other articles. Most of the detachment sick with fluxes and fevers, or
+wounded in the feet. Marched in an eastern direction. Reached a spot very
+difficult to pass, being knee-deep in mud for a considerable way, with
+ranjaus concealed in the mud, and spring-spears set in many places. We
+were obliged to creep through a thicket of canes and bamboos. About noon
+the advanced party arrived at a lake and discovered that the enemy were
+on the opposite side of a small stream that ran from the lake, where they
+had entrenched themselves behind four small batteries in a most
+advantageous position, being on the top of a steep hill, of difficult
+access, with the stream on one side, the lake on the other, and the other
+parts surrounded by a swamp.
+
+ENTRENCHMENTS ATTACKED AND CARRIED.
+
+We immediately commenced the attack, but were unable, from the number of
+ranjaus in the only accessible part, to make a push on to the enemy.
+However about one o'clock we effected our purpose, and completely got
+possession of the entrenchments, which, had they been properly defended,
+must have cost us more than the half of our detachment. We had four
+sepoys severely wounded, and almost the whole of our feet dreadfully cut.
+Numbers of the enemy were killed and wounded. They defended each of the
+batteries with some obstinacy against our fire, but when once we came
+near them they could not stand our arms, and ran in every direction. At
+this place there are no houses nor inhabitants, but only temporary huts,
+built by the Sungei-tenang people, who come here occasionally to fish.
+The lake, which is named Danau-pau, has a most beautiful appearance,
+being like a great amphitheatre, surrounded by high and steep mountains
+covered with forests. It is about two miles in diameter. We occupied some
+huts built by the enemy. The place is thickly surrounded with bamboos.
+
+MOTIVES FOR RETURNING TO THE COAST.
+
+In consequence of the number of our sick and wounded, the small strength
+of coolies to carry their baggage, and the want of medicines and
+ammunition, as well as of provisions, we thought it advisable to return
+to Rantau Kramas; and to effect this we were obliged to fling away the
+mortar-bed, shells, and a number of other things. We marched at noon, and
+arrived in the evening at the top of the hill where we had before
+encamped, and remained for the night. 6th. Reached Rantau Kramas. 7th.
+Marching in torrents of rain. People exceedingly harassed, reduced, and
+emaciated. Relieved by the arrival of Serampei people with some
+provisions from Ranna Alli. 8th. After a most fatiguing march arrived at
+that place half-dead with damps and cold. The bearers of the litters for
+the sick were absolutely knocked up, and we were obliged to the sepoys
+for getting on as we did. Our route was north-west with little variation.
+9th. Remained at Ranna Alli. This serampei village consists of about
+fifteen houses, and may contain a hundred and fifty or two hundred
+inhabitants. It is thickly planted all round with a tall hedge of live
+bamboos, on the outside of which ranjaus are planted to the distance of
+thirty or forty feet. Withinside of the hedge there is a bamboo pagar or
+paling. It is situated on a steep hill surrounded by others, which in
+many places are cleared to their tops, where the inhabitants have their
+ladangs or rice plantations. They appeared to be a quiet, inoffensive set
+of people; their language different from the Malayan, which most of them
+spoke, but very imperfectly and hardly to be understood by us. On our
+approach the women and children ran to their ladangs, being, as their
+husbands informed us, afraid of the sepoys.
+
+GOITRES.
+
+Of the women whom we saw almost every one had the goitres or swellings
+under the throat; and it seemed to be more prevalent with these than with
+the men. One woman in particular had two protuberances dangling at her
+neck as big as quart bottles.
+
+There are three dupatis and four mantris to this village, to whom we made
+presents, and afterwards to the wives and families of the inhabitants.
+10th and 11th. Preparing for our march to Moco-moco, where we can recruit
+our force, and procure supplies of stores and ammunition. 12th. Marched
+in a north and north-west direction.
+
+HANGING BRIDGE.
+
+Passed over a bridge of curious construction across the Ayer Abu River.
+It was formed of bamboos tied together with iju ropes and suspended to
+the trees, whose branches stretched nearly over the stream.
+
+The Serampei women are the worst-favoured creatures we ever saw, and
+uncouth in their manners. Arrived at Tanjong Kasiri, another fortified
+village, more populous than Ranna Alli. 13th. The sick and heavy baggage
+were ordered to Tanjong Agung, another Serampei village.
+
+HOT SPRINGS.
+
+14th. Arrived at Ayer Grau or Abu, a small river, within a yard or two of
+which we saw columns of smoke issuing from the earth, where there were
+hot springs of water bubbling up in a number of places. The stream was
+quite warm for several yards, and the ground and stones were so hot that
+there was no standing on them for any length of time. The large pieces of
+quartz, pumice, and other stones apparently burnt, induce us to suppose
+there must have formerly been a volcano at this spot, which is a deep
+vale, surrounded by high hills. Arrived much fatigued at Tanjong Agung,
+where the head dupati received us in his best style.
+
+COCONUTS.
+
+He seemed to know more of European customs and manners than those whom we
+have hitherto met with, and here, for the first time since quitting the
+Ipu district, we got coconuts, which he presented to us.
+
+CASSIA.
+
+We saw numbers of cassia-trees in our march today. The bark, which the
+natives brought us in quantities, is sweet, but thick and coarse, and
+much inferior to cinnamon. This is the last and best fortified village in
+the Serampei country, bordering on the forests between that and
+Anak-Sungei.
+
+PECULIAR REGULATION.
+
+They have a custom here of never allowing any animal to be killed in any
+part of the village but the balei or town hall, unless the person wishing
+to do otherwise consents to pay a fine of one fathom of cotton cloth to
+the priest for his permission. The old dupati told us there had been
+formerly a great deal of sickness and bloodshed in the village, and it
+had been predicted that, unless this custom were complied with, the like
+would happen again. We paid the fine, had the prayers of the priest, and
+killed our goats where and as we pleased. 16th. Marched in a
+south-westerly direction, and, after passing many steep hills, reached
+the lesser Ayer Dikit River, which we crossed, and built our huts on its
+western bank. 17th. Marched in a west, and afterwards a south, direction;
+the roads, in consequence of the rain ceasing today, tolerably dry and
+good, but over high hills. Arrived at Ayer Prikan, and encamped on its
+western bank; its course north and south over a rough, stony bed; very
+rapid, and about thirty yards across, at the foot of Bukit Lintang. Saw
+today abundance of cassia­trees. 18th. Proceeded to ascend Bukit Lintang,
+which in the first part was excessively steep and fatiguing; our route
+north and north-west when descending, south-south-west. Arrived at one of
+the sources of the Sungei-ipu. Descending still farther we reached a
+small spring where we built our huts. 19th. On our march this day we were
+gratified by the receipt of letters from our friends at Bencoolen, by the
+way of Moco-moco, from whence the Resident, Mr. Russell, sent us a supply
+of wine and other refreshments, which we had not tasted for fourteen
+days. Our course lay along the banks of the Sungei-ipu, and we arrived at
+huts prepared for us by Mr. Russell. 20th. At one time our guide lost the
+proper path by mistaking for it the track of a rhinoceros (which are in
+great numbers in these parts), and we got into a place where we were
+teased with myriads of leeches. Our road, excepting two or three small
+hills, was level and good. Reached the confluence of the Ipu and Si
+Luggan Rivers, the latter of which rises in the Korinchi country. Passed
+Gunong Payong, the last hill, as we approached Moco-moco, near to which
+had been a village formerly burnt and the inhabitants made slaves by Pa
+Muncha and the then tuanku mudo (son of the sultan). 21st. Arrived at
+talang Rantau Riang, the first Moco-moco or Anak-Sungei village, where we
+found provisions dressed for us. At dusun Si Ballowe, to which our road
+lay south-easterly, through pepper and rice plantations, sampans were in
+readiness to convey us down the river. This place is remarkable for an
+arau tree (casuarina), the only one met with at such a distance from the
+sea. The country is here level in comparison with what we have passed
+through, and the soil rather sandy, with a mixture of red clay. 22nd. The
+course of the river is south-west and west with many windings. Arrived at
+Moco-moco.
+
+DESCRIPTION OF MOCO-MOCO.
+
+Fort Ann lies on the southern and the settlement on the northern side of
+the Si Luggan River, which name belongs properly to the place also, and
+that of Moco-moco to a small village higher up. The bazaar consists of
+about one hundred houses, all full of children. At the northern end is
+the sultan's, which has nothing particular to distinguish it, but only
+its being larger than other Malay houses. Great quantities of fish are
+procured at this place, and sold cheap. The trade is principally with the
+hill-people, in salt, piece-goods, iron, steel, and opium; for which the
+returns are provisions, timber, and a little gold-dust. Formerly there
+was a trade carried on with the Padang and other ate angin people, but it
+is now dropped. The soil is sandy, low, and flat.
+
+EXPEDITION RESUMED.
+
+It being still necessary to make an example of the Sungei-tenang people
+for assisting the three hostile chiefs in their depredations, in order
+thereby to deter others from doing the same in future, and the men being
+now recovered from their fatigue and furnished with the requisite
+supplies, the detachment began to march on the 9th of February for Ayer
+Dikit. It now consists of Lieutenant Dare, Mr. Alexander, surgeon,
+seventy sepoys, including officers, twenty-seven lascars and Bengal
+convicts, and eleven of the bugis-guard. Left the old mortar and took
+with us one of smaller calibre.
+
+ACCOUNT OF SERAMPEI COUNTRY AND PEOPLE.
+
+From the 10th to the 22nd occupied in our march to the Serampei village
+of Ranna Alli. The people of this country acknowledge themselves the
+subjects of the sultan of Jambi, who sometimes but rarely exacts a
+tribute from them of a buffalo, a tail of gold, and a hundred bamboos of
+rice from each village. They are accustomed to carry burdens of from
+sixty to ninety pounds weight on journeys that take them twenty or thirty
+days; and it astonishes a lowlander to see with what ease they walk over
+these hills, generally going a shuffling or ambling pace. Their loads are
+placed in a long triangular basket, supported by a fillet across the
+forehead, resting upon the back and back part of the head, the broadest
+end of the triangle being uppermost, considerably above the head, and the
+small end coming down as low as the loins. The Serampei country,
+comprehending fifteen fortified and independent dusuns, beside talangs or
+small open villages, is bounded on the north and north-west by Korinchi,
+on the east, south-east, and south by Pakalang-jambu and Sungei-tenang,
+and on the west and south-west by the greater Ayer Dikit River and chain
+of high mountains bordering on the Sungei-ipu country. 23rd. Reached
+Rantau Kramas. Took possession of the batteries, which the enemy had
+considerably improved in our absence, collecting large quantities of
+stones; but they were not manned, probably from not expecting our return
+so soon. 24th. Arrived at those of Danau-pau, which had also been
+strengthened. The roads being dry and weather fine we are enabled to make
+tolerably long marches. Our advanced party nearly caught one of the enemy
+planting ranjaus, and in retreating he wounded himself with them. 25th.
+Passed many small rivulets discharging themselves into the lake at this
+place.
+
+COME UP WITH THE ENEMY.
+
+26th. The officer commanding the advanced party sent word that the enemy
+were at a short distance ahead; that they had felled a number of trees to
+obstruct the road, and had thrown an entrenchment across it, extending
+from one swamp and precipice to another, where they waited to receive us.
+When the whole of the detachment had come up we marched on to the attack,
+scrambled over the trees, and with great difficulty got the mortar over.
+
+FIRST ATTACK FAILS.
+
+The first onset was not attended with success, and our men were dropping
+fast, not being able to advance on account of the ranjaus, which almost
+pinned their feet to the ground. Seeing that the entrenchments were not
+to be carried in front, a subedar with thirty sepoys and the bugis-guard
+were ordered to endeavour to pass the swamp on the right, find out a
+pathway, and attack the enemy on the flank and rear, while the remainder
+should, on a preconcerted signal, make an attack on the front at the same
+time. To prevent the enemy from discovering our intentions the drums were
+kept beating, and a few random shots fired. Upon the signal being given a
+general attack commenced, and our success was complete.
+
+ENTRENCHMENTS CARRIED.
+
+The enemy, of whom there were, as we reckon, three or four hundred within
+the entrenchments, were soon put to the rout, and, after losing great
+numbers, among whom was the head dupati, a principal instigator of the
+disturbances, fled in all directions. We lost two sepoys killed and seven
+wounded, beside several much hurt by the ranjaus. The mortar played
+during the time, but is not supposed to have done much execution on
+account of the surrounding trees.
+
+THEIR CONSTRUCTION.
+
+The entrenchments were constructed of large trees laid horizontally
+between stakes driven into the ground, about seven feet high, with
+loopholes for firing. Being laid about six feet thick, a cannonball could
+not have penetrated. They extended eighty or ninety yards. The headman's
+quarters were a large tree hollowed at the root.
+
+As soon as litters could be made for the wounded, and the killed were
+buried, we continued our march in an eastern direction, and in about an
+hour arrived at another battery, which however was not defended. In front
+of this the enemy had tied a number of long sharp stakes to a stone,
+which was suspended to the bough of a tree, and by swinging it their plan
+was to wound us.
+
+ARRIVE AT A STREAM RUNNING INTO THE JAMBI RIVER.
+
+Crossed the Tambesi rivulet, flowing from south to north, and one of the
+contributary streams to the Jambi River, which discharges itself into the
+sea on the eastern side of the Island. Built our huts near a field of
+maize and padi.
+
+KOTO TUGGOH.
+
+27th. Marched to Koto Tuggoh, from whence the inhabitants fled on our
+throwing one shell and firing a few muskets, and we took possession of
+the place. It is situated on a high hill, nearly perpendicular on three
+sides, the easiest entrance being on the west, but it is there defended
+by a ditch seven fathoms deep and five wide. The place contains the
+ballei and about twenty houses, built in general of plank very neatly put
+together, and carved; and some of them were also roofed with planks or
+shingles about two feet long and one broad. The others with the leaves of
+the puar or cardamum, which are again very thinly covered with iju. This
+is said to last long, but harbours vermin, as we experienced. When we
+entered the village we met with only one person, who was deformed, dumb,
+and had more the appearance of a monkey than a human creature.
+
+DESTROYED. ENTER KOTO BHARU.
+
+March 1st. After completely destroying Koto Tuggoh we marched in a north
+and afterwards an east direction, and arrived at Koto Bharu. The head
+dupati requesting a parley, it was granted, and, on our promising not to
+injure his village, he allowed us to take possession of it. We found in
+the place a number of Batang Asei and other people, armed with muskets,
+blunderbusses, and spears. At our desire, he sent off people to the other
+Sungei-tenang villages to summon their chiefs to meet us if they chose to
+show themselves friends, or otherwise we should proceed against them as
+we had done against Koto Tuggoh.
+
+PEACE CONCLUDED.
+
+This dupati was a respectable-looking old man, and tears trickled down
+his cheeks when matters were amicably settled between us: indeed for some
+time he could hardly be convinced of it, and repeatedly asked, "Are we
+friends?" 2nd. The chiefs met as desired, and after a short conversation
+agreed to all that we proposed. Papers were thereupon drawn up and signed
+and sworn to under the British colours. After this a shell was thrown
+into the air at the request of the chiefs, who were desirous of
+witnessing the sight.
+
+MODE OF TAKING AN OATH.
+
+Their method of swearing was as follows: The young shoots of the
+anau-tree were made into a kind of rope, with the leaves hanging, and
+this was attached to four stakes stuck in the ground, forming an area of
+five or six feet square, within which a mat was spread, where those about
+to take the oath seated themselves. A small branch of the prickly bamboo
+was planted in the area also, and benzoin was kept burning during the
+ceremony. The chiefs then laid their hands on the koran, held to them by
+a priest, and one of them repeated to the rest the substance of the oath,
+who, at the pauses he made, gave a nod of assent; after which they
+severally said, "may the earth become barren, the air and water
+poisonous, and may dreadful calamities fall on us and our posterity, if
+we do not fulfil what we now agree to and promise."
+
+ACCOUNT OF SUNGEI-TENANG COUNTRY.
+
+We met here with little or no fruit excepting plantains and pineapples,
+and these of an indifferent sort. The general produce of the country was
+maize, padi, potatoes, sweet-potatoes, tobacco, and sugar-cane. The
+principal part of their clothing was procured from the eastern side of
+the island. They appear to have no regular season for sowing the grain,
+and we saw plantations where in one part they had taken in the crop, in
+another part it was nearly ripe, in a third not above five inches high,
+and in a fourth they had but just prepared the ground for sowing. Upon
+the whole, there appeared more cultivation than near the coast.
+
+MANNERS OF PEOPLE.
+
+It is a practice with many individuals among these people (as with
+mountaineers in some parts of Europe) to leave their country in order to
+seek employment where they can find it, and at the end of three or four
+years revisit their native soil, bringing with them the produce of their
+labours. If they happen to be successful they become itinerant merchants,
+and travel to almost all parts of the island, particularly where fairs
+are held, or else purchase a matchlock gun and become soldiers of
+fortune, hiring themselves to whoever will pay them, but always ready to
+come forward in defence of their country and families. They are a thick
+stout dark race of people, something resembling the Achinese; and in
+general they are addicted to smoking opium. We had no opportunity of
+seeing the Sungei-tenang women. The men are very fantastical in their
+dress. Their bajus have the sleeves blue perhaps whilst the body is
+white, with stripes of red or any other colour over the shoulders, and
+their short breeches are generally one half blue and the other white,
+just as fancy leads them. Others again are dressed entirely in blue
+cotton cloth, the same as the inhabitants of the west coast. The bag
+containing their sirih or betel hangs over the shoulder by a string, if
+it may be so termed, of brass wire. Many of them have also twisted brass
+wire round the waist, in which they stick their krises.
+
+CHARMS.
+
+They commonly carry charms about their persons to preserve them from
+accidents; one of which was shown to us, printed (at Batavia or Samarang
+in Java) in Dutch, Portuguese, and French. It purported that the writer
+was acquainted with the occult sciences, and that whoever possessed one
+of the papers impressed with his mark (which was the figure of a hand
+with the thumb and fingers extended) was invulnerable and free from all
+kinds of harm. It desired the people to be very cautious of taking any
+such printed in London (where certainly none were ever printed), as the
+English would endeavour to counterfeit them and to impose on the
+purchasers,
+being all cheats. (Whether we consider this as a political or a
+mercantile speculation it is not a little extraordinary and ridiculous).
+The houses here, as well as in the Serampei country, are all built on
+posts of what they call paku gajah (elephant-fern, Chamaerops palma,
+Lour.), a tree something resembling a fern, and when full-grown a
+palm-tree. It is of a fibrous nature, black, and lasts for a great length
+of time. Every dusun has a ballei or town hall, about a hundred and
+twenty feet long and proportionably broad, the woodwork of which is
+neatly carved. The dwelling-houses contain five, six, or seven families
+each, and the country is populous. The inhabitants both of Sungei-tenang
+and Serampei are Mahometans, and acknowledge themselves subjects of
+Jambi. The former country, so well as we were able to ascertain, is
+bounded on the north and north-west by Korinchi and Serampei, on the west
+and south-west by the Anak-sungei or Moco-moco and Ipu districts, on the
+south by Labun, and on the east by Batang Asei and Pakalang-jambu. 3rd.
+Marched on our return to the coast, many of the principal people
+attending us as far as the last of their plantations. It rained hard
+almost the whole of this day.
+
+RETURN TO THE COAST.
+
+On the 14th arrived at Moco-moco; on the 22nd proceeded for Bencoolen,
+and arrived there on the 30th March 1805, after one of the most fatiguing
+and harassing expeditions any detachment of troops ever served upon;
+attended with the sickness of the whole of the party, and the death of
+many, particularly of Mr. Alexander, the surgeon.
+
+End of Lieutenant Dare's narrative.
+
+It is almost unnecessary to observe that these were the consequences of
+the extreme impolicy of sending an expedition up the country in the heart
+of the rainy season. The public orders issued on the occasion were highly
+creditable to Lieutenant Dare.
+
+
+CHAPTER 18.
+
+MALAYAN STATES.
+ANCIENT EMPIRE OF MENANGKABAU.
+ORIGIN OF THE MALAYS AND GENERAL ACCEPTATION OF NAME.
+EVIDENCES OF THEIR MIGRATION FROM SUMATRA.
+SUCCESSION OF MALAYAN PRINCES.
+PRESENT STATE OF THE EMPIRE.
+TITLES OF THE SULTAN.
+CEREMONIES.
+CONVERSION TO MAHOMETAN RELIGION.
+LITERATURE.
+ARTS.
+WARFARE.
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+MALAYAN STATES.
+
+I shall now take a more particular view of the Malayan states, as
+distinguished from those of the people termed orang ulu or countrymen,
+and orang dusun or villagers, who, not being generally converted to the
+Mahometan religion, have thereby preserved a more original character.
+
+EMPIRE OF MENANGKABAU.
+
+The principal government, and whose jurisdiction in ancient times is
+understood to have comprehended the whole of Sumatra, is Menangkabau,*
+situated under the equinoctial line, beyond the western range of high
+mountains, and nearly in the centre of the island; in which respect it
+differs from Malayan establishments in other parts, which are almost
+universally near the mouths of large rivers. The appellations however of
+orang menangkabau and orang malayo are so much identified that,
+previously to entering upon an account of the former, it will be useful
+to throw as much light as possible upon the latter, and to ascertain to
+what description of people the name of Malays, bestowed by Europeans upon
+all who resemble them in features and complexion, properly belongs.
+
+(*Footnote. The name is said to be derived from the words menang,
+signifying to win, and karbau, a buffalo; from a story, carrying a very
+fabulous air, of a famous engagement on that spot between the buffaloes
+and tigers, in which the former are stated to have acquired a complete
+victory. Such is the account the natives give; but they are fond of
+dealing in fiction, and the etymology has probably no better foundation
+than a fanciful resemblance of sound.)
+
+ORIGIN OF MALAYS.
+
+It has hitherto been considered as an obvious truth, and admitted without
+examination that, wherever they are found upon the numerous islands
+forming this archipelago, they or their ancestors must have migrated from
+the country named by Europeans (and by them alone) the Malayan peninsula
+or peninsula of Malacca, of which the indigenous and proper inhabitants
+were understood to be Malays; and accordingly in the former editions of
+this work I spoke of the natives of Menangkabau as having acquired their
+religion, language, manners, and other national characteristics from the
+settling among them of genuine Malays from the neighbouring continent. It
+will however appear from the authorities I shall produce, amounting as
+nearly to positive evidence as the nature of the subject will admit, that
+the present possessors of the coasts of the peninsula were on the
+contrary in the first instance adventurers from Sumatra, who in the
+twelfth century formed an establishment there, and that the indigenous
+inhabitants, gradually driven by them to the woods and mountains, so far
+from being the stock from whence the Malays were propagated, are an
+entirely different race of men, nearly approaching in their physical
+character to the negroes of Africa.
+
+MIGRATION FROM SUMATRA.
+
+The evidences of this migration from Sumatra are chiefly found in two
+Malayan books well known, by character at least, to those who are
+conversant with the written language, the one named Taju assalatin or
+Makuta segala raja-raja, The Crown of all Kings, and the other, more
+immediately to the purpose, Sulalat assalatin or Penurun-an segala
+raja­raja, The Descent of all (Malayan) Kings. Of these it has not been
+my good fortune to obtain copies, but the contents, so far as they apply
+to the present subject, have been fully detailed by two eminent Dutch
+writers to whom the literature of this part of the East was familiar.
+Petrus van der Worm first communicated the knowledge of these historical
+treatises in his learned Introduction to the Malayan Vocabulary of
+Gueynier, printed at Batavia in the year 1677; and extracts to the same
+effect were afterwards given by Valentyn in Volume 5 pages 316 to 320 of
+his elaborate work, published at Amsterdam in 1726. The books are
+likewise mentioned in a list of Malayan Authors by G.H. Werndly, at the
+end of his Maleische Spraak-kunst, and by the ingenious Dr. Leyden in his
+Paper on the Languages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese Nations,
+recently published in Volume 10 of the Asiatic Researches. The substance
+of the information conveyed by them is as follows; and I trust it will
+not be thought that the mixture of a portion of mythological fable in
+accounts of this nature invalidates what might otherwise have credit as
+historical fact. The utmost indeed we can pretend to ascertain is what
+the natives themselves believe to have been their ancient history; and it
+is proper to remark that in the present question there can be no
+suspicion of bias from national vanity, as we have reason to presume that
+the authors of these books were not Sumatrans.
+
+The original country inhabited by the Malayan race (according to these
+authorities) was the kingdom of Palembang in the island of Indalus, now
+Sumatra, on the river Malayo, which flows by the mountain named
+Maha-meru, and discharges itself into the river Tatang (on which
+Palembang stands) before it joins the sea. Having chosen for their king
+or leader a prince named Sri Turi Buwana, who boasted his descent from
+Iskander the Great, and to whom, on that account, their natural chief
+Demang Lebar Daun submitted his authority, they emigrated, under his
+command (about the year 1160), to the south-eastern extremity of the
+opposite peninsula, named Ujong Tanah, where they were at first
+distinguished by the appellation of orang de-bawah angin or the Leeward
+people, but in time the coast became generally known by that of Tanah
+malayo or the Malayan land.
+
+SINGAPURA BUILT.
+
+In this situation they built their first city, which they called
+Singapura (vulgarly Sincapore), and their rising consequence excited the
+jealousy of the kings of Maja-pahit, a powerful state in the island of
+Java. To Sri Turi Buwana, who died in 1208, succeeded Paduka Pikaram
+Wira, who reigned fifteen years; to him Sri Rama Vikaram, who reigned
+thirteen, and to him Sri Maharaja, who reigned twelve.
+
+MALAKA BUILT.
+
+His successor, Sri Iskander Shah, was the last king of Singapura. During
+three years he withstood the forces of the king of Maja-pahit, but in
+1252, being hard pressed, he retired first to the northward, and
+afterwards to the western, coast of the peninsula, where in the following
+year he founded a new city, which under his wise government became of
+considerable importance. To this he gave the name of Malaka, from a
+fruit-bearing tree so called (myrabolanum) found in abundance on the hill
+which gives natural strength to the situation. Having reigned here
+twenty-two years, beloved by his subjects and feared by his neighbours,
+Iskander Shah died in 1274, and was succeeded by Sultan Magat, who
+reigned only two years. Up to this period the Malayan princes were
+pagans. Sultan Muhammed Shah, who ascended the throne in 1276, was the
+first Mahometan prince, and by the propagation of this faith acquired
+great celebrity during a long reign of fifty-seven years. His influence
+appears to have extended over the neighbouring islands of Lingga and
+Bintan, together with Johor, Patani, Kedah, and Perak, on the coasts of
+the peninsula, and Campar and Aru in Sumatra; all of which acquired the
+appellative of Malayo, although it was now more especially applied to the
+people of Malaka, or, as it is commonly written, Malacca. He left the
+peaceful possession of his dominions to his son Sultan Abu Shahid, who
+had reigned only one year and five months when he was murdered in 1334 by
+the king of Arrakan, with whose family his father had contracted a
+marriage. His successor was Sultan Modafar or Mozafar Shah, who was
+distinguished for the wisdom of his government, of which he left a
+memorial in a Book of Institutes or Laws of Malaka, held to this day in
+high estimation. This city was now regarded as the third in rank (after
+Maja-pahit on Java, and Pase on Sumatra) in that part of the East.
+
+(*Footnote. The account given by Juan de Barros of the abandonment of the
+Malayan city of Singapura and foundation of Malacca differs materially
+from the above; and although the authority of a writer, who collected his
+materials in Lisbon, cannot be put in competition with that of Valentyn,
+who passed a long and laborious life amongst the people, and quotes the
+native historians, I shall give an abstract of his relation, from the
+sixth book of the second Decade. "At the period when Cingapura flourished
+its king was named Sangesinga; and in the neighbouring island of Java
+reigned Pararisa, upon whose death the latter country became subject to
+the tyranny of his brother, who put one of his nephews to death, and
+forced many of the nobles, who took part against him, to seek refuge
+abroad. Among these was one named Paramisora, whom Sangesinga received
+with hospitality that was badly requited, for the stranger soon found
+means to put him to death, and, by the assistance of the Javans who
+accompanied him in his flight, to take possession of the city. The king
+of Siam, whose son-in-law and vassal the deceased was, assembled a large
+force by sea and land, and compelled the usurper to evacuate Cingapura
+with two thousand followers, a part of whom were Cellates (orang sellat
+men of the Straits) accustomed to live by fishing and piracy, who had
+assisted him in seizing and keeping the throne during five years. They
+disembarked at a place called Muar, a hundred and fifty leagues from
+thence, where Paramisora and his own people fortified themselves. The
+Cellates, whom he did not choose to trust, proceeded five leagues
+farther, and occupied a bank of the river where the fortress of Malacca
+now stands. Here they united with the half-savage natives, who like
+themselves spoke the Malayan language, and, the spot they had chosen
+becoming too confined for their increasing numbers, they moved a league
+higher up, to one more convenient, and were at length joined by their
+former chief and his companions. During the government of his son, named
+Xaquen Darxa (a strange Portuguese corruption of Iskander or Sekander
+Shah) they again descended the river, in order to enjoy the advantages of
+a sea-port, and built a town, which, from the fortunes of his father, was
+named Malacca, signifying an exile." Every person conversant with the
+language must know that the word does not bear that nor any similar
+meaning, and an error so palpable throws discredit on the whole
+narrative.)
+
+About the year 1340 the king of Siam, being jealous of the growing power
+of Malaka, invaded the country, and in a second expedition laid siege to
+the capital; but his armies were defeated by the general of Modafar,
+named Sri Nara Dirija. After these events Modafar reigned some years with
+much reputation, and died in 1374. His son, originally named Sultan
+Abdul, took the title of Sultan Mansur Shah upon his accession. At the
+time that the king of Maja-pahit drove the Malays from Singapura, as
+above related, he likewise subdued the country of Indragiri in Sumatra;
+but upon the occasion of Mansur Shah's marriage (about the year 1380)
+with the daughter of the then reigning king, a princess of great
+celebrity, named Radin Gala Chendra Kiran, it was assigned to him as her
+portion, and has since continued (according to Valentyn) under the
+dominion of the princes of Malaka. Mansur appears to have been engaged in
+continual wars, and to have obtained successes against Pahang, Pase, and
+Makasar. His reign extended to the almost incredible period of
+seventy-three years, being succeeded in 1447 by his son Sultan
+Ala-wa-eddin. During his reign of thirty years nothing particular is
+recorded; but there is reason to believe that his country during some
+part of that time was under the power of the Siamese. Sultan Mahmud Shah,
+who succeeded him, was the twelfth Malayan king, and the seventh and last
+king of Malaka.
+
+JOHOR FOUNDED.
+
+In 1509 he repelled the aggression of the king of Siam; but in 1511 was
+conquered by the Portuguese under Alfonso d'Alboquerque, and forced, with
+the principal inhabitants, to fly to the neighbourhood of the first
+Malayan establishment at the extremity of the peninsula, where he founded
+the city of Johor, which still subsists, but has never attained to any
+considerable importance, owing as it may be presumed to the European
+influence that has ever since, under the Portuguese, Hollanders, and
+English, predominated in that quarter.*
+
+(*Footnote. It was subdued by the Portuguese in 1608. In 1641 Malacca was
+taken from them by the Hollanders, who held it till the present war,
+which has thrown it into the possession of the English. The interior
+boundaries of its territory, according to the Transactions of the
+Batavian Society, are the mountains of Rombou, inhabited by a Malayan
+people named Maning Cabou, and Mount Ophir, called by the natives
+Gunong-Ledang. These limits, say they, it is impracticable for a European
+to pass, the whole coast, for some leagues from the sea, being either a
+morass or impenetrable forest; and these natural difficulties are
+aggravated by the treacherous and bloodthirsty character of the natives.
+The description, which will be found in Volume 4 pages 333 to 334, is
+evidently overcharged. In speaking of Johor the original emigration of a
+Malayan colony from Sumatra to the mouth of that river, which gave its
+name to the whole coast, is briefly mentioned.)
+
+ANCIENT RELIGION.
+
+With respect to the religion professed by the Malayan princes at the time
+of their migration from Sumatra, and for about 116 years after, little
+can be known, because the writers, whose works have reached us, lived
+since the period of conversion, and as good Mahometans would have thought
+it profane to enter into the detail of superstitions which they regard
+with abhorrence; but from the internal evidence we can entertain little
+doubt of its having been the religion of Brahma, much corrupted however
+and blended with the antecedent rude idolatry of the country, such as we
+now find it amongst the Battas. Their proper names or titles are
+obviously Hindu, with occasional mixture of Persian, and their mountain
+of Maha-meru, elsewhere so well known as the seat of Indra and the dewas,
+sufficiently points out the mythology adopted in the country. I am not
+aware that at the present day there is any mountain in Sumatra called by
+that name; but it is reasonable to presume that appellations decidedly
+connected with Paganism may have been changed by the zealous propagators
+of the new faith, and I am much inclined to believe that by the Maha-meru
+of the Malays is to be understood the mountain of Sungei-pagu in the
+Menangkabau country, from whence issue rivers that flow to both sides of
+the island. In the neighbourhood of this reside the chiefs of the four
+great tribes, called ampat suku or four quarters, one of which is named
+Malayo (the others, Kampi, Pani, and Tiga-lara); and it is probable that
+to it belonged the adventurers who undertook the expedition to Ujong
+Tanah, and perpetuated the name of their particular race in the rising
+fortunes of the new colony. From what circumstances they were led to
+collect their vessels for embarkation at Palembang rather than at
+Indragiri or Siak, so much more convenient in point of local position,
+cannot now be ascertained.
+
+Having proposed some queries upon this subject to the late Mr. Francis
+Light, who first settled the island of Pinang or Prince of Wales island,
+in the Straits of Malacca, granted to him by the king of Kedah as the
+marriage portion of his daughter, he furnished me in answer with the
+following notices. "The origin of the Malays, like that of other people,
+is involved in fable; every raja is descended from some demigod, and the
+people sprung from the ocean. According to their traditions however their
+first city of Singapura, near the present Johor, was peopled from
+Palembang, from whence they proceeded to settle at Malacca (naming their
+city from the fruit so called), and spread along the coast. The peninsula
+is at present inhabited by distinct races of people. The Siamese possess
+the northern part to latitude 7 degrees, extending from the east to the
+west side. The Malays possess the whole of the sea-coast on both sides,
+from that latitude to Point Romania; being mixed in some places with the
+Bugis from Celebes, who have still a small settlement at Salmigor. The
+inland parts to the northward are inhabited by the Patani people, who
+appear to be a mixture of Siamese and Malays, and occupy independent
+dusuns or villages. Among the forests and in the mountains are a race of
+Caffres, in every respect resembling those of Africa excepting in
+stature, which does not exceed four feet eight inches. The Menangkabau
+people of the peninsula are so named from an inland country in Pulo
+Percha (Sumatra). A distinction is made between them and the Malays of
+Johor, but none is perceptible."
+
+To these authorities I shall add that of Mr. Thomas Raffles, at this time
+Secretary to the government of Pulo Pinang, a gentleman whose
+intelligence and zeal in the pursuit of knowledge give the strongest hope
+of his becoming an ornament to oriental literature. To his correspondence
+I am indebted for much useful information in the line of my researches,
+and the following passages corroborate the opinions I had formed. "With
+respect to the Menangkabaus, after a good deal of inquiry, I have not yet
+been able decidedly to ascertain the relation between those of that name
+in the peninsula and the Menangkabaus of Pulo Percha. The Malays affirm
+without hesitation that they all came originally from the latter island."
+In a recent communication he adds, "I am more confident than ever that
+the Menangkabaus of the peninsula derive their origin from the country of
+that name in Sumatra. Inland of Malacca about sixty miles is situated the
+Malay kingdom of Rumbo, whose sultan and all the principal officers of
+state hold their authority immediately from Menangkabau, and have written
+commissions for their respective offices. This shows the extent of that
+ancient power even now, reduced as it must be, in common with that of the
+Malay people in general. I had many opportunities of communicating with
+the natives of Rumbo, and they have clearly a peculiar dialect,
+resembling exactly what you mention of substituting the final o for a, as
+in the word ambo for amba. In fact, the dialect is called by the Malacca
+people the language of Menangkabau."
+
+HISTORY OF MENANGKABAU IMPERFECTLY KNOWN.
+
+Returning from this discussion I shall resume the consideration of what
+is termed the Sumatran empire of Menangkabau, believed by the natives of
+all descriptions to have subsisted from the remotest times. With its
+annals, either ancient or modern, we are little acquainted, and the
+existence of any historical records in the country has generally been
+doubted; yet, as those of Malacca and of Achin have been preserved, it is
+not hastily to be concluded that these people, who are the equals of the
+former, and much superior to the latter in point of literature, are
+destitute of theirs, although they have not reached our hands. It is
+known that they deduce their origin from two brothers, named
+Pera­pati-si-batang and Kei Tamanggungan, who are described as being
+among the forty companions of Noah in the ark, and whose landing at
+Palembang, or at a small island near it, named Langkapura, is attended
+with the circumstance of the dry land being first discovered by the
+resting upon it of a bird that flew from the vessel. From thence they
+proceeded to the mountain named Siguntang-guntang, and afterwards to
+Priangan in the neighbourhood of the great volcano, which at this day is
+spoken of as the ancient capital of Menangkabau. Unfortunately I possess
+only an imperfect abstract of this narrative, obviously intended for an
+introduction to the genealogy of its kings, but, even as a fable,
+extremely confused and unsatisfactory; and when the writer brings it down
+to what may be considered as the historical period he abruptly leaves
+off, with a declaration that the offer of a sum of money (which was
+unquestionably his object) should not tempt him to proceed.
+
+LIMITS.
+
+At a period not very remote its limits were included between the river of
+Palembang and that of Siak, on the eastern side of the island, and on the
+western side between those of Manjuta (near Indrapura) and Singkel, where
+(as well as at Siak) it borders on the independent country of the Battas.
+The present seat, or more properly seats, of the divided government lie
+at the back of a mountainous district named the Tiga-blas koto
+(signifying the thirteen fortified and confederated towns) inland of the
+settlement of Padang. The country is described as a large plain
+surrounded by hills producing much gold, clear of woods, and
+comparatively well cultivated. Although nearer to the western coast its
+communications with the eastern side are much facilitated by
+water-carriage.
+
+LAKE.
+
+Advantage is taken in the first place of a large lake, called Laut-danau,
+situated at the foot of the range of high mountains named gunong Besi,
+inland of the country of Priaman, the length of which is described by
+some as being equal to a day's sailing, and by others as no more than
+twenty-five or thirty miles, abounding with fish (especially of two
+species, known by the names of sasau and bili), and free from alligators.
+
+RIVERS.
+
+From this, according to the authority of a map drawn by a native, issues
+a river called Ayer Ambelan, which afterwards takes the name of
+Indragiri, along which, as well as the two other great rivers of Siak to
+the northward, and Jambi to the southward, the navigation is frequent,
+the banks of all of them being peopled with Malayan colonies. Between
+Menangkabau and Palembang the intercourse must, on account of the
+distance, be very rare, and the assertion that in the intermediate
+country there exists another great lake, which sends its streams to both
+sides of the island, appears not only to be without foundation in fact,
+but also at variance with the usual operations of nature; as I believe it
+may be safely maintained that, however numerous the streams which furnish
+the water of a lake, it can have only one outlet; excepting, perhaps, in
+flat countries, where the course of the waters has scarcely any
+determination, or under such a nice balance of physical circumstances as
+is not likely to occur.
+
+POLITICAL DECLINE.
+
+When the island was first visited by European navigators this state must
+have been in its decline, as appears from the political importance at
+that period of the kings of Achin, Pedir, and Pase, who, whilst they
+acknowledged their authority to be derived from him as their lord
+paramount, and some of them paid him a trifling complimentary tribute,
+acted as independent sovereigns. Subsequently to this an Achinese
+monarch, under the sanction of a real or pretended grant, obtained from
+one of the sultans, who, having married his daughter, treated her with
+nuptial slight, and occasioned her to implore her father's interference,
+extended his dominion along the western coast, and established his
+panglimas or governors in many places within the territory of
+Menangkabau, particularly at Priaman, near the great volcano-mountain.
+This grant is said to have been extorted not by the force of arms but by
+an appeal to the decision of some high court of justice similar to that
+of the imperial chamber in Germany, and to have included all the low or
+strand-countries (pasisir barat) as far southward as Bengkaulu or
+Silebar. About the year 1613 however he claimed no farther than Padang,
+and his actual possessions reached only to Barus.*
+
+(*Footnote. The following instances occur of mention made by writers at
+different periods of the kingdom of Menangkabau. ODOARDUS BARBOSA, 1519.
+"Sumatra, a most large and beautiful island; Pedir, the principal city on
+the northern side, where are also Pacem and Achem. Campar is opposite to
+Malacca. Monancabo, to the southward, is the principal source of gold, as
+well from mines as collected in the banks of the rivers." DE BARROS,
+1553. "Malacca had the epithet of aurea given to it on account of the
+abundance of gold brought from Monancabo and Barros, countries in the
+island of Camatra, where it is procured." DIOGO de COUTO, 1600. "He gives
+an account of a Portuguese ship wrecked on the coast of Sumatra, near to
+the country of Manancabo, in 1560. Six hundred persons got on shore,
+among whom were some women, one of them, Dona Francisca Sardinha, was of
+such remarkable beauty that the people of the country resolved to carry
+her off for their king; and they effected it, after a struggle in which
+sixty of the Europeans lost their lives. At this period there was a great
+intercourse between Manancabo and Malacca, many vessels going yearly with
+gold to purchase cotton goods and other merchandise. In ancient times the
+country was so rich in this metal that several hundredweight (seis, sete,
+e mais candiz, de que trez fazem hum moyo) were exported in one season.
+Volume 3 page 178. LINSCHOTEN, 1601. "At Menancabo excellent poniards
+made, called creeses; best weapons of all the orient. Islands along the
+coast of Sumatra, called islands of Menancabo." ARGENSOLA, 1609. "A
+vessel loaded with creeses manufactured at Menancabo and a great quantity
+of artillery; a species of warlike machine known and fabricated in
+Sumatra many years before they were introduced by Europeans." LANCASTER,
+1602. "Menangcabo lies eight or ten leagues inland of Priaman." BEST,
+1613. " A man arrived from Menangcaboo at Ticoo, and brought news from
+Jambee." BEAULIEU, 1622. "Du cote du ponant apres Padang suit le royaume
+de Manimcabo; puis celuy d'Andripoura-Il y a (a Jambi) grand trafic d'or,
+qu'ils ont avec ceux de Manimcabo." Vies des Gouverneurs Gen. Hollandois,
+1763. Il est bon de remarquer ici que presque toute la cote occidentale
+avoit ete reduite par la flotte du Sieur Pierre de Bitter en 1664.
+L'annee suivante, les habitans de Pauw massacrerent le Commissaire Gruis,
+etc.; mais apres avoir venge ce meurtre, et dissipe les revoltes en 1666,
+les Hollandois etoient restes les maitres de toute cette etendue de cotes
+entre Sillebar et Baros, ou ils etablirent divers comptoirs, dont celui
+de Padang est le principal depuis 1667. Le commandant, qui y reside, est
+en meme temps Stadhouder (Lieutenant) de l'Empereur de Maningcabo, a qui
+la Compagnie a cede, sous diverses restrictions & limitations, la
+souverainete sur tous les peuples qui babitent le long du rivage" etc.)
+
+DIVISION OF THE GOVERNMENT.
+
+In consequence of disturbances that ensued upon the death of a sultan
+Alif in the year 1680, without direct heirs, the government became
+divided amongst three chiefs, presumed to have been of the royal family
+and at the same time great officers of state, who resided at places named
+Suruwasa, Pagar-ruyong, and Sungei-trap; and in that state it continues
+to the present time. Upon the capture of Padang by the English in 1781
+deputations arrived from two of these chiefs with congratulations upon
+the success of our arms; which will be repeated with equal sincerity to
+those who may chance to succeed us. The influence of the Dutch (and it
+would have been the same with any other European power) has certainly
+contributed to undermine the political consequence of Menangkabau by
+giving countenance and support to its disobedient vassals, who in their
+turn have often experienced the dangerous effects of receiving favours
+from too powerful an ally. Pasaman, a populous country, and rich in gold,
+cassia, and camphor, one of its nearest provinces, and governed by a
+panglima from thence, now disclaims all manner of dependence. Its
+sovereignty is divided between the two rajas of Sabluan and Kanali, who,
+in imitation of their former masters, boast an origin of high antiquity.
+One of them preserves as his sacred relic the bark of a tree in which his
+ancestor was nursed in the woods before the Pasaman people had reached
+their present polished state. The other, to be on a level with him,
+possesses the beard of a reverend predecessor (perhaps an anchorite),
+which was so bushy that a large bird had built its nest in it. Raja
+Kanali supported a long war with the Hollanders, attended with many
+reverses of fortune.
+
+Whether the three sultans maintain a struggle of hostile rivalship, or
+act with an appearance of concert, as holding the nominal sovereignty
+under a species of joint-regency, I am not informed, but each of them in
+the preamble of his letters assumes all the royal titles, without any
+allusion to competitors; and although their power and resources are not
+much beyond those of a common raja they do not fail to assert all the
+ancient rights and prerogatives of the empire, which are not disputed so
+long as they are not attempted to be carried into force. Pompous
+dictatorial edicts are issued and received by the neighbouring states
+(including the European chiefs of Padang), with demonstration of profound
+respect, but no farther obeyed than may happen to consist with the
+political interests of the parties to whom they are addressed. Their
+authority in short resembles not a little that of the sovereign pontiffs
+of Rome during the latter centuries, founded as it is in the superstition
+of remote ages; holding terrors over the weak, and contemned by the
+stronger powers. The district of Suruwasa, containing the site of the old
+capital, or Menangkabau proper, seems to have been considered by the
+Dutch as entitled to a degree of pre-eminence; but I have not been able
+to discover any marks of superiority or inferiority amongst them. In
+distant parts the schism is either unknown, or the three who exercise the
+royal functions are regarded as co-existing members of the same family,
+and their government, in the abstract, however insignificant in itself,
+is there an object of veneration. Indeed to such an unaccountable excess
+is this carried that every relative of the sacred family, and many who
+have no pretensions to it assume that character, are treated wherever
+they appear, not only with the most profound respect by the chiefs who go
+out to meet them, fire salutes on their entering the dusuns, and allow
+them to level contributions for their maintenance; but by the country
+people with such a degree of superstitious awe that they submit to be
+insulted, plundered, and even wounded by them, without making resistance,
+which they would esteem a dangerous profanation. Their appropriate title
+(not uncommon in other Malayan countries) is Iang de per-tuan, literally
+signifying he who ruleth.
+
+A person of this description, who called himself Sri Ahmed Shah, heir to
+the empire of Menangkabau, in consequence of some differences with the
+Dutch, came and settled amongst the English at Bencoolen in the year
+1687, on his return from a journey to the southward as far as Lampong,
+and being much respected by the people of the country gained the entire
+confidence of Mr. Bloom, the governor. He subdued some of the
+neighbouring chiefs who were disaffected to the English, particularly
+Raja mudo of Sungei-lamo, and also a Jennang or deputy from the king of
+Bantam; he coined money, established a market, and wrote a letter to the
+East India Company promising to put them in possession of the trade of
+the whole island. But shortly afterwards a discovery was made of his
+having formed a design to cut off the settlement, and he was in
+consequence driven from the place. The records mention at a subsequent
+period that the sultan of Indrapura was raising troops to oppose him.*
+
+(*Footnote. The following anecdote of one of these personages was
+communicated to me by my friend, the late Mr. Crisp. "Some years ago,
+when I was resident of Manna, there was a man who had long worked in the
+place as a coolie when someone arrived from the northward, who happened
+to discover that he was an Iang de per-tuan or relation of the imperial
+family. Immediately all the bazaar united to raise him to honour and
+independence; he was never suffered to walk without a high umbrella
+carried over him, was followed by numerous attendants, and addressed by
+the title of tuanku, equivalent to your highness. After this he became an
+intriguing, troublesome fellow in the Residency, and occasioned much
+annoyance. The prejudice in favour of these people is said to extend over
+all the islands to the eastward where the Malay tongue is spoken.")
+
+HIS TITLES.
+
+The titles and epithets assumed by the sultans are the most extravagantly
+absurd that it is possible to imagine. Many of them descend to mere
+childishness; and it is difficult to conceive how any people, so far
+advanced in civilization as to be able to write, could display such
+evidences of barbarism. A specimen of a warrant of recent date, addressed
+to Tuanku Sungei-Pagu, a high-priest residing near Bencoolen, is as
+follows:
+
+Three circular Seals with inscriptions in Arabic characters.
+
+(Eldest brother) Sultan of Rum. Key Dummul Alum. Maharaja Alif.
+
+(Second brother) Sultan of China. Nour Alum. Maharaja Dempang or Dipang.
+
+(Youngest brother) Sultan of Menangkabau. Aour Alum. Maharaja Dirja or
+Durja.
+
+TRANSLATION OF A WARRANT.
+
+The sultan of Menangkabau, whose residence is at Pagar-ruyong, who is
+king of kings; a descendant of raja Iskander zu'lkarnaini; possessed of
+the crown brought from heaven by the prophet Adam; of a third part of the
+wood kamat, one extremity of which is in the kingdom of Rum and another
+in that of China; of the lance named lambing lambura ornamented with the
+beard of janggi; of the palace in the city of Rum, whose entertainments
+and diversions are exhibited in the month of zul'hijah, and where all
+alims, fakiahs, and mulanakaris praise and supplicate Allah; possessor of
+the gold-mine named kudarat-kudarati, which yields pure gold of twelve
+carats, and of the gold named jati-jati which snaps the dalik wood; of
+the sword named churak-simandang-giri, which received one hundred and
+ninety gaps in conflict with the fiend Si Kati­muno, whom it slew; of the
+kris formed of the soul of steel, which expresses an unwillingness at
+being sheathed and shows itself pleased when drawn; of a date coeval with
+the creation; master of fresh water in the ocean, to the extent of a
+day's sailing; of a lance formed of a twig of iju ; the sultan who
+receives his taxes in gold by the lessong measure; whose betel-stand is
+of gold set with diamonds; who is possessor of the web named sangsista
+kala, which weaves itself and adds one thread yearly, adorned with
+pearls, and when that web shall be completed the world will be no more;
+of horses of the race of sorimborani, superior to all others; of the
+mountain Si guntang-guntang, which divides Palembang and Jambi, and of
+the burning mountain; of the elephant named Hasti
+Dewah; who is vicegerent of heaven; sultan of the golden river; lord of
+the air and clouds; master of a ballei whose pillars are of the shrub
+jalatang; of gandarangs (drums) made of the hollow stems of the
+diminutive plants pulut and silosuri; of the anchor named paduka jati
+employed to recover the crown which fell into the deep sea of Kulzum; of
+the gong that resounds to the skies; of the buffalo named Si Binuwang
+Sati, whose horns are ten feet asunder; of the unconquered cock,
+Sen­gunani; of the coconut-tree which, from its amazing height and being
+infested with serpents and other noxious reptiles, it is impossible to
+climb; of the blue champaka flower, not to be found in any other country
+than his (being yellow elsewhere); of the flowering shrub named
+Sri­menjeri, of ambrosial scent; of the mountain on which the celestial
+spirits dwell; who when he goes to rest wakes not until the gandarang
+nobat sounds; He the sultan Sri Maharaja Durja furthermore declares,
+etc.*
+
+(*Footnote. The following Letter from the sultan of Menangkabau to the
+father of the present sultan of Moco-moco, and apparently written about
+fifty years ago, was communicated to me by Mr. Alexander Dalrymple, and
+though it is in part a repetition I esteem it too curious to hesitate
+about inserting it. The style is much more rational than that of the
+foregoing. "Praised be Almighty God! Sultan Gagar Alum the great and
+noble King, whose extensive power reacheth unto the limits of the wide
+ocean; unto whom God grants whatever he desires, and over whom no evil
+spirit, nor even Satan himself has any influence; who is invested with an
+authority to punish evil-doers; and has the most tender heart in the
+support of the innocent; has no malice in his mind, but preserveth the
+righteous with the greatest reverence, and nourisheth the poor and needy,
+feeding them daily from his own table. His authority reacheth over the
+whole universe, and his candour and goodness is known to all men.
+(Mention made of the three brothers.) The ambassador of God and his
+prophet Mahomet; the beloved of mankind; and ruler of the island called
+Percho. At the time God made the heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon,
+and even before evil spirits were created, this sultan Gagar Alum had his
+residence in the clouds; but when the world was habitable God gave him a
+bird called Hocinet, that had the gift of speech; this he sent down on
+earth to look out for a spot where he might establish an inheritance, and
+the first place he alighted upon was the fertile island of Lankapura,
+situated between Palembang and Jambi, and from thence sprang the famous
+kingdom of Manancabow, which will be renowned and mighty until the
+Judgment Day.
+
+"This Maha Raja Durja is blessed with a long life and an uninterrupted
+course of prosperity, which he will maintain in the name, and through the
+grace of the holy prophet, to the end that God's divine Will may be
+fulfilled upon earth. He is endowed with the highest abilities, and the
+most profound wisdom and circumspection in governing the many tributary
+kings and subjects. He is righteous and charitable, and preserveth the
+honour and glory of his ancestors. His justice and clemency are felt in
+distant regions, and his name will be revered until the last day. When he
+openeth his mouth he is full of goodness, and his words are as grateful
+as rosewater to the thirsty. His breath is like the soft winds of the
+heavens, and his lips are the instruments of truth; sending forth
+perfumes more delightful than benjamin or myrrh. His nostrils breathe
+ambergris and musk; and his countenance has the lustre of diamonds. He is
+dreadful in battle, and not to be conquered, his courage and valour being
+matchless. He, the sultan Maha Raja Durja, was crowned with a sacred
+crown from God; and possesses the wood called Kamat, in conjunction with
+the emperors of Rome and China. (Here follows an account of his
+possessions nearly corresponding to those above recited.)
+
+"After this salutation, and the information I have given of my greatness
+and power, which I attribute to the good and holy prophet Mahomet, I am
+to acquaint you with the commands of the sultan whose presence bringeth
+death to all who attempt to approach him without permission; and also
+those of the sultan of Indrapura who has four breasts. This friendly
+sheet of paper is brought from the two sultans above named, by their bird
+anggas, unto their son, sultan Gandam Shah, to acquaint him with their
+intention under this great seal, which is that they order their son
+sultan Gandam Shah to oblige the English Company to settle in the
+district called Biangnur, at a place called the field of sheep, that they
+may not have occasion to be ashamed at their frequent refusal of our
+goodness in permitting them to trade with us and with our subjects; and
+that in case he cannot succeed in this affair we hereby advise him that
+the ties of friendship subsisting between us and our son is broken; and
+we direct that he send us an answer immediately, that we may know the
+result--for all this island is our own." It is difficult to determine
+whether the preamble, or the purport of the letter be the more
+extraordinary.)
+
+Probably no records upon earth can furnish an example of more
+unintelligible jargon; yet these attributes are believed to be
+indisputably true by the Malays and others residing at a distance from
+his immediate dominions, who possess a greater degree of faith than wit;
+and with this addition, that he dwells in a palace without covering, free
+from inconvenience. It is at the same time but justice to these people to
+observe that, in the ordinary concerns of life, their writings are as
+sober, consistent, and rational as those of their neighbours.
+
+REMARKS ON WARRANT.
+
+The seals prefixed to the warrant are, beside his own and that of the
+emperor of China, whose consequence is well known to the inhabitants of
+the eastern islands, that of the sultan of Rum, by which is understood in
+modern times, Constantinople, the seat of the emperor of the Turks, who
+is looked up to by Mahometans, since the ruin of the khalifat, as the
+head of their religion; but I have reason to think that the appellation
+of Rumi was at an earlier period given by oriental writers to the
+subjects of the great Turkoman empire of the Seljuks, whose capital was
+Iconium or Kuniyah in Asia minor, of which the Ottoman was a branch. This
+personage he honours with the title of his eldest brother, the descendant
+of Iskander the two-horned, by which epithet the Macedonian hero is
+always distinguished in eastern story, in consequence, as may be
+presumed, of the horned figure on his coins,* which must long have
+circulated in Persia and Arabia. Upon the obscure history of these
+supposed brothers some light is thrown by the following legend
+communicated to me as the belief of the people of Johor. "It is related
+that Iskander dived into the sea, and there married a daughter of the
+king of the ocean, by whom he had three sons, who, when they arrived at
+manhood, were sent by their mother to the residence of their father. He
+gave them a makuta or crown, and ordered them to find kingdoms where they
+should establish themselves. Arriving in the straits of Singapura they
+determined to try whose head the crown fitted. The eldest trying first
+could not lift it to his head. The second the same. The third had nearly
+effected it when it fell from his hand into the sea. After this the
+eldest turned to the west and became king of Rome, the second to the east
+and became king of China. The third remained at Johor. At this time Pulo
+Percha (Sumatra) had not risen from the waters. When it began to appear,
+this king of Johor, being on a fishing party, and observing it oppressed
+by a huge snake named Si Kati-muno, attacked the monster with his sword
+called Simandang-giri, and killed it, but not till the sword had received
+one hundred and ninety notches in the encounter. The island being thus
+allowed to rise, he went and settled by the burning mountain, and his
+descendants became kings of Menangkabau." This has much the air of a tale
+invented by the people of the peninsula to exalt the idea of their own
+antiquity at the expense of their Sumatran neighbours. The blue
+champaka-flower of which the sultan boasts possession I conceive to be an
+imaginary and not an existent plant. The late respected Sir W. Jones, in
+his Botanical Observations printed in the Asiatic Researches Volume 4
+suspects that by it must be meant the Kaempferia bhuchampac, a plant
+entirely different from the michelia; but as this supposition is built on
+a mere resemblance of sounds it is necessary to state that the Malayan
+term is champaka biru, and that nothing can be inferred from the
+accidental coincidence of the Sanskrit word bhu, signifying ground, with
+the English term for the blue colour.
+
+(*Footnote. See a beautiful engraving of one of these coins preserved in
+the Bodleian collection, Oxford, prefixed to Dr. Vincent's Translation of
+the Voyage of Nearchus printed in 1809.)
+
+CEREMONIES.
+
+With the ceremonies of the court we are very imperfectly acquainted. The
+royal salute is one gun; which may be considered as a refinement in
+ceremony; for as no additional number could be supposed to convey an
+adequate idea of respect, but must on the contrary establish a definite
+proportion between his dignity and that of his nobles, or of other
+princes, the sultan chooses to leave the measure of his importance
+indefinite by this policy and save his gunpowder. It must be observed
+that the Malays are in general extremely fond of the parade of firing
+guns, which they never neglect on high days, and on the appearance of the
+new moon, particularly that which marks the commencement and the
+conclusion of their puasa or annual fast. Yellow being esteemed, as in
+China, the royal colour, is said to be constantly and exclusively worn by
+the sultan and his household. His usual present on sending an embassy
+(for no Sumatran or other oriental has an idea of making a formal address
+on any occasion without a present in hand, be it never so trifling), is a
+pair of white horses; being emblematic of the purity of his character and
+intentions.
+
+CONVERSION TO MAHOMETAN RELIGION.
+
+The immediate subjects of this empire, properly denominated Malays, are
+all of the Mahometan religion, and in that respect distinguished from the
+generality of inland inhabitants. How it has happened that the most
+central people of the island should have become the most perfectly
+converted is difficult to account for unless we suppose that its
+political importance and the richness of its gold trade might have drawn
+thither its pious instructors, from temporal as well as spiritual
+motives. Be this as it may, the country of Menangkabau is regarded as the
+supreme seat of civil and religious authority in this part of the East,
+and next to a voyage to Mecca to have visited its metropolis stamps a man
+learned, and confers the character of superior sanctity. Accordingly the
+most eminent of those who bear the titles of imam, mulana, khatib, and
+pandita either proceed from thence or repair thither for their degree,
+and bring away with them a certificate or diploma from the sultan or his
+minister.
+
+In attempting to ascertain the period of this conversion much accuracy is
+not to be expected; the natives are either ignorant on the subject or
+have not communicated their knowledge, and we can only approximate the
+truth by comparing the authorities of different old writers. Marco Polo,
+the Venetian traveller who visited Sumatra under the name of Java minor
+(see above) says that the inhabitants of the seashore were addicted to
+the Mahometan law, which they had learned from Saracon merchants. This
+must have been about the year 1290, when, in his voyage from China, he
+was detained for several months at a port in the Straits, waiting the
+change of the monsoon; and though I am scrupulous of insisting upon his
+authority (questioned as it is), yet in a fact of this nature he could
+scarcely be mistaken, and the assertion corresponds with the annals of
+the princes of Malacca, which state, as we have seen above, that sultan
+Muhammed Shah, who reigned from 1276 to 1333, was the first royal
+convert. Juan De Barros, a Portuguese historian of great industry, says
+that, according to the tradition of the inhabitants, the city of Malacca
+was founded about the year 1260, and that about 1400 the Mahometan faith
+had spread considerably there and extended itself to the neighbouring
+islands. Diogo do Couto, another celebrated historian, who prosecuted his
+inquiries in India, mentions the arrival at Malacca of an Arabian priest
+who converted its monarch to the faith of the khalifs, and gave him the
+name of Shah Muhammed in the year 1384. This date however is evidently
+incorrect, as that king's reign was earlier by fifty years. Corneille le
+Brun was informed by the king of Bantam in 1706 that the people of Java
+were made converts to that sect about three hundred years before.
+Valentyn states that Sheik Mulana, by whom this conversion was effected
+in 1406, had already disseminated his doctrine at Ache, Pase (places in
+Sumatra), and Johor. From these several sources of information, which are
+sufficiently distinct from each other, we may draw this conclusion, that
+the religion, which sprang up in Arabia in the seventh century, had not
+made any considerable progress in the interior of Sumatra earlier than
+the fourteenth, and that the period of its introduction, considering the
+vicinity to Malacca, could not be much later. I have been told indeed,
+but cannot vouch for its authenticity, that in 1782 these people counted
+670 years from the first preaching of their religion, which would carry
+the period back to 1112. It may be added that in the island of Ternate
+the first Mahometan prince reigned from 1466 to 1486; that Francis
+Xavier, a celebrated Jesuit missionary, when he was at Amboina in 1546
+observed the people then beginning to learn to write from the Arabians;
+that the Malays were allowed to build a mosque at Goak in Makasar
+subsequently to the arrival of the Portuguese in 1512; and that in 1603
+the whole kingdom had become Mahometan. These islands, lying far to the
+eastward, and being of less considerable account in that age than
+subsequent transactions have rendered them, the zeal of religious
+adventurers did not happen to be directed thither so soon as to the
+countries bordering on the sea of India.
+
+By some it has been asserted that the first sultan of Menangkabau was a
+Xerif from Mecca, or descendant of the khalifs, named Paduka Sri Sultan
+Ibrahim, who, settling in Sumatra, was received with honour by the
+princes of the country, Perapati-si-batang and his brother, and acquired
+sovereign authority. They add that the sultans who now reside at
+Pagar-ruyong and at Suruwasa are lineally descended from that Xerif,
+whilst he who resides at Sungei Trap, styled Datu Bandhara putih, derives
+his origin from Perapati. But to this supposition there are strong
+objections. The idea so generally entertained by the natives, and
+strengthened by the glimmering lights that the old writers afford us,
+bespeaks an antiquity to this empire that stretches far beyond the
+probable era of the establishment of the Mahometan religion in the
+island. Radin Tamanggung, son of a king of Madura, a very intelligent
+person, and who as a prince himself was conversant with these topics,
+positively asserted to me that it was an original Sumatran empire,
+antecedent to the introduction of the Arabian faith; instructed, but by
+no means conquered, as some had imagined, by people from the peninsula.
+So memorable an event as the elevation of a Xerif to the throne would
+have been long preserved by annals or tradition, and the sultan in the
+list of his titles would not fail to boast of this sacred extraction from
+the prophet, to which however he does not at all allude; and to this we
+may add that the superstitious veneration attached to the family extends
+itself not only where Mahometanism has made a progress, but also among
+the Battas and other people still unconverted to that faith, with whom it
+would not be the case if the claim to such respect was grounded on the
+introduction of a foreign religion which they have refused to accept.
+
+Perhaps it is less surprising that this one kingdom should have been
+completely converted than that so many districts of the island should
+remain to this day without any religion whatever. It is observable that a
+person of this latter description, coming to reside among the Malays,
+soon assimilates to them in manners, and conforms to their religious
+practices. The love of novelty, the vanity of learning, the fascination
+of ceremony, the contagion of example, veneration for what appears above
+his immediate comprehension, and the innate activity of man's
+intellectual faculties, which, spurred by curiosity, prompts him to the
+acquisition of knowledge, whether true or false--all conspire to make him
+embrace a system of belief and scheme of instruction in which there is
+nothing that militates against prejudices already imbibed. He
+relinquishes no favourite ancient worship to adopt a new, and is
+manifestly a gainer by the exchange, when he barters, for a paradise and
+eternal pleasures, so small a consideration as the flesh of his foreskin.
+
+TOLERANT PRINCIPLES.
+
+The Malays, as far as my observation went, did not appear to possess much
+of the bigotry so commonly found amongst the western Mahometans, or to
+show antipathy to or contempt for unbelievers. To this indifference is to
+be attributed my not having positively ascertained whether they are
+followers of the sunni or the shiah sect, although from their tolerant
+principles and frequent passages in their writings in praise of Ali I
+conclude them to be the latter. Even in regard to the practice of
+ceremonies they do not imitate the punctuality of the Arabs and others of
+the mussulman faith. Excepting such as were in the orders of the
+priesthood I rarely noticed persons in the act of making their
+prostrations. Men of rank I am told have their religious periods, during
+which they scrupulously attend to their duties and refrain from
+gratifications of the appetite, together with gambling and cockfighting;
+but these are not long nor very frequent. Even their great Fast or puasa
+(the ramadan of the Turks) is only partially observed. All those who have
+a regard for character fast more or less according to the degree of their
+zeal or strength of their constitutions; some for a week, others for a
+fortnight; but to abstain from food and betel whilst the sun is above the
+horizon during the whole of a lunar month is a very rare instance of
+devotion.
+
+LITERATURE.
+
+Malayan literature consists chiefly of transcripts and versions of the
+koran, commentaries on the mussulman law, and historic tales both in
+prose and verse, resembling in some respect our old romances. Many of
+these are original compositions, and others are translations of the
+popular tales current in Arabia, Persia, India, and the neighbouring
+island of Java, where the Hindu languages and mythology appear to have
+made at a remote period considerable progress. Among several works of
+this description I possess their translation (but much compressed) of the
+Ramayan, a celebrated Sanskrit poem, and also of some of the Arabian
+stories lately published in France as a Continuation of the Thousand and
+one Nights, first made known to the European world by M. Galland. If
+doubts have been entertained of the authenticity of these additions to
+his immortal collection the circumstance of their being (however
+partially) discovered in the Malayan language will serve to remove them.
+Beside these they have a variety of poetic works, abounding rather with
+moral reflections and complaints of the frowns of fortune or of
+ill-requited love than with flights of fancy. The pantun or short
+proverbial stanza has been already described. They are composed in all
+parts of the island, and often extempore; but such as proceed from
+Menangkabau, the most favoured seat of the Muses, are held in the first
+esteem. Their writing is entirely in the modified Arabic character, and
+upon paper previously ruled by means of threads drawn tight and arranged
+in a peculiar manner.
+
+ARTS.
+
+The arts in general are carried among these people to a greater degree of
+perfection than by the other natives of Sumatra. The Malays are the sole
+fabricators of the exquisite gold and silver filigree, the manufacture of
+which has been particularly described.
+
+FIREARMS.
+
+In the country of Menangkabau they have from the earliest times
+manufactured arms for their own use and to supply the northern
+inhabitants of the island, who are the most warlike, and which trade they
+continue to this day, smelting, forging, and preparing, by a process of
+their own, the iron and steel for this purpose, although much is at the
+same time purchased from Europeans.*
+
+(*Footnote. The principal iron mines are at a place called Padang Luar,
+where the ore is sold at the rate of half a fanam or forty-eighth part of
+a dollar for a man's load, and carried to another place in the
+Menangkabau country called Selimpuwong, where it is smelted and
+manufactured.)
+
+CANNON.
+
+The use of cannon in this and other parts of India is mentioned by the
+oldest Portuguese historians, and it must consequently have been known
+there before the discovery of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope. Their
+guns are those pieces called matchlocks, the improvement of springs and
+flints not being yet adopted by them; the barrels are well tempered and
+of the justest bore, as is evident from the excellence of their aim,
+which they always take by lowering, instead of raising the muzzle of the
+piece to the object. They are wrought by rolling a flatted bar of iron of
+proportionate dimensions spirally round a circular rod, and beating it
+till the parts of the former unite; which method seems preferable in
+point of strength to that of folding and soldering the bar
+longitudinally. The art of boring may well be supposed unknown to these
+people. Firelocks are called by them snapang, from the Dutch name.
+Gunpowder they make in great quantities, but either from the injudicious
+proportion of the ingredients in the composition, or the imperfect
+granulation, it is very defective in strength.
+
+SIDE-ARMS.
+
+The tombak, lambing, and kujur or kunjur are names for weapons of the
+lance or spear kind; the pedang, rudus, pamandap, and kalewang are of the
+sword kind, and slung at the side, the siwar is a small instrument of the
+nature of a stiletto, chiefly used for assassination; and the kris is a
+species of dagger of a particular construction, very generally worn,
+being stuck in front through the folds of a belt that goes several times
+round the body.
+
+
+(PLATE 17. SUMATRAN WEAPONS.
+A. A Malay Gadoobang.
+B. A Batta Weapon.
+C. A Malay Creese.
+One-third of the size of the Originals.
+W. Williams del. and sculpt.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+(PLATE 17a. SUMATRAN WEAPONS.
+D. A Malay Creese.
+E. An Achenese Creese.
+F. A Malay Sewar.
+One-third of the size of the Originals.
+W. Williams del. and sculpt.)
+
+
+KRIS-BLADE.
+
+The blade is about fourteen inches in length, not straight nor uniformly
+curved, but waving in and out, as we see depicted the flaming swords that
+guarded the gates of paradise; which probably may render a wound given
+with it the more fatal. It is not smooth or polished like those of our
+weapons, but by a peculiar process made to resemble a composition, in
+which veins of a different metal are apparent. This damasking (as I was
+informed by the late Mr. Boulton) is produced by beating together steel
+and iron wire whilst in a state of half fusion, and eating them with
+acids, by which the softest part is the most corroded; the edges being of
+pure steel. Their temper is uncommonly hard. The head or haft is either
+of ivory, the tooth of the duyong (sea-cow), that of the hippopotamus,
+the snout of the ikan layer (voilier), of black coral, or of fine-grained
+wood. This is ornamented with gold or a mixture of that and copper, which
+they call swasa, highly polished and carved into curious figures, some of
+which have the beak of a bird with the arms of a human creature, and bear
+a resemblance to the Egyptian Isis. The sheath also is formed of some
+beautiful species of wood, hollowed out, with a neat lacing of split
+rattan, stained red round the lower parts; or sometimes it is plated with
+gold. The value of a kris is supposed to be enhanced in proportion to the
+number of persons it has slain. One that has been the instrument of much
+bloodshed is regarded with a degree of veneration as something sacred.
+The horror or enthusiasm inspired by the contemplation of such actions is
+transferred to the weapon, which accordingly acquires sanctity from the
+principle that leads ignorant men to reverence whatever possesses the
+power of effecting mischief. Other circumstances also contribute to give
+them celebrity, and they are distinguished by pompous names. Some have a
+cushion by their bedside on which is placed their favourite weapon. I
+have a manuscript treatise on krises, accompanied with drawings,
+describing their imaginary properties and value, estimated at the price
+of one or more slaves. The abominable custom of poisoning them, though
+much talked of, is rarely practised I believe in modern times. They are
+frequently seen rubbing the blades with lime-juice, which has been
+considered as a precaution against danger of this kind, but it is rather
+for the purpose of removing common stains or of improving the damasked
+appearance.
+
+MODES OF WARFARE.
+
+Although much parade attends their preparations for war and their
+marches, displaying colours of scarlet cloth, and beating drums, gongs,
+and chennangs, yet their operations are carried on rather in the way of
+ambuscade and surprise of straggling parties than open combat, firing
+irregularly from behind entrenchments, which the enemy takes care not to
+approach too near.
+
+HORSES.
+
+They are said to go frequently to war on horseback, but I shall not
+venture to give their force the name of cavalry. The chiefs may probably
+avail themselves of the service of this useful animal from motives of
+personal indulgence or state, but on account of the ranjaus or
+sharp-pointed stakes so commonly planted in the passes (see the preceding
+journal of Lieutenant Dare's march, where they are particularly
+described), it is scarcely possible that horse could be employed as an
+effective part of an army. It is also to be observed that neither the
+natives nor even Europeans ever shoe them, the nature of the roads in
+general not rendering it necessary. The breed of them is small but well
+made, hardy, and vigorous. The soldiers serve without pay, but the
+plunder they obtain is thrown into a common stock, and divided amongst
+them. Whatever might formerly have been the degree of their prowess they
+are not now much celebrated for it; yet the Dutch at Padang have often
+found them troublesome enemies from their numbers, and been obliged to
+secure themselves within their walls. Between the Menangkabau people,
+those of Rau or Aru, and the Achinese, settled at Natal, wars used to be
+incessant until they were checked by the influence of our authority at
+that place. The factory itself was raised upon one of the breast-works
+thrown up by them for defence, of which several are to be met with in
+walking a few miles into the country, and some of them very substantial.
+Their campaigns in this petty warfare were carried on very deliberately.
+They made a regular practice of commencing a truce at sunset, when they
+remained in mutual security, and sometimes agreed that hostilities should
+take place only between certain hours of the day. The English resident,
+Mr. Carter, was frequently chosen their umpire, and upon these occasions
+used to fix in the ground his golden-headed cane, on the spot where the
+deputies should meet and concert terms of accommodation; until at length
+the parties, grown weary of their fruitless contests, resolved to place
+themselves respectively under the dependence and protection of the
+company. The fortified villages, in some parts of the country named
+dusun, and in others kampong, are here, as on the continent of India,
+denominated kota or forts, and the districts are distinguished from each
+other by the number of confederated villages they contain.
+
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+The government, like that of all Malayan states, is founded on principles
+entirely feudal. The prince is styled raja, maha-raja, iang de pertuan,
+or sultan; the nobles have the appellation of orang kaya or datu, which
+properly belongs to the chiefs of tribes, and implies their being at the
+head of a numerous train of immediate dependants or vassals, whose
+service they command. The heir-apparent has the title of raja muda.
+
+OFFICERS OF STATE.
+
+From amongst the orang kayas the sultan appoints the officers of state,
+who as members of his council are called mantri, and differ in number and
+authority according to the situation and importance of the kingdom. Of
+these the first in rank, or prime minister, has the appellation of
+perdana mantri, mangko bumi, and not seldom, however anomalously,
+maharaja. Next to him generally is the bandhara, treasurer or high
+steward; then the laksamana and tamanggung, commanders-in-chief by sea
+and land, and lastly the shahbandara, whose office it is to superintend
+the business of the customs (in sea-port towns) and to manage the trade
+for the king. The governors of provinces are named panglima, the heads of
+departments pangulu. The ulubalang are military officers forming the
+bodyguard of the sovereign, and prepared on all occasions to execute his
+orders. From their fighting singly, when required, in the cause of the
+prince or noble who maintains them, the name is commonly translated
+champion; but when employed by a weak but arbitrary and cruel prince to
+remove by stealth obnoxious persons whom he dares not to attack openly
+they may be compared more properly to the Ismaelians or Assassins, so
+celebrated in the history of the Crusades, as the devoted subjects of the
+Sheikh al-jabal, or Old Man of the Mountain, as this chief of Persian
+Irak is vulgarly termed. I have not reason however to believe that such
+assassinations are by any means frequent. The immediate vassals of the
+king are called amba raja; and for the subjects in general the word rayet
+has been adopted. Beside those above named there is a great variety of
+officers of government of an inferior class; and even among the superior
+there is not at every period, nor in every Malayan state, a consistent
+uniformity of rank and title.
+
+GOVERNMENT BY FOUR DATUS.
+
+The smaller Malayan establishments are governed by their datus or heads
+of tribes, of whom there are generally four; as at Bencoolen (properly
+Bengkaulu) near to which the English settlement of Fort Marlborough is
+situated, and where Fort York formerly stood. These are under the
+protection or dominion of two native chiefs or princes, the pangerans of
+Sungei-lamo and Sungei-etam, the origin of whose authority has been
+already explained. Each of these has possessions on different parts of
+the river, the principal sway being in the hands of him of the two who
+has most personal ability. They are constant rivals, though living upon
+familiar terms, and are only restrained from open war by the authority of
+the English. Limun likewise, and the neighbouring places of Batang-asei
+and Pakalang-jambu, near the sources of Jambi River, where gold is
+collected and carried chiefly to Bencoolen and the settlement of Laye,
+where I had opportunities of seeing the traders, are each governed by
+four datus, who, though not immediately nominated by the sultan, are
+confirmed by, and pay tribute to, him. The first of these, whose
+situation is most southerly, receive also an investiture (baju, garment,
+and destar, turband) from the sultan of Palembang, being a politic
+measure adopted by these merchants for the convenience attending it in
+their occasional trading concerns with that place.
+
+HOT SPRINGS.
+
+At Priangan, near Gunong-berapi, are several hot mineral springs, called
+in the Malayan map already mentioned, panchuran tujuh or the seven
+conduits, where the natives from time immemorial have been in the
+practice of bathing; some being appropriated to the men, and others to
+the women; with two of cold water, styled the king's. It will be
+recollected that in ancient times this place was the seat of government.
+
+ANCIENT SCULPTURE.
+
+Near to these springs is a large stone or rock of very hard substance,
+one part of which is smoothed to a perpendicular face of about ten or
+twelve feet long and four high, on which are engraved characters supposed
+to be European, the space being entirely filled with them and certain
+chaps or marks at the corners. The natives presume them to be Dutch, but
+say that the latter do not resemble the present mark of the Company.
+There is some appearance of the date 1100. The informant (named Raja
+Intan), who had repeatedly seen and examined it, added that M. Palm,
+governor of Padang, once sent Malays with paper and paint to endeavour to
+take off the inscription, but they did not succeed; and the Dutch, whose
+arms never penetrated to that part of the country, are ignorant of its
+meaning. It is noticed in the Malayan map. Should it prove to be a Hindu
+monument it will be thought curious.
+
+
+CHAPTER 19.
+
+KINGDOMS OF INDRAPURA, ANAK-SUNGEI, PASSAMMAN, SIAK.
+
+
+INDRAPURA.
+
+Among the earliest dismemberments of the Menangkabau empire was the
+establishment of Indrapura as an independent kingdom. Though now in its
+turn reduced to a state of little importance, it was formerly powerful in
+comparison with its neighbours, and of considerable magnitude, including
+Anak-Sungei and extending as far as Kattaun. Some idea of its antiquity
+may be formed from a historical account given by the Sultan of Bantam to
+the intelligent traveller Corneille le Brun, in which it is related that
+the son of the Arabian prince who first converted the Javans to the
+religion of the Prophet, about the year 1400, having obtained for himself
+the sovereignty of Bantam, under the title of pangeran, married the
+daughter of the raja of Indrapura, and received as her portion the
+country of the Sillabares, a people of Banca-houlou.
+
+CLAIMS OF THE SULTAN OF BANTAM.
+
+Upon this cession appears to be grounded the modern claim of the sultan
+to this part of the coast, which, previously to the treaty of Paris in
+1763, was often urged by his sovereigns, the Dutch East India Company.
+His dominion is said indeed to have extended from the southward as far as
+Urei river, and at an early period to Betta or Ayer Etam, between Ipu and
+Moco-moco, but that the intermediate space was ceded by him to the raja
+of Indrapura, in satisfaction for the murder of a prince, and that a
+small annual tax was laid by the latter on the Anak­sungei people on
+account of the same murder (being the fourth part of a dollar, a bamboo
+of rice, and a fowl, from each village), which is now paid to the sultan
+of Moco-moco. In the year 1682 the district of Ayer Aji threw off its
+dependence on Indrapura. In 1696 Raja Pasisir Barat, under the influence
+of the Dutch, was placed on the throne, at the age of six years, and his
+grandfather appointed guardian; but in 1701, in consequence of a quarrel
+with his protectors, the European settlers were massacred.
+
+WAR WITH THE DUTCH.
+
+This was the occasion of a destructive war, in the event of which the
+raja and his mantris were obliged to fly, and the country was nearly
+depopulated. In 1705 he was reinstated, and reigned till about 1732.
+
+DECLINE OF THE KINGDOM.
+
+But the kingdom never recovered the shock it had received, and dwindled
+into obscurity. Its river, which descends from the mountains of Korinchi,
+is considered as one of the largest in the southern part of the west
+coast, and is capable of admitting sloops. The country formerly produced
+a large quantity of pepper, and some gold was brought down from the
+interior, which now finds another channel. An English factory was
+established there about the year 1684, but never became of any
+importance.
+
+KINGDOM OF ANAK-SUNGEI.
+
+From the ruins of Indrapura has sprung the kingdom of Anak-sungei,
+extending along the sea-coast from Manjuta River to that of Urei. Its
+chief bears the title of sultan, and his capital, if such places deserve
+the appellation, is Moco-moco. A description of it will be found above.
+Although the government is Malayan, and the ministers of the sultan are
+termed mantri (a title borrowed from the Hindus) the greatest part of the
+country dependent on it is inhabited by the original dusun people, and
+accordingly their proper chiefs are styled proattin, who are obliged to
+attend their prince at stated periods, and to carry to him their
+contribution or tax. His power over them however is very limited.
+
+The first monarch of this new kingdom was named sultan Gulemat, who in
+1695 established himself at Manjuta, by the assistance of the English, in
+consequence of a revolution at Indrapura, by which the prince who had
+afforded them protection on their first settling was driven out through
+the intrigues, as they are termed, of the Dutch. It was a struggle, in
+short, between the rival Companies, whose assistance was courted by the
+different factions as it happened to suit their purpose, or who, becoming
+strong enough to consider themselves as principals, made the native
+chiefs the tools of their commercial ambition. In the year 1717 Gulemat
+was removed from the throne by an assembly of the chiefs styling
+themselves the mantris of Lima-kota and proattins of Anak-sungei, who set
+up a person named Raja Kechil-besar in his room, appointing at the same
+time, as his minister and successor, Raja Gandam Shah, by whom, upon his
+accession in 1728, the seat of government was removed from Manjuta to
+Moco-moco. He was father of sultan Pasisir Barat shah mualim shah, still
+reigning in the year 1780, but harassed by the frequent rebellions of his
+eldest son. The space of time occupied by the reigns of these two
+sovereigns is extraordinary when we consider that the former must have
+been at man's estate when he became minister or assessor in 1717. Nor is
+it less remarkable that the son of the deposed sultan Gulemat, called
+sultan Ala ed-din, was also living, at Tappanuli, about the year 1780,
+being then supposed ninety years of age. He was confined as a state
+prisoner at Madras during the government of Mr. Morse, and is mentioned
+by Captain Forrest (Voyage to the Mergui Archipelago, page 57) as uncle
+to the king of Achin, who reigned in 1784. The first English settlement
+at Moco-moco was formed in 1717.
+
+PASSAMMAN.
+
+Passamman was the most northern of the provinces immediately dependant on
+Menangkabau, and afterwards, together with Priaman and many other places
+on the coast, fell under the dominion of the kings of Achin. It is now
+divided into two petty kingdoms, each of which is governed by a raja and
+fourteen pangulus. Formerly it was a place of considerable trade, and,
+beside a great export of pepper, received much fine gold from the
+mountains of the Rau country, lying about three days' journey inland. The
+inhabitants of these are said to be Battas converted to Mahometanism and
+mixed with Malays. They are governed by datus. The peculiarity of dress
+remarked of the Korinchi people is also observable here, the men wearing
+drawers that reach just below the calf, having one leg of red and the
+other of white or blue cloth, and the baju or garment also
+party-coloured. The greater part of the gold they collect finds its way
+to Patapahan on the river of Siak, and from thence to the eastern side of
+the island and straits of Malacca. The Agam tribe adjoining to the Rau,
+and connecting to the southward with Menangkabau, differs little from
+Malays, and is likewise governed by datus.
+
+SIAK.
+
+The great river of Siak has its source in the mountains of the
+Menangkabau country, and empties itself nearly opposite to Malacca, with
+which place it formerly carried on a considerable trade. From the Dutch
+charts we had a general knowledge of its course as far as a place called
+Mandau or Mandol, as they write the name, and where they had a small
+establishment on account of its abounding with valuable ship­timber.
+
+SURVEY.
+
+A recent survey executed by Mr. Francis Lynch, under the orders of the
+government of Pulo Pinang, has made us more particularly acquainted with
+its size, its advantages, and defects. From the place where it discharges
+itself into the straits of Kampar or Bencalis, to the town of Siak is,
+according to the scale of his chart, about sixty-five geographical miles,
+and from thence to a place called Pakan bharu or Newmarket, where the
+survey discontinues, is about one hundred more. The width of the river is
+in general from about three-quarters to half a mile, and its depth from
+fifteen to seven fathoms; but on the bar at low-water spring-tides there
+are only fifteen feet, and several shoals near its mouth. The tides rise
+about eleven feet at the town, where at full and change it is high-water
+at nine A.M. Not far within the river is a small island on which the
+Dutch had formerly a factory. The shores are flat on both sides to a
+considerable distance up the country, and the whole of the soil is
+probably alluvial; but about a hundred and twenty-five or thirty miles up
+Mr. Lynch marks the appearance of high land, giving it the name of
+Princess Augusta Sophia hill, and points it out as a commanding situation
+for a settlement.
+
+SHIP-TIMBER.
+
+He speaks in favourable terms of the facility with which ship-timber of
+any dimensions or shape may be procured and loaded. Respecting the size
+or population of the town no information is given.
+
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+The government of it was (in October 1808) in the hands of the Tuanku
+Pangeran, brother to the Raja, who in consequence of some civil
+disturbance had withdrawn to the entrance of the river. His name is not
+mentioned, but from the Transactions of the Batavian Society we learn
+that the prince who reigned about the year 1780 was Raja Ismael, "one of
+the greatest pirates in those seas." The maritime power of the kingdom of
+Siak has always been considerable, and in the history of the Malayan
+states we repeatedly read of expeditions fitted out from thence making
+attacks upon Johor, Malacca, and various other places on the two coasts
+of the peninsula. Most of the neighbouring states (or rivers) on the
+eastern coast of Sumatra, from Langat to Jambi, are said to have been
+brought in modern times under its subjection.
+
+TRADE.
+
+The trade is chiefly carried on by Kling vessels, as they are called,
+from the coast of Coromandel, which supply cargoes of piece-goods, and
+also raw silk, opium, and other articles, which they provide at Pinang or
+Malacca; in return for which they receive gold, wax, sago, salted fish,
+and fish-roes, elephants' teeth, gambir, camphor, rattans, and other
+canes. According to the information of the natives the river is navigable
+for sloops to a place called Panti Chermin, being eight days' sail with
+the assistance of the tide, and within half a day's journey by land of
+another named Patapahan, which boats also, of ten to twenty tons, reach
+in two days. This is a great mart of trade with the Menangkabau country,
+whither its merchants resort with their gold. Pakan-bharu, the limit of
+Mr. Lynch's voyage, is much lower down, and the above­mentioned places
+are consequently not noticed by him. The Dutch Company procured annually
+from Siak, for the use of Batavia, several rafts of spars for masts, and
+if the plan of building ships at Pinang should be encouraged large
+supplies of frame-timber for the purpose may be obtained from this river,
+provided a sense of interest shall be found sufficiently strong to
+correct or restrain the habits of treachery and desperate enterprise for
+which these people have in all ages been notorious.
+
+RAKAN.
+
+The river Rakan, to the northward of Siak, by much the largest in the
+island, if it should not rather be considered as an inlet of the sea,
+takes its rise in the Rau country, and is navigable for sloops to a great
+distance from the sea; but vessels are deterred from entering it by the
+rapidity of the current, or more probably the reflux of the tide, and
+that peculiar swell known in the Ganges and elsewhere by the appellation
+of the bore.
+
+KAMPAR.
+
+That of Kampar, to the southward, is said by the natives to labour under
+the same inconvenience, and Mr. Lynch was informed that the tides there
+rise from eighteen to twenty-four feet. If these circumstances render the
+navigation dangerous it appears difficult to account for its having been
+a place of considerable note at the period of the Portuguese conquest of
+Malacca, and repeatedly the scene of naval actions with the fleets of
+Achin, whilst Siak, which possesses many natural advantages, is rarely
+mentioned. In modern times it has been scarcely at all known to
+Europeans, and even its situation is doubtful.
+
+INDRAGIRI.
+
+The river of Indragiri is said by the natives to have its source in a
+lake of the Menangkabau country, from whence it issues by the name of
+Ayer Ambelan. Sloops tide it up for five or six weeks (as they assert),
+anchoring as the ebb begins to make. From a place called Lubok ramo-ramo
+they use boats of from five to twenty tons, and the smaller sort can
+proceed until they are stopped by a fall or cascade at Seluka, on the
+borders of Menangkabau. This extraordinary distance to which the
+influence of the tides extends is a proof of the absolute flatness of the
+country through which these rivers take the greater part of their course.
+
+JAMBI.
+
+Jambi River has its principal source in the Limun country. Although of
+considerable size it is inferior to Siak and Indragiri. At an early stage
+of European commerce in these parts it was of some importance, and both
+the English and Dutch had factories there; the former on a small island
+near the mouth, and the latter at some distance up the river. The town of
+Jambi is situated at the distance of about sixty miles from the sea, and
+we find in the work of the historian, Faria y Sousa, that in the year
+1629 a Portuguese squadron was employed twenty-two days in ascending the
+river, in order to destroy some Dutch ships which had taken shelter near
+the town. Lionel Wafer, who was there in 1678 (at which time the river
+was blockaded by a fleet of praws from Johor), makes the distance a
+hundred miles. The trade consists chiefly in gold-dust, pepper, and
+canes, but the most of what is collected of the first article proceeds
+across the country to the western coast, and the quality of the second is
+not held in esteem. The port is therefore but little frequented by any
+other than native merchants. Sometimes, but rarely, a private trading
+ship from Bengal endeavours to dispose of a few chests of opium in this
+or one of the other rivers; but the masters scarcely ever venture on
+shore, and deal with such of the Malays as come off to them at the sword
+point, so strong is the idea of their treacherous character.
+
+PALEMBANG.
+
+The kingdom of Palembang is one of considerable importance, and its river
+ranks amongst the largest in the island. It takes its rise in the
+district of Musi, immediately at the back of the range of hills visible
+from Bencoolen, and on that account has the name of Ayer Musi in the
+early part of its course, but in the lower is more properly named the
+Tatong.
+
+SIZE OF RIVER.
+
+Opposite to the city of Palembang and the Dutch Company's factory it is
+upwards of a mile in breadth, and is conveniently navigated by vessels
+whose draft of water does not exceed fourteen feet. Those of a larger
+description have been carried thither for military purposes (as in 1660,
+when the place was attacked and destroyed by the Hollanders) but the
+operation is attended with difficulty on account of numerous shoals.
+
+FOREIGN TRADE.
+
+The port is much frequented by trading vessels, chiefly from Java,
+Madura, Balli, and Celebes, which bring rice, salt, and cloths, the
+manufacture of those islands. With opium, the piece-goods of the west of
+India, and European commodities it is supplied by the Dutch from Batavia,
+or by those who are termed interlopers. These in return receive pepper
+and tin, which, by an old agreement made with the sultan, and formally
+renewed in 1777, are to be exclusively delivered to the Company at
+stipulated prices, and no other Europeans are to be allowed to trade or
+navigate within his jurisdiction.
+
+DUTCH FACTORY.
+
+In order to enforce these conditions the Dutch are permitted to maintain
+a fort on the river with a garrison of fifty or sixty men (which cannot
+be exceeded without giving umbrage), and to keep its own cruisers to
+prevent smuggling. The quantity of pepper thus furnished was from one to
+two millions of pounds per annum. Of tin the quantity was about two
+millions of pounds, one third of which was shipped (at Batavia) for
+Holland, and the remainder sent to China. It has already been stated that
+this tin is the produce of the island of Bangka, situated near the mouth
+of the river, which may be considered as an entire hill of tin-sand. The
+works, of which a particular account is given in Volume 3 of the Batavian
+Transactions, are entirely in the hands of Chinese settlers. In the year
+1778 the Company likewise received thirty-seven thousand bundles of
+rattans.
+
+LOW COUNTRY.
+
+The lower parts of the country of Palembang towards the sea-coast are
+described as being flat marshy land, and with the exception of some few
+tracts entirely unfit for the purposes of cultivation. It is generally
+understood to have been all covered by the sea in former ages, not only
+from its being observed that the strand yearly gains an accession, but
+also that, upon digging the earth at some distance inland, sea-shells,
+and even pieces of boat-timber, are discovered.
+
+INTERIOR COUNTRY. ITS TRADE.
+
+The interior or upland districts on the contrary are very productive, and
+there the pepper is cultivated, which the king's agent (for trade in
+these parts is usually monopolized by the sovereign power) purchases at a
+cheap rate. In return he supplies the country people with opium, salt,
+and piece-goods, forming the cargoes of large boats (some of them
+sixty-six feet in length and seven in breadth, from a single tree) which
+are towed against the stream. The goods intended for Passummah are
+conveyed to a place called Muara Mulang, which is performed in fourteen
+days, and from thence by land to the borders of that country is only one
+day's journey. This being situated beyond the district where the pepper
+flourishes their returns are chiefly made in pulas twine, raw silk in its
+roughest state, and elephants' teeth. From Musi they send likewise
+sulphur, alum, arsenic, and tobacco. Dragons-blood and gambir are also
+the produce of the country.
+
+ITS GOVERNMENT.
+
+These interior parts are divided into provinces, each of which is
+assigned as a fief or government to one of the royal family or of the
+nobles, who commit the management to deputies and give themselves little
+concern about the treatment of their subjects. The pangerans, who are the
+descendants of the ancient princes of the country, experience much
+oppression, and when compelled to make their appearance at court are
+denied every mark of ceremonious distinction.
+
+SETTLERS FROM JAVA.
+
+The present rulers of the kingdom of Palembang and a great portion of the
+inhabitants of the city originally came from the island of Java, in
+consequence, as some suppose, of an early conquest by the sovereigns of
+Majapahit; or, according to others, by those of Bantam, in more modern
+times; and in proof of its subjection, either real or nominal, to the
+latter, we find in the account of the first Dutch voyages, that "in 1596
+a king of Bantam fell before Palembang, a rebel town of Sumatra, which he
+was besieging."
+
+ROYAL FAMILY.
+
+The Dutch claim the honour of having placed on the throne the family of
+the reigning sultan (1780), named Ratu Akhmet Bahar ed-din, whose eldest
+son bears the title of Pangeran Ratu, answering to the RaJa muda of the
+Malays. The power of the monarch is unlimited by any legal restriction,
+but not keeping a regular body of troops in pay his orders are often
+disregarded by the nobles. Although without any established revenue from
+taxes or contributions, the profit arising from the trade of pepper and
+tin (especially the latter) is so great, and the consequent influx of
+silver, without any apparent outlet, so considerable, that he must
+necessarily be possessed of treasure to a large amount. The customs on
+merchandize imported remain in the hands of the shabhandaras, who are
+required to furnish the king's household with provisions and other
+necessaries. The domestic attendants on the prince are for the most part
+females.
+
+CURRENCY.
+
+The currency of the country and the only money allowed to be received at
+the king's treasury is Spanish dollars; but there is also in general
+circulation a species of small base coin, issued by royal authority, and
+named pitis. These are cut out of plates composed of lead and tin, and,
+having a square hole in the middle (like the Chinese cash), are strung in
+parcels of five hundred each, sixteen of which (according to the Batavian
+Transactions) are equivalent to the dollar. In weighing gold the tail is
+considered as the tenth part of the katti (of a pound and a third), or
+equal to the weight of two Spanish dollars and a quarter.
+
+CITY.
+
+The city is situated in a flat marshy tract, a few miles above the delta
+of the river, about sixty miles from the sea, and yet so far from the
+mountains of the interior that they are not visible. It extends about
+eight miles along both banks, and is mostly confined to them and to the
+creeks which open into the river. The buildings, with the exception of
+the king's palace and mosque, being all of wood or bamboos standing on
+posts and mostly covered with thatch of palm-leaves, the appearance of
+the place has nothing to recommend it. There are also a great number of
+floating habitations, mostly shops, upon bamboo-rafts moored to piles,
+and when the owners of these are no longer pleased with their situation
+they remove upwards or downwards, with the tide, to one more convenient.
+Indeed, as the nature of the surrounding country, being overflowed in
+high tides, scarcely admits of roads, almost all communication is carried
+on by means of boats, which accordingly are seen moving by hundreds in
+every direction, without intermission. The dalam or palace being
+surrounded by a high wall, nothing is known to Europeans of the interior,
+but it appears to be large, lofty, and much ornamented on the outside.
+Immediately adjoining to this wall, on the lower side, is a strong,
+square, roofed battery, commanding the river, and below it another; on
+both of which many heavy cannon are mounted, and fired on particular
+occasions. In the interval between the two batteries is seen the meidan
+or plain, at the extremity of which appears the balerong or hall where
+the sultan gives audience in public. This is an ordinary building, and
+serving occasionally for a warehouse, but ornamented with weapons
+arranged along the walls. The royal mosque stands behind the palace, and
+from the style of architecture seems to have been constructed by a
+European. It is an oblong building with glazed windows, pilasters, and a
+cupola. The burial place of these sovereigns is at old Palembang, about a
+league lower down the river, where the ground appears to be somewhat
+raised from having long been the site of habitations.
+
+ENCOURAGEMENT TO FOREIGNERS.
+
+The policy of these princes, who were themselves strangers, having always
+been to encourage foreign settlers, the city an lower parts of the river
+are in a great measure peopled with natives of China, Cochin­china,
+Camboja, Siam, Patani on the coast of the peninsula, Java, Celebes, and
+other eastern places. In addition to these the Arabian priests are
+described by the Dutch as constituting a very numerous and pernicious
+tribe, who, although in the constant practice of imposing upon and
+plundering the credulous inhabitants, are held by them in the utmost
+reverence.
+
+RELIGION.
+
+The Mahometan religion prevails throughout all the dominions of the
+sultan, with the exception of a district near the sea­coast, called
+Salang, where the natives, termed orang kubu, live in the woods like wild
+animals. The literature of the country is said to be confined to the
+study of the koran, but opinions of this kind I have found in other
+instances to be too hastily formed, or by persons not competent to obtain
+the necessary information.
+
+LANGUAGE.
+
+The language of the king and his court is the high dialect of the Javan,
+mixed with some foreign idioms. In the general intercourse with strangers
+the conversation is always in Malayan, with the pronunciation (already
+noticed) of the final o for a.
+
+CHARACTER OF INHABITANTS.
+
+Amongst the people of Palembang themselves this language (the character
+of which they employ) is mixed with the common Javan. The Dutch, on whom
+we must rely for an account of the manners and disposition of these
+people, and which will be found in Volume 3 page 122 of the Batavian
+Transactions, describe those of the low country as devoid of every good
+quality and imbued with every bad one; whilst those of the interior are
+spoken of as a dull, simple people who show much forbearance under
+oppression*; but it is acknowledged that of these last they have little
+knowledge, owing to the extreme suspicion and jealousy of the government,
+which takes alarm at any attempt to penetrate into the country.
+
+(*Footnote. A ridiculous story is told of a custom amongst the
+inhabitants of a province named Blida, which I should not repeat but for
+its whimsical coincidence with a jeu d'esprit of our celebrated Swift.
+When a child is born there (say the Palembangers), and the father has any
+doubts about the honesty of his wife, he puts it to the proof by tossing
+the infant into the air and catching it on the point of a spear. If no
+wound is thereby inflicted he is satisfied of its legitimacy, but if
+otherwise he considers it as spurious.)
+
+INTERIOR VISITED BY ENGLISH.
+
+This inland district having been visited only by two servants of the
+English East India Company who have left any record of their journeys, I
+shall extract from their narratives such parts as serve to throw a light
+upon its geography. The first of these was Mr. Charles Miller, who, on
+the 19th of September 1770, proceeded from Fort Marlborough to Bentiring
+on the Bencoolen river, thence to Pagar-raddin, Kadras, Gunong Raja,
+Gunong Ayu, Kalindang, and Jambu, where he ascended the hills forming the
+boundary of the Company's district, which he found covered with lofty
+trees. The first dusun on the other side is named Kalubar, and situated
+on the banks of the river Musi. From thence his route lay to places
+called Kapiyong and Parahmu, from all of which the natives carry the
+produce of their country to Palembang by water. The setting in of the
+rains and difficulties raised by the guides prevented him from proceeding
+to the country where the cassia is cut, and occasioned his return towards
+the hills on the 10th of October, stopping at Tabat Bubut. The land in
+the neighbourhood of the Musi he describes as being level, the soil black
+and good, and the air temperate. It was his intention to have crossed the
+hills to Ranne-lebar, on the 11th, but missing the road in the woods
+reached next day Beyol Bagus, a dusun in the Company's district, and
+thence proceeded to Gunong Raja, his way lying partly down a branch of
+the Bencoolen river, called Ayer Bagus, whose bed is formed of large
+pebble-stones, and partly through a level country, entirely covered with
+lofty bamboos. From Gunong Raja he returned down Bencoolen River on a
+bamboo raft to Bentiring, and reached Fort Marlborough on the 18th of
+October. The other traveller, Mr. Charles Campbell, in a private letter
+dated March 1802 (referring me, for more detailed information, to
+journals which have not reached my hand), says, "We crossed the hills
+nearly behind the Sugar-loaf, and entered the valley of Musi. Words
+cannot do justice to the picturesque scenery of that romantic and
+delightful country, locked in on all sides by lofty mountains, and
+watered by the noble river here navigable for very large canoes, which,
+after receiving the Lamatang and several other streams, forms the
+Palembang. Directing our course behind the great hill of Sungei-lamo we
+in three days discovered Labun, and crossed some considerable streams
+discharging themselves into the river of Kattaun. Our object there being
+completed we returned along the banks of the Musi nearly to the dusun of
+Kalubat, at which place we struck into the woods, and, ascending the
+mountain, reached towards evening a village high up on the Bencoolen
+River. There is but a single range, and it is a fact that from the
+navigable part of the Musi river to a place on that of Bencoolen where
+rafts and sampans may be used is to the natives a walk of no more than
+eight hours. Musi is populous, well cultivated, and the soil exceedingly
+rich. The people are stout, healthy looking, and independent in their
+carriage and manners, and were to us courteous and hospitable. They
+acknowledge no superior authority, but are often insulted by predatory
+parties from Palembang." These freebooters would perhaps call themselves
+collectors of tribute. It is much to be regretted that little political
+jealousies and animosities between the European powers whose influence
+prevails on each side of the island prevent further discoveries of the
+course of this considerable river.
+
+
+CHAPTER 20.
+
+THE COUNTRY OF THE BATTAS.
+TAPPANULI-BAY.
+JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.
+CASSIA-TREES.
+GOVERNMENTS.
+ARMS.
+WARFARE.
+TRADE.
+FAIRS.
+FOOD.
+MANNERS.
+LANGUAGE.
+WRITING.
+RELIGION.
+FUNERALS.
+CRIMES.
+EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.
+
+BATTAS.
+
+One of the most considerable distinctions of people in the island, and by
+many regarded as having the strongest claims to originality, is the
+nation of the Battas (properly Batak), whose remarkable dissimilitude to
+the other inhabitants, in the genius of their customs and manners, and
+especially in some extraordinary usages, renders it necessary that a
+particular degree of attention should be paid to their description.
+
+SITUATION OF THE COUNTRY.
+
+This country is bounded on the north by that of Achin, from which it is
+separated by the mountains of Papa and Deira, and on the south by the
+independent district of Rau or Rawa; extending along the sea-coast on the
+western side from the river of Singkel to that of Tabuyong, but inland,
+to the back of Ayer Bangis, and generally across the island, which is
+narrow in that part, to the eastern coast; but more or less encroached
+upon by the Malayan and Achinese establishments in the most convenient
+maritime situations, for the purposes of their commerce. It is very
+populous, and chiefly in the central parts, where are extensive open or
+naked plains, on the borders (as it is said) of a great lake; the soil
+fertile, and cultivation so much more prevalent than in the southern
+countries, which are mostly covered with woods, that there is scarcely a
+tree to be seen excepting those planted by the natives about their
+villages, which are not, as elsewhere, on the banks of rivers, but
+wherever a strong situation presents itself. Water indeed is not so
+abundant as to the southward, which may be attributed to the
+comparatively level surface, the chain of high mountains which extends
+northwards from the straits of Sunda through the interior of the island,
+in a great measure terminating with gunong Passummah or Mount Ophir.
+About the bay of Tappanuli however the land is high and wooded near the
+coast.
+
+ITS DIVISIONS.
+
+The Batta territory is divided (according to the information obtained by
+the English Residents) into the following principal districts; Ankola,
+Padambola, Mandiling, Toba, Selindong, and Singkel, of which the first
+has five, the third three, and the fourth five subordinate tribes.
+According to the Dutch account published in the Transactions of the
+Batavian Society, which is very circumstantial, it is divided into three
+small kingdoms. One of these named Simamora is situated far inland and
+contains a number of villages, and among others those named Batong, Ria,
+Allas, Batadera, Kapkap (where the district producing benzoin commences),
+Batahol, Kotta-tinggi (the place of the king's residence), with two
+places lying on the eastern coast called Suitara-male and Jambu-ayer.
+This kingdom is said to yield much fine gold from the mines of Batong and
+Sunayang. Bata-salindong also contains many districts, in some of which
+benzoin, and in others fine gold, is collected. The residence of the king
+is at Salindong. Bata-gopit lies at the foot of a volcano-mountain of
+that name, from whence, at the time of an eruption, the natives procure
+sulphur, to be afterwards employed in the manufacture of gunpowder. The
+little kingdom of Butar lies north­eastward of the preceding and reaches
+to the eastern coast, where are the places named Pulo Serony and Batu
+Bara; the latter enjoying a considerable trade; also Longtong and
+Sirigar, at the mouth of a great river named Assahan. Butar yields
+neither camphor, benzoin, nor gold, and the inhabitants support
+themselves by cultivation. The residence of the king is at a town of the
+same name.
+
+ANCIENT BUILDING.
+
+High up on the river of Batu Bara, which empties itself into the straits
+of Malacca, is found a large brick building, concerning the erection of
+which no tradition is preserved amongst the people. It is described as a
+square, or several squares, and at one corner is an extremely high
+pillar, supposed by them to have been designed for carrying a flag.
+Images or reliefs of human figures are carved in the walls, which they
+conceive to be Chinese (perhaps Hindu) idols. The bricks, of which some
+were brought to Tappanuli, are of a smaller size than those used by the
+English.
+
+SINGKEL.
+
+Singkel River, by much the largest on the western coast of the island,
+has its rise in the distant mountains of Daholi, in the territory of
+Achin, and at the distance of about thirty miles from the sea receives
+the waters of the Sikere, at a place called Pomoko, running through a
+great extent of the Batta country. After this junction it is very broad,
+and deep enough for vessels of considerable burden, but the bar is
+shallow and dangerous, having no more than six feet at low-water
+spring-tides, and the rise is also six feet. The breadth here is about
+three-quarters of a mile. Much of the lower parts of the country through
+which it has its course is overflowed during the rainy season, but not at
+two places, called by Captain Forrest Rambong and Jambong, near the
+mouth. The principal town lies forty miles up the river on the northern
+branch. On the southern is a town named Kiking, where more trade is
+carried on by the Malays and Achinese than at the former, the Samponan or
+Papa mountains producing more benzoin than those of Daholi. It is said in
+a Dutch manuscript that in three days' navigation above the town of
+Singkel you come to a great lake, the extent of which is not known.
+
+Barus, the next place of any consequence to the southward, is chiefly
+remarkable for having given name throughout the East to the Kapur­barus
+or native camphor, as it is often termed to distinguish it from that
+which is imported from Japan and China, as already explained. This was
+the situation of the most remote of the Dutch factories, long since
+withdrawn. It is properly a Malayan establishment, governed by a raja, a
+bandhara, and eight pangulus, and with this peculiarity, that the rajas
+and bandharas must be alternately and reciprocally of two great families,
+named Dulu and D'ilhir. The assumed jurisdiction is said to have extended
+formerly to Natal. The town is situated about a league from the coast,
+and two leagues farther inland are eight small villages inhabited by
+Battas, the inhabitants of which purchase the camphor and benzoin from
+the people of the Diri mountains, extending from the southward of Singkel
+to the hill of Lasa, behind Barus, where the Tobat district commences.
+
+TAPPANULI.
+
+The celebrated bay of Tappanuli stretches into the heart of the Batta
+country, and its shores are everywhere inhabited by that people, who
+barter the produce of their land for the articles they stand in need of
+from abroad, but do not themselves make voyages by sea. Navigators assert
+that the natural advantages of this bay are scarcely surpassed in any
+other part of the globe; that all the navies of the world might ride
+there with perfect security in every weather; and that such is the
+complication of anchoring-places within each other that a large ship
+could be so hid in them as not to be found without a tedious search. At
+the island of Punchong kechil, on which our settlement stands, it is a
+common practice to moor the vessels by a hawser to a tree on shore.
+Timber for masts and yards is to be procured in the various creeks with
+great facility. Not being favourably situated with respect to the general
+track of outward and homeward-bound shipping, and its distance from the
+principal seat of our important Indian concerns being considerable, it
+has not hitherto been much used for any great naval purposes; but at the
+same time our government should be aware of the danger that might arise
+from suffering any other maritime power to get footing in a place of this
+description. The natives are in general inoffensive, and have given
+little disturbance to our establishments; but parties of Achinese traders
+(without the concurrence or knowledge, as there is reason to believe, of
+their own government), jealous of our commercial influence, long strove
+to drive us from the bay by force of arms, and we were under the
+necessity of carrying on a petty warfare for many years in order to
+secure our tranquillity. In the year 1760 Tappanuli was taken by a
+squadron of French ships under the command of the Comte d'Estaing; and in
+October 1809, being nearly defenceless, it was again taken by the Creole
+French frigate, Captain Ripaud, joined afterwards by the Venus and La
+Manche; under the orders of Commodore Hamelin. By the terms of the
+surrender private property was to be secured, but in a few days, after
+the most friendly assurances had been given to the acting resident, with
+whom the French officers were living, this engagement was violated under
+the ill-founded pretence that some gold had been secreted, and everything
+belonging to the English gentlemen and ladies, as well as to the native
+settlers, was plundered or destroyed by fire, with circumstances of
+atrocity and brutality that would have disgraced savages. The
+garden-house of the chief (Mr. Prince, who happened to be then absent
+from Tappanuli) at Batu-buru on the main was likewise burned, together
+with his horses, and his cattle were shot at and maimed. Even the books
+of accounts, containing the statement of outstanding debts due to the
+trading-concern of the place were, in spite of every entreaty,
+maliciously destroyed or carried off, by which an irreparable loss, from
+which the enemy could not derive a benefit, is sustained by the
+unfortunate sufferers. It cannot be supposed that the government of a
+great and proud empire can give its sanction to this disgraceful mode of
+carrying on war.
+
+In the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1778 is a brief account of
+the Batta country and the manners of its inhabitants, extracted from the
+private letters of Mr. Charles Miller, the Company's botanist, whose
+observations I have had repeated occasion to quote. I shall now
+communicate to the reader the substance of a report made by him of a
+journey performed in company with Mr. Giles Holloway, then resident of
+Tappanuli, through the interior of the country of which we are now
+speaking, with a view to explore its productions, particularly the
+cassia, which at that time was thought likely to prove an object of
+commerce worthy of attention.
+
+MR. MILLER'S JOURNEY INTO THE COUNTRY.
+
+Says Mr. Miller:
+
+Previously to our setting out on this journey we consulted people who had
+formerly been engaged in the cassia-trade with regard to the most proper
+places to visit. They informed us that the trees were to be found in two
+different districts; namely in the inland parts to the northward of the
+old settlement at Tappanuli; and also in the country of Padambola, which
+lies between fifty and sixty miles more to the southward. They advised us
+to prefer going into the Padambola country, although the more distant, on
+account of the inhabitants of the Tappanuli country (as they represented)
+being frequently troublesome to strangers. They also told me there were
+two kinds of the kulit manis, the one of which, from their account of it,
+I was in hopes might prove to be the true cinnamon-tree.
+
+June 21st, 1772. We set out from Pulo Punchong and went in boats to the
+quallo (mouth or entrance) of Pinang Suri river, which is in the bay,
+about ten or twelve miles south-east of Punchong. Next morning we went up
+the river in sampans, and in about six hours arrived at a place called
+quallo Lumut. The whole of the land on both sides of the river is low,
+covered with wood, and uninhabited. In these woods I observed camphor
+trees, two species of oak, maranti, rangi, and several other
+timber-trees. About a quarter of a mile from that place, on the opposite
+side of the river, is a Batta kampong, situated on the summit of a
+regular and very beautiful little hill, which rises in a pyramidical
+form, in the middle of a small meadow. The raja of this kampong, being
+informed by the Malays that we were at their houses, came over to see us,
+and invited us to his house, where we were received with great ceremony,
+and saluted with about thirty guns. This kampong consists of about eight
+or ten houses, with their respective padi-houses. It is strongly
+fortified with a double fence of strong rough camphor planks, driven deep
+into the earth, and about eight or nine feet high, so placed that their
+points project considerably outward. These fences are about twelve feet
+asunder, and in the space between them the buffaloes are kept at night.
+Without-side these fences they plant a row of a prickly kind of bamboo,
+which forms an almost impenetrable hedge from twelve to twenty feet
+thick. In the sapiyau or building in which the raja receives strangers we
+saw a man's skull hanging up, which he told us was hung there as a
+trophy, it being the skull of an enemy they had taken prisoner, whose
+body (according to the custom of the Battas) they had eaten about two
+months before. June 23rd. We walked through a level woody country to the
+kampong of Lumut, and next day to Sa­tarong, where I observed several
+plantations of benzoin-trees, some cotton, indigo, turmeric, tobacco, and
+a few pepper-vines. We next proceeded to Tappolen, to Sikia, and to
+Sa-pisang. This last is situated on the banks of Batang-tara river, three
+or four days' journey from the sea; so that our course had hitherto been
+nearly parallel to the coast.
+
+July 1st. We left Sa-pisang and took a direction towards the hills,
+following nearly the course of the Batang-tara. We travelled all this day
+through a low, woody, and entirely uncultivated country, which afforded
+nothing worthy of observation. Our guide had proposed to reach a kampong,
+called Lumbu; but missing the road we were obliged to wade up the river
+between four and five miles, and at length arrived at a ladang extremely
+fatigued; where the badness of the weather obliged us to stop and take up
+our quarters in an open padi-shed. The next day the river was so swelled
+by the heavy rain which had fallen the preceding day that we could not
+prosecute our journey, and were obliged to pass it and the remaining
+night in the same uncomfortable situation. (This is the middle of the dry
+season in the southern parts of the island.) July 3rd. We left the ladang
+and walked through a very irregular and uninhabited tract, full of rocks
+and covered with woods. We this day crossed a ridge of very steep and
+high hills, and in the afternoon came to an inhabited and well-cultivated
+country on the edge of the plains of Ancola. We slept this night in a
+small open shed, and next day proceeded to a kampong called Koto Lambong.
+July 5th. Went through a more open and very pleasant country to
+Terimbaru, a large kampong on the southern edge of the plains of Ancola.
+The land hereabout is entirely clear of wood, and either ploughed and
+sown with padi or jagong (maize), or used as pasture for their numerous
+herds of buffaloes, kine, and horses. The raja being informed of our
+intentions to come there sent his son and between thirty and forty men,
+armed with lances and matchlock guns, to meet us, who escorted us to
+their kampong, beating gongs and firing their guns all the way. The raja
+received us in great form, and with civility ordered a buffalo to be
+killed, detained us a day, and when we proceeded on our journey sent his
+son with a party to escort us. I observed that all the unmarried women
+wore a great number of tin rings in their ears (some having fifty in each
+ear), which circumstance, together with the appearance of the country,
+seemed to indicate its abounding with minerals; but on making inquiry I
+found that the tin was brought from the straits of Malacca. Having made
+the accustomed presents to the raja we left Terimbaru, July 7th, and
+proceeded to Sa-masam, the raja of which place, attended by sixty or
+seventy men, well armed, met us and conducted us to his kampong, where he
+had prepared a house for our reception, treating us with much hospitality
+and respect. The country round Sa-masam is full of small hills but clear
+of wood, and mostly pasture ground for their cattle, of which they have
+great abundance. I met with nothing remarkable here excepting a prickly
+shrub called by the natives Andalimon, the seed-vessels and leaves of
+which have a very agreeable spicy taste, and are used by them in their
+curries.
+
+July 10th. Proceeded on our journey to Batang Onan, the kampong where the
+Malays used to purchase the cassia from the Battas. After about three
+hours walk over an open hilly country we again came into thick woods, in
+which we were obliged to pass the night. The next morning we crossed
+another ridge of very high hills, covered entirely with woods. In these
+we saw the wild benzoin-tree. It grows to a much larger size than the
+cultivated kind, and yields a different sort of resin called kaminian
+dulong or sweet-scented benzoin. It differs in being commonly in more
+detached pieces, and having a smell resembling that of almonds when
+bruised. Arrived at Batang Onan in the afternoon. This kampong is
+situated in a very extensive plain on the banks of a large river which
+empties itself into the straits of Malacca, and is said to be navigable
+for sloops to within a day's journey of Batang Onan.
+
+CASSIA-TREES.
+
+July 11th. Went to Panka-dulut, the raja of which place claims the
+property of the cassia-trees, and his people used to cut and cure the
+bark and transport it to the former place. The nearest trees are about
+two hours walk from Panka-dulut on a high ridge of mountains. They grow
+from forty to sixty feet high, and have large spreading heads. They are
+not cultivated, but grow in the woods. The bark is commonly taken from
+the bodies of the trees of a foot or foot and half diameter; the bark
+being so thin, when the trees are younger, as to lose all its qualities
+very soon. I here inquired for the different sorts of cassia-tree of
+which I had been told, but was now informed that there was only one sort,
+and that the difference they mentioned was occasioned entirely by the
+soil and situation in which the trees grow; that those which grow in a
+rocky dry soil have red shoots, and their bark is of superior quality to
+that of trees which grow in moist clay, whose shoots are green. I also
+endeavoured to get some information with regard to their method of curing
+and quilling the cassia, and told them my intentions of trying some
+experiments towards improving its quality and rendering it more valuable.
+They told me that none had been cut for two years past, on account of a
+stop being put to the purchases at Tappanuli; and that if I was come with
+authority to open the trade I should call together the people of the
+neighbouring kampongs, kill a buffalo for them, and assure them publicly
+that the cassia would be again received; in which case they would
+immediately begin to cut and cure it, and would willingly follow any
+instructions I should give them; but that otherwise they would take no
+trouble about it. I must observe that I was prevented from getting so
+satisfactory an account of the cassia as I could have wished by the
+ill-behaviour of the person who accompanied us as guide, from whom, by
+his thorough knowledge of the country, and of the cassia-trade, of which
+he had formerly been the chief manager, we thought we had reason to
+expect all requisite assistance and information, but who not only refused
+to give it, but prevented as much as possible our receiving any from the
+country people. July 14th. We left Batang Onan in order to return,
+stopped that night at a kampong called Koto Moran, and the next evening
+reached Sa-masam; from whence we proceeded by a different road from what
+we had travelled before to Sa­pisang, where we procured sampans, and went
+down the Batang-tara river to the sea. July 22nd we returned to Pulo
+Punchong.
+
+End of Mr. Miller's Narrative.
+
+It has since been understood that they were intentionally misled, and
+taken by a circuitous route to prevent their seeing a particular kampong
+of some consideration at the back of Tappanuli, or for some other
+interested object. Near the latter place, on the main, Mr. John Marsden,
+who went thither to be present at the funeral of one of their chiefs,
+observed two old monuments in stone, one the figure of a man, the other
+of a man on an elephant, tolerably well executed, but they know not by
+whom, nor is there any among them who could do the same work now. The
+features were strongly Batta.
+
+NATAL.
+
+Our settlement at Natal (properly Natar), some miles to the south of the
+large river of Tabuyong, and on the confines of the Batta country, which
+extends at the back of it, is a place of much commerce, but not from its
+natural or political circumstances of importance in other respects. It is
+inhabited by settlers there, for the convenience of trade, from the
+countries of Achin, Rau, and Menangkabau, who render it populous and
+rich. Gold of very fine quality is procured from the country (some of the
+mines being said to lie within ten miles of the factory), and there is a
+considerable vent for imported goods, the returns for which are chiefly
+made in that article and camphor. Like other Malayan towns it is governed
+by datus, the chief of whom, styled datu besar or chief magistrate, has
+considerable sway; and although the influence of the Company is here
+predominant its authority is by no means so firmly established as in the
+pepper-districts to the southward, owing to the number of people, their
+wealth, and enterprising, independent spirit.* It may be said that they
+are rather managed and conciliated than ruled. They find the English
+useful as moderators between their own contending factions, which often
+have recourse to arms, even upon points of ceremonious precedence, and
+are reasoned into accommodation by our resident going among them
+unattended. At an earlier period our protection was convenient to them
+against the usurpation, as they termed it, of the Dutch, of whose
+attempts and claims they were particularly jealous. By an article of the
+treaty of Paris in 1763 these pretensions were ascertained as they
+respected the two European powers, and the settlements of Natal and
+Tappanuli were expressly restored to the English. They had however
+already been re-occupied. Neither in fact have any right but what
+proceeds from the will and consent of the native princes.
+
+(*Footnote. Upon the re-establishment of the factory in 1762 the resident
+pointed out to the Datu besar, with a degree of indignation, the number
+of dead bodies which were frequently seen floating down the river, and
+proposed his cooperating to prevent assassinations in the country,
+occasioned by the anarchy the place fell into during the temporary
+interruption of the Company's influence. "I cannot assent to any measures
+for that purpose," replied the datu: "I reap from these murders an
+advantage of twenty dollars a head when the families prosecute." A
+compensation of thirty dollars per month was offered him, and to this he
+scarcely submitted, observing that he should be a considerable loser, as
+there fell in this manner at least three men in the month. At another
+time, when the resident attempted to carry some regulation into
+execution, he said, "kami tradah suka begito, orang kaya!" "We do not
+choose to allow it, sir;" and bared his right arm as a signal of attack
+to his dependants in case the point had been insisted on. Of late years
+habit and a sense of mutual interest have rendered them more
+accommodating.)
+
+BATTA GOVERNMENTS.
+
+The government of the Batta country, although nominally in the hands of
+three or more sovereign rajas, is effectively (so far as our intercourse
+with the people enables us to ascertain) divided into numberless petty
+chiefships, the heads of which, also styled rajas, have no appearance of
+being dependant upon any superior power, but enter into associations with
+each other, particularly with those belonging to the same tribe, for
+mutual defence and security against any distant enemy. They are at the
+same time extremely jealous of any increase of their relative power, and
+on the slightest pretext a war breaks out between them. The force of
+different kampongs is notwithstanding this very unequal, and some rajas
+possess a much more extensive sway than others; and it must needs be so,
+where every man who can get a dozen followers and two or three muskets
+sets up for independence. Inland of a place called Sokum great respect
+was paid to a female chief or uti (which word I conceive to be a liquid
+pronunciation of putri, a princess), whose jurisdiction comprehended many
+tribes. Her grandson, who was the reigning prince, had lately been
+murdered by an invader, and she had assembled an army of two or three
+thousand men to take revenge. An agent of the Company went up the river
+about fifteen miles in hopes of being able to accommodate a matter that
+threatened materially the peace of the country; but he was told by the
+uti that, unless he would land his men, and take a decided part in her
+favour, he had no business there, and he was obliged to reembark without
+effecting anything. The aggressor followed him the same night and made
+his escape. It does not appear likely, from the manners and dispositions
+of the people, that the whole of the country was ever united under one
+supreme head.
+
+AUTHORITY OF RAJAS.
+
+The more powerful rajas assume authority over the lives of their
+subjects. The dependants are bound to attend their chief in his journeys
+and in his wars, and when an individual refuses he is expelled from the
+society without permission to take his property along with him. They are
+supplied with food for their expeditions, and allowed a reward for each
+person they kill. The revenues of the chief arise principally from fines
+of cattle adjudged in criminal proceedings, which he always appropriates
+to himself; and from the produce of the camphor and benzoin trees
+throughout his district; but this is not rigorously insisted upon. When
+he pays his gaming debts he imposes what arbitrary value he thinks proper
+on the horses and buffaloes (no coin being used
+in the country), which he delivers, and his subjects are obliged to
+accept them at that rate. They are forced to work in their turns, for a
+certain number of days, in his rice plantations. There is, in like
+manner, a lesser kind of service for land held of any other person, the
+tenant being bound to pay his landlord respect wherever he meets him, and
+to provide him with entertainment whenever he comes to his house. The
+people seem to have a permanent property in their possessions, selling
+them to each other as they think fit. If a man plants trees and leaves
+them, no future occupier can sell them, though he may eat the fruit.
+Disputes and litigations of any kind that happen between people belonging
+to the same kampong are settled by a magistrate appointed for that
+purpose, and from him it is said there is no appeal to the raja: when
+they arise between persons of different kampongs they are adjusted at a
+meeting of the respective rajas. When a party is sent down to the Bay to
+purchase salt or on other business it is accompanied by an officer who
+takes cognizance of their behaviour, and sometimes punishes on the spot
+such as are criminal or refractory. This is productive of much order and
+decency.
+
+SUCCESSION.
+
+It is asserted that the succession to the chiefships does not go in the
+first instance to the son of the deceased, but to the nephew by a sister;
+and that the same extraordinary rule, with respect to property in
+general, prevails also amongst the Malays of that part of the island, and
+even in the neighbourhood of Padang. The authorities for this are various
+and unconnected with each other, but not sufficiently circumstantial to
+induce me to admit it as a generally established practice.
+
+RESPECT FOR THE SULTAN OF MENANGKABAU.
+
+Notwithstanding the independent spirit of the Battas, and their contempt
+of all power that would affect a superiority over their little societies,
+they have a superstitious veneration for the sultan of Menangkabau, and
+show blind submission to his relations and emissaries, real or pretended,
+when such appear among them for the purpose of levying contributions:
+even when insulted and put in fear of their lives they make no attempt at
+resistance: they think that their affairs would never prosper; that their
+padi would be blighted, and their buffaloes die; that they would remain
+under a kind of spell for offending those sacred messengers.
+
+PERSONS.
+
+The Battas are in their persons rather below the stature of the Malays,
+and their complexions are fairer; which may perhaps be owing to their
+distance, for the most part, from the sea, an element they do not at all
+frequent.
+
+DRESS.
+
+Their dress is commonly of a sort of cotton cloth manufactured by
+themselves, thick, harsh, and wiry, about four astas or cubits long, and
+two in breadth, worn round the middle, with a scarf over the shoulder.
+These are of mixed colours, the prevalent being a brownish red and a blue
+approaching to black. They are fond of adorning them, particularly the
+scarf, with strings and tassels of beads. The covering of the head is
+usually the bark of a tree, but the superior class wear a strip of
+foreign blue cloth in imitation of the Malayan destars, and a few have
+bajus (outer garments) of chintz. The young women, beside the cloth round
+the middle, have one over the breasts, and (as noticed in Mr. Miller's
+journal) wear in their ears numerous rings of tin, as well as several
+large rings of thick brass wire round their necks. On festival days
+however they ornament themselves with earrings of gold, hair-pins, of
+which the heads are fashioned like birds or dragons, a kind of
+three-cornered breastplate, and hollow rings upon the upper arm, all, in
+like manner, of gold. The kima shell, which abounds in the bay, is
+likewise worked into arm-rings, whiter, and taking a better polish than
+ivory.
+
+ARMS.
+
+Their arms are matchlock guns, with which they are expert marksmen,
+bamboo lances or spears with long iron heads, and a side-weapon called
+jono, which resembles and is worn as a sword rather than a kris. The
+cartridge-boxes are provided with a number of little wooden cases, each
+containing a charge for the piece. In these are carried likewise the
+match, and the smaller ranjaus, the longer being in a joint of bamboo,
+slung like a quiver over the shoulder. They have machines curiously
+carved and formed like the beak of a large bird for holding bullets, and
+others of peculiar construction for a reserve of powder. These hang in
+front. On the right side hang the flint and steel, and also the
+tobacco-pipe. Their guns, the locks of which {for holding the match) are
+of copper, they are supplied with by traders from Menangkabau; the swords
+are of their own workmanship, and they also manufacture their own
+gunpowder, extracting the saltpetre, as it is said, from the soil taken
+from under houses that have been long inhabited (which in consequence of
+an uncleanly practice is strongly impregnated with animal salts),
+together with that collected in places where goats are kept. Through this
+earth water is filtered, and being afterwards suffered to evaporate the
+saltpetre is found at the bottom of the vessel. Their proper standard in
+war is a horse's head, from whence flows a long mane or tail; beside
+which they have colours of red or white cloth. For drums they use gongs,
+and in action set up a kind of war­whoop.
+
+WARFARE.
+
+The spirit of war is excited among these people by small provocation, and
+their resolutions for carrying it into effect are soon taken. Their life
+appears in fact to be a perpetual state of hostility, and they are always
+prepared for attack and defence. When they proceed to put their designs
+into execution the first act of defiance is firing, without ball, into
+the kampong of their enemies. Three days are then allowed for the party
+fired upon to propose terms of accommodation, and if this is not done, or
+the terms are such as cannot be agreed to, war is then fully declared.
+This ceremony of firing with powder only is styled carrying smoke to the
+adversary. During the course of their wars, which sometimes last for two
+or three years, they seldom meet openly in the field or attempt to decide
+their contest by a general engagement, as the mutual loss of a dozen men
+might go near to ruin both parties, nor do they ever engage hand to hand,
+but keep at a pretty safe distance, seldom nearer than random-shot,
+excepting in case of sudden surprise. They march in single files, and
+usually fire kneeling. It is not often that they venture a direct attack
+upon each other's works, but watch opportunities of picking off
+stragglers passing through the woods. A party of three or four will
+conceal themselves near the footways, and if they see any of their foes
+they fire and run away immediately; planting ranjaus after them to
+prevent pursuit. On these occasions a man will subsist upon a potato a
+day, in which they have much the advantage of the Malays (against whom
+they are often engaged in warfare), who require to be better fed.
+
+FORTIFICATIONS.
+
+They fortify their kampongs with large ramparts of earth, halfway up
+which they plant brushwood. There is a ditch without the rampart, and on
+each side of that a tall palisade of camphor timber. Beyond this is an
+impenetrable hedge of prickly bamboo, which when of sufficient growth
+acquires an extraordinary density, and perfectly conceals all appearance
+of a town. Ranjaus, of a length both for the body and the feet, are
+disposed without all these, and render the approaches hazardous to
+assailants who are almost naked. At each corner of the fortress, instead
+of a tower or watch-house, they contrive to have a tall tree, which they
+ascend to reconnoitre or fire from. But they are not fond of remaining on
+the defensive in these fortified villages, and therefore, leaving a few
+to guard them, usually advance into the plains, and throw up temporary
+breast-works and entrenchments.
+
+TRADE.
+
+The natives of the sea-coast exchange their benzoin, camphor, and cassia
+(the quantity of gold-dust is very inconsiderable) for iron, steel,
+brass-wire, and salt, of which last article a hundred thousand bamboo
+measures are annually taken off in the bay of Tappanuli. These they
+barter again with the more inland inhabitants, in the mode that shall
+presently be described, for the products and manufactures of the country,
+particularly the home-made cloth; a very small quantity of cotton
+piece-goods being imported from the coast and disposed of to the natives.
+What they do take off is chiefly blue-cloth for the head, and chintz.
+
+FAIRS HELD.
+
+For the convenience of carrying on the inland-trade there are established
+at the back of Tappanuli, which is their great mart, four stages, at
+which successively they hold public fairs or markets on every fourth day
+throughout the year; each fair, of course, lasting one day. The people in
+the district of the fourth stage assemble with their goods at the
+appointed place, to which those of the third resort in order to purchase
+them. The people of the third, in like manner, supply the wants of the
+second, and the second of the first, who dispose, on the day the market
+is held, of the merchandise for which they have trafficked with the
+Europeans and Malays. On these occasions all hostilities are suspended.
+Each man who possesses a musket carries it with a green bough in the
+muzzle, as a token of peace, and afterwards, when he comes to the spot,
+following the example of the director or manager of the party, discharges
+the loading into a mound of earth, in which, before his departure, he
+searches for his ball. There is but one house at the place where the
+market is held, and that is for the purpose of gaming. The want of booths
+is supplied by the shade of regular rows of fruit-trees, mostly durian,
+of which one avenue is reserved for the women. The dealings are conducted
+with order and fairness; the chief remaining at a little distance, to be
+referred to in case of dispute, and a guard is at hand, armed with
+lances, to keep the peace; yet with all this police, which bespeaks
+civilization, I have been assured by those who have had an opportunity of
+attending their meetings that in the whole of their appearance and
+deportment there is more of savage life than is observed in the manners
+of the Rejangs, or inhabitants of Lampong. Traders from the remoter Batta
+districts, lying north and south, assemble at these periodical markets,
+where all their traffic is carried on, and commodities bartered. They are
+not however peculiar to this country, being held, among other places, at
+Batang-kapas and Ipu. By the Malays they are termed onan.
+
+ESTIMATE BY COMMODITIES INSTEAD OF COIN.
+
+Having no coin all value is estimated among them by certain commodities.
+In trade they calculate by tampangs (cakes) of benzoin; in transactions
+among themselves more commonly by buffaloes: sometimes brass wire and
+sometimes beads are used as a medium. A galang, or ring of brass wire,
+represents about the value of a dollar. But for small payments salt is
+the most in use. A measure called a salup, weighing about two pounds, is
+equal to a fanam or twopence-halfpenny: a balli, another small measure,
+goes for four keppeng, or three-fifths of a penny.
+
+FOOD.
+
+The ordinary food of the lower class of people is maize and
+sweet-potatoes, the rajas and great men alone indulging themselves with
+rice. Some mix them together. It is only on public occasions that they
+kill cattle for food; but not being delicate in their appetites they do
+not scruple to eat part of a dead buffalo, hog, rat, alligator, or any
+wild animal with which they happen to meet. Their rivers are said not to
+abound with fish. Horse-flesh they esteem their most exquisite meat, and
+for this purpose feed them upon grain and pay great attention to their
+keep. They are numerous in the country, and the Europeans at Bencoolen
+are supplied with many good ones from thence, but not with the finest, as
+these are reserved for their festivals. They have also, says Mr. Miller,
+great quantities of small black dogs, with erect pointed ears, which they
+fatten and eat. Toddy or palm-wine they drink copiously at their feasts.
+
+BUILDINGS.
+
+The houses are built with frames of wood, with the sides of boards, and
+roof covered with iju. They usually consist of a single large room, which
+is entered by a trap-door in the middle. The number seldom exceeds twenty
+in one kampong; but opposite to each is a kind of open building that
+serves for sitting in during the day, and as a sleeping­place for the
+unmarried men at night. These together form a sort of street. To each
+kampong there is also a balei, where the inhabitants assemble for
+transacting public business, celebrating feasts, and the reception of
+strangers, whom they entertain with frankness and hospitality. At the end
+of this building is a place divided off, from whence the women see the
+spectacles of fencing and dancing; and below that is a kind of orchestra
+for music.
+
+DOMESTIC MANNERS.
+
+The men are allowed to marry as many wives as they please, or can afford,
+and to have half a dozen is not uncommon. Each of these sits in a
+different part of the large room, and sleeps exposed to the others; not
+being separated by any partition or distinction of apartments. Yet the
+husband finds it necessary to allot to each of them their several
+fireplaces and cooking utensils, where they dress their own victuals
+separately, and prepare his in turns. How is this domestic state and the
+flimsiness of such an imaginary barrier to be reconciled with our ideas
+of the furious, ungovernable passions of love and jealousy supposed to
+prevail in an eastern harem? or must custom be allowed to supersede all
+other influence, both moral and physical? In other respects they differ
+little in their customs relating to marriage from the rest of the island.
+The parents of the girl always receive a valuable consideration (in
+buffaloes or horses) from the person to whom she is given in marriage;
+which is returned when a divorce takes place against the man's
+inclination. The daughters as elsewhere are looked upon as the riches of
+the fathers.
+
+CONDITION OF WOMEN.
+
+The condition of the women appears to be no other than that of slaves,
+the husbands having the power of selling their wives and children. They
+alone, beside the domestic duties, work in the rice plantations. These
+are prepared in the same mode as in the rest of the island; except that
+in the central parts, the country being clearer, the plough and harrow,
+drawn by buffaloes, are more used. The men, when not engaged in war,
+their favourite occupation, commonly lead an idle, inactive life, passing
+the day in playing on a kind of flute, crowned with garlands of flowers;
+among which the globe-amaranthus, a native of the country, mostly
+prevails.
+
+HORSERACING.
+
+They are said however to hunt deer on horseback, and to be attached to
+the diversion of horseracing. They ride boldly without a saddle or
+stirrups, frequently throwing their hands upwards whilst pushing their
+horse to full speed. The bit of the bridle is of iron, and has several
+joints; the head-stall and reins of rattan: in some parts the reins, or
+halter rather, is of iju, and the bit of wood. They are, like the rest of
+the Sumatrans, much addicted to gaming, and the practice is under no kind
+of restraint, until it destroys itself by the ruin of one of the parties.
+When a man loses more money than he is able to pay he is confined and
+sold as a slave; being the most usual mode by which they become such. A
+generous winner will sometimes release his unfortunate adversary upon
+condition of his killing a horse and making a public entertainment.
+
+LANGUAGE.
+
+They have, as was before observed, a language and written character
+peculiar to themselves, and which may be considered, in point of
+originality, as equal at least to any other in the island, and although,
+like the languages of Java, Celebes, and the Philippines, it has many
+terms in common with the Malayan (being all, in my judgment, from one
+common stock), yet, in the way of encroachment, from the influence, both
+political and religious, acquired by its immediate neighbours, the Batta
+tongue appears to have experienced less change than any other. For a
+specimen of its words, its alphabet, and the rules by which the sound of
+its letters is modified and governed, the reader is referred to the Table
+and Plate above. It is remarkable that the proportion of the people who
+are able to read and write is much greater than of those who do not; a
+qualification seldom observed in such uncivilized parts of the world, and
+not always found in the more polished.
+
+WRITING.
+
+Their writing for common purposes is, like that already described in
+speaking of the Rejangs, upon pieces of bamboo.
+
+BOOKS.
+
+Their books (and such they may with propriety be termed) are composed of
+the inner bark of a certain tree cut into long slips and folded in
+squares, leaving part of the wood at each extremity to serve for the
+outer covering. The bark for this purpose is shaved smooth and thin, and
+afterwards rubbed over with rice-water. The pen they use is a twig or the
+fibre of a leaf, and their ink is made of the soot of dammar mixed with
+the juice of the sugar-cane. The contents of their books are little known
+to us. The writing of most of those in my possession is mixed with
+uncouth representations of scolopendra and other noxious animals, and
+frequent diagrams, which imply their being works of astrology and
+divination. These they are known to consult in all the transactions of
+life, and the event is predicted by the application of certain characters
+marked on a slip of bamboo, to the lines of the sacred book, with which a
+comparison is made. But this is not their only mode of divining. Before
+going to war they kill a buffalo or a fowl that is perfectly white, and
+by observing the motion of the intestines judge of the good or ill
+fortune likely to attend them; and the priest who performs this ceremony
+had need to be infallible, for if he predicts contrary to the event it is
+said that he is sometimes punished with death for his want of skill.
+Exclusively however of these books of necromancy there are others
+containing legendary and mythological tales, of which latter a sample
+will be given under the article of religion.
+
+REMARK BY DR. LEYDEN.
+
+Dr. Leyden, in his Dissertation on the Languages and Literature of the
+Indo-Chinese nations, says that the Batta character is written neither
+from right to left, nor from left to right, nor from top to bottom, but
+in a manner directly opposite to that of the Chinese, from the bottom to
+the top of the line, and that I have conveyed an erroneous idea of their
+natural form by arranging the characters horizontally instead of placing
+them in a perpendicular line. Not having now the opportunity of verifying
+by ocular proof what I understood to be the practical order of their
+writing, namely, from left to right (in the manner of the Hindus, who,
+there is reason to believe, were the original instructors of all these
+people), I shall only observe that I have among my papers three distinct
+specimens of the Batta alphabet, written by different natives at
+different periods, and all of them are horizontal. But I am at the same
+time aware that as this was performed in the presence of Europeans, and
+upon our paper, they might have deviated from their ordinary practice,
+and that the evidence is therefore not conclusive. It might be presumed
+indeed that the books themselves would be sufficient criterion; but
+according to the position in which they are held they may be made to
+sanction either mode, although it is easy to determine by simple
+inspection the commencement of the lines. In the Batavian Transactions
+(Volume 3 page 23) already so often quoted, it is expressly said that
+these people write like Europeans from the left hand towards the right:
+and in truth it is not easy to conceive how persons making use of ink can
+conduct the hand from the bottom to the top of a page without marring
+their own performance. But still a matter of fact, if such it be, cannot
+give way to argument, and I have no object but to ascertain the truth.
+
+RELIGION.
+
+Their religion, like that of all other inhabitants of the island who are
+not Mahometans, is so obscure in its principles as scarcely to afford
+room to say that any exists among them. Yet they have rather more of
+ceremony and observance than those of Rejang or Passummah, and there is
+an order of persons by them called guru (a well-known Hindu term), who
+may be denominated priests, as they are employed in administering oaths,
+foretelling lucky and unlucky days, making sacrifices, and the
+performance of funeral rites. For a knowledge of their theogony we are
+indebted to M. Siberg, governor of the Dutch settlements on the coast of
+Sumatra, by whom the following account was communicated to the late M.
+Radermacher, a distinguished member of the Batavian Society, and by him
+published in its Transactions.
+
+MYTHOLOGY.
+
+The inhabitants of this country have many fabulous stories, which shall
+be briefly mentioned. They acknowledge three deities as rulers of the
+world, who are respectively named Batara-guru, Sori-pada, and
+Mangalla-bulang. The first, say they, bears rule in heaven, is the father
+of all mankind, and partly, under the following circumstances, creator of
+the earth, which from the beginning of time had been supported on the
+head of Naga-padoha, but, growing weary at length, he shook his head,
+which occasioned the earth to sink, and nothing remained in the world
+excepting water. They do not pretend to a knowledge of the creation of
+this original earth and water, but say that at the period when the latter
+covered everything, the chief deity, Batara­guru, had a daughter named
+Puti-orla-bulan, who requested permission to descend to these lower
+regions, and accordingly came down on a white owl, accompanied by a dog;
+but not being able, by reason of the waters, to continue there, her
+father let fall from heaven a lofty mountain, named Bakarra, now situated
+in the Batta country, as a dwelling for his child; and from this mountain
+all other land gradually proceeded. The earth was once more supported on
+the three horns of Naga-padoha, and that he might never again suffer it
+to fall off Batara-guru sent his son, named Layang-layang-mandi
+(literally the dipping swallow) to bind him hand and foot. But to his
+occasionally shaking his head they ascribe the effect of earthquakes.
+Puti-orla-bulan had afterwards, during her residence on earth, three sons
+and three daughters, from whom sprang the whole human race.
+
+The second of their deities has the rule of the air betwixt earth and
+heaven, and the third that of the earth; but these two are considered as
+subordinate to the first. Besides these they have as many inferior
+deities as there are sensible objects on earth, or circumstances in human
+society; of which some preside over the sea, others over rivers, over
+woods, over war, and the like. They believe likewise in four evil
+spirits, dwelling in four separate mountains, and whatever ill befalls
+them they attribute to the agency of one of these demons. On such
+occasions they apply to one of their cunning men, who has recourse to his
+art, and by cutting a lemon ascertains which of these has been the author
+of the mischief, and by what means the evil spirit may be propitiated;
+which always proves to be the sacrificing a buffalo, hog, goat, or
+whatever animal the wizard happens on that day to be most inclined to
+eat. When the address is made to any of the superior and beneficent
+deities for assistance, and the priest directs an offering of a horse,
+cow, dog, hog, or fowl, care must be taken that the animal to be
+sacrificed is entirely white.
+
+They have also a vague and confused idea of the immortality of the human
+soul, and of a future state of happiness or misery. They say that the
+soul of a dying person makes its escape through the nostrils, and is
+borne away by the wind, to heaven, if of a person who has led a good
+life, but if of an evil-doer, to a great cauldron, where it shall be
+exposed to fire until such time as Batara-guru shall judge it to have
+suffered punishment proportioned to its sins, and feeling compassion
+shall take it to himself in heaven: that finally the time shall come when
+the chains and bands of Naga-padoha shall be worn away, and he shall once
+more allow the earth to sink, that the sun will be then no more than a
+cubit's distance from it, and that the souls of those who, having lived
+well, shall remain alive at the last day, shall in like manner go to
+heaven, and those of the wicked, be consigned to the before-mentioned
+cauldron, intensely heated by the near approach of the sun's rays, to be
+there tormented by a minister of Batara-guru, named Suraya-guru, until,
+having expiated their offences, they shall be thought worthy of reception
+into the heavenly regions.
+
+...
+
+To the Sanskrit scholar who shall make allowances for corrupt orthography
+many of these names will be familiar. For Batara he will read avatara;
+and in Naga-padoha he will recognise the serpent on whom Vishnu reposes.
+
+OATHS.
+
+Their ceremonies that wear most the appearance of religion are those
+practised on taking an oath, and at their funeral obsequies. A person
+accused of a crime and who asserts his innocence is in some cases
+acquitted upon solemnly swearing to it, but in others is obliged to
+undergo a kind of ordeal. A cock's throat is usually cut on the occasion
+by the guru. The accused then puts a little rice into his mouth (probably
+dry), and wishes it may become a stone if he be guilty of the crime with
+which he stands charged, or, holding up a musket bullet, prays it may be
+his fate in that case to fall in battle. In more important instances they
+put a small leaden or tin image into the middle of a dish of rice,
+garnished with those bullets; when the man, kneeling down, prays that his
+crop of rice may fail, his cattle die, and that he himself may never take
+salt (a luxury as well as necessary of life), if he does not declare the
+truth. These tin images may be looked upon as objects of idolatrous
+worship; but I could not learn that any species of adoration was paid to
+them on other occasions any more than to certain stone images which have
+been mentioned. Like the relics of saints, they are merely employed to
+render the form of the oath more mysterious, and thereby increase the awe
+with which it should be regarded.
+
+FUNERAL CEREMONIES.
+
+When a raja or person of consequence dies the funeral usually occupies
+several months; that is, the corpse is kept unburied until the
+neighbouring and distant chiefs, or, in common cases, the relations and
+creditors of the deceased, can be convened in order to celebrate the
+rites with becoming dignity and respect. Perhaps the season of planting
+or of harvest intervenes, and these necessary avocations must be attended
+to before the funeral ceremonies can be concluded. The body however is in
+the meantime deposited in a kind of coffin. To provide this they fell a
+large tree (the anau in preference, because of the softness of the
+central part, whilst the outer coat is hard), and, having cut a portion
+of the stem of sufficient length, they split it in two parts, hollow each
+part so as to form a receptacle for the body, and then fit them exactly
+together. The workmen take care to sprinkle the wood with the blood of a
+young hog, whose flesh is given to them as a treat. The coffin being thus
+prepared and brought into the house the body is placed in it, with a mat
+beneath, and a cloth laid over it. Where the family can afford the
+expense it is strewed over with camphor. Having now placed the two parts
+in close contact they bind them together with rattans, and cover the
+whole with a thick coating of dammar or resin. In some instances they
+take the precaution of inserting a bamboo-tube into the lower part,
+which, passing thence through the raised floor into the ground, serves to
+carry off the offensive matter; so that in fact little more than the
+bones remain.
+
+When the relations and friends are assembled, each of whom brings with
+him a buffalo, hog, goat, dog, fowl, or other article of provision,
+according to his ability, and the women baskets of rice, which are
+presented and placed in order, the feasting begins and continues for nine
+days and nights, or so long as the provisions hold out. On the last of
+these days the coffin is carried out and set in an open space, where it
+is surrounded by the female mourners, on their knees, with their heads
+covered, and howling (ululantes) in dismal concert, whilst the younger
+persons of the family are dancing near it, in solemn movement, to the
+sound of gongs, kalintangs, and a kind of flageolet; at night it is
+returned to the house, where the dancing and music continues, with
+frequent firing of guns, and on the tenth day the body is carried to the
+grave,
+preceded by the guru or priest, whose limbs are tattooed in the shape of
+birds and beasts, and painted of different colours,* with a large wooden
+mask on his face.
+
+(*Footnote. It is remarkable that in the Bisayan language of the
+Philippines the term for people so marked, whom the Spaniards call
+pintados, is batuc. This practice is common in the islands near the coast
+of Sumatra, as will hereafter be noticed. It seems to have prevailed in
+many parts of the farther East, as Siam, Laos, and several of the
+islands.)
+
+He takes a piece of buffalo-flesh, swings it about, throwing himself into
+violent attitudes and strange contortions, and then eats the morsel in a
+voracious manner. He then kills a fowl over the corpse, letting the blood
+run down upon the coffin, and just before it is moved both he and the
+female mourners, having each a broom in their hands, sweep violently
+about it, as if to chase away the evil spirits and prevent their joining
+in the procession, when suddenly four men, stationed for the purpose,
+lift up the coffin, and march quickly off with it, as if escaping from
+the fiend, the priest continuing to sweep after it for some distance. It
+is then deposited in the ground, without any peculiar ceremony, at the
+depth of three or four feet; the earth about the grave is raised, a shed
+built over it, further feasting takes place on the spot for an indefinite
+time, and the horns and jaw-bones of the buffaloes and other cattle
+devoured on the occasion are fastened to the posts. Mr. John and Mr.
+Frederick Marsden were spectators of the funeral of a raja at Tappanuli
+on the main. Mr. Charles Miller mentions his having been present at
+killing the hundred and sixth buffalo at the grave of a raja, in a part
+of the country where the ceremony was sometimes continued even a year
+after the interment; and that they seem to regard their ancestors as a
+kind of superior beings, attendant always upon them.
+
+CRIMES.
+
+The crimes committed here against the order and peace of society are said
+not to be numerous. Theft amongst themselves is almost unknown, being
+strictly honest in their dealings with each other; but when discovered
+the offender is made answerable for double the value of the goods stolen.
+Pilfering indeed from strangers, when not restrained by the laws of
+hospitality, they are expert at, and think no moral offence; because they
+do not perceive that any ill results from it. Open robbery and murder are
+punishable with death if the parties are unable to redeem their lives by
+a sum of money. A person guilty of manslaughter is obliged to bear the
+expense attending the interment of the deceased and the funeral-feast
+given to his friends, or, if too poor to accomplish this it is required
+of his nearest relation, who is empowered to reimburse himself by selling
+the offender as a slave. In cases of double adultery the man, upon
+detection, is punished with death, in the manner that shall presently be
+described; but the woman is only disgraced, by having her head shaven and
+being sold for a slave, which in fact she was before. This distribution
+of justice must proceed upon the supposition of the females being merely
+passive subjects, and of the men alone possessing the faculties of free
+agents. A single man concerned in adultery with a married woman is
+banished or outlawed by his own family. The lives of culprits are in
+almost all cases redeemable if they or their connections possess property
+sufficient, the quantum being in some measure at the discretion of the
+injured party. At the same time it must be observed that, Europeans not
+being settled amongst these people upon the same footing as in the
+pepper-districts, we are not so well acquainted either with the principle
+or the practice of their laws.
+
+EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.
+
+The most extraordinary of the Batta customs, though certainly not
+peculiar to these people, remains now to be described. Many of the old
+travellers had furnished the world with accounts of anthropophagi or
+maneaters, whom they met with in all parts of the old and new world, and
+their relations, true or false, were in those days, when people were
+addicted to the marvellous, universally credited. In the succeeding ages,
+when a more skeptical and scrutinizing spirit prevailed, several of these
+asserted facts were found upon examination to be false; and men, from a
+bias inherent in our nature, ran into the opposite extreme. It then
+became established as a philosophical truth, capable almost of
+demonstration, that no such race of people ever did or could exist. But
+the varieties, inconsistencies, and contradictions of human manners are
+so numerous and glaring that it is scarcely possible to fix any general
+principle that will apply to all the incongruous races of mankind, or
+even to conceive an irregularity to which some or other of them have not
+been accustomed.
+
+EAT HUMAN FLESH.
+
+The voyages of our late famous circumnavigators, the veracity of whose
+assertions is unimpeachable, have already proved to the world that human
+flesh is eaten by the savages of New Zealand; and I can with equal
+confidence, from conviction of the truth, though not with equal weight of
+authority, assert that it is also, in these days, eaten in the island of
+Sumatra by the Batta people, and by them only. Whether or not the
+horrible custom prevailed more extensively in ancient times I cannot take
+upon me to ascertain, but the same historians who mention it as practised
+in this island, and whose accounts were undeservedly looked upon as
+fabulous, relate it also of many others of the eastern people, and those
+of the island of Java in particular, who since that period may have
+become more humanized.*
+
+(*Footnote. Mention is made of the Battas and their peculiar customs by
+the following early writers: NICOLO DI CONTI, 1449. "In a certain part of
+this island (Sumatra) called Batech, the people eat human flesh. They are
+continually at war with their neighbours, preserve the skulls of their
+enemies as treasure, dispose of them as money, and he is accounted the
+richest man who has most of them in his house." ODOARDUS BARBOSA, 1516.
+"There is another kingdom to the southward, which is the principal source
+of gold; and another inland, called Aaru (contiguous to the Batta
+country) where the inhabitants are pagans, who eat human flesh, and
+chiefly of those they have slain in war." DE BARROS, 1563. "The natives
+of that part of the island which is opposite to Malacca, who are called
+Batas, eat human flesh, and are the most savage and warlike of all the
+land." BEAULIEU, 1622. "The inland people are independent, and speak a
+language different from the Malayan. Are idolaters, and eat human flesh;
+never ransom prisoners, but eat them with pepper and salt. Have no
+religion, but some polity." LUDOVICO BARTHEMA, in 1505, asserts that the
+people of Java were cannibals previously to their traffic with the
+Chinese.)
+
+They do not eat human flesh as the means of satisfying the cravings of
+nature, for there can be no want of sustenance to the inhabitants of such
+a country and climate, who reject no animal food of any kind; nor is it
+sought after as a gluttonous delicacy.
+
+MOTIVES FOR THIS CUSTOM.
+
+The Battas eat it as a species of ceremony; as a mode of showing their
+detestation of certain crimes by an ignominious punishment; and as a
+savage display of revenge and insult to their unfortunate enemies. The
+objects of this barbarous repast are prisoners taken in war, especially
+if badly wounded, the bodies of the slain, and offenders condemned for
+certain capital crimes, especially for adultery. Prisoners unwounded (but
+they are not much disposed to give quarter) may be ransomed or sold as
+slaves where the quarrel is not too inveterate; and the convicts, there
+is reason to believe, rarely suffer when their friends are in
+circumstances to redeem them by the customary equivalent of twenty
+binchangs or eighty dollars. These are tried by the people of the tribe
+where the offence was committed, but cannot be executed until their own
+particular raja has been made acquainted with the sentence, who, when he
+acknowledges the justice of the intended punishment, sends a cloth to
+cover the head of the delinquent, together with a large dish of salt and
+lemons. The unhappy victim is then delivered into the hands of the
+injured party (if it be a private wrong, or in the case of a prisoner to
+the warriors) by whom he is tied to a stake; lances are thrown at him
+from a certain distance by this person, his relations, and friends; and
+when mortally wounded they run up to him, as if in a transport of
+passion, cut pieces from the body with their knives, dip them in the dish
+of salt, lemon-juice, and red pepper, slightly broil them over a fire
+prepared for the purpose, and swallow the morsels with a degree of savage
+enthusiasm. Sometimes (I presume, according to the degree of their
+animosity and resentment) the whole is devoured by the bystanders; and
+instances have been known where, with barbarity still aggravated, they
+tear the flesh from the carcase with their teeth. To such a depth of
+depravity may man be plunged when neither religion nor philosophy
+enlighten his steps! All that can be said in extenuation of the horror of
+this diabolical ceremony is that no view appears to be entertained of
+torturing the sufferers, of increasing or lengthening out the pangs of
+death; the whole fury is directed against the corpse, warm indeed with
+the remains of life, but past the sensation of pain. A difference of
+opinion has existed with respect to the practice of eating the bodies of
+their enemies actually slain in war; but subsequent inquiry has satisfied
+me of its being done, especially in the case of distinguished persons, or
+those who have been accessories to the quarrel. It should be observed
+that their campaigns (which may be aptly compared to the predatory
+excursions of our Borderers) often terminate with the loss of not more
+than half a dozen men on both sides. The skulls of the victims are hung
+up as trophies in the open buildings in front of their houses, and are
+occasionally ransomed by their surviving relations for a sum of money.
+
+DOUBTS OBVIATED.
+
+I have found that some persons (and among them my friend, the late Mr.
+Alexander Dalrymple) have entertained doubts of the reality of the fact
+that human flesh is anywhere eaten by mankind as a national practice, and
+considered the proofs hitherto adduced as insufficient to establish a
+point of so much moment in the history of the species. It is objected to
+me that I never was an eyewitness of a Batta feast of this nature, and
+that my authority for it is considerably weakened by coming through a
+second, or perhaps a third hand. I am sensible of the weight of this
+reasoning, and am not anxious to force any man's belief, much less to
+deceive him by pretences to the highest degree of certainty, when my
+relation can only lay claim to the next degree; but I must at the same
+time observe that, according to my apprehension, the refusing assent to
+fair, circumstantial evidence, because it clashes with a systematic
+opinion, is equally injurious to the cause of truth with asserting that
+as positive which is only doubtful. My conviction of the truth of what I
+have not personally seen (and we must all be convinced of facts to which
+neither ourselves nor those with whom we are immediately connected could
+ever have been witnesses) has arisen from the following circumstances,
+some of less, and some of greater authority. It is in the first place a
+matter of general and uncontroverted notoriety throughout the island, and
+I have conversed with many natives of the Batta country (some of them in
+my own service), who acknowledged the practice, and became ashamed of it
+after residing amongst more humanized people. It has been my chance to
+have had no fewer than three brothers and brothers-in-law, beside several
+intimate friends (of whom some are now in England), chiefs of our
+settlements of Natal and Tappanuli, of whose information I availed
+myself, and all their accounts I have found to agree in every material
+point. The testimony of Mr. Charles Miller, whose name, as well as that
+of his father, is advantageously known to the literary world, should
+alone be sufficient for my purpose. In addition to what he has related in
+his journal he has told me that at one village where he halted the
+suspended head of a man, whose body had been eaten a few days before, was
+extremely offensive; and that in conversation with some people of the
+Ankola district, speaking of their neighbours and occasional enemies of
+the Pa­dambola district, they described them as an unprincipled race,
+saying, "We, indeed, eat men as a punishment for their crimes and
+injuries to us; but they waylay and seize travellers in order to
+ber-bantei or cut them up like cattle." It is here obviously the
+admission and not the scandal that should have weight. When Mr. Giles
+Holloway was leaving Tappanuli and settling his accounts with the natives
+he expostulated with a Batta man who had been dilatory in his payment. "I
+would," says the man, "have been here sooner, but my pangulu (superior
+officer) was detected in familiarity with my wife. He was condemned, and
+I stayed to eat share of him; the ceremony took us up three days, and it
+was only last night that we finished him." Mr. Miller was present at this
+conversation, and the man spoke with perfect seriousness. A native of the
+island of Nias, who had stabbed a Batta man in a fit of frenzy at
+Batang-tara river, near Tappanuli bay, and endeavoured to make his
+escape, was, upon the alarm being given, seized at six in the morning,
+and before eleven, without any judicial process, was tied to a stake, cut
+in pieces with the utmost eagerness while yet alive, and eaten upon the
+spot, partly broiled, but mostly raw. His head was buried under that of
+the man whom he had murdered. This happened in December 1780, when Mr.
+William Smith had charge of the settlement. A raja was fined by Mr.
+Bradley for having caused a prisoner to be eaten at a place too close to
+the Company's settlement, and it should have been remarked that these
+feasts are never suffered to take place withinside their own kampongs.
+Mr. Alexander Hall made a charge in his public accounts of a sum paid to
+a raja as an inducement to him to spare a man whom he had seen preparing
+for a victim: and it is in fact this commendable discouragement of the
+practice by our government that occasions its being so rare a sight to
+Europeans, in a country where there are no travellers from curiosity, and
+where the servants of the Company, having appearances to maintain, cannot
+by their presence as idle spectators give a sanction to proceedings which
+it is their duty to discourage, although their influence is not
+sufficient to prevent them.
+
+A Batta chief, named raja Niabin, in the year 1775 surprised a
+neighbouring kampong with which he was at enmity, killed the raja by
+stealth, carried off the body, and ate it. The injured family complained
+to Mr. Nairne, the English chief of Natal, and prayed for redress. He
+sent a message on the subject to Niabin, who returned an insolent and
+threatening answer. Mr. Nairne, influenced by his feelings rather than
+his judgment (for these people were quite removed from the Company's
+control, and our interference in their quarrels was not necessary)
+marched with a party of fifty or sixty men, of whom twelve were
+Europeans, to chastise him; but on approaching the village they found it
+so perfectly enclosed with growing bamboos, within which was a strong
+paling, that they could not even see the place or an enemy.
+
+DEATH OF MR. NAIRNE.
+
+As they advanced however to examine the defences a shot from an unseen
+person struck Mr. Nairne in the breast, and he expired immediately. In
+him was lost a respectable gentleman of great scientific acquirements,
+and a valuable servant of the Company. It was with much difficulty that
+the party was enabled to save the body. A caffree and a Malay who fell in
+the struggle were afterwards eaten. Thus the experience of later days is
+found to agree with the uniform testimony of old writers; and although I
+am aware that each and every of these proofs taken singly may admit of
+some cavil, yet in the aggregate they will be thought to amount to
+satisfactory evidence that human flesh is habitually eaten by a certain
+class of the inhabitants of Sumatra.
+
+That this extraordinary nation has preserved the rude genuineness of its
+character and manners may be attributed to various causes; as the want of
+the precious metals in its country to excite the rapacity of invaders or
+avarice of colonists, the vegetable riches of the soil being more
+advantageously obtained in trade from the unmolested labours of the
+natives; their total unacquaintance with navigation; the divided nature
+of their government and independence of the petty chieftains. which are
+circumstances unfavourable to the propagation of new opinions and
+customs, as the contrary state of society may account for the complete
+conversion of the subjects of Menangkabau to the faith of Mahomet; and
+lastly the ideas entertained of the ferociousness of the people from the
+practices above described, which may well be supposed to have damped the
+ardour and restrained the zealous attempts of religious innovators.
+
+
+CHAPTER 21.
+
+KINGDOM OF ACHIN.
+ITS CAPITAL.
+AIR.
+INHABITANTS.
+COMMERCE.
+MANUFACTURES.
+NAVIGATION.
+COIN.
+GOVERNMENT.
+REVENUES.
+PUNISHMENTS.
+
+Achin (properly Acheh) is the only kingdom of Sumatra that ever arrived
+to such a degree of political consequence in the eyes of the western
+people as to occasion its transactions becoming the subject of general
+history. But its present condition is widely different from what it was
+when by its power the Portuguese were prevented from gaining a footing in
+the island, and its princes received embassies from all the great
+potentates of Europe.
+
+SITUATION.
+
+Its situation occupies the north-western extreme of the island, bordering
+generally on the country of the Battas; but, strictly speaking, its
+extent, inland, reaches no farther than about fifty miles to the
+south­east. Along the north and eastern coast its territory was
+considered in 1778 as reaching to a place called Karti, not far distant
+from Batu­bara river, including Pidir, Samerlonga, and Pase. On the
+western coast, where it formerly boasted a dominion as far down as
+Indrapura, and possessed complete jurisdiction at Tiku, it now extends no
+farther than Barus; and even there, or at the intermediate ports,
+although the Achinese influence is predominant and its merchants enjoy
+the trade, the royal power seems to be little more than nominal. The
+interior inhabitants from Achin to Singkel are distinguished into those
+of Allas, Riah, and Karrau. The Achinese manners prevail among the two
+former; but the last resemble the Battas, from whom they are divided by a
+range of mountains.
+
+CAPITAL.
+
+The capital stands on a river which empties itself by several channels
+near the north-west point of the island, or Achin Head, about a league
+from the sea, where the shipping lies in a road rendered secure by the
+shelter of several islands. The depth of water on the bar being no more
+than four feet at low-water spring-tides, only the vessels of the country
+can venture to pass it; and in the dry monsoon not even those of the
+larger class. The town is situated on a plain, in a wide valley formed
+like an amphitheatre by lofty ranges of hills. It is said to be extremely
+populous, containing eight thousand houses, built of bamboos and rough
+timbers, standing distinct from each other and mostly raised on piles
+some feet above the ground in order to guard against the effects of
+inundation. The appearance of the place and nature of the buildings
+differ little from those of the generality of Malayan bazaars, excepting
+that its superior wealth has occasioned the erection of a greater number
+of public edifices, chiefly mosques, but without the smallest pretension
+to magnificence. The country above the town is highly cultivated, and
+abounds with small villages and groups of three or four houses, with
+white mosques interspersed.*
+
+(*Footnote. The following description of the appearance of Achin, by a
+Jesuit missionary who touched there in his way to China in 1698, is so
+picturesque, and at the same time so just, that I shall make no apology
+for introducing it. Imaginez vous une foret de cocotiers, de bambous,
+d'ananas, de bagnaniers, au milieu de laquelle passe une assez belle
+riviere toute couverte de bateaux; mettez dans cette foret une nombre
+incroyable de maisons faites avec de cannes, de roseaux, des ecorces, et
+disposez les de telle maniere qu'elles forment tantot des rues, et tantot
+des quartiers separes: coupez ces divers quartiers de prairies et de
+bois: repandez par tout dans cette grande foret, autant d'hommes qu'on en
+voit dans nos villes, lorsqu'elles sont bien peuplees; vous vous formerez
+une idee assez juste d'Achen; et vous conviendrez qu'une ville de ce gout
+nouveau peut faire plaisir a des etrangers qui passent. Elle me parut
+d'abord comme ces paysages sortis de l'imagination d'un peintre ou d'un
+poete, qui rassemble sous un coup d'oeil, tout ce que la campagne a de
+plus riant. Tout est neglige et naturel, champetre et meme un peu
+sauvage. Quand on est dans la rade, on n'appercoit aucun vestige, ni
+aucune apparence de ville, parceque des grands arbres qui bordent le
+rivage en cachent toutes les maisons; mais outre le paysage qui est tres
+beau, rien n'est plus agreable que de voir de matin un infinite de petits
+bateaux de pecheurs qui sortent de la riviere avec le jour, et qui ne
+rentrent que le soir, lorsque le soleil se couche. Vous diriez un essaim
+d'abeilles qui reviennent a la cruche chargees du fruit de leur travail.
+Lettres Edifiantes Tome 1. For a more modern account of this city I beg
+leave to refer the reader to Captain Thomas Forrest's Voyage to the
+Mergui Archipelago pages 38 to 60, where he will find a lively and
+natural description of everything worthy of observation in the place,
+with a detail of the circumstances attending his own reception at the
+court, illustrated with an excellent plate.)
+
+The king's palace, if it deserves the appellation, is a very rude and
+uncouth piece of architecture, designed to resist the attacks of internal
+enemies, and surrounded for that purpose with a moat and strong walls,
+but without any regular plan, or view to the modern system of military
+defence.*
+
+(*Footnote. Near the gate of the palace are several pieces of brass
+ordnance of an extraordinary size, of which some are Portuguese; but two
+in particular, of English make, attract curiosity. They were sent by king
+James the first to the reigning monarch of Acheen, and have still the
+founder's name and the date legible upon them. The diameter of the bore
+of one is eighteen inches; of the other twenty-two or twenty-four. Their
+strength however does not appear to be in proportion to the calibre, nor
+do they seem in other respects to be of adequate dimensions. James, who
+abhorred bloodshed himself, was resolved that his present should not be
+the instrument of it to others.)
+
+AIR.
+
+The air is esteemed comparatively healthy, the country being more free
+from woods and stagnant water than most other parts; and fevers and
+dysenteries, to which these local circumstances are supposed to give
+occasion, are there said to be uncommon. But this must not be too readily
+credited; for the degree of insalubrity attending situations in that
+climate is known so frequently to alter, from inscrutable causes, that a
+person who has resided only two or three years on a spot cannot pretend
+to form a judgment; and the natives, from a natural partiality, are
+always ready to extol the healthiness, as well as other imputed
+advantages, of their native places.
+
+INHABITANTS.
+
+The Achinese differ much in their persons from the other Sumatrans, being
+in general taller, stouter, and of darker complexions. They are by no
+means in their present state a genuine people, but thought, with great
+appearance of reason, to be a mixture of Battas and Malays, with chulias,
+as they term the natives of the west of India, by whom their ports have
+in all ages been frequented. In their dispositions they are more active
+and industrious than some of their neighbours; they possess more
+sagacity, have more knowledge of other countries, and as merchants they
+deal upon a more extensive and liberal footing. But this last observation
+applies rather to the traders at a distance from the capital and to their
+transactions than to the conduct observed at Achin, which, according to
+the temper and example of the reigning monarch, is often narrow,
+extortionary, and oppressive. Their language is one of the general
+dialects of the eastern islands, and its affinity to the Batta may be
+observed in the comparative table; but they make use of the Malayan
+character. In religion they are Mahometans, and having many priests, and
+much intercourse with foreigners of the same faith, its forms and
+ceremonies are observed with some strictness.
+
+COMMERCE.
+
+Although no longer the great mart of eastern commodities, Achin still
+carries on a considerable trade, as well with private European merchants
+as with the natives of that part of the coast of India called Telinga,
+which is properly the country lying between the Kistna and Godavery
+rivers; but the name, corrupted by the Malays to Kling, is commonly
+applied to the whole coast of Coromandel. These supply it with salt,
+cotton piece-goods, principally those called long-cloth white and blue,
+and chintz with dark grounds; receiving in return gold-dust, raw silk of
+inferior quality, betel-nut, patch-leaf (Melissa lotoria, called dilam by
+the Malays) pepper, sulphur, camphor, and benzoin. The two latter are
+carried thither from the river of Sungkel, where they are procured from
+the country of the Battas, and the pepper from Pidir; but this article is
+also exported from Susu to the amount of about two thousand tons
+annually, where it sells at the rate of twelve dollars the pikul, chiefly
+for gold and silver. The quality is not esteemed good, being gathered
+before it is sufficiently ripe, and it is not cleaned like the Company's
+pepper. The Americans have been of late years the chief purchasers. The
+gold collected at Achin comes partly from the mountains in the
+neighbourhood but chiefly from Nalabu and Susu. Its commerce,
+independently of that of the out-ports, gives employment to from eight to
+ten Kling vessels, of a hundred and fifty or two hundred tons burden,
+which arrive annually from Porto Novo and Coringa about the month of
+August, and sail again in February and March. These are not permitted to
+touch at any places under the king's jurisdiction, on the eastern or
+western coast, as it would be injurious to the profits of his trade, as
+well as to his revenue from the customs and from the presents exacted on
+the arrival of vessels, and for which his officers at those distant
+places would not account with him. It must be understood that the king of
+Achin, as is usual with the princes of this part of the world, is the
+chief merchant of his capital, and endeavours to be, to the utmost of his
+power, the monopolizer of its trade; but this he cannot at all times
+effect, and the attempt has been the cause of frequent rebellions. There
+is likewise a ship or two from Surat every year, the property of native
+merchants there. The country is supplied with opium, taffetas, and
+muslins from Bengal, and also with iron and many other articles of
+merchandise, by the European traders.
+
+PRODUCTIONS OF THE SOIL.
+
+The soil being light and fertile produces abundance of rice, esculent
+vegetables, much cotton, and the finest tropical fruits. Both the mango
+and mangustin are said to be of excellent quality. Cattle and other
+articles of provision are in plenty, and reasonable in price. The plough
+is there drawn by oxen, and the general style of cultivation shows a
+skill in agriculture superior to what is seen in other parts of the
+island.
+
+MANUFACTURES.
+
+Those few arts and manufactures which are known in other parts of the
+island prevail likewise here, and some of them are carried to more
+perfection. A considerable fabric of a thick species of cotton cloth, and
+of striped or chequered stuff for the short drawers worn both by Malays
+and Achinese, is established here, and supplies an extensive foreign
+demand, particularly in the Rau country, where they form part of the
+dress of the women as well as men. They weave also very handsome and rich
+silk pieces, of a particular form, for that part of the body­dress which
+the Malays call kain-sarong; but this manufacture had much decreased at
+the period when my inquiries were made, owing, as the people said, to an
+unavoidable failure in the breed of silkworms, but more probably to the
+decay of industry amongst themselves, proceeding from their continual
+civil disturbances.
+
+NAVIGATION.
+
+They are expert and bold navigators, and employ a variety of vessels
+according to the voyages they have occasion to undertake, and the
+purposes either of commerce or war for which they design them. The river
+is covered with a number of small fishing vessels which go to sea with
+the morning breeze and return in the afternoon with the sea-wind, full
+laden. These are named koleh, are raised about two streaks on a sampan
+bottom, have one mast and an upright or square sail, but long in
+proportion to its breadth, which rolls up. These sometimes make their
+appearance so far to the southward as Bencoolen. The banting is a trading
+vessel, of a larger class, having two masts, with upright sails like the
+former, rising at the stem and stern, and somewhat resembling a Chinese
+junk, excepting in its size. They have also very long narrow boats, with
+two masts, and double or single outriggers, called balabang and jalor.
+These are chiefly used as war-boats, mount guns of the size of swivels,
+and carry a number of men. For representations of various kinds of
+vessels employed by these eastern people the reader is referred to the
+plates in Captain Forrest's two voyages.
+
+COIN.
+
+They have a small thin adulterated gold coin, rudely stamped with Arabic
+characters, called mas or massiah. Its current value is said to be about
+fifteen, and its intrinsic about twelve pence, or five Madras fanams.
+Eighty of these are equal to the bangkal, of which twenty make a katti.
+The tail, here an imaginary valuation, is one-fifth of the bang­kal, and
+equal to sixteen mas. The small leaden money, called pitis or cash, is
+likewise struck here for the service of the bazaar; but neither these nor
+the former afford any convenience to the foreign trader. Dollars and
+rupees pass current, and most other species of coin are taken at a
+valuation; but payments are commonly made in gold dust, and for that
+purpose everyone is provided with small scales or steelyards, called
+daching. They carry their gold about them, wrapped in small pieces of
+bladder (or rather the integument of the heart), and often make purchases
+to so small an amount as to employ grains of padi or other seeds for
+weights.
+
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+The monarchy is hereditary, and is more or less absolute in proportion to
+the talents of the reigning prince; no other bounds being set to his
+authority than the counterbalance or check it meets with from the power
+of the great vassals, and disaffection of the commonalty. But this
+resistance is exerted in so irregular a manner, and with so little view
+to the public good, that nothing like liberty results from it. They
+experience only an alternative of tyranny and anarchy, or the former
+under different shapes. Many of the other Sumatran people are in the
+possession of a very high degree of freedom, founded upon a rigid
+attachment to their old established customs and laws. The king usually
+maintains a guard of a hundred sepoys (from the Coromandel coast) about
+his palace, but pays them indifferently.
+
+The grand council of the nation consists of the king or Sultan, the
+maharaja, laksamana, paduka tuan, and bandhara. Inferior in rank to these
+are the ulubalangs or military champions, among whom are several
+gradations of rank, who sit on the king's right hand, and other officers
+named kajuran, who sit on his left. At his feet sits a woman, to whom he
+makes known his pleasure: by her it is communicated to a eunuch, who sits
+next to her, and by him to an officer, named Kajuran Gondang, who then
+proclaims it aloud to the assembly. There are also present two other
+officers, one of whom has the government of the Bazaar or market, and the
+other the superintending and carrying into execution the punishment of
+criminals. All matters relative to commerce and the customs of the port
+come under the jurisdiction of the Shabandar, who performs the ceremony
+of giving the chap or licence for trade; which is done by lifting a
+golden-hafted kris over the head of the merchant who arrives, and without
+which he dares not to land his goods. Presents, the value of which are
+become pretty regularly ascertained, are then sent to the king and his
+officers. If the stranger be in the style of an ambassador the royal
+elephants are sent down to carry him and his letters to the monarch's
+presence; these being first delivered into the hands of a eunuch, who
+places them in a silver dish, covered with rich silk, on the back of the
+largest elephant, which is provided with a machine (houdar) for that
+purpose. Within about a hundred yards of an open hall where the king sits
+the cavalcade stops, and the ambassador dismounts and makes his obeisance
+by bending his body and lifting his joined hands to his head. When he
+enters the palace, if a European, he is obliged to take off his shoes,
+and having made a second obeisance is seated upon a carpet on the floor,
+where betel is brought to him. The throne was some years ago of ivory and
+tortoiseshell; and when the place was governed by queens a curtain of
+gauze was hung before it, which did not obstruct the audience, but
+prevented any perfect view. The stranger, after some general discourse,
+is then conducted to a separate building, where he is entertained with
+the delicacies of the country by the officers of state, and in the
+evening returns in the manner he came, surrounded by a prodigious number
+of lights. On high days (ari raya) the king goes in great state, mounted
+on an elephant richly caparisoned, to the great mosque, preceded by his
+ulubalangs, who are armed nearly in the European manner.
+
+DIVISION OF THE COUNTRY.
+
+The whole kingdom is divided into certain small districts or communities,
+called mukim, which seem to be equivalent to our parishes, and their
+number is reckoned at one hundred and ninety, of which seventy­three are
+situated in the valley of Achin. Of these last are formed three larger
+districts, named Duo-puluh duo (twenty-two), Duo-puluh-limo
+(twenty-five), and Duo-puluh-anam (twenty-six), from the number of mukims
+they respectively contain; each of which is governed by a panglima or
+provincial governor, with an imam and four pangichis for the service of
+each mosque. The country is extremely populous; but the computations with
+which I have been furnished exceed so far all probability that I do not
+venture to insert them.
+
+REVENUES.
+
+The regular tax or imposition to which the country is subject, for the
+use of the crown, is one koyan (about eight hundred gallons) of padi from
+each mukim, with a bag of rice, and about the value of one Spanish dollar
+and a half in money, from each proprietor of a house, to be delivered at
+the king's store in person, in return for which homage he never fails to
+receive nearly an equivalent in tobacco or some other article. On certain
+great festivals presents of cattle are made to the king by the
+orang-kayas or nobles; but it is from the import and export customs on
+merchandise that the revenue of the crown properly arises, and which of
+course fluctuates considerably. What Europeans pay is between five and
+six per cent, but the Kling merchants are understood to be charged with
+much higher duties; in the whole not less than fifteen, of which twelve
+in the hundred are taken out of the bales in the first instance, a
+disparity they are enabled to support by the provident and frugal manner
+in which they purchase their investments, the cheap rate at which they
+navigate their vessels, and the manner of retailing their goods to the
+natives. These sources of wealth are independent of the profit derived
+from the trade, which is managed for his master by a person who is styled
+the king's merchant. The revenues of the nobles accrue from taxes which
+they lay, as feudal lords, upon the produce of the land cultivated by
+their vassals. At Pidir a measure of rice is paid for every measure of
+padi sown, which amounts to about a twentieth part. At Nalabu there is a
+capitation tax of a dollar a year; and at various places on the inland
+roads there are tolls collected upon provisions and goods which pass to
+the capital.
+
+ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
+
+The kings of Achin possess a grant of territory along the sea-coast as
+far down as Bencoolen from the sultan of Menangkabau, whose superiority
+has always been admitted by them, and will be perhaps so long as he
+claims no authority over them, and exacts neither tribute nor homage.
+
+PUNISHMENTS.
+
+Achin has ever been remarkable for the severity with which crimes are
+punished by their laws; the same rigour still subsists, and there is no
+commutation admitted, as is regularly established in the southern
+countries. There is great reason however to conclude that the poor alone
+experience the rod of justice; the nobles being secure from retribution
+in the number of their dependants. Petty theft is punished by suspending
+the criminal from a tree, with a gun or heavy weight tied to his feet; or
+by cutting off a finger, a hand, or leg, according to the nature of the
+theft. Many of these mutilated and wretched objects are daily to be seen
+in the streets. Robbery, on the highway and housebreaking, are punished
+by drowning, and afterwards exposing the body on a stake for a few days.
+If the robbery is committed upon an imam or priest the sacrilege is
+expiated by burning the criminal alive. A man who is convicted of
+adultery or rape is seldom attempted to be screened by his friends, but
+is delivered up to the friends and relations of the injured husband or
+father. These take him to some large plain and, forming themselves in a
+circle, place him in the middle. A large weapon, called a gadubong, is
+then delivered to him by one of his family, and if he can force his way
+through those who surround him and make his escape he is not liable to
+further prosecution; but it commonly happens that he is instantly cut to
+pieces. In this case his relations bury him as they would a dead buffalo,
+refusing to admit the corpse into their house, or to perform any funeral
+rites. Would it not be reasonable to conclude that the Achinese, with so
+much discouragement to vice both from law and prejudice, must prove a
+moral and virtuous people? yet all travellers agree in representing them
+as one of the most dishonest and flagitious nations of the East, which
+the history of their government will tend to corroborate.
+
+
+CHAPTER 22.
+
+HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF ACHIN, FROM THE PERIOD OF ITS BEING VISITED BY
+EUROPEANS.
+
+PROCEEDINGS OF THE PORTUGUESE.
+
+The Portuguese, under the conduct of Vasco de Gama, doubled the Cape of
+Good Hope in the year 1497, and arrived on the coast of Malabar in the
+following year. These people, whom the spirit of glory, commerce, and
+plunder led to the most magnanimous undertakings, were not so entirely
+engaged by their conquests on the continent of India as to prevent them
+from extending their views to the discovery of regions yet more distant.
+They learned from the merchants of Guzerat some account of the riches and
+importance of Malacca, a great trading city in the farther peninsula of
+India, supposed by them the Golden Chersonnese of Ptolemy. Intelligence
+of this was transmitted to their enterprising sovereign Emanuel, who
+became impressed with a strong desire to avail himself of the flattering
+advantages which this celebrated country held out to his ambition.
+
+1508.
+
+He equipped a fleet of four ships under the command of Diogo Lopez de
+Sequeira, which sailed from Lisbon on the eighth day of April 1508 with
+orders to explore and establish connexions in those eastern parts of
+Asia.
+
+1509.
+
+After touching at Madagascar Sequeira proceeded to Cochin, where a ship
+was added to his fleet, and, departing from thence on the eighth of
+September 1509, he made sail towards Malacca; but having doubled the
+extreme promontory of Sumatra (then supposed to be the Taprobane of the
+ancients) he anchored at Pidir, a principal port of that island, in which
+he found vessels from Pegu, Bengal, and other countries. The king of the
+place, who, like other Mahometan princes, was styled sultan, sent off a
+deputation to him, accompanied with refreshments, excusing himself, on
+account of illness, from paying his compliments in person, but assuring
+him at the same time that he should derive much pleasure from the
+friendship and alliance of the Portuguese, whose fame had reached his
+ears. Sequeira answered this message in such terms that, by consent of
+the sultan, a monument of their amity was erected on the shore; or, more
+properly, as the token of discovery and possession usually employed by
+the European nations. He was received in the same manner at a place
+called Pase, lying about twenty leagues farther to the eastward on the
+same coast, and there also erected a monument or cross. Having procured
+at each of these ports as much pepper as could be collected in a short
+time he hastened to Malacca, where the news of his appearance in these
+seas had anticipated his arrival. Here he was near falling a sacrifice to
+the insidious policy of Mahmud, the reigning king, to whom the Portuguese
+had been represented by the Arabian and Persian merchants (and not very
+unjustly) as lawless pirates, who, under the pretext of establishing
+commercial treaties, had, at first by encroachments, and afterwards with
+insolent rapacity, ruined and enslaved the princes who were weak enough
+to put a confidence in them, or to allow them a footing in their
+dominions. He escaped the snares that were laid for him but lost many of
+his people, and, leaving others in captivity, he returned to Europe, and
+gave an account of his proceedings to the king.
+
+1510.
+
+A fleet was sent out in the year 1510 under Diogo Mendez to establish the
+Portuguese interests at Malacca; but Affonso d'Alboquerque, the governor
+of their affairs in India, thought proper to detain this squadron on the
+coast of Malabar until he could proceed thither himself with a greater
+force.
+
+1511.
+
+And accordingly on the second of May 1511 he set sail from Cochin with
+nineteen ships and fourteen hundred men. He touched at Pidir, where he
+found some of his countrymen who had made their escape from Malacca in a
+boat and sought protection on the Sumatran shore. They represented that,
+arriving off Pase, they had been ill-treated by the natives, who killed
+one of their party and obliged them to fly to Pidir, where they met with
+hospitality and kindness from the prince, who seemed desirous to
+conciliate the regard of their nation. Alboquerque expressed himself
+sensible of this instance of friendship, and renewed with the sultan the
+alliance that had been formed by Sequeira. He then proceeded to Pase,
+whose monarch endeavoured to exculpate himself from the outrage committed
+against the Portuguese fugitives, and as he could not tarry to take
+redress he concealed his resentment. In crossing over to Malacca he fell
+in with a large junk, or country vessel, which he engaged and attempted
+to board, but the enemy, setting fire to a quantity of inflammable
+oleaginous matter, he was deterred from his design, with a narrow escape
+of the destruction of his own ship. The junk was then battered from a
+distance until forty of her men were killed, when Alboquerque, admiring
+the bravery of the crew, proposed to them that, if they would strike and
+acknowledge themselves vassals of Portugal, he would treat them as
+friends and take them under his protection. This offer was accepted, and
+the valiant defender of the vessel informed the governor that his name
+was Jeinal, the lawful heir of the kingdom of Pase; he by whom it was
+then ruled being a usurper, who, taking advantage of his minority and his
+own situation as regent, had seized the crown: that he had made attempts
+to assert his rights, but had been defeated in two battles, and was now
+proceeding with his adherents to Java, some of the princes of which were
+his relations, and would, he hoped, enable him to obtain possession of
+his throne.
+
+1511.
+
+Alboquerque promised to effect it for him, and desired the prince to
+accompany him to Malacca, where they arrived the first of July 1511. In
+order to save the lives of the Portuguese prisoners, and if possible to
+effect their recovery, he negotiated with the king of Malacca before he
+proceeded to an attack on the place; which conduct of his Jeinal
+construed into fear, and, forsaking his new friend, passed over in the
+night to the Malayan monarch, whose protection he thought of more
+consequence to him. When Alboquerque had subdued the place, which made a
+vigorous resistance, the prince of Pase, seeing the error of his policy,
+returned, and threw himself at the governor's feet, acknowledged his
+injurious mistrust, and implored his pardon, which was not denied him. He
+doubted however it seems of a sincere reconciliation and forgiveness,
+and, perceiving that no measures were taking for restoring him to his
+kingdom, but on the contrary that Alboquerque was preparing to leave
+Malacca with a small force, and talked of performing his promise when he
+should return from Goa, he took the resolution of again attaching himself
+to the fortunes of the conquered monarch, and secretly collecting his
+dependants fled once more from the protection of the Portuguese. He
+probably was not insensible that the reigning king of Pase, his
+adversary, had for some time taken abundant pains to procure the favour
+of Alboquerque, and found an occasion of demonstrating his zeal. The
+governor, on his return from Malacca, met with a violent storm on the
+coast of Sumatra near the point of Timiang, where his ship was wrecked.
+Part of the crew making a raft were driven to Pase, where the king
+treated them with kindness and sent them to the coast of Coromandel by a
+merchant ship. Some years after these events Jeinal was enabled by his
+friends to carry a force to Pase, and obtained the ascendency there, but
+did not long enjoy his power.
+
+Upon the reduction of Malacca the governor received messages from several
+of the Sumatran princes, and amongst the rest from the king of a place
+called Kampar, on the eastern coast, who had married a daughter of the
+king of Malacca, but was on ill terms with his father-in-law. He desired
+to become a vassal of the Portuguese crown, and to have leave to reside
+under their jurisdiction. His view was to obtain the important office of
+bandhara, or chief magistrate of the Malays, lately vacant by the
+execution of him who possessed it. He sent before him a present of
+lignum-aloes and gum-lac, the produce of his country, but Alboquerque,
+suspecting the honesty of his intentions, and fearing that he either
+aspired to the crown of Malacca or designed to entice the merchants to
+resort to his own kingdom, refused to permit his coming, and gave the
+superintendence of the natives to a person named Nina Chetuan.
+
+1514.
+
+After some years had elapsed, at the time when Jorge Alboquerque was
+governor of Malacca, this king (Abdallah by name) persisting in his
+views, paid him a visit, and was honourably received. At his departure he
+had assurances given him of liberty to establish himself at Malacca, if
+he should think proper, and Nina Chetuan was shortly afterwards removed
+from his office, though no fault was alleged against him. He took the
+disgrace so much to heart that, causing a pile to be erected before his
+door, and setting fire to it, he threw himself into the flames.*
+
+(*Footnote. This man was not a Mahometan but one of the unconverted
+natives of the peninsula who are always distinguished from the Moors by
+the Portuguese writers.)
+
+The intention of appointing Abdallah to the office of bandhara was
+quickly rumoured abroad, and, coming to the knowledge of the king of
+Bintang, who was driven from Malacca and now carried on a vigorous war
+against the Portuguese, under the command of the famous Laksamana, he
+resolved to prevent his arrival there. For this purpose he leagued
+himself with the king of Lingga, a neighbouring island, and sent out a
+fleet of seventy armed boats to block up the port of Kampar. By the
+valour of a small Portuguese armament this force was overcome in the
+river of that name, and the king conducted in triumph to Malacca, where
+he was invested in form with the important post he aspired to. But this
+sacrifice of his independence proved an unfortunate measure to him; for
+although he conducted himself in such a manner as should have given the
+amplest satisfaction, and appears to have been irreproachable in the
+execution of his trust, yet in the following year the king of Bintang
+found means to inspire the governor with diffidence of his fidelity, and
+jealousy of his power.
+
+1515.
+
+He was cruelly sentenced to death without the simplest forms of justice
+and perished in the presence of an indignant multitude, whilst he called
+heaven to witness his innocence and direct its vengeance against his
+interested accusers. This iniquitous and impolitic proceeding had such an
+effect upon the minds of the people that all of any property or repute
+forsook the place, execrating the government of the Portuguese. The
+consequences of this general odium reduced them to extreme difficulties
+for provisions, which the neighbouring countries refused to supply them
+with, and but for some grain at length procured from Siak with much
+trouble the event had proved fatal to the garrison.
+
+1516.
+
+Fernando Perez d'Andrade, in his way to China, touched at Pase in order
+to take in pepper. He found the people of the place, as well as the
+merchants from Bengal, Cambay, and other parts of India, much
+discontented with the measures then pursuing by the government of
+Malacca, which had stationed an armed force to oblige all vessels to
+resort thither with their merchandise and take in at that place, as an
+emporium, the cargoes they were used to collect in the straits. The king
+notwithstanding received Andrade well, and consented that the Portuguese
+should have liberty to erect a fortress in his kingdom.
+
+1520.
+
+Extraordinary accounts having been related of certain islands abounding
+in gold, which were reported by the general fame of India to lie off the
+southern coast of Sumatra, a ship and small brigantine, under the command
+of Diogo Pacheco, an experienced seaman, were sent in order to make the
+discovery of them. Having proceeded as far as Daya the brigantine was
+lost in a gale of wind. Pacheco stood on to Barus, a place renowned for
+its gold trade, and for gum benzoin of a peculiar scent, which the
+country produced. It was much frequented by vessels, both from the
+neighbouring ports in the island, and from those in the West of India,
+whence it was supplied with cotton cloths. The merchants, terrified at
+the approach of the Portuguese, forsook their ships and fled
+precipitately to the shore. The chiefs of the country sent to inquire the
+motives of his visit, which he informed them were to establish friendly
+connexions and to give them assurances of unmolested freedom of trade at
+the city of Malacca. Refreshments were then ordered for his fleet, and
+upon landing he was treated with respect by the inhabitants, who brought
+the articles of their country to exchange with him for merchandise. His
+chief view was to obtain information respecting the situation and other
+circumstances of the ilhas d'Ouro, but they seemed jealous of imparting
+any. At length, after giving him a laboured detail of the dangers
+attending the navigation of the seas where they were said to lie, they
+represented their situation to be distant a hundred leagues to the
+south-east of Barus, amidst labyrinths of shoals and reefs through which
+it was impossible to steer with any but the smallest boats. If these
+islands, so celebrated about this time, existed anywhere but in the
+regions of fancy,* they were probably those of Tiku, to which it is
+possible that much gold might be brought from the neighbouring country of
+Menangkabau. Pacheco, leaving Barus, proceeded to the southward, but did
+not make the wished-for discovery. He reached the channel that divides
+Sumatra from Java, which he called the strait of Polimban, from a city he
+erroneously supposed to lie on the Javan shore, and passing through this
+returned to Malacca by the east; being the first European who sailed
+round the island of Sumatra. In the following year he sailed once more in
+search of these islands, which were afterwards the object of many
+fruitless voyages; but touching again at Barus he met with resistance
+there and perished with all his companions.
+
+(*Footnote. Linschoten makes particular mention of having seen them, and
+gives practical directions for the navigation, but the golden dreams of
+the Portuguese were never realized in them.)
+
+A little before this time a ship under the command of Gaspar d'Acosta was
+lost on the island of Gamispola (Pulo Gomez) near Achin Head, when the
+people from Achin attacked and plundered the crew, killing many and
+taking the rest prisoners. A ship also which belonged to Joano de Lima
+was plundered in the road, and the Portuguese which belonged to her put
+to death. These insults and others committed at Pase induced the governor
+of Malacca, Garcia de Sa, to dispatch a vessel under Manuel Pacheco to
+take satisfaction; which he endeavoured to effect by blocking up the
+ports, and depriving the towns of all sources of provision, particularly
+their fisheries. As he cruised between Achin and Pase a boat with five
+men, going to take in fresh water at a river nigh to the latter, would
+have been cut off had not the people, by wonderful efforts of valour,
+overcome the numerous party which attacked them. The sultan, alarmed for
+the consequences of this affray, sent immediately to sue for
+reconciliation, offering to make atonement for the loss of property the
+merchants had sustained by the licentiousness of his people, from a
+participation in whose crimes he sought to vindicate himself. The
+advantage derived from the connexion with this place induced the
+government of Malacca to be satisfied with his apology, and cargoes of
+pepper and raw silk were shortly after procured there; the former being
+much wanted for the ships bound to China.
+
+Jeinal, who had fled to the king of Malacca, as before mentioned,
+followed that monarch to the island of Bintang, and received one of his
+daughters in marriage. Six or seven years elapsed before the situation of
+affairs enabled the king to lend him any effectual assistance, but at
+length some advantages gained over the Portuguese afforded a proper
+opportunity, and accordingly a fleet was fitted out, with which Jeinal
+sailed for Pase. In order to form a judgment of the transactions of this
+kingdom it must be understood that the people, having an idea of
+predestination, always conceived present possession to constitute right,
+however that possession might have been acquired; but yet they made no
+scruple of deposing and murdering their sovereigns, and justified their
+acts by this argument; that the fate of concerns so important as the
+lives of kings was in the hands of God, whose vicegerents they were, and
+that if it was not agreeable to him and the consequence of his will that
+they should perish by the daggers of their subjects it could not so
+happen. Thus it appears that their religious ideas were just strong
+enough to banish from their minds every moral sentiment. The natural
+consequence of these maxims was that their kings were merely the tyrants
+of the day; and it is said that whilst a certain ship remained in the
+port no less than two were murdered, and a third set up: but allowance
+should perhaps be made for the medium through which these accounts have
+been transmitted to us.
+
+The maternal uncle of Jeinal, who, on account of his father's
+infirmities, had been some time regent, and had deprived him of the
+succession to the throne, was also king of Aru or Rou, a country not far
+distant, and thus became monarch of both places. The caprices of the Pase
+people, who submitted quietly to his usurpation, rendered them ere long
+discontented with his government, and being a stranger they had the less
+compunction in putting him to death. Another king was set up in his room,
+who soon fell by the hands of some natives of Aru who resided at Pase, in
+revenge for the assassination of their countryman.
+
+1519.
+
+A fresh monarch was elected by the people, and in his reign it was that
+Jeinal appeared with a force from Bintang, who, carrying everything
+before him, put his rival to death, and took possession of the throne.
+The son of the deceased, a youth of about twelve years of age, made his
+escape, accompanied by the Mulana or chief priest of the city, and
+procured a conveyance to the west of India. There they threw themselves
+at the feet of the Portuguese governor, Lopez Sequeira, then engaged in
+an expedition to the Red Sea, imploring his aid to drive the invader from
+their country, and to establish the young prince in his rights, who would
+thenceforth consider himself as a vassal of the crown of Portugal. It was
+urged that Jeinal, as being nearly allied to the king of Bintang, was an
+avowed enemy to that nation, which he had manifested in some recent
+outrages committed against the merchants from Malacca who traded at Pase.
+Sequeira, partly from compassion, and partly from political motives,
+resolved to succour this prince, and by placing him on the throne
+establish a firm interest in the affairs of his kingdom. He accordingly
+gave orders to Jorge Alboquerque, who was then proceeding with a strong
+fleet towards Malacca, to take the youth with him, whose name was
+Orfacam,* and after having expelled Jeinal to put him in possession of
+the sovereignty.
+
+(*Footnote. Evidently corrupted, as are most of the country names and
+titles, which shows that the Portuguese were not at this period much
+conversant in the Malayan language.)
+
+When Jeinal entered upon the administration of the political concerns of
+the kingdom, although he had promised his father-in-law to carry on the
+war in concert with him, yet, being apprehensive of the effects of the
+Portuguese power, he judged it more for his interest to seek a
+reconciliation with them than to provoke their resentment, and in
+pursuance of that system had so far recommended himself to Garcia de Sa,
+the governor of Malacca, that he formed a treaty of alliance with him.
+This was however soon interrupted, and chiefly by the imprudence of a man
+named Diogo Vaz, who made use of such insulting language to the king,
+because he delayed payment of a sum of money he owed him, that the
+courtiers, seized with indignation, immediately stabbed him with their
+krises, and, the alarm running through the city, others of the Portuguese
+were likewise murdered. The news of this affair, reaching Goa, was an
+additional motive for the resolution taken of dethroning him.
+
+1521.
+
+Jorge d'Alboquerque arrived at Pase in 1521 with Prince Orfacam, and the
+inhabitants came off in great numbers to welcome his return. The king of
+Aru had brought thither a considerable force the preceding day, designing
+to take satisfaction for the murder of his relation, the uncle of Jeinal,
+and now proposed to Alboquerque that they should make the attack in
+conjunction, who thought proper to decline it. Jeinal, although he well
+knew the intention of the enemy, yet sent a friendly message to
+Alboquerque, who in answer required him to relinquish his crown in favour
+of him whom he styled the lawful prince. He then represented to him the
+injustice of attempting to force him from the possession of what was his,
+not only by right of conquest but of hereditary descent, as was well
+known to the governor himself; that he was willing to consider himself as
+the vassal of the king of Portugal, and to grant every advantage in point
+of trade that they could expect from the administration of his rival; and
+that since his obtaining the crown he had manifested the utmost
+friendship to the Portuguese, for which he appealed to the treaty formed
+with him by the government of Malacca, which was not disturbed by any
+fault that could in justice be imputed to himself. These arguments, like
+all others that pass between states which harbour inimical designs, had
+no effect upon Alboquerque, who, after reconnoitring the ground, gave
+orders for the attack. The king was now sensible that there was nothing
+left for him but to conquer or die, and resolved to defend himself to
+extremity in an entrenchment he had formed at some distance from the town
+of Pase, where he had never yet ventured to reside as the people were in
+general incensed against him on account of the destruction of the late
+king of their choice; for though they were ever ready to demolish those
+whom they disliked, yet were they equally zealous to sacrifice their own
+lives in the cause of those to whom they were attached. The Portuguese
+force consisted but of three hundred men, yet such was the superiority
+they possessed in war over the inhabitants of these countries that they
+entirely routed Jeinal's army, which amounted to three thousand, with
+many elephants, although they fought bravely. When he fell they became
+dispirited, and, the people of Aru joining in the pursuit, a dreadful
+slaughter succeeded, and upwards of two thousand Sumatrans lay dead, with
+the loss of only five or six Europeans; but several were wounded, among
+whom was Alboquerque himself.
+
+The next measure was to place the young prince upon the throne, which was
+performed with much ceremony. The mulana was appointed his governor, and
+Nina Cunapan, who in several instances had shown a friendship for the
+Portuguese, was continued in the office of Shabandar. It was stipulated
+that the prince should do homage to the crown of Portugal, give a grant
+of the whole produce of pepper of his country at a certain price, and
+defray the charges of a fortress which they then prepared to erect in his
+kingdom, and of which Miranda d'Azeuedo was appointed captain, with a
+garrison of a hundred soldiers. The materials were mostly timber, with
+which the ruins of Jeinal's entrenchment supplied them. After
+Alboquerque's departure the works had nearly fallen into the hands of an
+enemy, named Melek-el-adil, who called himself sultan of Pase and made
+several desultory attacks upon them; but he was at length totally routed,
+and the fortifications were completed without further molestation.
+
+1521.
+
+A fleet which sailed from the west of India a short time after that of
+Alboquerque, under the command of Jorge de Brito, anchored in the road of
+Achin, in their way to the Molucca Islands. There was at this time at
+that place a man of the name of Joano Borba, who spoke the language of
+the country, having formerly fled thither from Pase when Diogo Vaz was
+assassinated. Being afterwards intrusted with the command of a trading
+vessel from Goa, which foundered at sea, he again reached Achin, with
+nine men in a small boat, and was hospitably received by the king, when
+he learned that the ship had been destined to his port. Borba came off to
+the fleet along with a messenger sent by the king to welcome the
+commander and offer him refreshments for his fleet, and, being a man of
+extraordinary loquacity, he gave a pompous description to Brito of a
+temple in the country in which was deposited a large quantity of gold: he
+mentioned likewise that the king was in possession of the artillery and
+merchandise of Gaspar d'Acosta's vessel, some time since wrecked there;
+and also of the goods saved from a brigantine driven on shore at Daya, in
+Pacheco's expedition; as well as of Joano de Lima's ship, which he had
+caused to be cut off. Brito, being tempted by the golden prize, which he
+conceived already in his power, and inflamed by Borba's representation of
+the king's iniquities, sent a message in return to demand the restitution
+of the artillery, ship, and goods, which had been unlawfully seized. The
+king replied that, if he wanted those articles to be refunded, he must
+make his demand to the sea which had swallowed them up. Brito and his
+captains now resolved to proceed to an attack upon the place, and so
+secure did they make themselves of their prey that they refused
+permission to a ship lately arrived, and which did not belong to their
+squadron, to join them or participate in the profits of their adventure.
+They prepared to land two hundred men in small boats; a larger, with a
+more considerable detachment and their artillery, being ordered to
+follow. About daybreak they had proceeded halfway up the river, and came
+near to a little fort designed to defend the passage, where Brito thought
+it advisable to stop till the remainder of their force should join them;
+but, being importuned by his people, he advanced to make himself master
+of the fort, which was readily effected. Here he again resolved to make
+his stand, but by the imprudence of his ensign, who had drawn some of the
+party into a skirmish with the Achinese, he was forced to quit that post
+in order to save his colours, which were in danger. At this juncture the
+king appeared at the head of eight hundred or a thousand men, and six
+elephants. A desperate conflict ensued, in which the Portuguese received
+considerable injury. Brito sent orders for the party he had left to come
+up, and endeavoured to retreat to the fort, but he found himself so
+situated that it could not be executed without much loss, and presently
+after he received a wound from an arrow through the cheeks. No assistance
+arriving, it was proposed that they should retire in the best manner they
+could to their boats; but this Brito would not consent to, preferring
+death to flight, and immediately a lance pierced his thighs, and he fell
+to the ground. The Portuguese, rendered desperate, renewed the combat
+with redoubled vigour, all crowding to the spot where their commander
+lay, but their exertions availed them nothing against such unequal force,
+and they only rushed on to sacrifice. Almost every man was killed, and
+among these were near fifty persons of family who had embarked as
+volunteers. Those who escaped belonged chiefly to the corps-de-reserve,
+who did not, or could not, come up in time to succour their unfortunate
+companions. Upon this merited defeat the squadron immediately weighed
+anchor, and, after falling in with two vessels bound on the discovery of
+the Ilhas d'Ouro, arrived at Pase, where they found Alboquerque employed
+in the construction of his fortress, and went with him to make an attack
+on Bintang.
+
+STATE OF ACHIN IN 1511.
+
+At the period when Malacca fell into the hands of the Portuguese Achin
+and Daya are said by the historians of that nation to have been provinces
+subject to Pidir, and governed by two slaves belonging to the sultan of
+that place, to each of whom he had given a niece in marriage. Slaves, it
+must be understood, are in that country on a different footing from those
+in most other parts of the world, and usually treated as children of the
+family. Some of them are natives of the continent of India, whom their
+masters employ to trade for them; allowing them a certain proportion of
+the profits and permission to reside in a separate quarter of the city.
+It frequently happened also that men of good birth, finding it necessary
+to obtain the protection of some person in power, became voluntary slaves
+for this purpose, and the nobles, being proud of such dependants,
+encouraged the practice by treating them with a degree of respect, and in
+many instances they made them their heirs. The slave of this description
+who held the government of Achin had two sons, the elder of whom was
+named Raja Ibrahim, and the younger Raja Lella, and were brought up in
+the house of their master. The father being old was recalled from his
+post; but on account of his faithful services the sultan gave the
+succession to his eldest son, who appears to have been a youth of an
+ambitious and very sanguinary temper. A jealousy had taken place between
+him and the chief of Daya whilst they were together at Pidir, and as soon
+as he came into power he resolved to seek revenge, and with that view
+entered in a hostile manner the district of his rival. When the sultan
+interposed it not only added fuel to his resentment but inspired him with
+hatred towards his master, and he showed his disrespect by refusing to
+deliver up, on the requisition of the sultan, certain Portuguese
+prisoners taken from a vessel lost at Pulo Gomez, and which he afterwards
+complied with at the intercession of the Shabandar of Pase. This conduct
+manifesting an intention of entirely throwing off his allegiance, his
+father endeavoured to recall him to a sense of his duty by representing
+the obligations in which the family were indebted to the sultan, and the
+relationship which so nearly connected them. But so far was this
+admonition from producing any good effect that he took offence at his
+father's presumption, and ordered him to be confined in a cage, where he
+died.
+
+1521.
+
+Irritated by these acts, the sultan resolved to proceed to extremities
+against him; but by means of the plunder of some Portuguese vessels, as
+before related, and the recent defeat of Brito's party, he became so
+strong in artillery and ammunition, and so much elated with success, that
+he set his master at defiance and prepared to defend himself. His force
+proved superior to that of Pidir, and in the end he obliged the sultan to
+fly for refuge and assistance to the European fortress at Pase,
+accompanied by his nephew, the chief of Daya, who was also forced from
+his possessions.
+
+1522.
+
+Ibrahim had for some time infested the Portuguese by sending out parties
+against them, both by sea and land; but these being always baffled in
+their attempts with much loss, he began to conceive a violent antipathy
+against that nation, which he ever after indulged to excess. He got
+possession of the city of Pidir by bribing the principal officers, a mode
+of warfare that he often found successful and seldom neglected to
+attempt. These he prevailed upon to write a letter to their master,
+couched in artful terms, in which they besought him to come to their
+assistance with a body of Portuguese, as the only chance of repelling the
+enemy by whom they pretended to be invested. The sultan showed this
+letter to Andre Henriquez, then governor of the fort, who, thinking it a
+good opportunity to chastise the Achinese, sent by sea a detachment of
+eighty Europeans and two hundred Malays under the command of his brother
+Manuel, whilst the sultan marched overland with a thousand men and
+fifteen elephants to the relief of the place. They arrived at Pidir in
+the night, but, being secretly informed that the king of Achin was master
+of the city, and that the demand for succour was a stratagem, they
+endeavoured to make their retreat; which the land troops effected, but
+before the tide could enable the Portuguese to get their boats afloat
+they were attacked by the Achinese, who killed Manuel and thirty-five of
+his men.
+
+Henriquez, perceiving his situation at Pase was becoming critical, not
+only from the force of the enemy but the sickly state of his garrison,
+and the want of provisions, which the country people now withheld from
+him, discontinuing the fairs that they were used to keep three times in
+the week, dispatched advices to the governor of India, demanding
+immediate succours, and also sent to request assistance of the king of
+Aru, who had always proved the steadfast friend of Malacca, and who,
+though not wealthy, because his country was not a place of trade, was yet
+one of the most powerful princes in those parts. The king expressed his
+joy in having an opportunity of serving his allies, and promised his
+utmost aid; not only from friendship to them, but indignation against
+Ibrahim, whom he regarded as a rebellious slave.
+
+1523.
+
+A supply of stores at length arrived from India under the charge of Lopo
+d'Azuedo, who had orders to relieve Henriquez in the command; but,
+disputes having arisen between them, and chiefly on the subject of
+certain works which the shabandar of Pase had been permitted to erect
+adjoining to the fortress, d'Azuedo, to avoid coming to an open rupture,
+departed for Malacca. Ibrahim, having found means to corrupt the honesty
+of this shabandar, who had received his office from Alboquerque, gained
+intelligence through him of all that passed. This treason, it is
+supposed, he would not have yielded to but for the desperate situation of
+affairs. The country of Pase was now entirely in subjection to the
+Achinese, and nothing remained unconquered but the capital, whilst the
+garrison was distracted with internal divisions.
+
+After the acquisition of Pidir the king thought it necessary to remain
+there some time in order to confirm his authority, and sent his brother
+Raja Lella with a large army to reduce the territories of Pase, which he
+effected in the course of three months, and with the more facility
+because all the principal nobility had fallen in the action with Jeinal.
+He fixed his camp within half a league of the city, and gave notice to
+Ibrahim of the state in which matters were, who speedily joined him,
+being anxious to render himself master of the place before the promised
+succours from the king of Aru could arrive. His first step was to issue a
+proclamation, giving notice to the people of the town that whoever should
+submit to his authority within six days should have their lives,
+families, and properties secured to them, but that all others must expect
+to feel the punishment due to their obstinacy. This had the effect he
+looked for, the greater part of the inhabitants coming over to his camp.
+He then commenced his military operations, and in the third attack got
+possession of the town after much slaughter; those who escaped his fury
+taking shelter in the neighbouring mountains and thick woods. He sent a
+message to the commander of the fortress, requiring him to abandon it and
+to deliver into his hands the kings of Pidir and Daya, to whom he had
+given protection. Henriquez returned a spirited answer to this summons,
+but, being sickly at the time, at best of an unsteady disposition, and
+too much attached to his trading concerns for a soldier, he resolved to
+relinquish the command to his relation Aires Coelho, and take passage for
+the West of India.
+
+1523.
+
+He had not advanced farther on his voyage than the point of Pidir, when
+he fell in with two Portuguese ships bound to the Moluccas, the captains
+of which he made acquainted with the situation of the garrison, and they
+immediately proceeded to its relief. Arriving in the night they heard
+great firing of cannon, and learned next morning that the Achinese had
+made a furious assault in hopes of carrying the fortress before the
+ships, which were descried at a distance, could throw succours into it.
+They had mastered some of the outworks, and the garrison represented that
+it was impossible for them to support such another shock without aid from
+the vessels. The captains, with as much force as could be spared, entered
+the fort, and a sally was shortly afterwards resolved on and executed, in
+which the besiegers sustained considerable damage. Every effort was
+likewise employed to repair the breaches and stop up the mines that had
+been made by the enemy in order to effect a passage into the place.
+Ibrahim now attempted to draw them into a snare by removing his camp to a
+distance and making a feint of abandoning his enterprise; but this
+stratagem proved ineffectual. Reflecting then with indignation that his
+own force consisted of fifteen thousand men whilst that of the Europeans
+did not exceed three hundred and fifty, many of whom were sick and
+wounded, and others worn out with the fatigue of continual duty
+(intelligence whereof was conveyed to him), he resolved once more to
+return to the siege, and make a general assault upon all parts of the
+fortification at once. Two hours before daybreak he caused the place to
+be surrounded with eight thousand men, who approached in perfect silence.
+The nighttime was preferred by these people for making their attacks as
+being then most secure from the effect of firearms, and they also
+generally chose a time of rain, when the powder would not burn. As soon
+as they found themselves perceived they set up a hideous shout, and,
+fixing their scaling ladders, made of bamboo and wonderfully light, to
+the number of six hundred, they attempted to force their way through the
+embrasures for the guns; but after a strenuous contest they were at
+length repulsed. Seven elephants were driven with violence against the
+paling of one of the bastions, which gave way before them like a hedge,
+and overset all the men who were on it. Javelins and pikes these enormous
+beasts made no account of, but upon setting fire to powder under their
+trunks they drew back with precipitation in spite of all the efforts of
+their drivers, overthrew their own people, and, flying to the distance of
+several miles, could not again be brought into the lines. The Achinese
+upon receiving this check thought to take revenge by setting fire to some
+vessels that were in the dockyard; but this proved an unfortunate measure
+to them, for by the light which it occasioned the garrison were enabled
+to point their guns, and did abundant execution.
+
+1524.
+
+Henriquez, after beating sometime against a contrary wind, put back to
+Pase, and, coming on shore the day after this conflict, resumed his
+command. A council was soon after held to determine what measures were
+fittest to be pursued in the present situation of affairs, and, taking
+into their consideration that no further assistance could be expected
+from the west of India in less than six months, that the garrison was
+sickly and provisions short, it was resolved by a majority of votes to
+abandon the place, and measures were taken accordingly. In order to
+conceal their intentions from the enemy they ordered such of the
+artillery and stores as could be removed conveniently to be packed up in
+the form of merchandise and then shipped off. A party was left to set
+fire to the buildings, and trains of powder were so disposed as to lead
+to the larger cannon, which they overcharged that they might burst as
+soon as heated. But this was not effectually executed, and the pieces
+mostly fell into the hands of the Achinese, who upon the first alarm of
+the evacuation rushed in, extinguished the flames, and turned upon the
+Portuguese their own artillery, many of whom were killed in the water as
+they hurried to get into their boats. They now lost as much credit by
+this ill conducted retreat as they had acquired by their gallant defence,
+and were insulted by the reproachful shouts of the enemy, whose power was
+greatly increased by this acquisition of military stores, and of which
+they often severely experienced the effects. To render their disgrace
+more striking it happened that as they sailed out of the harbour they met
+thirty boats laden with provisions for their use from the king of Aru,
+who was himself on his march overland with four thousand men: and when
+they arrived at Malacca they found troops and stores embarked there for
+their relief. The unfortunate princes who had sought an asylum with them
+now joined in their flight; the sultan of Pase proceeded to Malacca, and
+the sultan of Pidir and chief of Daya took refuge with the king of Aru.
+
+1525.
+
+Raja Nara, king of Indragiri, in conjunction with a force from Bintang,
+attacked the king of a neighbouring island called Lingga, who was in
+friendship with the Portuguese. A message which passed on this occasion
+gives a just idea of the style and manners of this people. Upon their
+acquainting the king of Lingga, in their summons of surrender, that they
+had lately overcome the fleet of Malacca, he replied that his
+intelligence informed him of the contrary; that he had just made a
+festival and killed fifty goats to celebrate one defeat which they had
+received, and hoped soon to kill a hundred in order to celebrate a
+second. His expectations were fulfilled, or rather anticipated, for the
+Portuguese, having a knowledge of the king of Indragiri's design, sent
+out a small fleet which routed the combined force before the king of
+Lingga was acquainted with their arrival, his capital being situated high
+up on the river.
+
+1526.
+
+In the next year, at the conquest of Bintang, this king unsolicited sent
+assistance to his European allies.
+
+1527.
+
+However well founded the accounts may have been which the Portuguese have
+given us of the cruelties committed against their people by the king of
+Achin, the barbarity does not appear to have been only on one side.
+Francisco de Mello, being sent in an armed vessel with dispatches to Goa,
+met near Achin Head with a ship of that nation just arrived from Mecca
+and supposed to be richly laden. As she had on board three hundred
+Achinese and forty Arabs he dared not venture to board her, but battered
+her at a distance, when suddenly she filled and sunk, to the extreme
+disappointment of the Portuguese, who thereby lost their prize; but they
+wreaked their vengeance on the unfortunate crew as they endeavoured to
+save themselves by swimming, and boast that they did not suffer a man to
+escape. Opportunities of retaliation soon offered.
+
+1528.
+
+Simano de Sousa, going with a reinforcement to the Moluccas from Cochin,
+was overtaken in the bay by a violent storm, which forced him to stow
+many of his guns in the hold; and, having lost several of his men through
+fatigue, he made for the nearest port he could take shelter in, which
+proved to be Achin. The king, having the destruction of the Portuguese at
+heart, and resolving if possible to seize their vessel, sent off a
+message to De Sousa recommending his standing in closer to the shore,
+where he would have more shelter from the gale which still continued, and
+lie more conveniently for getting off water and provisions, at the same
+time inviting him to land. This artifice not succeeding, he ordered out
+the next morning a thousand men in twenty boats, who at first pretended
+they were come to assist in mooring the ship; but the captain, aware of
+their hostile design, fired amongst them, when a fierce engagement took
+place in which the Achinese were repulsed with great slaughter, but not
+until they had destroyed forty of the Portuguese. The king, enraged at
+this disappointment, ordered a second attack, threatening to have his
+admiral trampled to death by elephants if he failed of success. A boat
+was sent ahead of this fleet with a signal of peace, and assurances to De
+Sousa that the king, as soon as he was made acquainted with the injury
+that had been committed, had caused the perpetrators of it to be
+punished, and now once more requested him to come on shore and trust to
+his honour. This proposal some of the crew were inclined that he should
+accept, but being animated by a speech that he made to them it was
+resolved that they should die with arms in their hands in preference to a
+disgraceful and hazardous submission. The combat was therefore renewed,
+with extreme fury on the one side, and uncommon efforts of courage on the
+other, and the assailants were a second time repulsed; but one of those
+who had boarded the vessel and afterwards made his escape represented to
+the Achinese the reduced and helpless situation of their enemy, and,
+fresh supplies coming off, they were encouraged to return to the attack.
+De Sousa and his people were at length almost all cut to pieces, and
+those who survived, being desperately wounded, were overpowered, and led
+prisoners to the king, who unexpectedly treated them with extraordinary
+kindness, in order to cover the designs he harboured, and pretended to
+lament the fate of their brave commander. He directed them to fix upon
+one of their companions, who should go in his name to the governor of
+Malacca, to desire he would immediately send to take possession of the
+ship, which he meant to restore, as well as to liberate them. He hoped by
+this artifice to draw more of the Portuguese into his power, and at the
+same time to effect a purpose of a political nature. A war had recently
+broken out between him and the king of Aru, the latter of whom had
+deputed ambassadors to Malacca, to solicit assistance, in return for his
+former services, and which was readily promised to him. It was highly the
+interest of the king of Achin to prevent this junction, and therefore,
+though determined to relax nothing in his plans of revenge, he hastened
+to dispatch Antonio Caldeira, one of the captives, with proposals of
+accommodation and alliance, offering to restore not only this vessel, but
+also the artillery which he had taken at Pase. These terms appeared to
+the governor too advantageous to be rejected. Conceiving a favourable
+idea of the king's intentions, from the confidence which Caldeira, who
+was deceived by the humanity shown to the wounded captives, appeared to
+place in his sincerity, he became deaf to the representations that were
+made to him by more experienced persons of his insidious character. A
+message was sent back, agreeing to accept his friendship on the proposed
+conditions, and engaging to withhold the promised succours from the king
+of Aru. Caldeira, in his way to Achin, touched at an island, where he was
+cut off with those who accompanied him. The ambassadors from Aru being
+acquainted with this breach of faith, retired in great disgust, and the
+king, incensed at the ingratitude shown him, concluded a peace with
+Achin; but not till after an engagement between their fleets had taken
+place, in which the victory remained undecided.
+
+In order that he might learn the causes of the obscurity in which his
+negotiations with Malacca rested, Ibrahim dispatched a secret messenger
+to Senaia Raja, bandhara of that city, with whom he held a
+correspondence; desiring also to be informed of the strength of the
+garrison. Hearing in answer that the governor newly arrived was inclined
+to think favourably of him, he immediately sent an ambassador to wait on
+him with assurances of his pacific and friendly disposition, who returned
+in company with persons empowered, on the governor's part, to negotiate a
+treaty of commerce. These, upon their arrival at Achin, were loaded with
+favours and costly presents, the news of which quickly flew to Malacca,
+and, the business they came on being adjusted, they were suffered to
+depart; but they had not sailed far before they were overtaken by boats
+sent after them, and were stripped and murdered. The governor, who had
+heard of their setting out, concluded they were lost by accident.
+Intelligence of this mistaken opinion was transmitted to the king, who
+thereupon had the audacity to request that he might be honoured with the
+presence of some Portuguese of rank and consequence in his capital, to
+ratify in a becoming manner the articles that had been drawn up; as he
+ardently wished to see that nation trafficking freely in his dominions.
+
+1529.
+
+The deluded governor, in compliance with this request, adopted the
+resolution of sending thither a large ship under the command of Manuel
+Pacheco, with a rich cargo, the property of himself and several merchants
+of Malacca, who themselves embarked with the idea of making extraordinary
+profits. Senaia conveyed notice of this preparation to Achin, informing
+the king at the same time that, if he could make himself master of this
+vessel, Malacca must fall an easy prey to him, as the place was weakened
+of half its force for the equipment. When Pacheco approached the harbour
+he was surrounded by a great number of boats, and some of the people
+began to suspect treachery, but so strongly did the spirit of delusion
+prevail in this business that they could not persuade the captain to put
+himself on his guard. He soon had reason to repent his credulity.
+Perceiving an arrow pass close by him, he hastened to put on his coat of
+mail, when a second pierced his neck, and he soon expired. The vessel
+then became an easy prey, and the people, being made prisoners, were
+shortly afterwards massacred by the king's order, along with the
+unfortunate remnant of De Sousa's crew, so long flattered with the hopes
+of release. By this capture the king was supposed to have remained in
+possession of more artillery than was left in Malacca, and he immediately
+fitted out a fleet to take advantage of its exposed state. The pride of
+success causing him to imagine it already in his power, he sent a
+taunting message to the governor in which he thanked him for the late
+instances of his liberality, and let him know he should trouble him for
+the remainder of his naval force.
+
+Senaia had promised to put the citadel into his hands, and this had
+certainly been executed but for an accident that discovered his
+treasonable designs. The crews of some vessels of the Achinese fleet
+landed on a part of the coast not far from the city, where they were well
+entertained by the natives, and in the openness of conviviality related
+the transactions which had lately passed at Achin, the correspondence of
+Senaia, and the scheme that was laid for rising on the Portuguese when
+they should be at church, murdering them, and seizing the fortress.
+Intelligence of this was reported with speed to the governor, who had
+Senaia instantly apprehended and executed. This punishment served to
+intimidate those among the inhabitants who were engaged in the
+conspiracy, and disconcerted the plans of the king of Achin.
+
+This appears to be the last transaction of Ibrahim's reign recorded by
+the Portuguese historians. His death is stated by De Barros to have taken
+place in the year 1528 in consequence of poison administered to him by
+one of his wives, to revenge the injuries her brother, the chief of Daya,
+had suffered at his hand. In a Malayan work (lately come into my
+possession) containing the annals of the kingdom of Achin, it is said
+that a king, whose title was sultan Saleh-eddin-shah, obtained the
+sovereignty in a year answering to 1511 of our era, and who, after
+reigning about eighteen years, was dethroned by a brother in 1529.
+Notwithstanding some apparent discordance between the two accounts there
+can be little doubt of the circumstances applying to the same individual,
+as it may well be presumed that, according to the usual practice in the
+East, he adopted upon ascending the throne a title different from the
+name which he had originally borne, although that might continue to be
+his more familiar appellation, especially in the mouths of his enemies.
+The want of precise coincidence in the dates cannot be thought an
+objection, as the event not falling under the immediate observation of
+the Portuguese they cannot pretend to accuracy within a few months, and
+even their account of the subsequent transactions renders it more
+probable that it happened in 1529; nor are the facts of his being
+dethroned by the brother, or put to death by the sister, materially at
+variance with each other; and the latter circumstance, whether true or
+false, might naturally enough be reported at Malacca.
+
+1529.
+
+His successor took the name of Ala-eddin-shah, and afterwards, from his
+great enterprises, acquired the additional epithet of keher or the
+powerful. By the Portuguese he is said to have styled himself king of
+Achin, Barus, Pidir, Pase, Daya, and Batta, prince of the land of the two
+seas, and of the mines of Menangkabau.
+
+1537.
+
+Nothing is recorded of his reign until the year 1537, in which he twice
+attacked Malacca. The first time he sent an army of three thousand men
+who landed near the city by night, unperceived by the garrison, and,
+having committed some ravages in the suburbs, were advancing to the
+bridge, when the governor, Estavano de Gama, sallied out with a party and
+obliged them to retreat for shelter to the woods. Here they defended
+themselves during the next day, but on the following night they
+re-embarked, with the loss of five hundred men. A few months afterwards
+the king had the place invested with a larger force; but in the interval
+the works had been repaired and strengthened, and after three days
+ineffectual attempt the Achinese were again constrained to retire.
+
+1547.
+
+In the year 1547 he once more fitted out a fleet against Malacca, where a
+descent was made; but, contented with some trifling plunder, the army
+re-embarked, and the vessels proceeded to the river of Parles on the
+Malayan coast. Hither they were followed by a Portuguese squadron, which
+attacked and defeated a division of the fleet at the mouth of the river.
+This victory was rendered famous, not so much by the valour of the
+combatants, as by a revelation opportunely made from heaven to the
+celebrated missionary Francisco Xavier of the time and circumstances of
+it, and which he announced to the garrison at a moment when the approach
+of a powerful invader from another quarter had caused much alarm and
+apprehension among them.
+
+Many transactions of the reign of this prince, particularly with the
+neighbouring states of Batta and Aru (about the years 1539 and 1541) are
+mentioned by Ferdinand Mendez Pinto; but his writings are too apocryphal
+to allow of the facts being recorded upon his authority. Yet there is the
+strongest internal evidence of his having been more intimately acquainted
+with the countries of which we are now speaking, the character of the
+inhabitants, and the political transactions of the period, than any of
+his contemporaries; and it appears highly probable that what he has
+related is substantially true: but there is also reason to believe that
+he composed his work from recollection after his return to Europe, and he
+may not have been scrupulous in supplying from a fertile imagination the
+unavoidable failures of a memory, however richly stored.
+
+1556.
+
+The death of Ala-eddin took place, according to the Annals, in 1556,
+after a reign of twenty-eight years.
+
+1565.
+
+He was succeeded by sultan Hussein­shah, who reigned about eight, and
+dying in 1565 was succeeded by his son, an infant. This child survived
+only seven months; and in the same year the throne was occupied by Raja
+Firman-shah, who was murdered soon after.
+
+1567.
+
+His successor, Raja Janil, experienced a similar fate when he had reigned
+ten months. This event is placed in 1567. Sultan Mansur-shah, from the
+kingdom of Perak in the peninsula, was the next who ascended the throne.
+
+1567.
+
+The western powers of India having formed a league for the purpose of
+extirpating the Portuguese, the king of Achin was invited to accede to
+it, and, in conformity with the engagements by which the respective
+parties were bound, he prepared to attack them in Malacca, and carried
+thither a numerous fleet, in which were fifteen thousand people of his
+own subjects, and four hundred Turks, with two hundred pieces of
+artillery of different sizes. In order to amuse the enemy he gave out
+that his force was destined against Java, and sent a letter, accompanied
+with a present of a kris, to the governor, professing strong sentiments
+of friendship. A person whom he turned on shore with marks of ignominy,
+being suspected for a spy, was taken up, and being put to the torture
+confessed that he was employed by the Ottoman emperor and king of Achin
+to poison the principal officers of the place, and to set fire to their
+magazine. He was put to death, and his mutilated carcase was sent off to
+the king. This was the signal for hostilities. He immediately landed with
+all his men and commenced a regular siege. Sallies were made with various
+success and very unequal numbers. In one of these the chief of Aru, the
+king's eldest son, was killed. In another the Portuguese were defeated
+and lost many officers. A variety of stratagems were employed to work
+upon the fears and shake the fidelity of the inhabitants of the town. A
+general assault was given in which, after prodigious efforts of courage,
+and imminent risk of destruction, the besieged remained victorious. The
+king, seeing all his attempts fruitless, at length departed, having lost
+three thousand men before the walls, beside about five hundred who were
+said to have died of their wounds on the passage. The king of Ujong-tanah
+or Johor, who arrived with a fleet to the assistance of the place, found
+the sea for a long distance covered with dead bodies. This was esteemed
+one of the most desperate and honourable sieges the Portuguese
+experienced in India, their whole force consisting of but fifteen hundred
+men, of whom no more than two hundred were Europeans.
+
+1568.
+
+In the following year a vessel from Achin bound to Java, with ambassadors
+on board to the queen of Japara, in whom the king wished to raise up a
+new enemy against the Portuguese, was met in the straits by a vessel from
+Malacca, who took her and put all the people to the sword. It appears to
+have been a maxim in these wars never to give quarter to an enemy,
+whether resisting or submitting.
+
+1569.
+
+In 1569 a single ship, commanded by Lopez Carrasco, passing near Achin,
+fell in with a fleet coming out of that port, consisting of twenty large
+galleys and a hundred and eighty other vessels, commanded by the king in
+person, and supposed to be designed against Malacca. The situation of the
+Portuguese was desperate. They could not expect to escape, and therefore
+resolved to die like men. During three days they sustained a continual
+attack, when, after having by incredible exertions destroyed forty of the
+enemy's vessels, and being themselves reduced to the state of a wreck, a
+second ship appeared in sight. The king perceiving this retired into the
+harbour with his shattered forces.
+
+It is difficult to determine which of the two is the more astonishing,
+the vigorous stand made by such a handful of men as the whole strength of
+Malacca consisted of, or the prodigious resources and perseverance of the
+Achinese monarch.
+
+1573.
+
+In 1573, after forming an alliance with the queen of Japara, the object
+of which was the destruction of the European power, he appeared again
+before Malacca with ninety vessels, twenty-five of them large galleys,
+with seven thousand men and great store of artillery. He began his
+operations by sending a party to set fire to the suburbs of the town, but
+a timely shower of rain prevented its taking effect. He then resolved on
+a different mode of warfare, and tried to starve the place to a surrender
+by blocking up the harbour and cutting off all supplies of provisions.
+The Portuguese, to prevent the fatal consequences of this measure,
+collected those few vessels which they were masters of, and, a merchant
+ship of some force arriving opportunely, they put to sea, attacked the
+enemy's fleet, killed the principal captain, and obtained a complete
+victory.
+
+1574.
+
+In the year following Malacca was invested by an armada from the queen of
+Japara, of three hundred sail, eighty of which were junks of four hundred
+tons burden. After besieging the place for three months, till the very
+air became corrupted by their stay, the fleet retired with little more
+than five thousand men, of fifteen that embarked on the expedition.
+
+1575.
+
+Scarcely was the Javanese force departed when the king of Achin once more
+appeared with a fleet that is described as covering the straits. He
+ordered an attack upon three Portuguese frigates that were in the road
+protecting some provision vessels, which was executed with such a furious
+discharge of artillery that they were presently destroyed with all their
+crews. This was a dreadful blow to Malacca, and lamented, as the
+historian relates, with tears of blood by the little garrison, who were
+not now above a hundred and fifty men, and of those a great part
+non­effective. The king, elated with his success, landed his troops, and
+laid siege to the fort, which he battered at intervals during seventeen
+days. The fire of the Portuguese became very slack, and after some time
+totally ceased, as the governor judged it prudent to reserve his small
+stock of ammunition for an effort at the last extremity. The king,
+alarmed at this silence, which he construed into a preparation for some
+dangerous stratagem, was seized with a panic, and, suddenly raising the
+siege, embarked with the utmost precipitation; unexpectedly relieving the
+garrison from the ruin that hung over it, and which seemed inevitable in
+the ordinary course of events.
+
+1582.
+
+In 1582 we find the king appearing again before Malacca with a hundred
+and fifty sail of vessels. After some skirmishes with the Portuguese
+ships, in which the success was nearly equal on both sides, the Achinese
+proceeded to attack Johor, the king of which was then in alliance with
+Malacca. Twelve ships followed them thither, and, having burned some of
+their galleys, defeated the rest and obliged them to fly to Achin. The
+operations of these campaigns, and particularly the valour of the
+commander, named Raja Makuta, are alluded to in Queen Elizabeth's letter
+to the king, delivered in 1602 by Sir James Lancaster.
+
+About three or four years after this misfortune Mansur-shah prepared a
+fleet of no less than three hundred sail of vessels, and was ready to
+embark once more upon his favourite enterprise, when he was murdered,
+together with his queen and many of the principal nobility, by the
+general of the forces, who had long formed designs upon the crown.
+
+1585.
+
+This was perpetrated in May 1585, when he had reigned nearly eighteen
+years. In his time the consequence of the kingdom of Achin is represented
+to have arrived at a considerable height, and its friendship to have been
+courted by the most powerful states. No city in India possessed a more
+flourishing trade, the port being crowded with merchant vessels which
+were encouraged to resort thither by the moderate rates of the customs
+levied; and although the Portuguese and their ships were continually
+plundered, those belonging to every Asiatic power, from Mecca in the West
+to Japan in the East, appear to have enjoyed protection and security. The
+despotic authority of the monarch was counterpoised by the influence of
+the orang-kayas or nobility, who are described as being possessed of
+great wealth, living in fortified houses, surrounded by numerous
+dependants, and feeling themselves above control, often giving a
+licentious range to their proud and impatient tempers.
+
+The late monarch's daughter and only child was married to the king of
+Johor,* by whom she had a son, who, being regarded as heir to the crown
+of Achin, had been brought to the latter place to be educated under the
+eye of his grandfather. When the general (whose name is corruptly written
+Moratiza) assumed the powers of government, he declared himself the
+protector of this child, and we find him mentioned in the Annals by the
+title of Sultan Buyong (or the Boy).
+
+(*Footnote. The king of Achin sent on this occasion to Johor a piece of
+ordnance, such as for greatness, length, and workmanship (says
+Linschoten), could hardly be matched in all Christendom. It was
+afterwards taken by the Portuguese, who shipped it for Europe, but the
+vessel was lost in her passage.)
+
+1588.
+
+But before he had completed the third year of his nominal reign he also
+was dispatched, and the usurper took formal possession of the throne in
+the year 1588, by the name of Ala-eddin Rayet-shah,* being then at an
+advanced period of life.
+
+(*Footnote. Valentyn, by an obvious corruption, names him Sulthan Alciden
+Ryetza, and this coincidence is strongly in favour of the authenticity
+and correctness of the Annals. John Davis, who will be hereafter
+mentioned, calls him, with sufficient accuracy, Sultan Aladin.)
+
+The Annals say he was the grandson of Sultan Firman-shah; but the
+Europeans who visited Achin during his reign report him to have been
+originally a fisherman, who, having afterwards served in the wars against
+Malacca, showed so much courage, prudence, and skill in maritime affairs
+that the late king made him at length the chief commander of his forces,
+and gave him one of his nearest kinswomen to wife, in right of whom he is
+said to have laid claim to the throne.
+
+The French Commodore Beaulieu relates the circumstances of this
+revolution in a very different manner.*
+
+(*Footnote. The commodore had great opportunity of information, was a man
+of very superior ability, and indefatigable in his inquiries upon all
+subjects, as appears by the excellent account of his voyage, and of Achin
+in particular, written by himself, and published in Thevenot's
+collection, of which there is an English translation in Harris; but it is
+possible he may, in this instance, have been amused by a plausible tale
+from the grandson of this monarch, with whom he had much intercourse.
+John Davis, an intelligent English navigator whose account I have
+followed, might have been more likely to hear the truth as he was at
+Achin (though not a frequenter of the court) during Ala-eddin's reign,
+whereas Beaulieu did not arrive till twenty' years after, and the report
+of his having been originally a fisherman is also mentioned by the Dutch
+writers.)
+
+He says that, upon the extinction of the ancient royal line, which
+happened about forty years before the period at which he wrote, the
+orang-kayas met in order to choose a king, but, every one affecting the
+dignity for himself, they could not agree and resolved to decide it by
+force. In this ferment the cadi or chief judge by his authority and
+remonstrances persuaded them to offer the crown to a certain noble who in
+all these divisions had taken no part, but had lived in the reputation of
+a wise, experienced man, being then seventy years of age, and descended
+from one of the most respectable families of the country. After several
+excuses on his side, and entreaties and even threats on theirs, he at
+length consented to accept the dignity thus imposed upon him, provided
+they should regard him as a father, and receive correction from him as
+his children; but no sooner was he in possession of the sovereign power
+than (like Pope Sixtus the Fifth) he showed a different face, and the
+first step after his accession was to invite the orang-kayas to a feast,
+where, as they were separately introduced, he caused them to be seized
+and murdered in a court behind the palace. He then proceeded to demolish
+their fortified houses, and lodged their cannon, arms, and goods in the
+castle, taking measures to prevent in future the erection of any
+buildings of substantial materials that could afford him grounds of
+jealousy. He raised his own adherents from the lower class of people to
+the first dignities of the state, and of those who presumed to express
+any disapprobation of his conduct he made great slaughter, being supposed
+to have executed not less than twenty thousand persons in the first year
+of his reign.
+
+From the silence of the Portuguese writers with respect to the actions of
+this king we have reason to conclude that he did not make any attempts to
+disturb their settlement of Malacca; and it even appears that some
+persons in the character of ambassadors or agents from that power resided
+at Achin, the principal object of whose policy appears to have been that
+of inspiring him with jealousy and hatred of the Hollanders, who in their
+turn were actively exerting themselves to supplant the conquerors of
+India.
+
+1600.
+
+Towards the close of the sixteenth century they began to navigate these
+seas; and in June 1600 visited Achin with two ships, but had no cause to
+boast of the hospitality of their reception. An attempt was made to cut
+them off, and evidently by the orders or connivance of the king, who had
+prevailed upon the Dutch admiral to take on board troops and military
+stores for an expedition meditated, or pretended, against the city of
+Johor, which these ships were to bombard. Several of the crews were
+murdered, but after a desperate conflict in both ships the treacherous
+assailants were overcome and driven into the water, "and it was some
+pleasure (says John Davis, an Englishman, who was the principal pilot of
+the squadron) to see how the base Indians did fly, how they were killed,
+and how well they were drowned."* This barbarous and apparently
+unprovoked attack was attributed, but perhaps without any just grounds,
+to the instigation of the Portuguese.
+
+(*Footnote. All the Dutchmen on shore at the time were made prisoners,
+and many of them continued in that state for several years. Among these
+was Captain Frederick Houtman, whose Vocabulary of the Malayan language
+was printed at Amsterdam in 1604, being the first that was published in
+Europe. My copy has the writer's autograph.)
+
+1600.
+
+In November 1600 Paulus van Caarden, having also the command of two Dutch
+ships, was received upon his landing with much ceremony; but at his first
+audience the king refused to read a letter from the Prince of Orange,
+upon its being suggested to him that instead of paper it was written on
+the skin of an unclean animal; and the subsequent treatment experienced
+by this officer was uniformly bad. It appears however that in December
+1601 the king was so far reconciled to this new power as to send two
+ambassadors to Holland, one of whom died there in August 1602, and the
+other returned to Achin subsequently to the death of his master.
+
+1602.
+
+The first English fleet that made its appearance in this part of the
+world, and laid the foundation of a commerce which was in time to eclipse
+that of every other European state, arrived at Achin in June 1602. Sir
+James Lancaster, who commanded it, was received by the king with abundant
+ceremony and respect, which seem with these monarchs to have been usually
+proportioned to the number of vessels and apparent strength of their
+foreign guests. The queen of England's letter was conveyed to court with
+great pomp, and the general, after delivering a rich present, the most
+admired article of which was a fan of feathers, declared the purpose of
+his coming was to establish peace and amity between his royal mistress
+and her loving brother, the great and mighty king of Achin. He was
+invited to a banquet prepared for his entertainment, in which the service
+was of gold, and the king's damsels, who were richly attired and adorned
+with bracelets and jewels, were ordered to divert him with dancing and
+music. Before he retired he was arrayed by the king in a magnificent
+habit of the country, and armed with two krises. In the present sent as a
+return for the queen's there was, among other matters, a valuable ruby
+set in a ring. Two of the nobles, one of whom was the chief priest, were
+appointed to settle with Lancaster the terms of a commercial treaty,
+which was accordingly drawn up and executed in an explicit and regular
+manner. The Portuguese ambassador, or more properly the Spanish, as those
+kingdoms were now united, kept a watchful and jealous eye upon his
+proceedings; but by bribing the spies who surrounded him he foiled them
+at their own arts, and acquired intelligence that enabled him to take a
+rich prize in the straits of Malacca, with which he returned to Achin;
+and, having loaded what pepper he could procure there, took his departure
+in November of the same year. On this occasion it was requested by the
+king that he and his officers would favour him by singing one of the
+psalms of David, which was performed with much solemnity.
+
+Very little is known of the military transactions of this reign, and no
+conquest but that of Pase is recorded. He had two sons, the younger of
+whom he made king of Pidir, and the elder, styled Sultan Muda, he kept at
+Achin, in order to succeed him in the throne. In the year 1603 he
+resolved to divide the charge of government with his intended heir, as he
+found his extraordinary age began to render him unequal to the task, and
+accordingly invested him with royal dignity; but the effect which might
+have been foreseen quickly followed this measure. The son, who was
+already advanced in years, became impatient to enjoy more complete power,
+and, thinking his father had possessed the crown sufficiently long, he
+confined him in a prison, where his days were soon ended.
+
+1604.
+
+The exact period at which this event took place is not known, but,
+calculating from the duration of his reign as stated in the Annals, it
+must have been early in the year 1604.* He was then ninety-five years of
+age,** and described to be a hale man, but extremely gross and fat.
+
+(*Footnote. The Dutch commander Joris van Spilbergen took leave of him in
+April 1603, and his ambassador to Holland, who returned in December,
+1604, found his son on the throne, according to Valentyn. Commodore
+Beaulieu says he died in 1603.)
+
+(**Footnote. According to Beaulieu Davis says he was about a hundred; and
+the Dutch voyages mention that his great age prevented his ever appearing
+out of his palace.)
+
+His constitution must have been uncommonly vigorous, and his muscular
+strength is indicated by this ludicrous circumstance, that when he once
+condescended to embrace a Dutch admiral, contrary to the usual manners of
+his country, the pressure of his arms was so violent as to cause
+excessive pain to the person so honoured. He was passionately addicted to
+women, gaming, and drink, his favourite beverage being arrack. By the
+severity of his punishments he kept his subjects in extreme awe of him;
+and the merchants were obliged to submit to more exactions and
+oppressions than were felt under the government of his predecessors. The
+seizure of certain vessels belonging to the people of Bantam and other
+arbitrary proceedings of that nature are said to have deterred the
+traders of India from entering into his ports.
+
+The new king, who took the name of Ali Maghayat-shah, proved himself,
+from indolence or want of capacity, unfit to reign. He was always
+surrounded by his women, who were not only his attendants but his guards,
+and carried arms for that purpose. His occupations were the bath and the
+chase, and the affairs of state were neglected insomuch that murders,
+robberies, oppression, and an infinity of disorders took place in the
+kingdom for want of a regular and strict administration of justice. A son
+of the daughter of Ala-eddin had been a favourite of his grandfather, at
+the time of whose death he was twenty-three years of age, and continued,
+with his mother, to reside at the court after that event. His uncle the
+king of Achin having given him a rebuke on some occasion, he left his
+palace abruptly and fled to the king of Pidir, who received him with
+affection, and refused to send him back at the desire of the elder
+brother, or to offer any violence to a young prince whom their father
+loved. This was the occasion of an inveterate war which cost the lives of
+many thousand people. The nephew commanded the forces of Pidir, and for
+some time maintained the advantage, but these, at length seeing
+themselves much inferior in numbers to the army of Ali-Maghayat, refused
+to march, and the king was obliged to give him up, when he was conveyed
+to Achin and put in close confinement.
+
+1606.
+
+Not long afterwards a Portuguese squadron under Martin Alfonso, going to
+the relief of Malacca, then besieged by the Dutch, anchored in Achin road
+with the resolution of taking revenge on the king for receiving these
+their rivals into his ports, contrary to the stipulations of a treaty
+that had been entered into between them. The viceroy landed his men, who
+were opposed by a strong force on the part of the Achinese; but after a
+stout resistance they gained the first turf fort with two pieces of
+cannon, and commenced an attack upon the second, of masonry. In this
+critical juncture the young prince sent a message to his uncle requesting
+he might be permitted to join the army and expose himself in the ranks,
+declaring himself more willing to die in battle against the Kafers (so
+they always affected to call the Portuguese) than to languish like a
+slave in chains. The fears which operated upon the king's mind induced
+him to consent to his release. The prince showed so much bravery on this
+occasion, and conducted two or three attacks with such success that
+Alfonso was obliged to order a retreat, after wasting two days and losing
+three hundred men in this fruitless attempt. The reputation of the prince
+was raised by this affair to a high pitch amongst the people of Achin.
+His mother, who was an active, ambitious woman, formed the design of
+placing him on the throne, and furnished him with large sums of money, to
+be distributed in gratuities amongst the principal orang cayas. At the
+same time he endeavoured to ingratiate himself by his manners with all
+classes of people. To the rich he was courteous; to the poor he was
+affable; and he was the constant companion of those who were in the
+profession of arms. When the king had reigned between three and four
+years he died suddenly, and at the hour of his death the prince got
+access to the castle. He bribed the guards, made liberal promises to the
+officers, advanced a large sum of money to the governor, and sending for
+the chief priest obliged him by threats to crown him. In fine he managed
+the revolution so happily that he was proclaimed king before night, to
+the great joy of the people, who conceived vast hopes from his
+liberality, courtesy, and valour. The king of Pidir was speedily
+acquainted with the news of his brother's death, but not of the
+subsequent transactions, and came the next day to take possession of his
+inheritance. As he approached the castle with a small retinue he was
+seized by orders from the reigning prince, who, forgetting the favours he
+had received, kept him prisoner for a month, and then, sending him into
+the country under the pretence of a commodious retreat, had him murdered
+on the way. Those who put the crown on his head were not better requited;
+particularly the Maharaja, or governor of the castle. In a short time his
+disappointed subjects found that instead of being humane he was cruel;
+instead of being liberal he displayed extreme avarice, and instead of
+being affable he manifested a temper austere and inexorable.
+
+This king, whom the Annals name Iskander Muda, was known to our
+travellers by the title of sultan Paduka Sri (words equivalent to most
+gracious), sovereign of Achin and of the countries of Aru, Dilli, Johor,
+Pahang, Kedah, and Perak on the one side, and of Barus, Pasaman, Tiku,
+Sileda, and Priaman on the other. Some of these places were conquered by
+him, and others he inherited.
+
+1613.
+
+He showed much friendship to the Hollanders in the early part of his
+reign; and in the year 1613 gave permission to the English to settle a
+factory, granting them many indulgences, in consequence of a letter and
+present from king James the first. He bestowed on Captain Best, who was
+the bearer of them, the title of orang kaya putih, and entertained him
+with the fighting of elephants, buffaloes, rams, and tigers. His answer
+to king James (a translation of which is to be found in Purchas) is
+couched in the most friendly terms, and he there styles himself king of
+all Sumatra. He expressed a strong desire that the king of England should
+send him one of his countrywomen to wife, and promised to make her eldest
+son king of all the pepper countries, that so the English might be
+supplied with that commodity by a monarch of their own nation. But
+notwithstanding his strong professions of attachment to us, and his
+natural connexion with the Hollanders, arising from their joint enmity to
+the Portuguese, it was not many years before he began to oppress both
+nations and use his endeavours to ruin their trade. He became jealous of
+their growing power, and particularly in consequence of intelligence that
+reached him concerning the encroachments made by the latter in the island
+of Java.
+
+The conquest of Aru seems never to have been thoroughly effected by the
+kings of Achin. Paduka Sri carried his arms thither and boasted of having
+obtained some victories.
+
+1613.
+
+In 1613 he subdued Siak in its neighbourhood. Early in the same year he
+sent an expedition against the kingdom of Johor (which had always
+maintained a political connexion with Aru) and, reducing the city after a
+siege of twenty-nine days, plundered it of everything moveable, and made
+slaves of the miserable inhabitants. The king fled to the island of
+Bintang, but his youngest brother and coadjutor was taken prisoner and
+carried to Achin. The old king of Johor, who had so often engaged the
+Portuguese, left three sons, the eldest of whom succeeded him by the
+title of Iang de per-tuan.*
+
+(*Footnote. This is not an individual title or proper name, but signifies
+the sovereign or reigning monarch. In like manner Rega Bongsu signifies
+the king's youngest brother, as Raja Muda does the heir apparent.)
+
+The second was made king of Siak, and the third, called Raja Bongsu,
+reigned jointly with the first. He it was who assisted the Hollanders in
+the first siege of Malacca, and corresponded with Prince Maurice. The
+king of Achin was married to their sister, but this did not prevent a
+long and cruel war between them. A Dutch factory at Johor was involved in
+the consequences of this war, and several of that nation were among the
+prisoners. In the course of the same year however the king of Achin
+thought proper to establish Raja Bongsu on the throne of Johor, sending
+him back for that purpose with great honours, assisting him to rebuild
+the fort and city, and giving him one of his own sisters in marriage.
+
+1615.
+
+In 1615 the king of Achin sailed to the attack of Malacca in a fleet
+which he had been four years employed in preparing. It consisted of above
+five hundred sail, of which a hundred were large galleys, greater than
+any at that time built in Europe, carrying each from six to eight hundred
+men, with three large cannon and several smaller pieces. These galleys
+the orang kayas were obliged to furnish, repair, and man, at the peril of
+their lives. The soldiers served without pay, and carried three months
+provision at their own charge. In this great fleet there were computed to
+be sixty thousand men, whom the king commanded in person. His wives and
+household were taken to sea with him. Coming in sight of the Portuguese
+ships in the afternoon, they received many shot from them but avoided
+returning any, as if from contempt. The next day they got ready for
+battle, and drew up in form of a half moon. A desperate engagement took
+place and lasted without intermission till midnight, during which the
+Portuguese admiral was three times boarded, and repeatedly on fire. Many
+vessels on both sides were also in flames and afforded light to continue
+the combat. At length the Achinese gave way, after losing fifty sail of
+different sizes, and twenty thousand men. They retired to Bancalis, on
+the eastern coast of Sumatra, and shortly afterwards sailed for Achin,
+the Portuguese not daring to pursue their victory, both on account of the
+damage they had sustained and their apprehension of the Hollanders, who
+were expected at Malacca. The king proposed that the prisoners taken
+should be mutually given up, which was agreed to, and was the first
+instance of that act of humanity and civilisation between the two powers.
+
+1619.
+
+Three years afterwards the king made a conquest of the cities of Kedah
+and Perak on the Malayan coast, and also of a place called Dilli in
+Sumatra. This last had been strongly fortified by the assistance of the
+Portuguese, and gave an opportunity of displaying much skill in the
+attack. Trenches were regularly opened before it and a siege carried on
+for six weeks ere it fell. In the same year the king of Jorcan (a place
+unknown at present by that name) fled for refuge to Malacca with eighty
+sail of boats, having been expelled his dominions by the king of Achin.
+The Portuguese were not in a condition to afford him relief, being
+themselves surrounded with enemies and fearful of an attack from the
+Achinese more especially; but the king was then making preparations
+against an invasion he heard was meditated by the viceroy of Goa.
+Reciprocal apprehensions kept each party on the defensive.
+
+1621.
+
+The French being desirous of participating in the commerce of Achin, of
+which all the European nations had formed great ideas, and all found
+themselves disappointed in, sent out a squadron commanded by General
+Beaulieu, which arrived in January 1621, and finally left it in December
+of the same year. He brought magnificent presents to the king, but these
+did not content his insatiable avarice, and he employed a variety of mean
+arts to draw from him further gifts. Beaulieu met also with many
+difficulties, and was forced to submit to much extortion in his
+endeavours to procure a loading of pepper, of which Achin itself, as has
+been observed, produced but little. The king informed him that he had
+some time since ordered all the plants to be destroyed, not only because
+the cultivation of them proved an injury to more useful agriculture, but
+also lest their produce might tempt the Europeans to serve him, as they
+had served the kings of Jakatra and Bantam. From this apprehension he had
+lately been induced to expel the English and Dutch from their settlements
+at Priaman and Tiku, where the principal quantity of pepper was procured,
+and of which places he changed the governor every third year to prevent
+any connexions dangerous to his authority from being formed. He had
+likewise driven the Dutch from a factory they were attempting to settle
+at Padang; which place appears to be the most remote on the western coast
+of the island to which the Achinese conquests at any time extended.
+
+1628.
+
+Still retaining a strong desire to possess himself of Malacca, so many
+years the grand object of Achinese ambition, he imprisoned the ambassador
+then at his court, and made extraordinary preparations for the siege,
+which he designed to undertake in person. The laksamana or commander in
+chief (who had effected all the king's late conquests) attempted to
+oppose this resolution; but the maharaja, willing to flatter his master's
+propensity, undertook to put him in possession of the city and had the
+command of the fleet given to him, as the other had of the land forces.
+The king set out on the expedition with a fleet of two hundred and fifty
+sail (forty­seven of them not less than a hundred feet in the keel), in
+which were twenty thousand men well appointed, and a great train of
+artillery. After being some time on board, with his family and retinue as
+usual, he determined, on account of an ill omen that was observed, to
+return to the shore. The generals, proceeding without him, soon arrived
+before Malacca. Having landed their men they made a judicious
+disposition, and began the attack with much courage and military skill.
+The Portuguese were obliged to abandon several of their posts, one of
+which, after a defence of fifty days, was levelled with the ground, and
+from its ruins strong works were raised by the laksamana. The maharaja
+had seized another post advantageously situated. From their several camps
+they had lines of communication, and the boats on the river were
+stationed in such a manner that the place was completely invested.
+Matters were in this posture when a force of two thousand men came to the
+assistance of the besieged from the king of Pahang, and likewise five
+sail of Portuguese vessels from the coast of Coromandel; but all was
+insufficient to remove so powerful an enemy, although by that time they
+had lost four thousand of their troops in the different attacks and
+skirmishes. In the latter end of the year a fleet of thirty sail of
+ships, large and small, under the command of Nunno Alvarez Botello,
+having on board nine hundred European soldiers, appeared off Malacca, and
+blocked up the fleet of Achin in a river about three miles from the town.
+This entirely altered the complexion of affairs. The besiegers retired
+from their advanced works and hastened to the defence of their galleys,
+erecting batteries by the side of the river. The maharaja being summoned
+to surrender returned a civil but resolute answer. In the night,
+endeavouring to make his escape with the smaller vessels through the
+midst of the Portuguese, he was repulsed and wounded. Next day the whole
+force of the Achinese dropped down the stream with a design to fight
+their way, but after an engagement of two hours their principal galley,
+named the Terror of the World, was boarded and taken, after losing five
+hundred men of seven which she carried. Many other vessels were
+afterwards captured or sunk. The laksamana hung out a white flag and sent
+to treat with Nunno, but, some difficulty arising about the terms, the
+engagement was renewed with great warmth. News was brought to the
+Portuguese that the maharaja was killed and that the king of Pahang was
+approaching with a hundred sail of vessels to reinforce them. Still the
+Achinese kept up a dreadful fire, which seemed to render the final
+success doubtful; but at length they sent proposals desiring only to be
+allowed three galleys of all their fleet to carry away four thousand men
+who remained of twenty that came before the town. It was answered that
+they must surrender at discretion; which the laksamana hesitating to do,
+a furious assault took place both by water and land upon his galleys and
+works, which were all effectually destroyed or captured, not a ship and
+scarcely a man escaping. He himself in the last extremity fled to the
+woods, but was seized ere long by the king of Pahang's scouts. Being
+brought before the governor he said to him, with an undaunted
+countenance, "Behold here the laksamana for the first time overcome!" He
+was treated with respect but kept a prisoner, and sent on his own famous
+ship to Goa in order to be from thence conveyed to Portugal: but death
+deprived his enemies of that distinguished ornament of their triumph.
+
+1635.
+
+This signal defeat proved so important a blow to the power of Achin that
+we read of no further attempts to renew the war until the year 1635, when
+the king, encouraged by the feuds which at this time prevailed in
+Malacca, again violated the law of nations, to him little known, by
+imprisoning their ambassador, and caused all the Portuguese about his
+court to be murdered. No military operations however immediately took
+place in consequence of this barbarous proceeding.
+
+1640. 1641.
+
+In the year 1640 the Dutch with twelve men of war, and the king of Achin
+with twenty-five galleys, appeared before that harassed and devoted city;
+which at length, in the following year was wrested from the hands of the
+Portuguese, who had so long, through such difficulties, maintained
+possession of it. This year was also marked by the death of the sultan,
+whom the Dutch writers name Paduka Sri, at the age of sixty, after a
+reign of thirty-five years; having just lived to see his hereditary foe
+subdued; and as if the opposition of the Portuguese power, which seems
+first to have occasioned the rise of that of Achin, was also necessary to
+its existence, the splendour and consequence of the kingdom from that
+period rapidly declined.
+
+The prodigious wealth and resources of the monarchy during his reign are
+best evinced by the expeditions he was enabled to fit out; but being no
+less covetous than ambitious he contrived to make the expenses fall upon
+his subjects, and at the same time filled his treasury with gold by
+pressing the merchants and plundering the neighbouring states. An
+intelligent person (General Beaulieu), who was for some time at his
+court, and had opportunities of information on the subject, uses this
+strong expression--that he was infinitely rich. He constantly employed in
+his castle three hundred goldsmiths. This would seem an exaggeration, but
+that it is well known the Malayan princes have them always about them in
+great numbers at this day, working in the manufacture of filigree, for
+which the country is so famous. His naval strength has been already
+sufficiently described. He was possessed of two thousand brass guns and
+small arms in proportion. His trained elephants amounted to some
+hundreds. His armies were probably raised only upon the occasion which
+called for their acting, and that in a mode similar to what was
+established under the feudal system in Europe. The valley of Achin alone
+was said to be able to furnish forty thousand men upon an emergency. A
+certain number of warriors however were always kept on foot for the
+protection of the king and his capital. Of these the superior class were
+called ulubalang, and the inferior amba-raja, who were entirely devoted
+to his service and resembled the janizaries of Constantinople. Two
+hundred horsemen nightly patrolled the grounds about the castle, the
+inner courts and apartments of which were guarded by three thousand
+women. The king's eunuchs amounted to five hundred.
+
+The disposition of this monarch was cruel and sanguinary. A multitude of
+instances are recorded of the horrible barbarity of his punishments, and
+for the most trivial offences. He imprisoned his own mother and put her
+to the torture, suspecting her to have been engaged in a conspiracy
+against him with some of the principal nobles, whom he caused to be
+executed. He murdered his nephew, the king of Johor's son, of whose
+favour with his mother he was jealous. He also put to death a son of the
+king of Bantam, and another of the king of Pahang, who were both his near
+relations. None of the royal family survived in 1622 but his own son, a
+youth of eighteen, who had been thrice banished the court, and was
+thought to owe his continuance in life only to his surpassing his father,
+if possible, in cruelty, and being hated by all ranks of people. He was
+at one time made king of Pidir but recalled on account of his excesses,
+confined in prison and put to strange tortures by his father, whom he did
+not outlive. The whole territory of Achin was almost depopulated by wars,
+executions, and oppression. The king endeavoured to repeople the country
+by his conquests. Having ravaged the kingdoms of Johor, Pahang, Kedah,
+Perak, and Dilli, he transported the inhabitants from those places to
+Achin, to the number of twenty-two thousand persons. But this barbarous
+policy did not produce the effect he hoped; for the unhappy people, being
+brought naked to his dominions, and not allowed any kind of maintenance
+on their arrival, died of hunger in the streets. In the planning his
+military enterprises he was generally guided by the distresses of his
+neighbours, for whom, as for his prey, he unceasingly lay in wait; and
+his preparatory measures were taken with such secrecy that the execution
+alone unravelled them. Insidious political craft and wanton delight in
+blood united in him to complete the character of a tyrant.
+
+It must here be observed that, with respect to the period of this
+remarkable reign, the European and Malayan authorities are considerably
+at variance, the latter assigning to it something less than thirty solar
+years, and placing the death of Iskander Muda in December 1636. The
+Annals further state that he was succeeded by sultan
+Ala-eddin­Mahayat-shah, who reigned only about four years and died in
+February 1641. That this is the more accurate account I have no
+hesitation in believing, although Valentyn, who gives a detail of the
+king's magnificent funeral, was persuaded that the reign which ended in
+1641 was the same that began in 1607. But he collected his information
+eighty years after the event, and as it does not appear that any European
+whose journal has been given to the world was on the spot at that period,
+the death of an obscure monarch who died after a short reign may well
+have been confounded by persons at a distance with that of his more
+celebrated predecessor. Both authorities however are agreed in the
+important fact that the successor to the throne in 1641 was a female.
+This person is described by Valentyn as being the wife of the old king,
+and not his daughter, as by some had been asserted; but from the Annals
+it appears that she was his daughter, named Taju al-alum; and as it was
+in her right that Maghayat-shah (certainly her husband), obtained the
+crown, so upon his decease, there being no male heir, she peaceably
+succeeded him in the government, and became the first queen regent of
+Achin. The succession having thenceforward continued nearly sixty years
+in the female line, this may be regarded as a new era in the history of
+the country. The nobles finding their power less restrained, and their
+individual consequence more felt under an administration of this kind
+than when ruled by kings (as sometimes they were with a rod of iron)
+supported these pageants, whom they governed as they thought fit, and
+thereby virtually changed the constitution into an aristocracy or
+oligarchy. The business of the state was managed by twelve orang-kayas,
+four of whom were superior to the rest, and among these the maharaja, or
+governor of the kingdom, was considered as the chief. It does not appear,
+nor is it probable, that the queen had the power of appointing or
+removing any of these great officers. No applications were made to the
+throne but in their presence, nor any public resolution taken but as they
+determined in council. The great object of their political jealousy seems
+to have been the pretensions of the king of Johor to the crown, in virtue
+of repeated intermarriages between the royal families of the two
+countries, and it may be presumed that the alarms excited from that
+quarter materially contributed to reconcile them to the female
+domination. They are accordingly said to have formed an engagement
+amongst themselves never to pay obedience to a foreign prince, nor to
+allow their royal mistress to contract any marriage that might eventually
+lead to such a consequence.* At the same time, by a new treaty with
+Johor, its king was indirectly excused from the homage to the crown of
+Achin which had been insisted upon by her predecessors and was the
+occasion of frequent wars.
+
+(*Footnote. However fanciful it may be thought, I cannot doubt that the
+example of our Queen Elizabeth, whose character and government were
+highly popular with the Achinese on account of her triumphant contest
+with the united powers of Spain and Portugal, had a strong influence in
+the establishment of this new species of monarchy, and that the example
+of her sister's marriage with Philip may have contributed to the
+resolution taken by the nobles. The actions of our illustrious queen were
+a common topic of conversation between the old tyrant and Sir James
+Lancaster.)
+
+In proportion as the political consequence of the kingdom declined, its
+history, as noticed by foreigners, becomes obscure. Little is recorded of
+the transactions of her reign, and it is likely that Achin took no active
+part in the concerns of neighbouring powers, but suffered the Hollanders,
+who maintained in general a friendly intercourse with her, to remain in
+quiet possession of Malacca.
+
+1643.
+
+In 1643 they sent an ambassador to compliment her upon her accession, and
+at the same time to solicit payment for a quantity of valuable jewels
+ordered by the deceased king, but for the amount of which she declined to
+make herself responsible.
+
+1660.
+
+It is said (but the fact will admit of much doubt) that in 1660 she was
+inclined to marry one of their countrymen, and would have carried her
+design into execution had not the East India Company prevented by their
+authority a connexion that might, as they prudently judged, be productive
+of embarrassment to their affairs.
+
+1664.
+
+The Dutch however complain that she gave assistance to their enemies the
+people of Perak, and in 1664 it was found necessary to send a squadron
+under the command of Pieter de Bitter to bring her to reason. As it
+happened that she was at this time at war with some of her own dependants
+he made himself master of several places on the western coast that were
+nominally at least belonging to Achin.
+
+1666.
+
+About 1666 the English establishments at Achin and some ports to the
+southward appear to have given considerable umbrage to their rivals.
+
+1669.
+
+In 1669 the people of Dilli on the north-eastern coast threw off their
+allegiance, and the power of the kingdom became gradually more and more
+circumscribed.
+
+1675.
+
+This queen died in 1675, after reigning, with a degree of tranquillity
+little known in these countries, upwards of thirty-four years.
+
+The people being now accustomed and reconciled to female rule, which they
+found more lenient than that of their kings, acquiesced in general in the
+established mode of government.
+
+1677.
+
+And she was immediately succeeded by another female monarch, named Nur
+al-alum, who reigned little more than two years and died in 1677.
+
+The queen who succeeded her was named Anayet-shah.
+
+1684.
+
+In the year 1684 she received an embassy from the English government of
+Madras, and appeared at that time to be about forty years. The persons
+who were on this occasion presented to her express their suspicions,
+which were suggested to them by a doubt prevailing amongst the
+inhabitants, that this sovereign was not a real queen, but a eunuch
+dressed up in female apparel, and imposed on the public by the artifices
+of the orang kayas. But as such a cheat, though managed with every
+semblance of reality (which they observe was the case) could not be
+carried on for any number of years without detection, and as the same
+idea does not appear to have been entertained at any other period, it is
+probable they were mistaken in their surmise. Her person they describe to
+have been large, and her voice surprisingly strong, but not manly.*
+
+(*Footnote. The following curious passage is extracted from the journal
+of these gentlemen's proceedings. "We went to give our attendance at the
+palace this day as customary. Being arrived at the place of audience with
+the orang cayos, the queen was pleased to order us to come nearer, when
+her majesty was very inquisitive into the use of our wearing periwigs,
+and what was the convenience of them; to all which we returned
+satisfactory answers. After this her majesty desired of Mr. Ord, if it
+were no affront to him, that he would take off his periwig, that she
+might see how he appeared without it; which, according to her majesty's
+request, he did. She then told us she had heard of our business, and
+would give her answer by the orang cayos; and so we retired." I venture,
+with submission, to observe that this anecdote seems to put the question
+of the sex beyond controversy.)
+
+The purport of the embassy was to obtain liberty to erect a fortification
+in her territory, which she peremptorily refused, being contrary to the
+established rules of the kingdom; adding that if the governor of Madras
+would fill her palace with gold she could not permit him to build with
+brick either fort or house. To have a factory of timber and plank was the
+utmost indulgence that could be allowed; and on that footing the return
+of the English, who had not traded there for many years, should be
+welcomed with great friendship. The queen herself, the orang kayas
+represented, was not allowed to fortify lest some foreign power might
+avail themselves of it to enslave the country. In the course of these
+negotiations it was mentioned that the agriculture of Achin had suffered
+considerably of late years by reason of a general licence given to all
+the inhabitants to search for gold in the mountains and rivers which
+afforded that article; whereas the business had formerly been restricted
+to certain authorized persons, and the rest obliged to till the ground.
+
+1684.
+
+The court feared to give a public sanction for the settlement of the
+English on any part of the southern coast lest it should embroil them
+with the other European powers.*
+
+(*Footnote. The design of settling a factory at this period in the
+dominions of Achin was occasioned by the recent loss of our establishment
+at Bantam, which had been originally fixed by Sir James Lancaster in
+1603. The circumstances of this event were as follows. The old sultan had
+thought proper to share the regal power with his son in the year 1677,
+and this measure was attended with the obvious effect of a jealousy
+between the parent and child, which soon broke forth into open
+hostilities. The policy of the Dutch led them to take an active part in
+favour of the young sultan, who had inclined most to their interests and
+now solicited their aid. The English on the other hand discouraged what
+appeared to them an unnatural rebellion, but without interfering, as they
+said, in any other character than that of mediators, or affording
+military assistance to either party; and which their extreme weakness
+rather than their assertions renders probable. On the twenty-eighth of
+March 1682 the Dutch landed a considerable force from Batavia, and soon
+terminated the war. They placed the young sultan on the throne,
+delivering the father into his custody, and obtained from him in return
+for these favours an exclusive privilege of trade in his territories;
+which was evidently the sole object they had in view. On the first day of
+April possession was taken of the English factory by a party of Dutch and
+country soldiers, and on the twelfth the agent and council were obliged
+to embark with their property on vessels provided for the purpose, which
+carried them to Batavia. From thence they proceeded to Surat on the
+twenty-second of August in the following year.
+
+In order to retain a share in the pepper-trade the English turned their
+thoughts towards Achin, and a deputation, consisting of two gentlemen, of
+the names of Old and Cawley, was sent thither in 1684; the success of
+which is above related. It happened that at this time certain Rajas or
+chiefs of the country of Priaman and other places on the west coast of
+Sumatra were at Achin also to solicit aid of that court against the
+Dutch, who had made war upon and otherwise molested them. These
+immediately applied to Mr. Ord, expressing a strong desire that the
+English should settle in their respective districts, offering ground for
+a fort and the exclusive purchase of their pepper. They consented to
+embark for Madras, where an agreement was formed with them by the
+governor in the beginning of the year 1685 on the terms they had
+proposed. In consequence of this an expedition was fitted out with the
+design of establishing a settlement at Priaman; but a day or two before
+the ships sailed an invitation to the like purport was received from the
+chiefs of Bang­kaulu (since corruptly called Bencoolen); and as it was
+known that a considerable proportion of the pepper that used to be
+exported from Bantam had been collected from the neighbourhood of
+Bencoolen (at a place called Silebar), it was judged advisable that Mr.
+Ord, who was the person entrusted with the management of this business,
+should first proceed thither; particularly as at that season of the year
+it was the windward port. He arrived there on the twenty-fifth day of
+June 1685, and, after taking possession of the country assigned to the
+English Company, and leaving Mr. Broome in charge of the place, he sailed
+for the purpose of establishing the other settlements. He stopped first
+at Indrapura, where he found three Englishmen who were left of a small
+factory that had been some time before settled there by a man of the name
+of Du Jardin. Here he learned that the Dutch, having obtained a knowledge
+of the original intention of our fixing at Priaman, had anticipated us
+therein and sent a party to occupy the situation. In the meantime it was
+understood in Europe that this place was the chief of our establishments
+on the coast, and ships were accordingly consigned thither. The same was
+supposed at Madras, and troops and stores were sent to reinforce it,
+which were afterwards landed at Indrapura. A settlement was then formed
+at Manjuta, and another attempted at Batang-kapas in 1686; but here the
+Dutch, assisted by a party amongst the natives, assaulted and drove out
+our people. Every possible opposition, as it was natural to expect, was
+given by these our rivals to the success of our factories. They fixed
+themselves in the neighbourhood of them and endeavoured to obstruct the
+country people from carrying pepper to them or supplying them with
+provisions either by sea or land. Our interests however in the end
+prevailed, and Bencoolen in particular, to which the other places were
+rendered subordinate in 1686, began to acquire some degree of vigour and
+respectability. In 1689 encouragement was given to Chinese colonists to
+settle there, whose number has been continually increasing from that
+time. In 1691 the Dutch felt the loss of their influence at Silebar and
+other of the southern countries, where they attempted to exert authority
+in the name of the sultan of Bantam, and the produce of these places was
+delivered to the English. This revolution proceeded from the works with
+which about this time our factory was strengthened. In 1695 a settlement
+was made at Triamang, and two years after at Kattaun and Sablat. The
+first, in the year 1700, was removed to Bantal. Various applications were
+made by the natives in different parts of the island for the
+establishment of factories, particularly from Ayer-Bangis to the
+northward, Palembang on the eastern side, and the people from the
+countries south of Tallo, near Manna. A person was sent to survey these
+last, as far as Pulo Pisang and Kroi, in 1715. In consequence of the
+inconvenience attending the shipping of goods from Bencoolen River, which
+is often impracticable from the surfs, a warehouse was built in 1701 at a
+place then called the cove; which gave the first idea of removing the
+settlement to the point of land which forms the bay of Bencoolen. The
+unhealthiness of the old situation was thought to render this an
+expedient step; and accordingly about 1714 it was in great measure
+relinquished, and the foundations of Fort Marlborough were laid on a spot
+two or three miles distant. Being a high plain it was judged to possess
+considerable advantages; many of which however are counterbalanced by its
+want of the vicinity of a river, so necessary for the ready and plentiful
+supply of provisions. Some progress had been made in the erection of this
+fort when an accident happened that had nearly destroyed the Company's
+views. The natives incensed at ill treatment received from the Europeans,
+who were then but little versed in the knowledge of their dispositions or
+the art of managing them by conciliating methods, rose in a body in the
+year 1719, and forced the garrison, whose ignorant fears rendered them
+precipitate, to seek refuge on board their ships. These people began now
+to feel alarms lest the Dutch, taking advantage of the absence of the
+English, should attempt an establishment, and soon permitted some persons
+from the northern factories to resettle the place; and, supplies arriving
+from Madras, things returned to their former course, and the fort was
+completed. The Company's affairs on this coast remained in tranquillity
+for a number of years. The important settlement of Natal was established
+in 1752, and that of Tappanuli a short time afterwards; which involved
+the English in fresh disputes with the Dutch, who set up a claim to the
+country in which they are situated. In the year 1760 the French under
+Comte d'Estaing destroyed all the English settlements on the coast of
+Sumatra; but they were soon reestablished and our possession secured by
+the treaty of Paris in 1763. Fort Marlborough, which had been hitherto a
+peculiar subordinate of Fort St. George, was now formed into an
+independent presidency, and was furnished with a charter for erecting a
+mayor's court, but which has never been enforced. In 1781 a detachment of
+military from thence embarked upon five East India ships and took
+possession of Padang and all other Dutch factories in consequence of the
+war with that nation. In 1782 the magazine of Fort Marlborough, in which
+were four hundred barrels of powder, was fired by lightning and blew up;
+but providentially few lives were lost. In 1802 an act of parliament was
+passed "to authorize the East India Company to make their settlement at
+Fort Marlborough in the East Indies, a factory subordinate to the
+presidency of Fort William in Bengal, and to transfer the servants who on
+the reduction of that establishment shall be supernumerary, to the
+presidency of Fort St. George." In 1798 plants of the nutmeg and clove
+had for the first time been procured from the Moluccas; and in 1803 a
+large importation of these valuable articles of cultivation took place.
+As the plantations were, by the last accounts from thence, in the most
+flourishing state, very important commercial advantages were expected to
+be derived from the culture.)
+
+A few years before these transactions she had invited the king of Siam to
+renew the ancient connexion between their respective states, and to unite
+in a league against the Dutch, by whose encroachments the commerce of her
+subjects and the extent of her dominions were much circumscribed. It does
+not appear however that this overture was attended with any effect, nor
+have the limits of the Achinese jurisdiction since that period extended
+beyond Pidir on the northern, and Barus on the western coast.
+
+1688.
+
+She died in 1688, having reigned something less than eleven years, and
+was succeeded by a young queen named Kamalat-shah; but this did not take
+place without a strong opposition from a faction amongst the orang kayas
+which wanted to set up a king, and a civil war actually commenced. The
+two parties drew up their forces on opposite sides of the river, and for
+two or three nights continued to fire at each other, but in the daytime
+followed their ordinary occupations. These opportunities of intercourse
+made them sensible of their mutual folly. They agreed to throw aside
+their arms and the crown remained in possession of the newly elected
+queen. It was said to have been esteemed essential that she should be a
+maiden, advanced in years, and connected by blood with the ancient royal
+line. In this reign an English factory, which had been long discontinued,
+was reestablished at Achin, but in the interval some private traders of
+this nation had always resided on the spot. These usually endeavoured to
+persuade the state that they represented the India Company, and sometimes
+acquired great influence, which they are accused of having employed in a
+manner not only detrimental to that body but to the interests of the
+merchants of India in general by monopolizing the trade of the port,
+throwing impediments in the way of all shipping not consigned to their
+management, and embezzling the cargoes of such as were. An asylum was
+also afforded, beyond the reach of law, for all persons whose crimes or
+debts induced them to fly from the several European settlements. These
+considerations chiefly made the Company resolve to reclaim their ancient
+privileges in that kingdom, and a deputation was sent from the presidency
+of Madras in the year 1695 for that purpose, with letters addressed to
+her illustrious majesty the queen of Achin, desiring permission to settle
+on the terms her predecessors had granted to them; which was readily
+complied with, and a factory, but on a very limited scale, was
+established accordingly, but soon declined and disappeared. In 1704, when
+Charles Lockyer (whose account of his voyage, containing a particular
+description of this place, was published in 1711) visited Achin, one of
+these independent factors, named Francis Delton, carried on a flourishing
+trade. In 1695 the Achinese were alarmed by the arrival of six sail of
+Dutch ships of force, with a number of troops on board, in their road,
+not having been visited by any of that nation for fifteen years, but they
+departed without offering any molestation.
+
+1699.
+
+This queen was deposed by her subjects (whose grounds of complaint are
+not stated) about the latter part of the year 1699, after reigning also
+eleven years; and with her terminated the female dynasty, which, during
+its continuance of about fifty-nine years, had attracted much notice in
+Europe.
+
+Her successor was named Beder al-alum sherif Hasham, the nature of whose
+pretensions to the crown does not positively appear, but there is reason
+to believe that he was her brother. When he had reigned a little more
+than two years it pleased God (as the Annals express it) to afflict him
+with a distemper which caused his feet and hands to contract (probably
+the gout) and disqualified him for the performance of his religious
+duties.
+
+1702.
+
+Under these circumstances he was induced to resign the government in
+1702, and died about a month after his abdication.
+
+Perkasa-alum, a priest, found means by his intrigues to acquire the
+sovereignty, and one of his first acts was to attempt imposing certain
+duties on the merchandise imported by English traders, who had been
+indulged with an exemption from all port charges excepting the
+established complimentary presents upon their arrival and receiving the
+chap or licence. This had been stipulated in the treaty made by Sir James
+Lancaster, and renewed by Mr. Grey when chief of the Company's factory.
+The innovation excited an alarm and determined opposition on the part of
+the masters of ships then at the place, and they proceeded (under the
+conduct of Captain Alexander Hamilton, who published an account of his
+voyage in 1727) to the very unwarrantable step of commencing hostilities
+by firing upon the villages situated near the mouth of the river, and
+cutting off from the city all supplies of provisions by sea. The
+inhabitants, feeling severely the effects of these violent measures, grew
+clamorous against the government, which was soon obliged to restore to
+these insolent traders the privileges for which they contended.
+
+1704.
+
+Advantage was taken of the public discontents to raise an insurrection in
+favour of the nephew of the late queen, or, according to the Annals, the
+son of Beder al-alum (who was probably her brother), in the event of
+which Perkasa-alum was deposed about the commencement of the year 1704,
+and after an interregnum or anarchy of three months continuance, the
+young prince obtained possession of the throne, by the name of Jemal
+al-alum. From this period the native writers furnish very ample details
+of the transactions of the Achinese government, as well as of the general
+state of the country, whose prosperous circumstances during the early
+part of this king's reign are strongly contrasted with the misery and
+insignificance to which it was reduced by subsequent events. The causes
+and progress of this political decline cannot be more satisfactorily set
+forth than in a faithful translation of the Malayan narrative which was
+drawn up, or extracted from a larger work, for my use, and is distinct
+from the Annals already mentioned:
+
+When raja Jemal al-alum reigned in Achin the country was exceedingly
+populous, the nobles had large possessions, the merchants were numerous
+and opulent, the judgments of the king were just, and no man could
+experience the severity of punishment but through his own fault. In those
+days the king could not trade on his own account, the nobles having
+combined to prevent it; but the accustomed duties of the port were
+considered as his revenue, and ten per cent was levied for this purpose
+upon all merchandise coming into the country. The city was then of great
+extent, the houses were of brick and stone. The most considerable
+merchant was a man named Daniel, a Hollander; but many of different
+nations were also settled there, some from Surat, some from Kutch, others
+from China. When ships arrived in the port, if the merchants could not
+take off all the cargoes the king advanced the funds for purchasing what
+remained, and divided the goods among them, taking no profit to himself.
+After the departure of the vessel the king was paid in gold the amount of
+his principal, without interest.
+
+His daily amusements were in the grounds allotted for the royal sports.
+He was attended by a hundred young men, who were obliged to be constantly
+near his person day and night, and who were clothed in a sumptuous manner
+at a monthly expense of a hundred dollars for each man. The government of
+the different parts of the country was divided, under his authority,
+amongst the nobles. When a district appeared to be disturbed he took
+measures for quelling the insurrection; those who resisted his orders he
+caused to be apprehended; when the roads were bad he gave directions for
+their repair. Such was his conduct in the government. His subjects all
+feared him, and none dared to condemn his actions. At that time the
+country was in peace.
+
+When he had been a few years on the throne a country lying to the
+eastward, named Batu Bara, attempted to throw off its subjection to
+Achin. The chiefs were ordered to repair to court to answer for their
+conduct, but they refused to obey. These proceedings raised the king's
+indignation. He assembled the nobles and required of them that each
+should furnish a vessel of war, to be employed on an expedition against
+that place, and within two months, thirty large galleys, without counting
+vessels of a smaller size, were built and equipped for sea. When the
+fleet arrived off Batu Bara (by which must be understood the Malayan
+district at the mouth of the river, and not the Batta territory through
+which it takes its course), a letter was sent on shore addressed to the
+refractory chiefs, summoning them to give proof of their allegiance by
+appearing in the king's presence, or threatening the alternative of an
+immediate attack. After much division in their councils it was at length
+agreed to feign submission, and a deputation was sent off to the royal
+fleet, carrying presents of fruit and provisions of all kinds. One of the
+chiefs carried, as his complimentary offering, some fresh coconuts, of
+the delicate species called kalapa-gading, into which a drug had been
+secretly introduced. The king observing these directed that one should be
+cut open for him, and having drunk of the juice, became affected with a
+giddiness in his head. (This symptom shows the poison to have been the
+upas, but too much diluted in the liquor of the nut to produce death).
+Being inclined to repose, the strangers were ordered to return on shore,
+and, finding his indisposition augment, he gave directions for being
+conveyed back to Achin, whither his ship sailed next day. The remainder
+of the fleet continued off the coast during five or six days longer, and
+then returned likewise without effecting the reduction of the place,
+which the chiefs had lost no time in fortifying.
+
+About two years after this transaction the king, under pretence of
+amusement, made an excursion to the country lying near the source of the
+river Achin, then under the jurisdiction of a panglima or governor named
+Muda Seti; for it must be understood that this part of the kingdom is
+divided into three districts, known by the appellations of the
+Twenty-two, Twenty-six, and Twenty-five Mukims (see above), which were
+governed respectively by Muda Seti, Imam Muda, and Perbawang­Shah (or
+Purba-wangsa). These three chiefs had the entire control of the country,
+and when their views were united they had the power of deposing and
+setting up kings. Such was the nature of the government. The king's
+expedition was undertaken with the design of making himself master of the
+person of Muda Seti, who had given him umbrage, and on this occasion his
+followers of all ranks were so numerous that wherever they halted for the
+night the fruits of the earth were all devoured, as well as great
+multitudes of cattle. Muda Seti however, being aware of the designs
+against him, had withdrawn himself from the place of his usual residence
+and was not to be found when the king arrived there; but a report being
+brought that he had collected five or six hundred followers and was
+preparing to make resistance, orders were immediately given for burning
+his house. This being effected, the king returned immediately to Achin,
+leaving the forces that had accompanied him at a place called Pakan
+Badar, distant about half a day's journey from the capital, where they
+were directed to entrench themselves. From this post they were driven by
+the country chief, who advanced rapidly upon them with several thousand
+men, and forced them to fall back to Padang Siring, where the king was
+collecting an army, and where a battle was fought soon after, that
+terminated in the defeat of the royal party with great slaughter. Those
+who escaped took refuge in the castle along with the king.
+
+1723.
+
+Under these disastrous circumstances he called upon the chiefs who
+adhered to him to advise what was best to be done, surrounded as they
+were by the country people, on whom he invoked the curse of God; when one
+of them, named Panglima Maharaja, gave it as his opinion that the only
+effectual measure by which the country could be saved from ruin would be
+the king's withdrawing himself from the capital so long as the enemy
+should continue in its vicinity, appointing a regent from among the
+nobles to govern the country in his absence; and when subordination
+should be restored he might then return and take again possession of his
+throne. To this proposition he signified his assent on the condition that
+Panglima Maharaja should assure him by an oath that no treachery was
+intended; which oath was accordingly taken, and the king, having
+nominated as his substitute Maharaja Lela, one of the least considerable
+of the ulubalangs, retired with his wives and children to the country of
+the Four mukims, situated about three hours journey to the westward of
+the city. (The Annals say he fled to Pidir in November 1723.) Great
+ravages were committed by the insurgents, but they did not attack the
+palace, and after some days of popular confusion the chiefs of the Three
+districts, who (says the writer) must not be confounded with the officers
+about the person of the king, held a consultation amongst themselves,
+and, exercising an authority of which there had been frequent examples,
+set up Panglima Maharaja in the room of the abdicated king (by the title,
+say the Annals, of Juhar al-alum, in December 1723). About seven days
+after his elevation he was seized with a convulsive disorder in his neck
+and died. A nephew of Jemal al-alum, named Undei Tebang, was then placed
+upon the throne, but notwithstanding his having bribed the chiefs of the
+Three districts with thirty katties of gold, they permitted him to enjoy
+his dignity only a few days, and then deposed him. (The same authority
+states that he was set up by the chiefs of the Four mukims, and removed
+through the influence of Muda Seti.)
+
+1724. 1735.
+
+The person whom they next combined to raise to the throne was Maharaja
+Lela (before mentioned as the king's substitute). It was his good fortune
+to govern the country in tranquillity for the space of nearly twelve
+years, during which period the city of Achin recovered its population.
+(According to the Annals he began to reign in February 1724, by the title
+of Ala ed-din Ahmed shah Juhan, and died in June 1735.) It happened that
+the same day on which the event of his death took place Jemal al-alum
+again made his appearance, and advanced to a mosque near the city. His
+friends advised him to lose no time in possessing himself of the castle,
+but for trifling reasons that mark the weakness of his character he
+resolved to defer the measure till the succeeding day; and the
+opportunity, as might be expected, was lost. The deceased king left five
+sons, the eldest of whom, named Po-chat-au (or Po-wak, according to
+another manuscript) exhorted his brothers to unite with him in the
+determination of resisting a person whose pretensions were entirely
+inconsistent with their security. They accordingly sent to demand
+assistance of Perbawang-shah, chief of the district of the Twenty-five
+mukims, which lies the nearest to that quarter. He arrived before
+morning, embraced the five princes, confirmed them in their resolution,
+and authorised the eldest to assume the government (which he did, say the
+Annals, by the title of Ala ed-din Juhan-shah in September 1735.) But to
+this measure the concurrence of the other chiefs was wanting. At daybreak
+the guns of the castle began to play upon the mosque, and, some of the
+shot penetrating its walls, the pusillanimous Jemal al-alum, being
+alarmed at the danger, judged it advisable to retreat from thence and to
+set up his standard in another quarter, called kampong Jawa, his people
+at the same time retaining possession of the mosque. A regular warfare
+now ensued between the two parties and continued for no less than ten
+years (the great chiefs taking different sides), when at length some kind
+of compromise was effected that left Po-chat-au (Juhan­shah) in the
+possession of the throne, which he afterwards enjoyed peaceably for eight
+years, and no further mention is made of Jemal al-alum. About this period
+the chiefs took umbrage at his interfering in matters of trade, contrary
+to what they asserted to be the established custom of the realm, and
+assembled their forces in order to intimidate him. (The history of Achin
+presents a continual struggle between the monarch and the aristocracy of
+the country, which generally made the royal monopoly of trade the ground
+of crimination and pretext for their rebellions).
+
+1755.
+
+Panglima Muda Seti, being considered as the head of the league, came down
+with twenty thousand followers, and, upon the king's refusing to admit
+into the castle his complimentary present (considering it only as the
+prelude to humiliating negotiation), another war commenced that lasted
+for two years, and was at length terminated by Muda Seti's withdrawing
+from the contest and returning to his province. About five years after
+this event Juhan shah died, and his son, Pochat-bangta, succeeded him,
+but not (says this writer, who here concludes his abstract) with the
+general concurrence of the chiefs, and the country long continued in a
+disturbed state.
+
+END OF NARRATIVE.
+
+1760.
+
+The death of Juhan shah is stated in the Annals to have taken place in
+August 1760, and the accession of the son, who took the name of Ala-eddin
+Muhammed shah, not until November of the same year. Other authorities
+place these events in 1761.
+
+1763.
+
+Before he had completed the third year of his reign an insurrection of
+his subjects obliged him to save himself by flight on board a ship in the
+road. This happened in 1763 or 1764. The throne was seized by the
+maharaja (first officer of state) named Sinara, who assumed the title of
+Beder-eddin Juhan shah, and about the end of 1765 was put to death by the
+adherents of the fugitive monarch, Muhammed shah, who thereupon returned
+to the throne.*
+
+(*Footnote. Captain Forrest acquaints us that he visited the court of
+Mahomed Selim (the latter name is not given to this prince by any other
+writer) in the year 1764, at which time he appeared to be about forty
+years of age. It is difficult to reconcile this date with the recorded
+events of this unfortunate reign, and I have doubts whether it was not
+the usurper whom the Captain saw.)
+
+He was exposed however to further revolutions. About six years after his
+restoration the palace was attacked in the night by a desperate band of
+two hundred men, headed by a man called Raja Udah, and he was once more
+obliged to make a precipitate retreat. This usurper took the title of
+sultan Suliman shah, but after a short reign of three months was driven
+out in his turn and forced to fly for refuge to one of the islands in the
+eastern sea. The nature of his pretensions, if he had any, have not been
+stated, but he never gave any further trouble. From this period Muhammed
+maintained possession of his capital, although it was generally in a
+state of confusion.
+
+1772.
+
+"In the year 1772," says Captain Forrest, "Mr. Giles Holloway, resident
+of Tappanooly, was sent to Achin by the Bencoolen government, with a
+letter and present, to ask leave from the king to make a settlement
+there. I carried him from his residency. Not being very well on my
+arrival, I did not accompany Mr. Holloway (a very sensible and discreet
+gentleman, and who spoke the Malay tongue very fluently) on shore at his
+first audience; and finding his commission likely to prove abortive I did
+not go to the palace at all. There was great anarchy and confusion at
+this time; and the malcontents came often, as I was informed, near the
+king's palace at night."
+
+1775.
+
+The Captain further remarks that when again there in 1775 he could not
+obtain an audience.
+
+1781.
+
+The Annals report his death to have happened on the 2nd of June 1781, and
+observe that from the commencement to the close of his reign the country
+never enjoyed repose. His brother, named Ala-eddin (or Uleddin, as
+commonly pronounced, and which seems to have been a favourite title with
+the Achinese princes), was in exile at Madras during a considerable
+period, and resided also for some time at Bencoolen.
+
+The eldest son of the deceased king, then about eighteen years of age,
+succeeded him on the 16th of the same month, by the title of Ala-eddin
+Mahmud shah Juhan, in spite of an opposition attempted to be raised by
+the partisans of another son by a favourite wife. Weapons had been drawn
+in the court before the palace, when the tuanku agung or high priest, a
+person of great respectability and influence, by whom the former had been
+educated, came amidst the crowd, bareheaded and without attendance,
+leading his pupil by the hand. Having placed himself between the
+contending factions, he addressed them to the following effect: that the
+prince who stood before them had a natural right and legal claim to the
+throne of his father; that he had been educated with a view to it, and
+was qualified to adorn it by his disposition and talents; that he wished
+however to found his pretensions neither upon his birthright nor the
+strength of the party attached to him, but upon the general voice of his
+subjects calling him to the sovereignty; that if such was their sentiment
+he was ready to undertake the arduous duties of the station, in which he
+himself would assist him with the fruits of his experience; that if on
+the contrary they felt a predilection for his rival, no blood should be
+shed on his account, the prince and his tutor being resolved in that case
+to yield the point without a struggle, and retire to some distant island.
+This impressive appeal had the desired effect, and the young prince was
+invited by unanimous acclamation to assume the reins of government.*
+
+(*Footnote. Mr. Philip Braham, late chief of the East India Company's
+settlement of Fort Marlborough, by whom the circumstances of this event
+were related to me, arrived at Achin in July 1781, about a fortnight
+after the transaction. He thus described his audience. The king was
+seated in a gallery (to which there were no visible steps), at the
+extremity of a spacious hall or court, and a curtain which hung before
+him was drawn aside when it was his pleasure to appear. In this court
+were great numbers of female attendants, but not armed, as they have been
+described. Mr. Braham was introduced through a long file of guards armed
+with blunderbusses, and then seated on a carpet in front of the gallery.
+When a conversation had been carried on for some time through the
+Shabandar, who communicated his answers to an interpreter, by whom they
+were reported to the king, the latter perceiving that he spoke the
+Malayan language addressed him directly, and asked several questions
+respecting England; what number of wives and children our sovereign had;
+how many ships of war the English kept in India; what was the French
+force, and others of that nature. He expressed himself in friendly terms
+with regard to our nation, and said he should always be happy to
+countenance our traders in his ports. Even at this early period of his
+reign he had abolished some vexatious imposts. Mr. Braham had an
+opportunity of learning the great degree of power and control possessed
+by certain of the orang kayas, who held their respective districts in
+actual sovereignty, and kept the city in awe by stopping, when it suited
+their purpose, the supplies of provisions. Captain Forrest, who once more
+visited Achin in 1784 and was treated with much distinction (see his
+Voyage to the Mergui Archipelago page 51), says he appeared to be
+twenty-five years of age; but this was a misconception. Mr. Kenneth
+Mackenzie, who saw him in 1782, judged him to have been at that time no
+more than nineteen or twenty, which corresponds with Mr. Braham's
+statement.)
+
+Little is known of the transactions of his reign, but that little is in
+favour of his personal character. The Annals (not always unexceptionable
+evidence when speaking of the living monarch) describe him as being
+endowed with every princely virtue, exercising the functions of
+government with vigour and rectitude, of undaunted courage, attentive to
+the protection of the ministers of religion, munificent to the
+descendants of the prophet (seiyid, but commonly pronounced sidi) and to
+men of learning, prompt at all times to administer justice, and
+consequently revered and beloved by his people. I have not been enabled
+to ascertain the year in which he died.
+
+1791.
+
+It appears by a Malayan letter from Achin that in 1791 the peace of the
+capital was much disturbed, and the state of the government as well as of
+private property (which induced the writer to reship his goods)
+precarious.
+
+1805.
+
+In 1805 his son, then aged twenty-one, was on the throne, and had a
+contention with his paternal uncle, and at the same time his
+father-in-law, named Tuanku Raja, by whom he had been compelled to fly
+(but only for a short time) to Pidir, the usual asylum of the Achinese
+monarchs. Their quarrel appears to have been rather of a family than of a
+political nature, and to have proceeded from the irregular conduct of the
+queen-mother. The low state of this young king's finances, impoverished
+by a fruitless struggle to enforce, by means of an expensive marine
+establishment, his right to an exclusive trade, had induced him to make
+proposals, for mutual accommodation, to the English government of Pulo
+Pinang.*
+
+(*Footnote. Since the foregoing was printed the following information
+respecting the manners of the Batta people, obtained by Mr. Charles
+Holloway from Mr. W.H. Hayes, has reached my hands. "In the month of July
+1805 an expedition consisting of Sepoys, Malays, and Battas was sent from
+Tapanuli against a chief named Punei Manungum, residing at Nega­timbul,
+about thirty miles inland from Old Tapanuli, in consequence of his having
+attacked a kampong under the protection of the company, murdered several
+of the inhabitants, and carried others into captivity. After a siege of
+three days, terms of accommodation being proposed, a cessation of
+hostilities took place, when the people of each party having laid aside
+their arms intermixed with the utmost confidence, and conversed together
+as if in a state of perfect amity. The terms however not proving
+satisfactory, each again retired to his arms and renewed the contest with
+their former inveteracy. On the second day the place was evacuated, and
+upon our people entering it Mr. Hayes found the bodies of one man and two
+women, whom the enemy had put to death before their departure (being the
+last remaining of sixteen prisoners whom they had originally carried
+off), and from whose legs large pieces had been cut out, evidently for
+the purpose of being eaten. During the progress of this expedition a
+small party had been sent to hold in check the chiefs of Labusukum and
+Singapollum (inland of Sibogah), who were confederates of Punei Manungum.
+These however proved stronger than was expected, and, making a sally from
+their kampongs, attacked the sergeant's party and killed a sepoy, whom he
+was obliged to abandon. Mr. Hayes, on his way from Negatimbul, was
+ordered to march to the support of the retreating party; but these having
+taken a different route he remained ignorant of the particulars of their
+loss. The village of Singapollam being immediately carried by storm, and
+the enemy retreating by one gate, as our people entered at the opposite,
+the accoutrements of the sepoy who had been killed the day before were
+seen hanging as trophies in the front of the houses, and in the town
+hall, Mr. Hayes saw the head entirely scalped, and one of the fingers
+fixed upon a fork or skewer, still warm from the fire. On proceeding to
+the village of Labusucom, situated little more than two hundred yards
+from the former, he found a large plantain leaf full of human flesh,
+mixed with lime-juice and chili-pepper, from which he inferred that they
+had been surprised in the very act of feasting on the sepoy, whose body
+had been divided between the two kampongs. Upon differences being settled
+with the chiefs they acknowledged with perfect sangfroid that such had
+been the case, saying at the same time, "you know it is our custom; why
+should we conceal it?")
+
+
+CHAPTER 23.
+
+BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ISLANDS LYING OFF THE WESTERN COAST OF SUMATRA.
+
+ISLANDS ADJACENT TO SUMATRA.
+
+The chain of islands which extends itself in a line nearly parallel to
+the western coast, at the distance from it of little more than a degree,
+being immediately connected with the principal subject of this work, and
+being themselves inhabited by a race or races of people apparently from
+the same original stock as those of the interior of Sumatra, whose
+genuineness of character has been preserved to a remarkable degree
+(whilst the islands on the eastern side are uniformly peopled with
+Malays), I have thought it expedient to add such authentic information
+respecting them as I have been enabled to obtain; and this I feel to be
+the more necessary from observing in the maps to which I have had
+recourse so much error and confusion in applying the names that the
+identity and even the existence of some of them have been considered as
+doubtful.
+
+ENGANO.
+
+Of these islands the most southern is Engano, which is still but very
+imperfectly known, all attempts to open a friendly communication with the
+natives having hitherto proved fruitless; and in truth they have had but
+too much reason to consider strangers attempting to land on their coast
+as piratical enemies. In the voyage of J.J. Saar, published in 1662, we
+have an account of an expedition fitted out from Batavia in 1645 for the
+purpose of examining this island, which terminated in entrapping and
+carrying off with them sixty or seventy of the inhabitants, male and
+female. The former died soon after their arrival, refusing to eat any
+other food than coconuts, but the women, who were distributed amongst the
+principal families of Batavia, proved extremely tractable and docile, and
+acquired the language of the place. It is not stated, nor does it appear
+from any subsequent publication, that the opportunity was taken of
+forming a collection of their words.
+
+From that period Engano had only been incidentally noticed, until in
+March 1771 Mr. Richard Wyatt, then governor, and the council of Fort
+Marlborough, sent Mr. Charles Miller in a vessel belonging to the Company
+to explore the productions of this island. On approaching it he observed
+large plantations of coconut-trees, with several spots of ground cleared
+for cultivation on the hills, and at night many fires on the beach.
+Landing was found to be in most parts extremely difficult on account of
+the surf. Many of the natives were seen armed with lances and squatting
+down amongst the coral rocks, as if to conceal their numbers. Upon rowing
+into a bay with the ship's boat it was pursued by ten canoes full of men
+and obliged to return. Mr. Whalfeldt, the surveyor, and the second mate
+proceeded to make a survey of the bay and endeavour to speak with the
+natives. They were furnished with articles for presents, and, upon seeing
+a canoe on the beach of a small island, and several people fishing on the
+rocks, they rowed to the island and sent two caffrees on shore with some
+cloth, but the natives would not come near them. The mate then landed and
+advanced towards them, when they immediately came to him. He distributed
+some presents among them, and they in return gave him some fish. Several
+canoes came off to the ship with coconuts, sugar-cane, toddy, and a
+species of yam. The crew of one of them took an opportunity of unshipping
+and carrying away the boat's rudder, and upon a musket being fired over
+their heads many of them leaped into the sea.
+
+Mr. Miller describes these people as being taller and fairer than the
+Malays, their hair black, which the men cut short, and the women wear
+long, and neatly turned up. The former go entirely naked except that they
+sometimes throw a piece of bark of tree, or plantain-leaf over their
+shoulders to protect them from the heat of the sun. The latter also are
+naked except a small slip of plantain-leaf round the waist; and some had
+on their heads fresh leaves made up nearly in the shape of a bonnet, with
+necklaces of small pieces of shell, and a shell hanging by a string, to
+be used as a comb. The ears of both men and women have large holes made
+in them, an inch or two in diameter, into which they put a ring made of
+coconut-shell or a roll of leaves. They do not chew betel. Their language
+was not understood by any person on board, although there were people
+from most parts adjacent to the coast. Their canoes are very neat, formed
+of two thin planks sewn together, sharp-pointed at each end and provided
+with outriggers. In general they contain six or seven men. They always
+carry lances, not only as offensive weapons, but for striking fish. These
+are about seven feet in length, formed of ni­bong and other hard woods;
+some of them tipped with pieces of bamboo made very sharp, and the
+concave part filled with fish-bones (and shark's teeth), others armed
+with pieces of bone made sharp and notched, and others pointed with bits
+of iron and copper sharpened. They seemed not to be unaccustomed to the
+sight of vessels. (Ships bound from the ports of India to the straits of
+Sunda, as well as those from Europe, when late in the season, frequently
+make the land of Engano, and many must doubtless be wrecked on its
+coast).
+
+Attempts were made to find a river or fresh water, but without success,
+nor even a good place to land. Two of the people from the ship having
+pushed in among the rocks and landed the natives soon came to them,
+snatched their handkerchiefs off their heads and ran away with them, but
+dropped them on being pursued. Soon afterwards they sounded a
+conch-shell, which brought numbers of them down to the beach. The bay
+appeared to be well sheltered and to afford good anchorage ground. The
+soil of the country for the most part a red clay. The productions Mr.
+Miller thought the same as are commonly found on the coast of Sumatra;
+but circumstances did not admit of his penetrating into the country,
+which, contrary to expectation, was found to be so full of inhabitants.
+In consequence of the loss of anchors and cables it was judged necessary
+that the vessel should return to Fort Marlborough. Having taken in the
+necessary supplies, the island was revisited. Finding no landing-place,
+the boat was run upon the coral rocks. Signs were made to the natives,
+who had collected in considerable numbers, and upon seeing our people
+land had retreated towards some houses, to stop, but to no purpose until
+Mr. Miller proceeded towards them unaccompanied, when they approached in
+great numbers and accepted of knives, pieces of cloth, etc. Observing a
+spot of cultivated ground surrounded by a sort of fence he went to it,
+followed by several of the natives who made signs to deter him, and as
+soon as he was out of sight of his own people began to handle his clothes
+and attempt to pull them off, when he returned to the beach.
+
+Their houses stand singly in their plantations, are circular, about eight
+feet in diameter, raised about six from the ground on slender iron­wood
+sticks, floored with planks, and the roof, which is thatched with long
+grass, rises from the floor in a conical shape. No rice was seen among
+them, nor did they appear to know the use of it when shown to them; nor
+were cattle nor fowls of any kind observed about their houses.
+
+Having anchored off a low point of marshy land in the northern part of
+the bay, where the natives seemed to be more accustomed to intercourse
+with strangers, the party landed in hopes of finding a path to some
+houses about two miles inland. Upon observing signs made to them by some
+people on the coral reef Mr. Miller and Mr. Whalfeldt went towards them
+in the sampan, when some among them took an opportunity of stealing the
+latter's hanger and running away with it; upon which they were
+immediately fired at by some of the party, and notwithstanding Mr.
+Miller's endeavours to prevent them both the officer and men continued to
+fire upon and pursue the natives through the morass, but without being
+able to overtake them. Meeting however with some houses they set fire to
+them, and brought off two women and a boy whom the caffrees had seized.
+The officers on board the vessel, alarmed at the firing and seeing Mr.
+Miller alone in the sampan, whilst several canoes full of people were
+rowing towards him, sent the pinnace with some sepoys to his assistance.
+During the night conch-shells were heard to sound almost all over the
+bay, and in the morning several large parties were observed on different
+parts of the beach. All further communication with the inhabitants being
+interrupted by this imprudent quarrel, and the purposes of the expedition
+thereby frustrated, it was not thought advisable to remain any longer at
+Engano, and Mr. Miller, after visiting some parts of the southern coast
+of Sumatra, returned to Fort Marlborough.
+
+PULO MEGA.
+
+The next island to the north-west of Engano, but at a considerable
+distance, is called by the Malays Pulo Mega (cloud-island), and by
+Europeans Triste, or isle de Recif. It is small and uninhabited, and like
+many others in these seas is nearly surrounded by a coral reef with a
+lagoon in the centre. Coconut-trees grow in vast numbers in the sand near
+the sea-shore, whose fruit serves for food to rats and squirrels, the
+only quadrupeds found there. On the borders of the lagoon is a little
+vegetable mould, just above the level of high water, where grow some
+species of timber-trees.
+
+PULO SANDING.
+
+The name of Pulo Sanding or Sandiang belongs to two small islands
+situated near the south-eastern extremity of the Nassau or Pagi islands,
+in which group they are sometimes included. Of these the southernmost is
+distinguished in the Dutch charts by the term of Laag or low, and the
+other by that of Bergen or hilly. They are both uninhabited, and the only
+productions worth notice is the long nutmeg, which grows wild on them,
+and some good timber, particularly of the kind known by the name of
+marbau (Metrosideros amboinensis). An idea was entertained of making a
+settlement on one of them, and in 1769 an officer with a few men were
+stationed there for some months, during which period the rains were
+incessant. The scheme was afterwards abandoned as unlikely to answer any
+useful purpose.
+
+NASSAUS OR PULO PAGI.
+
+The two islands separated by a narrow strait, to which the Dutch
+navigators have given the name of the Nassaus, are called by the Malays
+Pulo Pagi or Pagei, and by us commonly the Poggies. The race of people by
+whom these as well as some other islands to the northward of them are
+inhabited having the appellation of orang mantawei, this has been
+confounded with the proper names of the islands, and, being applied
+sometimes to one and sometimes to another, has occasioned much confusion
+and uncertainty. The earliest accounts we have of them are the reports of
+Mr. Randolph Marriot in 1749, and of Mr. John Saul in 1750 and 1751, with
+Captain Thomas Forrest's observations in 1757, preserved in Mr.
+Dalrymple's Historical Relation of the several Expeditions from Fort
+Marlborough to the Islands adjacent to the West-coast of Sumatra; but by
+much the most satisfactory information is contained in a paper
+communicated by Mr. John Crisp to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in the
+sixth volume of whose Transactions it is published, and from these
+documents I shall extract such particulars as may best serve to convey a
+knowledge of the country and the people.
+
+Mr. Crisp sailed from Fort Marlborough on the 12th of August 1792 in a
+vessel navigated at his own expense, and with no other view than that of
+gratifying a liberal curiosity. On the 14th he anchored in the straits of
+See Cockup (Si Kakap), which divide the Northern from the Southern Pagi.
+These straits are about two miles in length and a quarter of a mile over,
+and make safe riding for ships of any size, which lie perfectly secure
+from every wind, the water being literally as smooth as in a pond. The
+high land of Sumatra (inland of Moco-moco and Ipu) was plainly to be
+distinguished from thence. In the passage are scattered several small
+islands, each of which consists of one immense rock, and which may have
+been originally connected with the main island. The face of the country
+is rough and irregular, consisting of high hills of sudden and steep
+ascent, and covered with trees to their summits, among which the species
+called bintangur or puhn, fit for the largest masts, abounds. The
+sago-tree grows in plenty, and constitutes the chief article of food to
+the inhabitants, who do not cultivate rice. The use of betel is unknown
+to them. Coconut-trees, bamboos, and the common fruits of Sumatra are
+found here. The woods are impervious to man: the species of wild animals
+that inhabit them but few; the large red deer, hogs, and several kinds of
+monkey, but neither buffaloes nor goats; nor are they infested with
+tigers or other beasts of prey; They have the common domestic fowl, but
+pork and fish are the favourite animal food of the natives.
+
+When the vessel had been two days at anchor they began to come down from
+their villages in their canoes, bringing fruit of various kinds, and on
+invitation they readily came on board without showing signs of
+apprehension or embarrassment. On presenting to them plates of boiled
+rice they would not touch it until it had been previously tasted by one
+of the ship's company. They behaved whilst on board with much decorum,
+showed a strong degree of curiosity, but not the least disposition for
+pilfering. They appeared to live in great friendship and harmony with
+each other, and voluntarily divided amongst their companions what was
+given to them. Their stature seldom exceeds five feet and a half. Their
+colour is like that of the Malays, a light brown or copper-colour. Some
+canoes came alongside the vessel with only women in them, and upon being
+encouraged by the men several ventured on board. When on the water they
+use a temporary dress to shield them from the heat of the sun, made of
+the leaves of the plantain, of which they form a sort of conical cap (the
+same was observed of the women of Engano), and there is also a broad
+piece of the leaf fastened round the body over their breasts, and another
+round their waist. This leaf readily splits, and has the appearance of a
+coarse fringe. When in their villages the women, like the men, wear only
+a small piece of coarse cloth, made of the bark of a tree, round their
+middle. Beads and other ornaments are worn about the neck. Although
+coconuts are in such plenty they have not the use of oil, and their hair,
+which is black, and naturally long, is, for want of it and the use of
+combs, in general matted and full of vermin. They have a method of filing
+or grinding their teeth to a point, like the people of Sumatra.
+
+The number of inhabitants of the two islands is supposed not to exceed
+1400 persons. They are divided into small tribes, each occupying a small
+river and living in one village. On the southern island are five of these
+villages, and on the northern seven, of which Kakap is accounted the
+chief, although Labu-labu is supposed to contain the greater number of
+people. Their houses are built of bamboos and raised on posts; the under
+part is occupied by poultry and hogs, and, as may be supposed, much filth
+is collected there. Their arms consist of a bow and arrows. The former is
+made of the nibong-tree, and the string of the entrails of some animal.
+The arrows are of small bamboo, headed with brass or with a piece of hard
+wood cut to a point. With these they kill deer, which are roused by dogs
+of a mongrel breed, and also monkeys, whose flesh they eat. Some among
+them wear krises. It was said that the different tribes of orang mantawei
+who inhabit these islands never make war upon each other, but with people
+of islands to the northward they are occasionally in a state of
+hostility. The measurement of one of their war-canoes, preserved with
+great care under a shed, was twenty-five feet in the length of the floor,
+the prow projecting twenty-two, and the stern eighteen, making the whole
+length sixty-five feet. The greatest breadth was five feet, and the depth
+three feet eight inches. For navigating in their rivers and the straits
+of Si Kakap, where the sea is as smooth as glass, they employ canoes,
+formed with great neatness of a single tree, and the women and young
+children are extremely expert in the management of the paddle. They are
+strangers to the use of coin of any kind, and have little knowledge of
+metals. The iron bill or chopping-knife, called parang, is in much esteem
+among them, it serves as a standard for the value of other commodities,
+such as articles of provision.
+
+The religion of these people, if it deserves the name, resembles much
+what has been described of the Battas; but their mode of disposing of
+their dead is different, and analogous rather to the practice of the
+South­sea islanders, the corpse, being deposited on a sort of stage in a
+place appropriated for the purpose, and with a few leaves strewed over
+it, is left to decay. Inheritance is by male descent; the house or
+plantation, the weapons and tools of the father, become the property of
+the sons. Their chiefs are but little distinguished from the rest of the
+community by authority or possessions, their pre-eminence being chiefly
+displayed at public entertainments, of which they do the honours. They
+have not even judicial powers, all disputes being settled, and crimes
+adjudged, by a meeting of the whole village. Murder is punishable by
+retaliation, for which purpose the offender is delivered over to the
+relations of the deceased, who may put him to death; but the crime is
+rare. Theft, when to a considerable amount, is also capital. In cases of
+adultery the injured husband has a right to seize the effects of the
+paramour, and sometimes punishes his wife by cutting off her hair. When
+the husband offends the wife has a right to quit him and to return to her
+parents' house. Simple fornication between unmarried persons is neither
+considered as a crime nor a disgrace. The state of slavery is unknown
+among these people, and they do not practise circumcision.
+
+The custom of tattooing, or imprinting figures on the skin, is general
+among the inhabitants of this group of islands. They call it in their
+language teetee or titi. They begin to form these marks on boys at seven
+years of age, and fill them up as they advance in years. Mr. Crisp thinks
+they were originally intended as marks of military distinction. The women
+have a star imprinted on each shoulder, and generally some small marks on
+the backs of their hands. These punctures are made with an instrument
+consisting of a brass wire fixed perpendicularly into a piece of stick
+about eight inches in length. The pigment made use of is the smoke
+collected from dammar, mixed with water (or, according to another
+account, with the juice of the sugar-cane). The operator takes a stalk of
+dried grass, or a fine piece of stick, and, dipping the end in the
+pigment, traces on the skin the outline of the figure, and then, dipping
+the brass point in the same preparation, with very quick and light
+strokes of a long, small stick, drives it into the skin, whereby an
+indelible mark is produced. The pattern when completed is in all the
+individuals nearly the same.
+
+In the year 1783 the son of a raja of one of the Pagi islands came over
+to Sumatra on a visit of curiosity, and, being an intelligent man, much
+information was obtained from him. He could give some account of almost
+every island that lies off the coast, and when a doubt arose about their
+position he ascertained it by taking the rind of a pumplenose or
+shaddock, and, breaking it into bits of different sizes, disposing them
+on the floor in such a manner as to convey a clear idea of the relative
+situation. He spoke of Engano (by what name is not mentioned) and said
+that their boats were sometimes driven to that island, on which occasions
+they generally lost a part, if not the whole, of their crews, from the
+savage disposition of the natives. He appeared to be acquainted with
+several of the constellations, and gave names for the Pleiades, Scorpion,
+Great Bear, and Orion's Belt. He understood the distinction between the
+fixed and wandering stars, and particularly noticed Venus, which he named
+usutat-si-geb-geb or planet of the evening. To Sumatra he gave the
+appellation of Seraihu. As to religion he said the rajas alone prayed and
+sacrificed hogs and fowls. They addressed themselves in the first place
+to the Power above the sky; next to those in the moon, who are male and
+female; and lastly, to that evil being whose residence is beneath the
+earth, and is the cause of earthquakes. A drawing of this man,
+representing accurately the figures in which his body and limbs were
+tattooed, was made by Colonel Trapaud, and obligingly given to me. He not
+only stood patiently during the performance, but seemed much pleased with
+the execution, and proposed that the Colonel should accompany him to his
+country to have an opportunity of making a likeness of his father. To our
+collectors of rare prints it is well known that there exists an engraving
+of a man of this description by the title of The Painted Prince, brought
+to England by Captain Dampier from one of the islands of the eastern sea
+in the year 1691, and of whom a particular account is given in his
+Voyage. He said that the inhabitants of the Pagi islands derived their
+origin from the orang mantawei of the island called Si Biru.
+
+SI PORAH OR GOOD FORTUNE.
+
+North-westward of the Pagi islands, and at no great distance, lies that
+of Si Porah, commonly denominated Good Fortune Island, inhabited by the
+same race as the former, and with the same manners and language. The
+principal towns or villages are named Si Porah, containing, when visited
+by Mr. John Saul in 1750, three hundred inhabitants, Si Labah three
+hundred (several of whom were originally from the neighbouring island of
+Nias), Si Bagau two hundred, and Si Uban a smaller number; and when
+Captain Forrest made his inquiries in 1757 there was not any material
+variation. Since that period, though the island has been occasionally
+visited, it does not appear that any report has been preserved of the
+state of the population. The country is described as being entirely
+covered with wood. The highest land is in the vicinity of Si Labah.
+
+SI BIRU.
+
+The next island in the same direction is named Si Biru, which, although
+of considerable size, being larger than Si Porah, has commonly been
+omitted in our charts, or denoted to be uncertain. It is inhabited by the
+Mantawei race, and the natives both of Si Porah and the Pagi Islands
+consider it as their parent country, but notwithstanding this connexion
+they are generally in a state of hostility, and in 1783 no intercourse
+subsisted between them. The inhabitants are distinguished only by some
+small variety of the patterns in which their skins are tattooed, those of
+Si Biru having them narrower on the breast and broader on the shoulders.
+The island itself is rendered conspicuous by a volcano­mountain.
+
+PULO BATU.
+
+Next to this is Pulo Batu, situated immediately to the southward of the
+equinoctial line, and, in consequence of an original mistake in
+Valentyn's erroneous chart, published in 1726, usually called by
+navigators Mintaon, being a corruption of the word Mantawei, which, as
+already explained, is appropriated to a race inhabiting the islands of Si
+Biru, Si Porah, and Pagi. Batu, on the contrary, is chiefly peopled by a
+colony from Nias. These pay a yearly tax to the raja of Buluaro, a small
+kampong in the interior part of the island, belonging to a race different
+from both, and whose number it is said amounts only to one hundred, which
+it is not allowed to exceed, so many children being reared as may replace
+the deaths. They are reported to bear a resemblance to the people of
+Makasar or Bugis, and may have been adventurers from that quarter. The
+influence of their raja over the Nias inhabitants, who exceed his
+immediate subjects in the proportion of twenty to one, is founded on the
+superstitious belief that the water of the island will become salt when
+they neglect to pay the tax. He in his turn, being in danger from the
+power of the Malay traders who resort thither from Padang and are not
+affected by the same superstition, is constrained to pay them to the
+amount of sixteen ounces of gold as an annual tribute.
+
+The food of the people, as in the other islands, is chiefly sago, and
+their exports coconuts, oil in considerable quantities, and swala or
+sea­slugs. No rice is planted there, nor, if we may trust to the Malayan
+accounts, suffered to be imported. Upon the same authority also we are
+told that the island derives its name of Batu from a large rock
+resembling the hull of a vessel, which tradition states to be a
+petrifaction of that in which the Buluaro people arrived. The same
+fanciful story of a petrified boat is prevalent in the Serampei country
+of Sumatra. From Natal Hill Pulo Batu is visible. Like the islands
+already described it is entirely covered with wood.
+
+PULO KAPINI.
+
+Between Pulo Batu and the coast of Sumatra, but much nearer to the
+latter, is a small uninhabited island, called Pulo Kapini (iron-wood
+island), but to which our charts (copying from Valentyn) commonly give
+the name of Batu, whilst to Batu itself, as above described, is assigned
+the name of Mintaon. In confirmation of the distinctions here laid down
+it will be thought sufficient to observe that, when the Company's packet,
+the Greyhound, lay at what was called Lant's Bay in Mintaon, an officer
+came to our settlement of Natal (of which Mr. John Marsden at that time
+was chief) in a Batu oil-boat; and that a large trade for oil is carried
+on from Padang and other places with the island of Batu, whilst that of
+Kapini is known to be without inhabitants, and could not supply the
+article.
+
+PULO NIAS.
+
+The most productive and important, if not the largest of this chain of
+islands, is Pulo Nias. Its inhabitants are very numerous, and of a race
+distinct not only from those on the main (for such we must relatively
+consider Sumatra), but also from the people of all the islands to the
+southward, with the exception of the last-mentioned. Their complexions,
+especially the women, are lighter than those of the Malays; they are
+smaller in their persons and shorter in stature; their mouths are broad,
+noses very flat, and their ears are pierced and distended in so
+extraordinary a manner as nearly, in many instances, to touch the
+shoulders, particularly when the flap has, by excessive distension or by
+accident, been rent asunder; but these pendulous excrescences are
+commonly trimmed and reduced to the ordinary size when they are brought
+away from their own country. Preposterous however as this custom may
+appear, it is not confined to the Nias people. Some of the women of the
+inland parts of Sumatra, in the vicinity of the equinoctial line
+(especially those of the Rau tribes) increase the perforation of their
+ears until they admit ornaments of two or three inches diameter. There is
+no circumstance by which the natives of this island are more obviously
+distinguished than the prevalence of a leprous scurf with which the skins
+of a great proportion of both sexes are affected; in some cases covering
+the whole of the body and limbs, and in others resembling rather the
+effect of the tetter or ringworm, running like that partial complaint in
+waving lines and concentric curves. It is seldom if ever radically cured,
+although by external applications (especially in the slighter cases) its
+symptoms are moderated, and a temporary smoothness given to the skin; but
+it does not seem in any stage of the disease to have a tendency to
+shorten life, or to be inconsistent with perfect health in other
+respects, nor is there reason to suppose it infectious; and it is
+remarkable that the inhabitants of Pulo Batu, who are evidently of the
+same race, are exempt from this cutaneous malady. The principal food of
+the common people is the sweet-potato, but much pork is also eaten by
+those who can afford it, and the chiefs make a practice of ornamenting
+their houses with the jaws of the hogs, as well as the skulls of the
+enemies whom they slay. The cultivation of rice has become extensive in
+modern times, but rather as an article of traffic than of home
+consumption.
+
+These people are remarkable for their docility and expertness in
+handicraft work, and become excellent house-carpenters and joiners, and
+as an instance of their skill in the arts they practise that of letting
+blood by cupping, in a mode nearly similar to ours. Among the Sumatrans
+blood is never drawn with so salutary an intent. They are industrious and
+frugal, temperate and regular in their habits, but at the same time
+avaricious, sullen, obstinate, vindictive, and sanguinary. Although much
+employed as domestic slaves (particularly by the Dutch) they are always
+esteemed dangerous in that capacity, a defect in their character which
+philosophers will not hesitate to excuse in an independent people torn by
+violence from their country and connexions. They frequently kill
+themselves when disgusted with their situation or unhappy in their
+families, and often their wives at the same time, who appeared, from the
+circumstances under which they were found, to have been consenting to the
+desperate act. They were both dressed in their best apparel (the
+remainder being previously destroyed), and the female, in more than one
+instance that came under notice, had struggled so little as not to
+discompose her hair or remove her head from the pillow. It is said that
+in their own country they expose their children by suspending them in a
+bag from a tree, when they despair of being able to bring them up. The
+mode seems to be adopted with the view of preserving them from animals of
+prey, and giving them a chance of being saved by persons in more easy
+circumstances.
+
+The island is divided into about fifty small districts, under chiefs or
+rajas who are independent of, and at perpetual variance with, each other;
+the ultimate object of their wars being to make prisoners, whom they sell
+for slaves, as well as all others not immediately connected with them,
+whom they can seize by stratagem. These violences are doubtless
+encouraged by the resort of native traders from Padang, Natal, and Achin
+to purchase cargoes of slaves, who are also accused of augmenting the
+profits of their voyage by occasionally surprising and carrying off whole
+families. The number annually exported is reckoned at four hundred and
+fifty to Natal, and one hundred and fifty to the northern ports (where
+they are said to be employed by the Achinese in the gold-mines),
+exclusive of those which go to Padang for the supply of Batavia, where
+the females are highly valued and taught music and various
+accomplishments. In catching these unfortunate victims of avarice it is
+supposed that not fewer than two hundred are killed; and if the aggregate
+be computed at one thousand it is a prodigious number to be supplied from
+the population of so small an island.
+
+Beside the article of slaves there is a considerable export of padi and
+rice, the cultivation of which is chiefly carried on at a distance from
+the sea-coasts, whither the natives retire to be secure from piratical
+depredations, bringing down the produce to the harbours (of which there
+are several good ones), to barter with the traders for iron, steel,
+beads, tobacco, and the coarser kinds of Madras and Surat piece-goods.
+Numbers of hogs are reared, and some parts of the main, especially Barus,
+are supplied from hence with yams, beans, and poultry. Some of the rajas
+are supposed to have amassed a sum equal to ten or twenty thousand
+dollars, which is kept in ingots of gold and silver, much of the latter
+consisting of small Dutch money (not the purest coin) melted down; and of
+these they make an ostentatious display at weddings and other festivals.
+
+The language scarcely differs more from the Batta and the Lampong than
+these do from each other, and all evidently belong to the same stock. The
+pronunciation is very guttural, and either from habit or peculiar
+conformation of organs these people cannot articulate the letter p, but
+in Malayan words, where the sound occurs, pronounce it as f (saying for
+example Fulo Finang instead of Pulo Pinang), whilst on the contrary the
+Malays never make use of the f, and pronounce as pikir the Arabic word
+fikir. Indeed the Arabians themselves appear to have the same organic
+defect as the people of Nias, and it may likewise be observed in the
+languages of some of the South-sea islands.
+
+PULO NAKO-NAKO.
+
+On the western side of Nias and very near to it is a cluster of small
+islands called Pulo Nako-nako, whose inhabitants (as well as others who
+shall presently be noticed) are of a race termed Maros or orang maruwi,
+distinct from those of the former, but equally fair-complexioned. Large
+quantities of coconut-oil are prepared here and exported chiefly to
+Padang, the natives having had a quarrel with the Natal traders. The
+islands are governed by a single raja, who monopolizes the produce, his
+subjects dealing only with him, and he with the praws or country vessels
+who are regularly furnished with cargoes in the order of their arrival,
+and never dispatched out of turn.
+
+PULO BABI.
+
+Pulo Babi or Hog island, called by the natives Si Malu, lies
+north­westward from Nias, and, like Nako-Nako, is inhabited by the Maruwi
+race. Buffaloes (and hogs, we may presume) are met with here in great
+plenty and sold cheap.
+
+PULO BANIAK.
+
+The name of Pulo Baniak belongs to a cluster of islands (as the terms
+imply) situated to the eastward, or in-shore of Pulo Babi, and not far
+from the entrance of Singkel River. It is however most commonly applied
+to one of them which is considerably larger than the others. It does not
+appear to furnish any vegetable produce as an article of trade, and the
+returns from thence are chiefly sea-slug and the edible birds-nest. The
+inhabitants of these islands also are Maruwis, and, as well as the others
+of the same race, are now Mahometans. Their language, although considered
+by the natives of these parts as distinct and peculiar (which will
+naturally be the case where people do not understand each other's
+conversation), has much radical affinity to the Batta and Nias, and less
+to the Pagi; but all belong to the same class, and may be regarded as
+dialects of a general language prevailing amongst the original
+inhabitants of this eastern archipelago, as far at least as the Moluccas
+and Philippines.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+Achin or Acheh:
+kingdom of, its boundaries.
+Situation, buildings, and appearance of the capital.
+Air esteemed healthy.
+Inhabitants described.
+Present state of commerce.
+Productions of soil, manufactures, navigation.
+Coin, government.
+Officers of state, ceremonies.
+Local division.
+Revenues, duties.
+Administration of justice and punishments.
+History of.
+State of the kingdom at the time when Malacca fell into the hands of the
+Portuguese.
+Circumstances which placed Ibrahim, a slave of the king of Pidir, on the
+throne.
+Rises to considerable importance during the reign of Mansur-shah.
+King of, receives a letter from Queen Elizabeth.
+Letter from King James the First.
+Commencement of female reigns.
+Their termination.
+Subsequent events.
+
+Achin Head:
+situation of.
+
+Address:
+custom of, in the third instead of the second person.
+
+Adultery:
+laws respecting.
+
+Agriculture.
+
+Air:
+temperature of.
+
+Ala-eddin:
+or Ula-eddin Shah, king of Achin, lays repeated siege to Malacca.
+His death.
+
+Alboquerque (Affonso d'):
+touches at Pidir and Pase in his voyage to Malacca.
+
+Alligators:
+Superstitious dread of.
+
+Amomum:
+different species of.
+
+Amusements.
+
+Anak-sungei:
+kingdom of.
+
+Ancestors:
+veneration for burying-places of.
+
+Animals:
+account of.
+
+Annals:
+Malayan, of the kingdom of Achin.
+
+Ants:
+variety and abundance of.
+White-ant.
+
+Arabian:
+travellers, mention Sumatra by the name of Ramni.
+
+Arabic:
+character, with modifications, used by the Malays.
+
+Arithmetic.
+
+Arsenic:
+yellow.
+
+Arts:
+and manufactures.
+
+Aru, kingdom of.
+
+Astronomy.
+
+Atap:
+covering for roofs of houses.
+
+Babi:
+island of.
+
+Bamboo:
+principal material for building.
+Account of the.
+
+Bangka:
+island of, its tin-mines.
+
+Baniak:
+islands of.
+
+Banyan:
+tree or jawi-jawi, its peculiarities.
+
+Bantam:
+city of.
+Expulsion of English from thence.
+
+Barbosa, (Odoardus):
+his account of Sumatra.
+
+Barthema (Ludovico):
+his visit to the island.
+
+Barus:
+a place chiefly remarkable for having given its name to the most valuable
+sort of camphor.
+
+Bats:
+various species of.
+
+Batta:
+country of.
+Its divisions.
+Mr. Miller's journey into it.
+Governments.
+Authority of the rajas.
+Succession.
+Persons, dress, and weapons of the inhabitants.
+Warfare.
+Fortified villages or kampongs.
+Trade, mode of holding fairs.
+Food.
+Buildings, domestic manners.
+Horse-racing.
+Books.
+Observations on their mode of writing.
+Religion.
+Mythology.
+Oaths.
+Funeral ceremonies.
+Crimes and punishments.
+Practice of eating human flesh.
+Motives for this custom.
+Mode of proceeding.
+Doubts obviated.
+Testimonies.
+Death of Mr. Nairne in the Batta country.
+Originality of manners preserved amongst this people, and its probable
+causes.
+
+Batu (Pulo).
+
+Batu Bara:
+river.
+
+Beards:
+practice of eradicating.
+
+Beasts.
+
+Beaulieu:
+commander of a French squadron at Achin.
+
+Beeswax.
+
+Bencoolen:
+river and town.
+Interior country visited.
+Account of first English establishment at.
+
+Benzoin:
+or benjamin, mode of procuring.
+Nature of the trade.
+Oil distilled from.
+
+Betel:
+practice of chewing.
+Preparation of.
+
+Betel-nut:
+or areca, see Pinang.
+
+Bintang:
+island of.
+
+Birds:
+Species which form the edible nests.
+Modes of catching.
+
+Birds-nest:
+edible, account of.
+
+Biru:
+island of.
+
+Blachang:
+species of caviar, mode of preparing.
+
+Blades:
+of krises.
+mode of damasking.
+
+Boulton (Mr. Matthew).
+
+Bread-fruit:
+or sukun.
+
+Breezes:
+land and sea.
+
+Braham (Mr. Philip).
+
+Broff (Mr. Robert).
+
+Buffalo:
+or karbau, description of the.
+Killed at festivals.
+
+Building:
+modes of, described.
+
+Bukit Lintang:
+a high range of hills inland of Moco-moco.
+
+Bukit Pandang:
+a high mountain inland of Ipu.
+
+Burying-places:
+ancient, veneration for.
+
+Chameleon:
+description of.
+
+Campbell (Mr. Charles).
+
+Camphor:
+or kapur barus, a valuable drug.
+Description of the tree.
+Mode of procuring it.
+Its price.
+Camphor-oil.
+Japan camphor.
+
+Cannibalism.
+
+Cannon:
+use of, previously to Portuguese discoveries.
+
+Carpenters' work.
+
+Carving.
+
+Cassia:
+description of the tree.
+Found in the Serampei, Musi, and Batta countries.
+
+Cattle:
+Laws respecting.
+
+Causes:
+or suits, mode of deciding.
+
+Caut-chouc:
+or elastic gum.
+
+Cements.
+
+Champaka:
+flower.
+
+Character:
+difference in respect of it, between the Malays and other Sumatrans.
+
+Characters:
+of Rejang, Batta, and Lampong languages.
+
+Charms.
+
+Chastity.
+
+Chess:
+game of, Malayan terms.
+
+Child-bearing.
+
+Children:
+treatment of.
+
+Chinese:
+colonists.
+
+Circumcision.
+
+Cloth:
+manufacture of.
+
+Clothing:
+materials of.
+
+Coal.
+
+Cock-fighting:
+strong propensity to this sport.
+Matches.
+
+Coconut-tree:
+an important object of cultivation.
+Does not bear fruit in the hill country.
+
+Codes:
+of laws.
+Remarks on.
+
+Coins:
+current in Sumatra.
+
+Commerce.
+
+Company (English East India):
+its influence.
+Permission given to it to settle a factory at Achin.
+
+Compass:
+irregularity of, noticed.
+
+Compensation:
+for murder, termed bangun.
+
+Complexion:
+fairness of, comparatively with other Indians.
+Darkness of, not dependent on climate.
+
+Confinement:
+modes of.
+
+Contracts:
+made with the chiefs of the country, for obliging their dependants to
+plant pepper.
+
+Conversion:
+to religion of Mahomet, period of.
+
+Cookery.
+
+Copper.
+Rich mine of.
+
+Coral rock.
+
+Corallines:
+collection of, in the possession of Mr. John Griffiths.
+
+Cosmetic:
+used, and mode of preparing it.
+
+Cotton:
+two species of, cultivated.
+
+Courtship.
+
+Crisp (Mr. John).
+
+Cultivation:
+of rice.
+
+Curry:
+dish or mode of cookery so called.
+
+Custard-apple.
+
+Cycas circinalis:
+(a palm-fern confounded with the sago-tree) described.
+
+Dalrymple (Mr. Alexander).
+
+Dammar:
+a species of resin or turpentine.
+
+Dancing:
+amusement of.
+
+Dare (Lieutenant Hastings).
+Journal of his expedition to the Serampei and Sungei-tenang countries.
+
+Datu:
+title of.
+
+Debts:
+and debtors, laws respecting.
+
+Deer:
+diminutive species of.
+
+Deity:
+name for the, borrowed by the Rejangs from the Malays.
+
+Dice.
+
+Diseases:
+modes of curing.
+
+Diversion:
+of tossing a ball.
+
+Divorces:
+laws respecting.
+
+Dragons'-blood:
+a drug, how procured.
+
+Dress:
+description of man's and woman's.
+
+Dupati:
+nature of title.
+
+Durian:
+fruit.
+
+Dusuns:
+or villages, description of.
+
+Duyong:
+or sea-cow.
+
+Dye-stuffs.
+
+Ears:
+ceremony of boring.
+
+Earthenware.
+
+Earth-oil.
+
+Earthquakes.
+
+Eating:
+mode of.
+
+Eclipses:
+notion respecting.
+
+Edrisi:
+his account of Sumatra by the name of Al-Rami.
+
+Elastic gum.
+
+Elephants.
+
+Elizabeth:
+Queen, addresses a letter to the king of Achin.
+
+Elopements:
+laws respecting.
+
+Emblematic presents.
+
+Engano:
+island of.
+
+English:
+their first visit to Sumatra.
+Settle a factory at Achin.
+
+Europeans:
+influence of.
+
+Evidence:
+rules of, and mode of giving.
+
+Expedition:
+to Serampei and Sungei-tenang countries.
+
+Fairs.
+
+Fencing.
+
+Fertility:
+of soil.
+
+Festivals.
+
+Feud:
+account of a remarkable one.
+
+Fevers:
+how treated by the natives.
+
+Filigree:
+manufacture of.
+
+Fire:
+modes of kindling.
+Necessary for warmth among the hills.
+
+Firearms:
+manufactured in Menangkabau.
+
+Firefly.
+
+Fish:
+Ikan layer, a remarkable species.
+Various kinds enumerated.
+
+Fishing:
+mode of.
+
+Fish-roes:
+preserved by salting.
+An article of trade.
+
+Flowers:
+description of.
+
+Foersch, (Mr.):
+his account of the poison-tree.
+
+Fogs:
+dense among the hills.
+
+Food.
+
+Fortification:
+mode of.
+
+Fort Marlborough:
+the chief English settlement on the coast of Sumatra.
+Establishment of.
+Reduced by Act of Parliament.
+
+French:
+settlement of Tappanuli taken by the, in the year 1760, and again in
+1809, attended with circumstances of atrocity.
+Sent a fleet to Achin, under General Beaulieu.
+
+Fruits:
+description of.
+
+Funerals:
+ceremonies observed at.
+
+Furniture:
+of houses.
+
+Gambir:
+mode of preparing it for eating with betel.
+
+Gaming:
+laws respecting.
+Propensity for, and modes of.
+
+Geography:
+limited ideas of.
+
+Goitres:
+natives of the hills subject to.
+Disease not imputable to snow-water.
+In the Serampei country.
+
+Gold:
+island celebrated for its production of.
+Chiefly found in the Menangkabau country.
+Distinctions of.
+Mode of working the mines.
+Estimation of quantity procured.
+Price.
+Mode of cleansing.
+Weights.
+
+Government:
+Malayan.
+
+Grammar.
+
+Graves:
+form of.
+
+Griffiths, (Mr. John).
+
+Guana:
+or iguana, animal of the lizard kind.
+
+Guava:
+fruit.
+
+Gum-lac.
+
+Gunpowder:
+manufacture of.
+
+Hair:
+modes of dressing the.
+
+Heat:
+degree of.
+
+Hemp:
+or ganja, its inebriating qualities.
+
+Henna:
+of the Arabians used for tingeing the nails.
+
+Herbs:
+and shrubs used medicinally.
+
+Hills:
+inhabitants of, subject to goitres.
+
+Hippopotamus.
+
+History:
+of Malayan kings.
+Of Achinese.
+
+Hollanders:
+their first visit to Sumatra.
+
+Holloway, (Mr. Giles).
+
+Horse-racing:
+practised by the Battas.
+
+Horses:
+small breed of.
+Occasionally used in war.
+Eaten as food by the Battas.
+
+Hot springs.
+
+Houses:
+description of.
+
+Human flesh:
+eaten by the Battas.
+
+Iang de per-tuan:
+title of sovereignty.
+
+Ibrahim (otherwise, Saleh-eddin shah):
+king of Achin, his origin.
+Enmity to the Portuguese.
+Transactions of his reign, and death.
+
+Iju:
+a peculiar vegetable substance used for cordage.
+
+Ilhas d'Ouro:
+attempts of the Portuguese to discover them.
+
+Import-trade.
+
+Incest.
+
+Indalas:
+one of the Malayan names of Sumatra.
+
+Indigo:
+Broad-leafed or tarum akar.
+
+Indragiri:
+river of.
+Has its source in a lake of the Menangkabau country.
+
+Indrapura:
+kingdom of.
+
+Inhabitants:
+general distinctions of.
+
+Inheritance:
+rules of.
+
+Ink:
+manufacture of.
+
+Insanity.
+
+Insects:
+Various kinds of, enumerated.
+
+Instruments:
+musical.
+
+Interest:
+of money.
+
+Investiture.
+
+Ipu:
+river of.
+Sungei-ipu (a different river).
+
+Iron:
+Ore smelted.
+Manufactures of.
+Mines.
+
+Iskander Muda (Paduka Sri):
+king of Achin, receives a letter from king James the first, by Captain
+Best, and gives permission for establishing an English factory.
+Conquers Johor.
+Attacks Malacca with a great fleet.
+Receives an embassy from France.
+Again attacks Malacca.
+His death.
+Wealth and power.
+
+Islands:
+near the western coast, account of.
+
+Ivory.
+
+Jack:
+fruit.
+
+Jaggri:
+imperfect sort of sugar from a species of palm.
+
+Jambi:
+river of.
+Colonies settled on branches of it, for collecting gold.
+Has its source in the Limun country.
+Town of.
+
+Jambu:
+fruit.
+
+James the first:
+king, writes a letter to the king of Achin.
+
+Jeinal:
+sultan of Pase, his history.
+
+Johor:
+kingdom of.
+
+Kampar:
+river of.
+King of, negotiates with Alboquerque.
+
+Kampongs:
+or fortified villages.
+
+Kananga:
+flowering tree.
+
+Kapini:
+island of.
+
+Kasumba:
+name of, given to the carthamus and the bixa.
+
+Kataun:
+or Cattown, river of.
+
+Kima:
+or gigantic cockle.
+
+Koran.
+
+Korinchi:
+country.
+Mr. Campbell's visit to it.
+Situation of lake.
+Inhabitants and buildings.
+Food, articles of commerce, gold.
+Account of lepers.
+Peculiar plants.
+Character of the natives.
+
+Koto-tuggoh:
+a fortified village of the Sungei­tenang country.
+Taken and destroyed.
+
+Krises:
+description of.
+
+Kroi:
+district of.
+
+Kulit-kayu:
+or coolicoy, the bark of certain trees used in building, and for other
+purposes.
+
+Kuwau:
+argus or Sumatran pheasant.
+
+Labun:
+district of.
+
+Lakes.
+
+Laksamana:
+a title equivalent to commander-in-chief.
+
+Lampong:
+country, limits of.
+Inhabitants, language, and governments.
+Wars.
+Account of a peculiar people, called orang abung.
+Manners and customs.
+Superstitions.
+
+Land:
+unevenness of its surface.
+New­formed.
+Rarely considered as the subject of property.
+
+Land:
+and sea breezes, causes of.
+
+Language:
+Nature of the Malayan.
+Of others spoken in Sumatra.
+Court.
+Specimens of.
+Batta.
+Nias.
+
+Lanseh:
+fruit.
+
+Laws:
+and customs.
+Compilation of.
+
+Laye:
+river and district of.
+
+Leeches:
+a small kind of, very troublesome on marches.
+
+Lemba:
+district, inhabitants of, similar to the Rejangs.
+
+Leprosy:
+account of.
+
+Lignum-aloes:
+or kalambac.
+
+Limun:
+district of.
+Gold-traders of.
+
+Literature.
+
+Lizards.
+
+Longitude:
+of Fort Marlborough, determined by observation.
+
+Looms:
+description of.
+
+Macdonald, (Lieutenant-colonel John).
+
+Mackenzie, (Mr. Kenneth).
+
+Madagascar:
+resemblance in customs of, to those of Sumatra.
+
+Mahmud shah Juhan (Ala-eddin).
+
+Mahometanism:
+period of conversion to.
+
+Maize:
+or jagong, cultivation of.
+
+Malacca:
+or Malaka, city of, when founded.
+Visited in 1509 by the Portuguese.
+In 1511 taken by them.
+Repeatedly attacked by the kings of Achin.
+In 1641 taken by the Hollanders.
+
+Malays:
+name of, applied to people of Menangkabau.
+Nearly synonymous with Mahometan, in these parts.
+Difference in character between Malays and other Sumatrans.
+Guards composed of.
+Origin of.
+Race of kings.
+Not strict in matters of religion.
+Governments of.
+
+Malayan:
+language.
+
+Malur:
+or Malati flower (nyctanthes).
+
+Mango:
+fruit, described.
+
+Mangustin:
+fruit, described.
+
+Manjuta:
+river and district of.
+English settlement at.
+
+Manna:
+district of.
+
+Mansalar:
+island of.
+
+Mansur shah:
+king of Achin, besieges Malacca, and is defeated.
+Renews the attack, without success.
+Again appears before it with a large fleet, and proceeds to the attack of
+Johor.
+Murdered when preparing to sail with a considerable expedition.
+
+Mantawei:
+name of race of people inhabiting certain islands.
+
+Manufactures.
+
+Marco Polo:
+his account of Sumatra, by the name of Java minor.
+Visited it about the year 1290.
+
+Marriage:
+modes of, and laws respecting.
+Rites of.
+Festivals.
+Consummation of.
+
+Marsden (Mr. John).
+
+Measures:
+of capacity and length.
+
+Measurement:
+of time.
+
+Medicinal:
+shrubs and herbs.
+
+Medicine:
+art of.
+
+Mega:
+island of.
+
+Menangkabau:
+kingdom of.
+History of, imperfectly known.
+Limits of.
+Rivers proceeding from it.
+Political decline.
+Early mention of it by travellers.
+Division of the government.
+Extraordinary respect paid to reigning family.
+Titles of the sultan.
+Remarks on them.
+Ceremonies.
+Conversion of people to the Mahometan religion.
+Antiquity of the empire more remote than that event.
+Sultan held in respect by the Battas.
+
+Metempsychosis:
+ideas of, as entertained by the Sumatrans.
+
+Miller (Mr. Charles).
+
+Minerals.
+
+Mines:
+gold.
+Copper.
+Iron.
+
+Missionaries:
+no attempt of, to convert the Sumatrans to Christianity, upon record.
+
+Moco-moco:
+in Anac-sungei, account of.
+
+Monkeys:
+various species of.
+
+Monsoons:
+causes of their change.
+
+Morinda:
+wood of, used for dyeing.
+
+Mountains:
+chain of, running along the island.
+Height of Mount Ophir or Gunong Passamman.
+High mountain called Bukit Pandang.
+
+Mucks:
+practice, nature, and causes of.
+
+Muhammed shah (Ala-eddin or Ula-eddin):
+succeeds Juhan shah as king of Achin.
+His turbulent reign, and death.
+
+Mukim:
+divisional district of the country of Achin.
+
+Mulberry.
+
+Murder:
+compensation for.
+
+Musi:
+district of.
+
+Music:
+Minor key preferred.
+
+Mythology:
+of the Battas.
+
+Nako-nako:
+islands of.
+
+Nalabu:
+port of.
+
+Name:
+of Sumatra, unknown to the Arabian geographers, and to Marco Polo.
+Various orthography of.
+Probably of Hindu origin.
+
+Names:
+when given to children.
+Distinctions of.
+Father often named from his child.
+Hesitate to pronounce their own.
+
+Natal:
+settlement of.
+Gold of fine quality procured in the country of.
+Governed by datus.
+
+Navigation.
+
+Nias:
+island of.
+
+Nibong:
+species of palm, description and uses of.
+
+Nicolo di Conti:
+his visit to Sumatra.
+
+Nutmegs:
+and cloves, first introduction of, by Mr. Robert Broff.
+Second importation.
+Success of the culture.
+
+
+Oaths:
+nature of, in legal proceedings.
+Collateral.
+Mode of administering.
+Amongst the Battas.
+
+Odoricus:
+his visit to the island of Sumoltra.
+
+Officers:
+of state, in Malayan governments.
+At Achin.
+
+Oil:
+earth-.
+Camphor-.
+Coconut-.
+
+Ophir:
+name of, not known to the natives.
+Height of Mount Ophir or Gunong Passamman.
+
+Opium:
+considerable importation of, from Bengal.
+Law respecting.
+Practice of smoking.
+Preparation of.
+Effects of.
+
+Oranges:
+various species of.
+
+Oratory:
+gift of, natural to the Sumatrans.
+
+Ornaments:
+worn.
+
+Padang:
+the principal Dutch settlement.
+
+Padang-guchi:
+river of.
+
+Padi:
+or rice, cultivation of upland.
+Of lowland.
+Transplantation of.
+Rate of produce.
+Threshing.
+Beating out.
+
+Paduka Sri:
+king of Achin, see Iskander Muda.
+
+Pagi (or Nassaus):
+islands of.
+
+Palembang:
+river of.
+Rises in the district of Musi, near Bencoolen river.
+Dutch factory on it.
+Description of country on its banks.
+Government.
+City of.
+Many foreign settlers.
+Language.
+Interior country visited by the English.
+
+Palma-christi.
+
+Pandan:
+shrub, its fragrant blossom.
+
+Pangeran:
+nature of title.
+Authority much limited.
+
+Pantun:
+or proverbial song.
+
+Papaw:
+fruit.
+
+Pase:
+kingdom of.
+
+Passamman:
+province of.
+
+Passummah:
+Legal customs of.
+
+Pawns:
+or pledges, law respecting.
+
+Pepper:
+principal object of the Company's trade.
+Cultivation of.
+Description of the plant.
+Progress of bearing.
+Time of gathering.
+Mode of drying.
+White pepper.
+Surveys of plantations.
+Transportation of.
+
+Percha (Pulo):
+one of the Malayan names of Sumatra.
+
+Perfume.
+
+Pergularia odoratissima:
+cultivated in England by Sir Joseph Banks.
+
+Persons:
+of the natives, description of.
+
+Pheasant:
+argus or Sumatran.
+
+Philippine:
+islands, customs and superstitions of, resembling those of Sumatra.
+
+Pidir:
+kingdom of.
+
+Pigafetta (Antonio):
+in his voyage appears the earliest specimen of a Malayan vocabulary.
+
+Pikul:
+weight.
+
+Pinang:
+areca, or, vulgarly, the betel-nut-tree, and fruit.
+
+Pinang (Pulo):
+island of.
+
+Pineapple.
+
+Piratical habits:
+of Malays.
+
+Plantain:
+or pisang.
+Varieties of the fruit.
+
+Pleading:
+mode of.
+
+Poetry:
+fondness of the natives for.
+
+Polishing:
+leaf.
+
+Polygamy:
+question of.
+Connexion between it and the practice of purchasing wives.
+
+Population.
+
+Porah:
+island of.
+
+Portuguese:
+expeditions of, rendered the island of Sumatra well known to Europeans.
+Their first visit to it, under Diogo Lopez de Sequeira.
+Transactions at Pidir, and Pase.
+Conquer Malacca.
+Sustain many attacks and sieges from kings of Achin.
+
+Potatoes:
+cultivated in the Korinchi country.
+
+Priaman:
+river and district of.
+Invitation to the English to form a settlement there.
+
+Puhn:
+or Poon, signifying tree in general, applied by Europeans to a particular
+species.
+
+Puhn-upas:
+or poison-tree, account of.
+
+Pulas:
+species of twine from the kaluwi nettle.
+
+Pulse:
+variety of.
+
+Pulo:
+or island.
+
+Pulo:
+point and bay.
+
+Punei-jambu:
+a beautiful species of dove.
+
+Punishments:
+corporal.
+Amongst the Battas.
+Amongst the Achinese.
+
+Quail-fighting.
+
+Queen:
+government of Achin devolves to a.
+Account of embassy from Madras to the.
+
+Radin:
+prince of Madura.
+
+Raffles (Mr. Thomas).
+
+Rakan:
+river or estuary.
+
+Rambutan:
+fruit.
+
+Ramni:
+name given to Sumatra by the Arabian geographers.
+
+Ranjaus:
+description of.
+
+Rapes:
+laws respecting.
+
+Rattan-cane:
+fruit of.
+Considerable export trade in.
+
+Rau:
+or Rawa country.
+
+Rayet shah (Ala-eddin):
+said to have been originally a fisherman, ascends the throne of Achin,
+having murdered the heir.
+During his reign the Hollanders first visited Achin.
+And also the English, under Captain (Sir James) Lancaster, who carried
+letters from Queen Elizabeth.
+At the age of ninety-five, confined by his son.
+
+Reaping:
+mode of.
+
+Rejang:
+people of, chosen as a standard for description of manners.
+Situation of the country.
+Divided into tribes.
+Their government.
+
+Religion:
+state of, amongst the Rejang.
+No ostensible worship.
+The word dewa applied to a class of invisible beings.
+Veneration for the tombs of their ancestors.
+Ancient religion of Malays.
+Motives for conversion to Mahometanism.
+Of the Battas.
+
+Reptiles.
+
+Rhinoceros.
+
+Rice:
+culture of.
+Distinctions of ladang or upland, and sawah or lowland.
+Sowing, mode of.
+Reaping, mode of.
+An article of trade.
+
+Rivers.
+
+Rock:
+species of soft.
+Coral.
+
+Rum:
+or Rome, for Constantinople.
+
+Sago-tree:
+or rambiya (confounded with the Cycas circinalis, a different tree),
+described.
+
+Salt:
+manufacture of.
+
+Saltpetre:
+Procured from certain caves.
+
+Sanding:
+islands or Pulo Sandiang.
+
+Sappan:
+wood.
+
+Scorpion:
+flower or anggrek kasturi.
+
+Sculpture:
+ancient.
+
+Sea:
+encroachments of.
+
+Sequeira (Diogo Lopez de):
+first Portuguese who visited Sumatra.
+
+Serampei:
+country.
+Villages, government, features of the women.
+Peculiar regulation.
+Further account of.
+
+Sesamum:
+or bijin, oil produced from.
+
+Sexes:
+mistaken ideas of a considerable inequality in the numbers of the two.
+
+Shellfish.
+
+Siak:
+river of.
+Survey of.
+Country on both sides flat and alluvial.
+Abundance of ship-timber.
+Government.
+Trade.
+Subdued by the king of Achin.
+
+Si Biru:
+island of.
+
+Silebar:
+river, and district of.
+
+Sileda:
+attempt to work a gold mine at.
+
+Silk-cotton (bombax).
+
+Singapura:
+city of, when founded.
+
+Singkel:
+river.
+
+Si Porah:
+or Good Fortune, island of.
+
+Situation:
+of the island, general account of.
+
+Slavery:
+state of, not common among the Rejangs.
+Condition of negro slaves at Fort Marlborough.
+
+Smallpox:
+its ravages.
+
+Snakes.
+
+Soil:
+described.
+Unevenness of surface.
+Fertility of.
+
+Songs:
+Singing.
+amusement of.
+
+Spices:
+see Nutmegs.
+
+Sugar:
+manufacture of.
+Imperfect sort, called jaggri.
+
+Sugar-cane, cultivation of.
+
+Suits:
+see Causes.
+
+Sulphur:
+Where procured.
+
+Sumatra:
+name probably of Hindu origin.
+
+Sungei-lamo and Sungei-itam:
+rivers.
+
+Sungei-tenang:
+country, account of.
+
+Superstitious opinions.
+
+Surf:
+Considerations respecting.
+Probable cause of.
+
+Surveys:
+of pepper plantations.
+
+Swala:
+or sea-slug, an article of trade.
+
+Swasa:
+a mixture of gold and copper so called.
+
+Tamarind:
+tree.
+
+Tanjong:
+flower.
+
+Tappanuli:
+celebrated bay of.
+Settlement on the island of Punchong kechil.
+Taken in 1760 by the French, and again in 1809.
+
+Taprobane:
+name of, applied to Sumatra in the middle ages.
+
+Teak:
+timber, its valuable qualities.
+Attempts to cultivate the tree.
+
+Teeth:
+mode of filing them.
+Sometimes plated with gold.
+
+Theft:
+laws respecting.
+Proof of, required.
+
+Thermometer:
+height of, at Fort Marlborough, and at Natal.
+So low as 45 degrees on a hill in the Ipu country.
+
+Threshing:
+mode of.
+
+Thunder:
+and lightning, very frequent.
+Effect of.
+
+Tides:
+At Siak.
+Flow to a great distance in rivers on eastern side of the island.
+
+Tiger:
+Ravages by this animal.
+Traps.
+
+Tiku:
+river and islands of.
+
+Timber:
+great variety of.
+Species enumerated.
+
+Time:
+manner of dividing.
+
+Tin:
+A considerable export of it to China.
+
+Titles.
+
+Tobacco:
+cultivation of.
+
+Toddy:
+or nira, how procured.
+
+Tools:
+for mining.
+Carpenters'.
+
+Torches:
+or links.
+
+Trade.
+
+Triste:
+island of, see Mega.
+
+Tulang-bawang:
+river.
+
+Turmeric.
+
+Upas:
+vegetable poison, account of.
+
+Urei:
+river of.
+
+Utensils:
+account of.
+
+Vegetable productions.
+
+Venereal disease.
+
+Villages:
+description of.
+
+Virgins:
+their distinguishing ornaments.
+
+Volcanoes:
+called gunong api, account of.
+
+Warfare:
+mode of.
+
+Waterfalls.
+
+Waterspout:
+account of.
+
+Wax:
+a considerable article of trade.
+
+Weapons.
+
+Weaving.
+
+Weights.
+
+Wens.
+
+White-ants.
+
+White pepper.
+
+Widows:
+laws respecting.
+
+Wilkins (Mr. Charles).
+
+Winds.
+
+Wives:
+number of. See Marriage.
+
+Worm-shell:
+or Teredo navalis.
+
+Wood:
+various species of.
+
+Woods:
+Mode of clearing.
+
+Wounds:
+laws respecting.
+
+Writing:
+On bark of tree, and on slips of bamboo.
+Specimens of.
+
+Yams:
+various roots under that denomination.
+
+Year:
+mode of estimating its length.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The History of Sumatra, by William Marsden
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA ***
+
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+<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
+<html>
+<head>
+<title>The History of Sumatra</title>
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content=
+"text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
+<style type="text/css">
+<!--
+body {background: #ffffcc; margin: 10% 15% 10% 15%; text-align:justify}
+/* top margin 1em,
+right margin 2em,
+bottom margin 3em,
+left margin 4em */
+
+h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {color:green; text-align:center}
+blockquote {font-size: .9em}
+p.poem {text-align:center}
+
+p.external {font-weight: bold}
+-->
+</style>
+</head>
+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Sumatra, by William Marsden
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The History of Sumatra
+       Containing An Account Of The Government, Laws, Customs And
+              Manners Of The Native Inhabitants
+
+Author: William Marsden
+
+Release Date: September 28, 2005 [EBook #16768]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sue Asscher
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h2>THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA,</h2>
+
+<h3>CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF<br>
+THE GOVERNMENT, LAWS, CUSTOMS, AND MANNERS<br>
+OF<br>
+THE NATIVE INHABITANTS,<br>
+WITH<br>
+A DESCRIPTION OF THE NATURAL PRODUCTIONS,<br>
+AND A RELATION OF THE<br>
+ANCIENT POLITICAL STATE OF THAT ISLAND.</h3>
+
+<h3>BY</h3>
+
+<h2>WILLIAM MARSDEN, F.R.S.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE THIRD EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS, ADDITIONS, AND
+PLATES.</h3>
+
+<h4>LONDON:<br>
+PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,<br>
+BY J. M'CREERY, BLACK-HORSE-COURT,<br>
+AND SOLD BY<br>
+LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW.<br>
+1811.</h4>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-16"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-16.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 16. A MALAY BOY, NATIVE OF BENCOOLEN.<br>
+T. Heaphy delt. A. Cardon fecit.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+
+<h2>THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA.</h2>
+
+<p><u><b>CONTENTS.</b></u></p>
+
+<p><a href="#preface">PREFACE.</a></p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-01">CHAPTER 1.</a></p>
+
+<p>SITUATION.<br>
+NAME.<br>
+GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, ITS MOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND
+RIVERS.<br>
+AIR AND METEORS.<br>
+MONSOONS, AND LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.<br>
+MINERALS AND FOSSILS.<br>
+VOLCANOES.<br>
+EARTHQUAKES.<br>
+SURFS AND TIDES.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-02">CHAPTER 2.</a></p>
+
+<p>DISTINCTION OF INHABITANTS.<br>
+REJANGS CHOSEN FOR GENERAL DESCRIPTION.<br>
+PERSONS AND COMPLEXION.<br>
+CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-03">CHAPTER 3.</a></p>
+
+<p>VILLAGES.<br>
+BUILDINGS.<br>
+DOMESTIC UTENSILS.<br>
+FOOD.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-04">CHAPTER 4.</a></p>
+
+<p>AGRICULTURE.<br>
+RICE, ITS CULTIVATION, ETC.<br>
+PLANTATIONS OF COCONUT, BETEL-NUT, AND OTHER VEGETABLES FOR
+DOMESTIC USE.<br>
+DYE STUFFS.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-05">CHAPTER 5.</a></p>
+
+<p>FRUITS, FLOWERS, MEDICINAL SHRUBS AND HERBS.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-06">CHAPTER 6.</a></p>
+
+<p>BEASTS.<br>
+REPTILES.<br>
+FISH.<br>
+BIRDS.<br>
+INSECTS.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-07">CHAPTER 7.</a></p>
+
+<p>VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF THE ISLAND CONSIDERED AS ARTICLES OF
+COMMERCE.<br>
+PEPPER.<br>
+CULTIVATION OF PEPPER.<br>
+CAMPHOR.<br>
+BENZOIN.<br>
+CASSIA, ETC.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-08">CHAPTER 8.</a></p>
+
+<p>GOLD, TIN, AND OTHER METALS.<br>
+BEESWAX.<br>
+IVORY.<br>
+BIRDS-NEST, ETC.<br>
+IMPORT-TRADE.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-09">CHAPTER 9.</a></p>
+
+<p>ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.<br>
+ART OF MEDICINE.<br>
+SCIENCES.<br>
+ARITHMETIC.<br>
+GEOGRAPHY.<br>
+ASTRONOMY.<br>
+MUSIC, ETC.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-10">CHAPTER 10.</a></p>
+
+<p>LANGUAGES.<br>
+MALAYAN.<br>
+ARABIC CHARACTER USED.<br>
+LANGUAGES OF THE INTERIOR PEOPLE.<br>
+PECULIAR CHARACTERS.<br>
+SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES AND OF ALPHABETS.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-11">CHAPTER 11.</a></p>
+
+<p>COMPARATIVE STATE OF THE SUMATRANS IN CIVIL SOCIETY.<br>
+DIFFERENCE OF CHARACTER BETWEEN THE MALAYS AND OTHER
+INHABITANTS.<br>
+GOVERNMENT.<br>
+TITLES AND POWER OF THE CHIEFS AMONG THE REJANGS.<br>
+INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEANS.<br>
+GOVERNMENT IN PASSUMMAH.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-12">CHAPTER 12.</a></p>
+
+<p>LAWS AND CUSTOMS.<br>
+MODE OF DECIDING CAUSES.<br>
+CODE OF LAWS.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-13">CHAPTER 13.</a></p>
+
+<p>REMARKS ON, AND ELUCIDATION OF, THE VARIOUS LAWS AND
+CUSTOMS.<br>
+MODES OF PLEADING.<br>
+NATURE OF EVIDENCE.<br>
+OATHS.<br>
+INHERITANCE.<br>
+OUTLAWRY.<br>
+THEFT, MURDER, AND COMPENSATION FOR IT.<br>
+ACCOUNT OF A FEUD.<br>
+DEBTS.<br>
+SLAVERY.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-14">CHAPTER 14.</a></p>
+
+<p>MODES OF MARRIAGE, AND CUSTOMS RELATIVE THERETO.<br>
+POLYGAMY.<br>
+FESTIVALS.<br>
+GAMES.<br>
+COCK-FIGHTING.<br>
+USE AND EFFECTS OF OPIUM.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-15">CHAPTER 15.</a></p>
+
+<p>CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.<br>
+EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.<br>
+ORATORY.<br>
+CHILDREN.<br>
+NAMES.<br>
+CIRCUMCISION.<br>
+FUNERALS.<br>
+RELIGION.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-16">CHAPTER 16.</a></p>
+
+<p>THE COUNTRY OF LAMPONG AND ITS INHABITANTS.<br>
+LANGUAGE.<br>
+GOVERNMENT.<br>
+WARS.<br>
+PECULIAR CUSTOMS.<br>
+RELIGION.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-17">CHAPTER 17.</a></p>
+
+<p>ACCOUNT OF THE INLAND COUNTRY OF KORINCHI.<br>
+EXPEDITION TO THE SERAMPEI AND SUNGEI-TENANG COUNTRIES.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-18">CHAPTER 18.</a></p>
+
+<p>MALAYAN STATES.<br>
+ANCIENT EMPIRE OF MENANGKABAU.<br>
+ORIGIN OF THE MALAYS AND GENERAL ACCEPTATION OF NAME.<br>
+EVIDENCES OF THEIR MIGRATION FROM SUMATRA.<br>
+SUCCESSION OF MALAYAN PRINCES.<br>
+PRESENT STATE OF THE EMPIRE.<br>
+TITLES OF THE SULTAN.<br>
+CEREMONIES.<br>
+CONVERSION TO MAHOMETAN RELIGION.<br>
+LITERATURE.<br>
+ARTS.<br>
+WARFARE.<br>
+GOVERNMENT.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-19">CHAPTER 19.</a></p>
+
+<p>KINGDOMS OF INDRAPURA, ANAK-SUNGEI, PASSAMMAN, SIAK.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-20">CHAPTER 20.</a></p>
+
+<p>THE COUNTRY OF THE BATTAS.<br>
+TAPPANULI-BAY.<br>
+JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.<br>
+CASSIA-TREES.<br>
+GOVERNMENTS.<br>
+ARMS.<br>
+WARFARE.<br>
+TRADE.<br>
+FAIRS.<br>
+FOOD.<br>
+MANNERS.<br>
+LANGUAGE.<br>
+WRITING.<br>
+RELIGION.<br>
+FUNERALS.<br>
+CRIMES.<br>
+EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-21">CHAPTER 21.</a></p>
+
+<p>KINGDOM OF ACHIN.<br>
+ITS CAPITAL.<br>
+AIR.<br>
+INHABITANTS.<br>
+COMMERCE.<br>
+MANUFACTURES.<br>
+NAVIGATION.<br>
+COIN.<br>
+GOVERNMENT.<br>
+REVENUES.<br>
+PUNISHMENTS.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-22">CHAPTER 22.</a></p>
+
+<p>HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF ACHIN, FROM THE PERIOD OF ITS BEING
+VISITED BY EUROPEANS.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#ch-23">CHAPTER 23.</a></p>
+
+<p>BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ISLANDS LYING OFF THE WESTERN COAST OF
+SUMATRA.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="50%">
+
+<p><b>LIST OF PLATES.</b></p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-01">PLATE 1.<br>
+</a>THE PEPPER-PLANT, Piper nigrum.<br>
+E.W. Marsden delt. Engraved by J. Swaine, Queen Street, Golden
+Square.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-02">PLATE 2.<br>
+</a>THE DAMMAR, A SPECIES OF PINUS.<br>
+Sinensis delt. Swaine Sc.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-03">PLATE 3.<br>
+</a>THE MANGUSTIN FRUIT, Garcinia mangostana.<br>
+Engraved by J. Swaine.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-04">PLATE 4.<br>
+</a>THE RAMBUTAN, Nephelium lappaceum.<br>
+L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-05">PLATE 5.<br>
+</a>THE LANSEH FRUIT, Lansium domesticum.<br>
+L. Wilkins delt. Hooker Sc.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-06">PLATE 6.<br>
+</a>THE RAMBEH FRUIT, A SPECIES OF LANSEH.<br>
+Maria Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-07">PLATE 7.<br>
+</a>THE KAMILING OR BUAH KRAS, Juglans camirium.<br>
+L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-08">PLATE 8.<br>
+</a>Marsdenia tinctoria, OR BROAD-LEAFED INDIGO.<br>
+E.W. Marsden delt. Swaine fct.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-09">PLATE 9.<br>
+</a>A SPECIES OF Lemur volans, SUSPENDED FROM THE RAMBEH-TREE.<br>
+Sinensis delt. N. Cardon fct.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-09a">PLATE 9a.<br>
+</a>THE MUSANG, A SPECIES OF VIVERRA.<br>
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-10">PLATE 10.<br>
+</a>THE TANGGILING OR PENG-GOLING-SISIK, A SPECIES OF MANIS.<br>
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fct.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-11">PLATE 11.  n.1.<br>
+</a>THE ANJING-AYER, Mustela lutra.<br>
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-11a">PLATE 11a. n.2. 1..<br>
+</a>SKULL OF THE KAMBING-UTAN. 2. SKULL OF THE KIJANG.<br>
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-12">PLATE 12. n.1..<br>
+</a>THE PALANDOK, A DIMINUTIVE SPECIES OF MOSCHUS.<br>
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-12a">PLATE 12a. n.2.<br>
+</a>THE KIJANG OR ROE, Cervus muntjak.<br>
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-13">PLATE 13. n.1.<br>
+</a>THE LANDAK, Hystrix longicauda.<br>
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-13a">PLATE 13a. n.2.<br>
+</a>THE ANJING-AYER.<br>
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-14">PLATE 14. n.1.<br>
+</a>THE KAMBING-UTAN, OR WILD-GOAT.<br>
+W. Bell delt.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-14a">PLATE 14a. n.2.<br>
+</a>THE KUBIN, Draco volans.<br>
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon sc.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-15">PLATE 15.<br>
+</a>BEAKS OF THE BUCEROS OR HORN-BILL.<br>
+M. de Jonville delt. Swaine sc.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-16">PLATE 16.<br>
+</a>A MALAY BOY, NATIVE OF BENCOOLEN.<br>
+T. Heaphy delt. A. Cardon fecit.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-17">PLATE 17.<br>
+</a>SUMATRAN WEAPONS.<br>
+A. A Malay Gadoobang. B. A Batta Weapon. C. A Malay Creese.<br>
+One-third of the size of the Originals.<br>
+W. Williams del. and sculpt.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-17a">PLATE 17a.<br>
+</a>SUMATRAN WEAPONS. D. A Malay Creese. E. An Achenese Creese. F. A Malay Sewar.<br>
+One-third of the size of the Originals.<br>
+W. Williams del. and sculpt.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-18">PLATE 18.<br>
+</a>ENTRANCE OF PADANG RIVER. With Buffaloes.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-18a">PLATE 18a.<br>
+</a>VIEW OF PADANG HILL.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-19">PLATE 19.<br>
+</a>A VILLAGE HOUSE IN SUMATRA.<br>
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</p>
+
+<p><a href="#sumatra-19a">PLATE 19a.<br>
+</a>A PLANTATION HOUSE IN SUMATRA.<br>
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.</p>
+
+
+<p><a href="#index">INDEX.<br></a></p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="50%">
+
+<p><a name="preface"></a></p>
+
+<h3>PREFACE.</h3>
+
+<p>The island of Sumatra, which, in point of situation and
+extent, holds a conspicuous rank on the terraqueous globe, and is
+surpassed by few in the bountiful indulgences of nature, has in
+all ages been unaccountably neglected by writers insomuch that it
+is at this day less known, as to the interior parts more
+especially, than the remotest island of modern discovery;
+although it has been constantly resorted to by Europeans for some
+centuries, and the English have had a regular establishment there
+for the last hundred years. It is true that the commercial
+importance of Sumatra has much declined. It is no longer the
+Emporium of Eastern riches whither the traders of the West
+resorted with their cargoes to exchange them for the precious
+merchandise of the Indian Archipelago: nor does it boast now the
+political consequence it acquired when the rapid progress of the
+Portuguese successes there first received a check. That
+enterprising people, who caused so many kingdoms to shrink from
+the terror of their arms, met with nothing but disgrace in their
+attempts against Achin, whose monarchs made them tremble in their
+turn. Yet still the importance of this island in the eye of the
+natural historian has continued undiminished, and has equally at
+all periods laid claim to an attention that does not appear, at
+any, to have been paid to it.</p>
+
+<p>The Portuguese being better warriors than philosophers, and
+more eager to conquer nations than to explore their manners or
+antiquities, it is not surprising that they should have been
+unable to furnish the world with any particular and just
+description of a country which they must have regarded with an
+evil eye. The Dutch were the next people from whom we had a right
+to expect information. They had an early intercourse with the
+island, and have at different times formed settlements in almost
+every part of it; yet they are almost silent with respect to its
+history.* But to what cause are we to ascribe the remissness of
+our own countrymen, whose opportunities have been equal to those
+of their predecessors or contemporaries? It seems difficult to
+account for it; but the fact is that, excepting a short sketch of
+the manners prevailing in a particular district of the island,
+published in the Philosophical Transactions of the year 1778, not
+one page of information respecting the inhabitants of Sumatra has
+been communicated to the public by any Englishman who has resided
+there.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. At the period when this remark was
+written, I was not aware that an account of the Dutch settlements
+and commerce in Sumatra by M. Adolph Eschels-kroon had in the
+preceding year been published at Hamburgh, in the German
+language; nor had the transactions of a literary society
+established at Batavia, whose first volume appeared there in
+1779, yet reached this country. The work, indeed, of Valentyn,
+containing a general history of the European possessions in the
+East Indies, should have exempted a nation to which oriental
+learning is largely indebted from what I now consider as an
+unmerited reflection.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>To form a general and tolerably accurate account of this
+country and its inhabitants is a work attended with great and
+peculiar difficulties. The necessary information is not to be
+procured from the people themselves, whose knowledge and
+inquiries are to the last degree confined, scarcely extending
+beyond the bounds of the district where they first drew breath;
+and but very rarely have the almost impervious woods of Sumatra
+been penetrated to any considerable distance from the sea coast
+by Europeans, whose observations have been then imperfect,
+trusted perhaps to memory only, or, if committed to paper, lost
+to the world by their deaths. Other difficulties arise from the
+extraordinary diversity of national distinctions, which, under a
+great variety of independent governments, divide this island in
+many directions; and yet not from their number merely, nor from
+the dissimilarity in their languages or manners, does the
+embarrassment entirely proceed: the local divisions are perplexed
+and uncertain; the extent of jurisdiction of the various princes
+is inaccurately defined; settlers from different countries and at
+different periods have introduced an irregular though powerful
+influence that supersedes in some places the authority of the
+established governments, and imposes a real dominion on the
+natives where a nominal one is not assumed. This, in a course of
+years, is productive of innovations that destroy the originality
+and genuineness of their customs and manners, obliterate ancient
+distinctions, and render confused the path of an
+investigator.</p>
+
+<p>These objections, which seem to have hitherto proved
+unsurmountable with such as might have been inclined to attempt
+the history of Sumatra, would also have deterred me from an
+undertaking apparently so arduous, had I not reflected that those
+circumstances in which consisted the principal difficulty were in
+fact the least interesting to the public, and of the least
+utility in themselves. It is of but small importance to determine
+with precision whether a few villages on this or that particular
+river belong to one petty chief or to another; whether such a
+nation is divided into a greater or lesser number of tribes; or
+which of two neighbouring powers originally did homage to the
+other for its title. History is only to be prized as it tends to
+improve our knowledge of mankind, to which such investigations
+contribute in a very small degree. I have therefore attempted
+rather to give a comprehensive than a circumstantial description
+of the divisions of the country into its various governments;
+aiming at a more particular detail in what respects the customs,
+opinions, arts, and industry of the original inhabitants in their
+most genuine state. The interests of the European powers who have
+established themselves on the island; the history of their
+settlements, and of the revolutions of their commerce I have not
+considered as forming a part of my plan; but these subjects, as
+connected with the accounts of the native inhabitants and the
+history of their governments, are occasionally introduced.</p>
+
+<p>I was principally encouraged to this undertaking by the
+promises of assistance I received from some ingenious and very
+highly esteemed friends who resided with me in Sumatra. It has
+also been urged to me here in England that, as the subject is
+altogether new, it is a duty incumbent on me to lay the
+information I am in possession of, however defective, before the
+public, who will not object to its being circumscribed whilst its
+authenticity remains unimpeachable. This last quality is that
+which I can with the most confidence take upon me to vouch for.
+The greatest portion of what I have described has fallen within
+the scope of my own immediate observation; the remainder is
+either matter of common notoriety to every person residing in the
+island, or received upon the concurring authority of gentlemen
+whose situation in the East India Company's service, long
+acquaintance with the natives, extensive knowledge of their
+language, ideas, and manners, and respectability of character,
+render them worthy of the most implicit faith that can be given
+to human testimony.</p>
+
+<p>I have been the more scrupulously exact in this particular
+because my view was not, ultimately, to write an entertaining
+book to which the marvellous might be thought not a little to
+contribute, but sincerely and conscientiously to add the small
+portion in my power to the general knowledge of the age; to throw
+some glimmering light on the path of the naturalist; and more
+especially to furnish those philosophers whose labours have been
+directed to the investigation of the history of Man with facts to
+serve as data in their reasonings, which are too often rendered
+nugatory, and not seldom ridiculous, by assuming as truths the
+misconceptions or wilful impositions of travellers. The study of
+their own species is doubtless the most interesting and important
+that can claim the attention of mankind; and this science, like
+all others, it is impossible to improve by abstract speculation
+merely. A regular series of authenticated facts is what alone can
+enable us to rise towards a perfect knowledge in it. To have
+added one new and firm step in this arduous ascent is a merit of
+which I should be proud to boast.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="15%">
+<p>Of this third edition it is necessary to observe that, the
+former two having made their appearance so early as the years
+1783 and 1784, it would long since have been prepared for the
+public eye had not the duties of an official situation occupied
+for many years the whole of my attention. During that period,
+however, I received from my friends abroad various useful, and,
+to me at least, interesting communications which have enabled me
+to correct some inaccuracies, to supply deficiencies, and to
+augment the general mass of information on the subject of an
+island still but imperfectly explored. To incorporate these new
+materials requiring that many liberties should be taken with the
+original contexture of the work, I became the less scrupulous of
+making further alterations wherever I thought they could be
+introduced with advantage. The branch of natural history in
+particular I trust will be found to have received much
+improvement, and I feel happy to have had it in my power to
+illustrate several of the more interesting productions of the
+vegetable and animal kingdoms by engravings executed from time to
+time as the drawings were procured, and which are intended to
+accompany the volume in a separate atlas.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="50%">
+
+<h2>THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA.</h2>
+
+<p><a name="ch-01"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 1.</h3>
+
+<p><b>SITUATION.<br>
+NAME.<br>
+GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, ITS MOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND
+RIVERS.<br>
+AIR AND METEORS.<br>
+MONSOONS, AND LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.<br>
+MINERALS AND FOSSILS.<br>
+VOLCANOES.<br>
+EARTHQUAKES.<br>
+SURFS AND TIDES.</b></p>
+
+<p>If antiquity holds up to us some models, in different arts and
+sciences, which have been found inimitable, the moderns, on the
+other hand, have carried their inventions and improvements, in a
+variety of instances, to an extent and a degree of perfection of
+which the former could entertain no ideas. Among those
+discoveries in which we have stepped so far beyond our masters
+there is none more striking, or more eminently useful, than the
+means which the ingenuity of some, and the experience of others,
+have taught mankind, of determining with certainty and precision
+the relative situation of the various countries of the earth.
+What was formerly the subject of mere conjecture, or at best of
+vague and arbitrary computation, is now the clear result of
+settled rule, founded upon principles demonstratively just. It
+only remains for the liberality of princes and states, and the
+persevering industry of navigators and travellers, to effect the
+application of these means to their proper end, by continuing to
+ascertain the unknown and uncertain positions of all the parts of
+the world, which the barriers of nature will allow the skill and
+industry of man to approach.</p>
+
+<p>SITUATION OF THE ISLAND.</p>
+
+<p>Sumatra, the subject of the present work, is an extensive
+island in the East Indies, the most western of those which may be
+termed the Malayan Archipelago, and constituting its boundary on
+that side.</p>
+
+<p>LATITUDE.</p>
+
+<p>The equator divides it obliquely, its general direction being
+north-west and south-east, into almost equal parts; the one
+extremity lying in five degrees thirty-three minutes north, and
+the other in five degrees fifty-six minutes south latitude. In
+respect to relative position its northern point stretches into
+the Bay of Bengal; its south-west coast is exposed to the great
+Indian Ocean; towards the south it is separated by the Straits of
+Sunda from the island of Java; on the east by the commencement of
+the Eastern and China Seas from Borneo and other islands; and on
+the north-east by the Straits of Malacca from the peninsula of
+Malayo, to which, according to a tradition noticed by the
+Portuguese historians, it is supposed to have been anciently
+united.</p>
+
+<p>LONGITUDE.</p>
+
+<p>The only point of the island whose longitude has been settled
+by actual observation is Fort Marlborough, near Bencoolen, the
+principal English settlement, standing in three degrees forty-six
+minutes of south latitude. From eclipses of Jupiter's satellites
+observed in June 1769, preparatory to an observation of the
+transit of the planet Venus over the sun's disc, Mr. Robert
+Nairne calculated its longitude to be 101 degrees 42 minutes 45
+seconds; which was afterwards corrected by the Astronomer Royal
+to 102 degrees east of Greenwich. The situation of Achin Head is
+pretty accurately fixed by computation at 95 degrees 34 minutes;
+and longitudes of places in the Straits of Sunda are well
+ascertained by the short runs from Batavia, which city has the
+advantage of an observatory.</p>
+
+<p>MAP.</p>
+
+<p>By the general use of chronometers in latter times the means
+have been afforded of determining the positions of many prominent
+points both on the eastern and western coasts, by which the map
+of the island has been considerably improved: but particular
+surveys, such as those of the bays and islets from Batang-kapas
+to Padang, made with great ability by Captain (now
+Lieutenant-Colonel) John Macdonald; of the coast from Priaman to
+the islands off Achin by Captain George Robertson; and of Siak
+River by Mr. Francis Lynch, are much wanted; and the interior of
+the country is still very imperfectly known. From sketches of the
+routes of Mr. Charles Campbell and of Lieutenant Hastings Dare I
+have been enabled to delineate the principal features of the
+Sarampei, Sungei Tenang and Korinchi countries, inland of Ipu,
+Moco-moco, and Indrapura; and advantage has been taken of all
+other information that could be procured. For the general
+materials from which the map is constructed I am chiefly indebted
+to the kindness of my friend, the late Mr. Alexander Dalrymple,
+whose indefatigable labours during a long life have contributed
+more than those of any other person to the improvement of Indian
+Hydrography. It may be proper to observe that the map of Sumatra
+to be found in the fifth volume of Valentyn's great work is so
+extremely incorrect, even in regard to those parts immediately
+subject to the Dutch government, as to be quite useless.</p>
+
+<p>UNKNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS. TAPROBANE.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the obvious situation of this island in the
+direct track from the ports of India to the Spice Islands and to
+China, it seems to have been unknown to the Greek and Roman
+geographers, whose information or conjectures carried them no
+farther than Selan-dib or Ceylon, which has claims to be
+considered as their Taprobane; although during the middle ages
+that celebrated name was almost uniformly applied to Sumatra. The
+single circumstance indeed of the latter being intersected by the
+equator (as Taprobane was said to be) is sufficient to justify
+the doubts of those who were disinclined to apply it to the
+former; and whether in fact the obscure and contradictory
+descriptions given by Strabo, Pomponius Mela, Pliny, and Ptolemy,
+belonged to any actual place, however imperfectly known; or
+whether, observing that a number of rare and valuable commodities
+were brought from an island or islands in the supposed extremity
+of the East, they might have been led to give place in their
+charts to one of vast extent, which should stand as the
+representative of the whole, is a question not to be hastily
+decided.</p>
+
+<p>OPHIR.</p>
+
+<p>The idea of Sumatra being the country of Ophir, whither
+Solomon sent his fleets for cargoes of gold and ivory, rather
+than to the coast of Sofala, or other part of Africa, is too
+vague, and the subject wrapped in a veil of too remote antiquity,
+to allow of satisfactory discussion; and I shall only observe
+that no inference can be drawn from the name of Ophir found in
+maps as belonging to a mountain in this island and to another in
+the peninsula; these having been applied to them by European
+navigators, and the word being unknown to the natives.</p>
+
+<p>Until the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of
+Good Hope the identity of this island as described or alluded to
+by writers is often equivocal, or to be inferred only from
+corresponding circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>ARABIAN TRAVELLERS.</p>
+
+<p>The first of the two Arabian travellers of the ninth century,
+the account of whose voyages to India and China was translated by
+Renaudot from a manuscript written about the year 1173, speaks of
+a large island called Ramni, in the track between Sarandib and
+Sin (or China), that from the similarity of productions has been
+generally supposed to mean Sumatra; and this probability is
+strengthened by a circumstance I believe not hitherto noticed by
+commentators. It is said to divide the Sea of Herkend, or Indian
+Ocean, from the Sea of Shelahet) Salahet in Edrisi), and Salat
+being the Malayan term both for a strait in general, and for the
+well-known passage within the island of Singapura in particular,
+this may be fairly presumed to refer to the Straits of
+Malacca.</p>
+
+<p>EDRISI.</p>
+
+<p>Edrisi, improperly called the Nubian geographer, who dedicated
+his work to Roger, King of Sicily, in the middle of the twelfth
+century, describes the same island, in the first climate, by the
+name of Al-Rami; but the particulars so nearly correspond with
+those given by the Arabian traveller as to show that the one
+account was borrowed from the other. He very erroneously however
+makes the distance between Sarandib and that island to be no more
+than three days' sail instead of fifteen. The island of Soborma,
+which he places in the same climate, is evidently Borneo, and the
+two passages leading to it are the Straits of Malacca and of
+Sunda. What is mentioned of Sumandar, in the second climate, has
+no relation whatever to Sumatra, although from the name we are
+led to expect it.</p>
+
+<p>MARCO POLO.</p>
+
+<p>Marco Polo, the celebrated Venetian traveller of the
+thirteenth century, is the first European who speaks of this
+island, but under the appellation of Java minor, which he gave to
+it by a sort of analogy, having forgotten, or not having learned
+from the natives, its appropriate name. His relation, though for
+a long time undervalued, and by many considered as a romantic
+tale, and liable as it is to the charge of errors and omissions,
+with some improbabilities, possesses, notwithstanding, strong
+internal evidence of genuineness and good faith. Containing few
+dates, the exact period of his visit to Sumatra cannot be
+ascertained, but as he returned to Venice in 1295, and possibly
+five years might have elapsed in his subsequent tedious voyages
+and journeys by Ceylon, the Karnatick, Malabar, Guzerat, Persia,
+the shores of the Caspian and Euxine, to Genoa (in a prison at
+which place he is said to have dictated his narrative), we may
+venture to refer it to the year 1290.</p>
+
+<p>Taking his departure, with a considerable equipment, from a
+southern port of China, which he (or his transcriber) named
+Zaitum, they proceeded to Ziamba (Tsiampa or Champa, adjoining to
+the southern part of Cochin-China) which he had previously
+visited in 1280, being then in the service of the emperor Kublai
+Khan. From thence, he says, to the island of Java major is a
+course of fifteen hundred miles, but it is evident that he speaks
+of it only from the information of others, and not as an
+eyewitness; nor is it probable that the expedition should have
+deviated so far from its proper route. He states truly that it is
+a mart for spices and much frequented by traders from the
+southern provinces of China. He then mentions in succession the
+small uninhabited islands of Sondur and Condur (perhaps Pulo
+Condore); the province of Boeach otherwise Lochac (apparently
+Camboja, near to which Condore is situated); the island of Petan
+(either Patani or Pahang in the peninsula) the passage to which,
+from Boeach, is across a gulf (that of Siam); and the kingdom
+called Malaiur in the Italian, and Maletur in the Latin version,
+which we can scarcely doubt to be the Malayan kingdom of
+Singa-Pura, at the extremity of the peninsula, or Malacca, then
+beginning to flourish. It is not however asserted that he touched
+at all these places, nor does he seem to speak from personal
+knowledge until his arrival at Java minor (as he calls it) or
+Sumatra. This island, lying in a south-eastern direction from
+Petan (if he does not rather mean from Malaiur, the place last
+mentioned) he expressly says he visited, and describes it as
+being in circumference two thousand miles (not very wide of the
+truth in a matter so vague), extending to the southward so far as
+to render the Polar Star invisible, and divided into eight
+kingdoms, two of which he did not see, and the six others he
+enumerates as follows: Ferlech, which I apprehend to be Parlak,
+at the eastern extremity of the northern coast, where they were
+likely to have first made the land. Here he says the people in
+general were idolaters; but the Saracen merchants who frequented
+the place had converted to the faith of Mahomet the inhabitants
+of the towns, whilst those of the mountains lived like beasts,
+and were in the practice of eating human flesh. Basma or Basman:
+this nearly approaches in sound to Pasaman on the western coast,
+but I should be more inclined to refer it to Pase (by the
+Portuguese written Pacem) on the northern. The manners of the
+people here, as in the other kingdoms, are represented as savage;
+and such they might well appear to one who had long resided in
+China. Wild elephants are mentioned, and the rhinoceros is well
+described. Samara: this I suppose to be Samar-langa, likewise on
+the northern coast, and noted for its bay. Here, he says, the
+expedition, consisting of two thousand persons, was constrained
+to remain five months, waiting the change of the monsoon; and,
+being apprehensive of injury from the barbarous natives, they
+secured themselves, by means of a deep ditch, on the land side,
+with its extremities embracing the port, and strengthened by
+bulwarks of timber. With provisions they were supplied in
+abundance, particularly the finest fish. There is no wheat, and
+the people live on rice. They are without vines, but extract an
+excellent liquor from trees of the palm kind by cutting off a
+branch and applying to it a vessel which is filled in the course
+of a day and night. A description is then given of the Indian or
+coconut. Dragoian, a name bearing some though not much
+resemblance to Indragiri on the eastern coast; but I doubt his
+having proceeded so far to the southward as that river. The
+customs of the natives are painted as still more atrocious in
+this district. When any of them are afflicted with disorders
+pronounced by their magicians to be incurable their relations
+cause them to be suffocated, and then dress and eat their flesh;
+justifying the practice by this argument, that if it were
+suffered to corrupt and breed worms, these must presently perish,
+and by their deaths subject the soul of the deceased to great
+torments. They also kill and devour such strangers caught amongst
+them as cannot pay a ransom. Lambri might be presumed a
+corruption of Jambi, but the circumstances related do not justify
+the analogy. It is said to produce camphor, which is not found to
+the southward of the equinoctial line; and also verzino, or
+red-wood (though I suspect benzuin to be the word intended),
+together with a plant which he names birci, supposed to be the
+bakam of the Arabs, or sappan wood of the eastern islands, the
+seeds of which he carried with him to Venice. In the mountainous
+parts were men with tails a palm long; also the rhinoceros, and
+other wild animals. Lastly, Fanfur or Fansur, which corresponds
+better to Campar than to the island of Panchur, which some have
+supposed it. Here the finest camphor was produced, equal in value
+to its weight in gold. The inhabitants live on rice and draw
+liquor from certain trees in the manner before described. There
+are likewise trees that yield a species of meal. They are of a
+large size, have a thin bark, under which is a hard wood about
+three inches in thickness, and within this the pith, from which,
+by means of steeping and straining it, the meal (or sago) is
+procured, of which he had often eaten with satisfaction. Each of
+these kingdoms is said to have had its peculiar language.
+Departing from Lambri, and steering northward from Java minor one
+hundred and fifty miles, they reached a small island named
+Necuram or Norcueran (probably Nancowry, one of the Nicobars),
+and afterwards an island named Angaman (Andaman), from whence,
+steering to the southward of west a thousand miles, they arrived
+at that of Zeilan or Seilam, one of the most considerable in the
+world. The editions consulted are chiefly the Italian of Ramusio,
+1583, Latin of Muller, 1671, and French of Bergeron, 1735,
+varying much from each other in the orthography of proper
+names.</p>
+
+<p>ODORICUS.</p>
+
+<p>Odoricus, a friar, who commenced his travels in 1318 and died
+at Padua in 1331, had visited many parts of the East. From the
+southern part of the coast of Coromandel he proceeded by a
+navigation of twenty days to a country named Lamori (perhaps a
+corruption of the Arabian Al-rami), to the southward of which is
+another kingdom named Sumoltra, and not far from thence a large
+island named Java. His account, which was delivered orally to the
+person by whom it was written down, is extremely meagre and
+unsatisfactory.</p>
+
+<p>MANDEVILLE.</p>
+
+<p>Mandeville, who travelled in the fourteenth century, seems to
+have adopted the account of Odoricus when he says, "Beside the
+isle of Lemery is another that is clept Sumobor; and fast beside
+a great isle clept Java."</p>
+
+<p>NICOLO DI CONTI.</p>
+
+<p>Nicolo di Conti, of Venice, returned from his oriental travels
+in 1449 and communicated to the secretary of Pope Eugenius IV a
+much more consistent and satisfactory account of what he had seen
+than any of his predecessors. After giving a description of the
+cinnamon and other productions of Zeilam he says he sailed to a
+great island named Sumatra, called by the ancients Taprobana,
+where he was detained one year. His account of the pepper-plant,
+of the durian fruit, and of the extraordinary customs, now well
+ascertained, of the Batech or Batta people, prove him to have
+been an intelligent observer.</p>
+
+<p>ITINERARIUM PORTUGALLENSIUM.</p>
+
+<p>A small work entitled Itinerarium Portugallensium, printed at
+Milan in 1508, after speaking of the island of Sayla, says that
+to the eastward of this there is another called Samotra, which we
+name Taprobane, distant from the city of Calechut about three
+months' voyage. The information appears to have been obtained
+from an Indian of Cranganore, on the coast of Malabar, who
+visited Lisbon in 1501.</p>
+
+<p>LUDOVICO BARTHEMA.</p>
+
+<p>Ludovico Barthema (Vartoma) of Bologna, began his travels in
+1503, and in 1505, after visiting Malacca, which he describes as
+being the resort of a greater quantity of shipping than any other
+port in the world, passed over to Pedir in Sumatra, which he
+concludes to be Taprobane. The productions of the island, he
+says, were chiefly exported to Catai or China. From Sumatra he
+proceeded to Banda and the Moluccas, from thence returned by Java
+and Malacca to the west of India, and arrived at Lisbon in
+1508.</p>
+
+<p>ODOARDUS BARBOSA.</p>
+
+<p>Odoardus Barbosa, of Lisbon, who concluded the journal of his
+voyage in 1516, speaks with much precision of Sumatra. He
+enumerates many places, both upon the coast and inland, by the
+names they now bear, among which he considers Pedir as the
+principal, distinguishes between the Mahometan inhabitants of the
+coast and the Pagans of the inland country; and mentions the
+extensive trade carried on by the former with Cambaia in the west
+of India.</p>
+
+<p>ANTONIO PIGAFETTA.</p>
+
+<p>In the account given by Antonio Pigafetta, the companion of
+Ferdinand Magellan, of the famous circumnavigatory voyage
+performed by the Spaniards in the years 1519 to 1522, it is
+stated that, from their apprehension of falling in with
+Portuguese ships, they pursued their westerly route from the
+island of Timor, by the Laut Kidol, or southern ocean, leaving on
+their right hand the island of Zamatra (written in another part
+of the journal, Somatra) or Taprobana of the ancients. Mention is
+also made of a native of that island being on board, who served
+them usefully as an interpreter in many of the places they
+visited; and we are here furnished with the earliest specimen of
+the Malayan language.</p>
+
+<p>PORTUGUESE EXPEDITIONS.</p>
+
+<p>Previously however to this Spanish navigation of the Indian
+seas, by the way of South America, the expeditions of the
+Portuguese round the Cape of Good Hope had rendered the island
+well known, both in regard to its local circumstances and the
+manners of its inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>EMANUEL KING OF PORTUGAL.</p>
+
+<p>In a letter from Emanuel King of Portugal to Pope Leo the
+Tenth, dated in 1513, he speaks of the discovery of Zamatra by
+his subjects; and the writings of Juan de Barros, Castaneda,
+Osorius, and Maffaeus, detail the operations of Diogo Lopez de
+Sequeira at Pedir and Pase in 1509, and those of the great
+Alfonso de Alboquerque at the same places, in 1511, immediately
+before his attack upon Malacca. Debarros also enumerates the
+names of twenty of the principal places of the island with
+considerable precision, and observes that the peninsula or
+chersonesus had the epithet of aurea given to it on account of
+the abundance of gold carried thither from Monancabo and Barros,
+countries in the island of C(cedilla)amatra.</p>
+
+<p>Having thus noticed what has been written by persons who
+actually visited this part of India at an early period, or
+published from their oral communication by contemporaries, it
+will not be thought necessary to multiply authorities by quoting
+the works of subsequent commentators and geographers, who must
+have formed their judgments from the same original materials.</p>
+
+<p>NAME OF SUMATRA.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to the name of Sumatra, we perceive that it was
+unknown both to the Arabian travellers and to Marco Polo, who
+indeed was not likely to acquire it from the savage natives with
+whom he had intercourse. The appellation of Java minor which he
+gives to the island seems to have been quite arbitrary, and not
+grounded upon any authority, European or Oriental, unless we can
+suppose that he had determined it to be the I'azadith nesos of
+Ptolemy; but from the other parts of his relation it does not
+appear that he was acquainted with the work of that great
+geographer, nor could he have used it with any practical
+advantage. At all events it could not have led him to the
+distinction of a greater and a lesser Java; and we may rather
+conclude that, having visited (or heard of) the great island
+properly so called, and not being able to learn the real name of
+another, which from its situation and size might well be regarded
+as a sister island, he applied the same to both, with the
+relative epithets of major and minor. That Ptolemy's Jaba-dib or
+dio was intended, however vaguely, for the island of Java, cannot
+be doubted. It must have been known to the Arabian merchants, and
+he was indefatigable in his inquiries; but at the same time that
+they communicated the name they might be ill qualified to
+describe its geographical position.</p>
+
+<p>In the rude narrative of Odoricus we perceive the first
+approach to the modern name in the word Sumoltra. Those who
+immediately followed him write it with a slight, and often
+inconsistent, variation in the orthography, Sumotra, Samotra,
+Zamatra, and Sumatra. But none of these travellers inform us from
+whom they learned it; whether from the natives or from persons
+who had been in the habits of frequenting it from the continent
+of India; which latter I think the more probable. Reland, an able
+oriental scholar, who directed his attention to the languages of
+the islands, says it obtains its appellation from a certain high
+land called Samadra, which he supposes to signify in the language
+of the country a large ant; but in fact there is not any spot so
+named; and although there is some resemblance between semut, the
+word for an ant, and the name in question, the etymology is quite
+fanciful. Others have imagined that they find an easy derivation
+in the word samatra, to be met with in some Spanish or Portuguese
+dictionaries, as signifying a sudden storm of wind and rain, and
+from whence our seamen may have borrowed the expression; but it
+is evident that the order of derivation is here reversed, and
+that the phrase is taken from the name of the land in the
+neighbourhood of which such squalls prevail. In a Persian work of
+the year 1611 the name of Shamatrah occurs as one of those places
+where the Portuguese had established themselves; and in some very
+modern Malayan correspondence I find the word Samantara employed
+(along with another more usual, which will be hereafter
+mentioned) to designate this island.</p>
+
+<p>PROBABLY DERIVED FROM THE SANSKRIT.</p>
+
+<p>These, it is true, are not entirely free from the suspicion of
+having found their way to the Persians and Malays through the
+medium of European intercourse; but to a person who is conversant
+with the languages of the continent of India it must be obvious
+that the name, however written, bears a strong resemblance to
+words in the Sanskrit language: nor should this appear
+extraordinary when we consider (what is now fully admitted) that
+a large proportion of the Malayan is derived from that source,
+and that the names of many places in this and the neighbouring
+countries (such as Indrapura and Indragiri in Sumatra, Singapura
+at the extremity of the peninsula, and Sukapura and the mountain
+of Maha-meru in Java) are indisputably of Hindu origin. It is not
+my intention however to assign a precise etymology; but in order
+to show the general analogy to known Sanskrit terms it may be
+allowed to instance Samuder, the ancient name of the capital of
+the Carnatik, afterwards called Bider; Samudra-duta, which occurs
+in the Hetopadesa, as signifying the ambassador of the sea; the
+compound formed of su, good, and matra, measure; and more
+especially the word samantara, which implying a boundary,
+intermediate, or what lies between, might be thought to apply to
+the peculiar situation of an island intermediate between two
+oceans and two straits.</p>
+
+<p>NOT ENTIRELY UNKNOWN TO THE NATIVES.</p>
+
+<p>When on a former occasion it was asserted (and with too much
+confidence) that the name of Sumatra is unknown to the natives,
+who are ignorant of its being an island, and have no general name
+for it, the expression ought to have been confined to those
+natives with whom I had an opportunity of conversing, in the
+southern part of the west coast, where much genuineness of
+manners prevails, with little of the spirit of commercial
+enterprise or communication with other countries. But even in
+situations more favourable for acquiring knowledge I believe it
+will be found that the inhabitants of very large islands, and
+especially if surrounded by smaller ones, are accustomed to
+consider their own as terra firma, and to look to no other
+geographical distinction than that of the district or nation to
+which they belong. Accordingly we find that the more general
+names have commonly been given by foreigners, and, as the
+Arabians chose to call this island Al-rami or Lameri, so the
+Hindus appear to have named it Sumatra or Samantara.</p>
+
+<p>MALAYAN NAMES FOR THE ISLAND.</p>
+
+<p>Since that period however, having become much better
+acquainted with Malayan literature, and perused the writings of
+various parts of the peninsula and islands where the language is
+spoken and cultivated, I am enabled to say that Sumatra is well
+known amongst the eastern people and the better-informed of the
+natives themselves by the two names of Indalas and Pulo percha
+(or in the southern dialect Pritcho).</p>
+
+<p>INDALAS.</p>
+
+<p>Of the meaning or analogies of the former, which seems to have
+been applied to it chiefly by the neighbouring people of Java, I
+have not any conjecture, and only observe its resemblance
+(doubtless accidental) to the Arabian denomination of Spain or
+Andalusia. In one passage I find the Straits of Malacca termed
+the sea of Indalas, over which, we are gravely told, a bridge was
+thrown by Alexander the Great.</p>
+
+<p>PERCHA.</p>
+
+<p>The latter and more common name is from a Malayan word
+signifying fragments or tatters, and the application is
+whimsically explained by the condition of the sails of the vessel
+in which the island was circumnavigated for the first time; but
+it may with more plausibility be supposed to allude to the broken
+or intersected land for which the eastern coast is so remarkable.
+It will indeed be seen in the map that in the vicinity of what
+are called Rupat's Straits there is a particular place of this
+description named Pulo Percha, or the Broken Islands. As to the
+appellation of Pulo Ber-api, or Volcano Island, which has also
+occurred, it is too indefinite for a proper name in a region of
+the globe where the phenomenon is by no means rare or peculiar,
+and should rather be considered as a descriptive epithet.</p>
+
+<p>MAGNITUDE.</p>
+
+<p>In respect to magnitude, it ranks amongst the largest islands
+in the world; but its breadth throughout is determined with so
+little accuracy that any attempt to calculate its superficies
+must be liable to very considerable error. Like Great Britain it
+is broadest at the southern extremity, narrowing gradually to the
+north; and to this island it is perhaps in size more nearly
+allied than in shape.</p>
+
+<p>MOUNTAINS.</p>
+
+<p>A chain of mountains runs through its whole extent, the ranges
+being in many parts double and treble, but situated in general
+much nearer to the western than the opposite coast, being on the
+former seldom so much as twenty miles from the sea, whilst on the
+eastern side the extent of level country, in the broader part of
+the island, through which run the great rivers of Siak,
+Indragiri, Jambi, and Palembang, cannot be less than a hundred
+and fifty. The height of these mountains, though very great, is
+not sufficient to occasion their being covered with snow during
+any part of the year, as those in South America between the
+tropics are found to be. Mount Ophir,* or Gunong Pasaman,
+situated immediately under the equinoctial line, is supposed to
+be the highest visible from the sea, its summit being elevated
+thirteen thousand eight hundred and forty-two feet above that
+level; which is no more than two-thirds of the altitude the
+French astronomers have ascribed to the loftiest of the Andes,
+but somewhat exceeds that of the Peak of Tenerife.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The following is the result of
+observations made by Mr. Robert Nairne of the height of Mount
+Ophir:
+
+<p>Height of the peak above the level of the sea, in feet:
+13,842.<br>
+English miles: 2.6216.<br>
+Nautical miles: 2.26325.<br>
+Inland, nearly: 26 nautical miles.<br>
+Distance from Massang Point: 32 nautical miles.<br>
+Distance at sea before the peak is sunk under the horizon: 125
+nautical miles.<br>
+Latitude of the peak: 0 degrees 6 minutes north.<br>
+A volcano mountain, south of Ophir, is short of that in height
+by: 1377 feet.<br>
+Inland, nearly 29 nautical miles.<br>
+In order to form a comparison I subjoin the height, as computed
+by mathematicians, of other mountains in different parts of the
+world:<br>
+Chimborazo, the highest of the Andes, 3220 toises or 20,633
+English feet. Of this about 2400 feet from the summit are covered
+with eternal snow.<br>
+Carazon, ascended by the French astronomers: 15,800 English
+feet.<br>
+Peak of Tenerife. Feuille: 2270 toises or 13,265 feet.<br>
+Mount Blanc, Savoy. Sr. G. Shuckburgh: 15,662.<br>
+Mount Etna, Sr. G. Shuckburgh: 10,954.</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Between these ridges of mountains are extensive plains,
+considerably elevated above the surface of the maritime lands,
+where the air is cool; and from this advantage they are esteemed
+the most eligible portion of the country, are consequently the
+best inhabited and the most cleared from woods, which elsewhere
+in general throughout Sumatra cover both hills and valleys with
+an eternal shade. Here too are found many large and beautiful
+lakes that extend at intervals through the heart of the country,
+and facilitate much the communication between the different
+parts, but their dimensions, situation, or direction, are very
+little known, though the natives make frequent mention of them in
+the accounts of their journeys. Those principally spoken of are:
+one of great extent but unascertained situation in the Batta
+country; one in the Korinchi country, lately visited by Mr. C.
+Campbel; and another in the Lampong country, extending towards
+Pasummah, navigated by boats of a large class with sails, and
+requires a day and night to effect the passage across it; which
+may be the case in the rainy season, as that part of the island
+through which the Tulang Bawang River flows is subject to
+extensive inundations, causing it to communicate with the river
+of the Palembang. In a journey made many years since by a son of
+the sultan of the latter place, to visit the English resident at
+Croee, he is said to have proceeded by the way of that lake. It
+is much to be regretted that the situation of so important a
+feature in the geography of the island should be at this day the
+subject of uncertain conjecture.</p>
+
+<p>WATERFALLS.</p>
+
+<p>Waterfalls and cascades are not uncommon, as may be supposed
+in a country of so uneven a surface as that of the western coast.
+A remarkable one descends from the north side of Mount Pugong.
+The island of Mansalar, lying off and affording shelter to the
+bay of Tappanuli, presents to the view a fall of very striking
+appearance, the reservoir of which the natives assert (in their
+fondness for the marvellous) to be a huge shell of the species
+called kima (Chama gigas) found in great quantities in that bay,
+as well as at New Guinea and other parts of the east.* At the
+bottom of this fall ships occasionally take in their water
+without being under the necessity of landing their casks; but
+such attempts are liable to extreme hazard. A ship from England
+(the Elgin) attracted by the appearance from sea of a small but
+beautiful cascade descending perpendicularly from the steep
+cliff, that, like an immense rampart, lines the seashore near
+Manna, sent a boat in order to procure fresh water; but she was
+lost in the surf, and the crew drowned.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The largest I have seen was brought from
+Tappanuli by Mr. James Moore of Arno's Vale in the north of
+Ireland. It is 3 feet 3 1/2 inches in its longest diameter, and 2
+feet 1 1/4 inches across. One of the methods of taking them in
+deep water is by thrusting a long bamboo between the valves as
+they lie open, when, by the immediate closure which follows, they
+are made fast. The substance of the shell is perfectly white,
+several inches thick, is worked by the natives into arm-rings,
+and in the hands of our artists is found to take a polish equal
+to the finest statuary marble.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>RIVERS.</p>
+
+<p>No country in the world is better supplied with water than the
+western coast of the island. Springs are found wherever they are
+sought for, and the rivers are innumerable; but they are in
+general too small and rapid for the purpose of navigation. The
+vicinity of the mountains to that side of the island occasions
+this profusion of rivulets, and at the same time the
+imperfections that attend them, by not allowing them space to
+accumulate to any considerable size. On the eastern coast the
+distance of the range of hills not only affords a larger scope
+for the course of the rivers before they disembogue, presents a
+greater surface for the receptacle of rain and vapours, and
+enables them to unite a greater number of subsidiary streams, but
+also renders the flux more steady and uniform by the extent of
+level space than where the torrent rolls more immediately from
+the mountains. But it is not to be understood that on the western
+side there are no large rivers. Kataun, Indrapura, Tabuyong, and
+Sinkel have a claim to that title, although inferior in size to
+Palembang, Jambi, Indragiri, and Siak. The latter derive also a
+material advantage from the shelter given to them by the
+peninsula of Malacca, and Borneo, Banca, and the other islands of
+the Archipelago, which, breaking the force of the sea, prevent
+the surf from forming those bars that choke the entrance of the
+south-western rivers, and render them impracticable to boats of
+any considerable draught of water. These labour too under this
+additional inconvenience that scarcely any except the largest run
+out to sea in a direct course. The continual action of the surf,
+more powerful than the ordinary force of the stream, throws up at
+their mouths a bank of sand, which in many instances has the
+effect of diverting their course to a direction parallel with the
+shore, between the cliffs and the beach, until the accumulated
+waters at length force their way wherever there is found the
+weakest resistance. In the southerly monsoon, when the surfs are
+usually highest, and the streams, from the dryness of the
+weather, least rapid, this parallel course is of the greatest
+extent; and Moco-moco River takes a course, at times, of two or
+three miles in this manner, before it mixes with the sea; but as
+the rivers swell with the rain they gradually remove obstructions
+and recover their natural channel.</p>
+
+<p>AIR.</p>
+
+<p>The heat of the air is by no means so intense as might be
+expected in a country occupying the middle of the torrid zone. It
+is more temperate than in many regions without the tropics, the
+thermometer, at the most sultry hour, which is about two in the
+afternoon, generally fluctuating between 82 and 85 degrees. I do
+not recollect to have ever seen it higher than 86 in the shade,
+at Fort Marlborough; although at Natal, in latitude 34 minutes
+north, it is not unfrequently at 87 and 88 degrees. At sunrise it
+is usually as low as 70; the sensation of cold however is much
+greater than this would seem to indicate, as it occasions
+shivering and a chattering of the teeth; doubtless from the
+greater relaxation of the body and openness of the pores in that
+climate; for the same temperature in England would be esteemed a
+considerable degree of warmth. These observations on the state of
+the air apply only to the districts near the sea-coast, where,
+from their comparatively low situation, and the greater
+compression of the atmosphere, the sun's rays operate more
+powerfully. Inland, as the country ascends, the degree of heat
+decreases rapidly, insomuch that beyond the first range of hills
+the inhabitants find it expedient to light fires in the morning,
+and continue them till the day is advanced, for the purpose of
+warming themselves; a practice unknown in the other parts of the
+island; and in the journal of Lieutenant Dare's expedition it
+appears that during one night's halt on the summit of a mountain,
+in the rainy season, he lost several of his party from the
+severity of the weather, whilst the thermometer was not lower
+than 40 degrees. To the cold also they attribute the backwardness
+in growth of the coconut-tree, which is sometimes twenty or
+thirty years in coming to perfection, and often fails to produce
+fruit. Situations are uniformly colder in proportion to their
+height above the level of the sea, unless where local
+circumstances, such as the neighbourhood of sandy plains,
+contribute to produce a contrary effect; but in Sumatra the
+coolness of the air is promoted by the quality of the soil, which
+is clayey, and the constant and strong verdure that prevails,
+which, by absorbing the sun's rays, prevents the effect of their
+reflection. The circumstance of the island being so narrow
+contributes also to its general temperateness, as wind directly
+or recently from the sea is seldom possessed of any violent
+degree of heat, usually acquired in passing over large tracts of
+land in the tropical climates. Frost, snow, and hail I believe to
+be unknown to the inhabitants. The hill-people in the country of
+Lampong speak indeed of a peculiar kind of rain that falls there,
+which some have supposed to be what we call sleet; but the fact
+is not sufficiently established. The atmosphere is in common more
+cloudy than in Europe, which is sensibly perceived from the
+infrequency of clear starlight nights. This may proceed from the
+greater rarefaction of the air occasioning the clouds to descend
+lower and become more opaque, or merely from the stronger heat
+exhaling from the land and sea a thicker and more plentiful
+vapour. The fog, called kabut by the natives, which is observed
+to rise every morning among the distant hills, is dense to a
+surprising degree; the extremities of it, even when near at hand,
+being perfectly defined; and it seldom is observed to disperse
+till about three hours after sunrise.</p>
+
+<p>WATERSPOUT.</p>
+
+<p>That extraordinary phenomenon, the waterspout, so well known
+to and described by navigators, frequently makes its appearance
+in these parts, and occasionally on shore. I had seen many at
+sea; but the largest and most distinct (from its proximity) that
+I had an opportunity of observing, presented itself to me whilst
+on horseback. I was so near to it that I could perceive what
+appeared to be an inward gyration, distinct from the volume
+surrounding it or body of the tube; but am aware that this might
+have been a deception of sight, and that it was the exterior part
+which actually revolved--as quiescent bodies seem to persons in
+quick motion, to recede in a contrary direction. Like other
+waterspouts it was sometimes perpendicular and sometimes curved,
+like the pipe of a still-head, its course tending in a direction
+from Bencoolen Bay across the peninsula on which the English
+settlement stands; but before it reached the sea on the other
+side it diminished by degrees, as if from want of the supplies
+that should be furnished by its proper element, and collected
+itself into the cloud from which it depended, without any
+consequent fall of water or destructive effect. The whole
+operation we may presume to be of the nature of a whirlwind, and
+the violent ebullition in that part of the sea to which the lower
+extremity of the tube points to be a corresponding effect to the
+agitation of the leaves or sand on shore, which in some instances
+are raised to a vast height; but in the formation of the
+waterspout the rotatory motion of the wind acts not only upon the
+surface of the land or sea, but also upon the overhanging cloud,
+and seems to draw it downwards.</p>
+
+<p>THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.</p>
+
+<p>Thunder and lightning are there so very frequent as scarcely
+to attract the attention of persons long resident in the country.
+During the north-west monsoon the explosions are extremely
+violent; the forked lightning shoots in all directions, and the
+whole sky seems on fire, whilst the ground is agitated in a
+degree little inferior to the motion of a slight earthquake. In
+the south-east monsoon the lightning is more constant, but the
+coruscations are less fierce or bright, and the thunder is
+scarcely audible. It would seem that the consequences of these
+awful meteors are not so fatal there as in Europe, few instances
+occurring of lives being lost or buildings destroyed by the
+explosions, although electrical conductors have never been
+employed. Perhaps the paucity of inhabitants in proportion to the
+extent of country and the unsubstantial materials of the houses
+may contribute to this observation. I have seen some trees,
+however, that have been shattered in Sumatra by the action of
+lightning.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Since the above was written accounts have
+been received that a magazine at Fort Marlborough, containing
+four hundred barrels of powder, was fired by lightning and blown
+up on the 18th of March 1782.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>MONSOONS.</p>
+
+<p>The causes which produce a successive variety of seasons in
+the parts of the earth without the tropics, having no relation or
+respect to the region of the torrid zone, a different order takes
+place there, and the year is distinguished into two divisions,
+usually called the rainy and dry monsoons or seasons, from the
+weather peculiar to each. In the several parts of India these
+monsoons are governed by various particular laws in regard to the
+time of their commencement, period of duration, circumstances
+attending their change, and direction of the prevailing wind
+according to the nature and situation of the lands and coasts
+where their influence is felt. The farther peninsula of India,
+where the kingdom of Siam lies, experiences at the same time the
+effects of opposite seasons; the western side, in the Bay of
+Bengal, being exposed for half the year to continual rains,
+whilst on the eastern side the finest weather is enjoyed; and so
+on the different coasts of Indostan the monsoons exert their
+influence alternately; the one remaining serene and undisturbed
+whilst the other is agitated by storms. Along the coast of
+Coromandel the change, or breaking up of the monsoon as it is
+called, is frequently attended with the most violent gales of
+wind.</p>
+
+<p>On the west coast of Sumatra, southward of the equinoctial,
+the south-east monsoon or dry season begins about May and
+slackens in September: the north-west monsoon begins about
+November, and the hard rains cease about March. The monsoons for
+the most part commence and leave off gradually there; the months
+of April and May, October and November generally affording
+weather and winds variable and uncertain.</p>
+
+<p>CAUSE OF THE MONSOONS.</p>
+
+<p>The causes of these periodical winds have been investigated by
+several able naturalists, whose systems, however, do not entirely
+correspond either in the principles laid down or in their
+application to the effects known to be produced in different
+parts of the globe. I shall summarily mention what appear to be
+the most evident, or probable at least, among the general laws,
+or inferences, which have been deduced from the examination of
+this subject. If the sea were perfectly uninterrupted and free
+from the irregular influence of lands, a perpetual easterly wind
+would prevail in all that space comprehended between the
+twenty-eighth or thirteenth degrees of north and south latitude.
+This is primarily occasioned by the diurnal revolution of the
+earth upon its axis from west to east; but whether through the
+operation of the sun, proceeding westward, upon the atmospheric
+fluid, or the rapidity of revolution of the solid body, which
+leaves behind it that fluid with which it is surrounded, and
+thereby causes it virtually to recede in a contrary direction; or
+whether these principles cooperate, or unequally oppose each
+other, as has been ingeniously contended, I shall not take upon
+me to decide. It is sufficient to say that such an effect appears
+to be the first general law of the tropical winds. Whatever may
+be the degree of the sun's influence upon the atmosphere in his
+transient diurnal course, it cannot be doubted but that, in
+regard to his station in the path of the ecliptic, his power is
+considerable. Towards that region of the air which is rarefied by
+the more immediate presence of the heat, the colder and denser
+parts will naturally flow. Consequently from about, and a few
+degrees beyond, the tropics, on either side, the air tends
+towards the equator; and, combining with the general eastern
+current before mentioned, produces (or would, if the surface were
+uniform) a north-east wind in the northern division, and a
+south-east in the southern; varying in the extent of its course
+as the sun happens to be more or less remote at the time. These
+are denominated the trade-winds, and are the subject of the
+second general observation. It is evident that, with respect to
+the middle space between the tropics, those parts which at one
+season of the year lie to the northward of the sun, are, during
+another, to the southward of him; and of course that an
+alteration of the effects last described must take place,
+according to the relative situation of the luminary; or in other
+words, that the principle which causes at one time a north-east
+wind to prevail at any particular spot in those latitudes must,
+when the circumstances are changed, occasion a south-east wind.
+Such may be esteemed the outline of the periodical winds, which
+undoubtedly depend upon the alternate course of the sun
+northwards and southwards; and this I state as the third general
+law. But although this may be conformable with experience in
+extensive oceans, yet, in the vicinity of continents and great
+islands, deviations are remarked that almost seem to overturn the
+principle. Along the western coast of Africa and in some parts of
+the Indian seas, the periodical winds, or monsoons as they are
+termed in the latter, blow from the west-north-west and
+south-west, according to the situation, extent, and nature of the
+nearest lands; the effect of which upon the incumbent atmosphere,
+when heated by the sun at those seasons in which he is vertical,
+is prodigious, and possibly superior to that of any other cause
+which contributes to the production or direction of wind. To
+trace the operation of this irregular principle through the
+several winds prevalent in India, and their periodical failures
+and changes, would prove an intricate but, I conceive, by no
+means an impossible task.* It is foreign however to my present
+purpose, and I shall only observe that the north-east monsoon is
+changed, on the western coast of Sumatra, to north-west or
+west-north-west by the influence of the land. During the
+south-east monsoon the wind is found to blow there, between that
+point and south. Whilst the sun continues near the equator the
+winds are variable, nor is their direction fixed till he has
+advanced several degrees towards the tropic: and this is the
+cause of the monsoons usually setting in, as I have observed,
+about May and November, instead of the equinoctial months.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. It has been attempted, and with much
+ingenious reasoning, by Mr. Semeyns in the third volume of the
+Haerlem Transactions which have but lately fallen into my
+hands.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>LAND AND SEA BREEZES.</p>
+
+<p>Thus much is sufficient with regard to the periodical winds. I
+shall proceed to give an account of those distinguished by the
+appellation of land and sea breezes, which require from me a
+minuter investigation, both because, as being more local, they
+more especially belong to my subject, and that their nature has
+hitherto been less particularly treated of by naturalists.</p>
+
+<p>In this island, as well as all other countries between the
+tropics of any considerable extent, the wind uniformly blows from
+the sea to the land for a certain number of hours in the four and
+twenty, and then changes and blows for about as many from the
+land to the sea; excepting only when the monsoon rages with
+remarkable violence, and even at such time the wind rarely fails
+to incline a few points, in compliance with the efforts of the
+subordinate clause, which has not power, under these
+circumstances, to produce an entire change. On the west coast of
+Sumatra the sea-breeze usually sets in, after an hour or two of
+calm, about ten in the forenoon, and continues till near six in
+the evening. About seven the land-breeze comes off, and prevails
+through the night till towards eight in the morning, when it
+gradually dies away.</p>
+
+<p>CAUSE OF THE LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.</p>
+
+<p>These depend upon the same general principle that causes and
+regulates all other wind. Heat acting upon air rarefies it, by
+which it becomes specifically lighter, and mounts upward. The
+denser parts of the atmosphere which surround that so rarefied,
+rush into the vacuity from their superior weight; endeavouring,
+as the laws of gravity require, to restore the equilibrium. Thus
+in the round buildings where the manufactory of glass is carried
+on, the heat of the furnace in the centre being intense, a
+violent current of air may be perceived to force its way in,
+through doors or crevices, on opposite sides of the house. As the
+general winds are caused by the DIRECT influence of the sun's
+rays upon the atmosphere, that particular deviation of the
+current distinguished by the name of land and sea breezes is
+caused by the influence of his REFLECTED rays, returned from the
+earth or sea on which they strike. The surface of the earth is
+more suddenly heated by the rays of the sun than that of the sea,
+from its greater density and state of rest; consequently it
+reflects those rays sooner and with more power: but, owing also
+to its density, the heat is more superficial than that imbibed by
+the sea, which becomes more intimately warmed by its transparency
+and by its motion, continually presenting a fresh surface to the
+sun. I shall now endeavour to apply these principles. By the time
+the rising sun has ascended to the height of thirty or forty
+degrees above the horizon the earth has acquired, and reflected
+on the body of air situated over it, a degree of heat sufficient
+to rarefy it and destroy its equilibrium; in consequence of which
+the body of air above the sea, not being equally, or scarcely at
+all, rarefied, rushes towards the land and the same causes
+operating so long as the sun continues above the horizon, a
+constant sea-breeze, or current of air from sea to land, prevails
+during that time. From about an hour before sunset the surface of
+the earth begins to lose the heat it has acquired from the more
+perpendicular rays. That influence of course ceases, and a calm
+succeeds. The warmth imparted to the sea, not so violent as that
+of the land but more deeply imbibed, and consequently more
+permanent, now acts in turn, and by the rarefaction it causes
+draws towards its region the land air, grown cooler, more dense,
+and heavier, which continues thus to flow back till the earth, by
+a renovation of its heat in the morning, once more obtains the
+ascendancy. Such is the general rule, conformable with
+experience, and founded, as it seems to me, in the laws of motion
+and the nature of things. The following observations will serve
+to corroborate what I have advanced, and to throw additional
+light on the subject for the information and guidance of any
+future investigator.</p>
+
+<p>The periodical winds which are supposed to blow during six
+months from the north-west and as many from the south-east rarely
+observe this regularity, except in the very heart of the monsoon;
+inclining, almost at all times, several points to seaward, and
+not unfrequently blowing from the south-west or in a line
+perpendicular to the coast. This must be attributed to the
+influence of that principle which causes the land and sea winds
+proving on these occasions more powerful than the principle of
+the periodical winds; which two seem here to act at right angles
+with each other; and as the influence of either is prevalent the
+winds draw towards a course perpendicular to or parallel with the
+line of the coast. Excepting when a squall or other sudden
+alteration of weather, to which these climates are particularly
+liable, produces an irregularity, the tendency of the land-wind
+at night has almost ever a correspondence with the sea-wind of
+the preceding or following day; not blowing in a direction
+immediately opposite to it (which would be the case if the former
+were, as some writers have supposed, merely the effect of the
+accumulation and redundance of the latter, without any positive
+cause) but forming an equal and contiguous angle, of which the
+coast is the common side. Thus, if the coast be conceived to run
+north and south, the same influence, or combination of
+influences, which produces a sea-wind at north-west produces a
+land-wind at north-east; or adapting the case to Sumatra, which
+lies north-west and south-east, a sea-wind at south is preceded
+or followed by a land-wind at east. This remark must not be taken
+in too strict a sense, but only as the result of general
+observation. If the land-wind, in the course of the night, should
+draw round from east to north it would be looked upon as an
+infallible prognostic of a west or north-west wind the next day.
+On this principle it is that the natives foretell the direction
+of the wind by the noise of the surf at night, which if heard
+from the northward is esteemed the forerunner of a northerly
+wind, and vice versa. The quarter from which the noise is heard
+depends upon the course of the land-wind, which brings the sound
+with it, and drowns it to leeward--the land-wind has a
+correspondence with the next day's sea-wind--and thus the
+divination is accounted for.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of the sea-wind is not perceived to the distance of
+more than three or four leagues from the shore in common, and for
+the most part it is fainter in proportion to the distance. When
+it first sets in it does not commence at the remoter extremity of
+its limits but very near the shore, and gradually extends itself
+farther to sea, as the day advances; probably taking the longer
+or shorter course as the day is more or less hot. I have
+frequently observed the sails of ships at the distance of four,
+six, or eight miles, quite becalmed, whilst a fresh sea-breeze
+was at the time blowing upon the shore. In an hour afterwards
+they have felt its effect.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. This observation as well as many others I
+have made on the subject I find corroborated in the Treatise
+before quoted from the Haerlem Transactions which I had not seen
+when the present work was first published.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>Passing along the beach about six o'clock in the evening when
+the sea-breeze is making its final efforts, I have perceived it
+to blow with a considerable degree of warmth, owing to the heat
+the sea had by that time acquired, which would soon begin to
+divert the current of air towards it when it had first overcome
+the vis inertiae that preserves motion in a body after the
+impelling power has ceased to operate. I have likewise been
+sensible of a degree of warmth on passing, within two hours after
+sunset, to leeward of a lake of fresh water; which proves the
+assertion of water imbibing a more permanent heat than earth. In
+the daytime the breeze would be rendered cool in crossing the
+same lake.</p>
+
+<p>Approaching an island situated at a distance from any other
+land, I was struck with the appearance of the clouds about nine
+in the morning which then formed a perfect circle round it, the
+middle being a clear azure, and resembled what the painters call
+a glory. This I account for from the reflected rays of the sun
+rarefying the atmosphere immediately over the island, and equally
+in all parts, which caused a conflux of the neighbouring air, and
+with in the circumjacent clouds. These last, tending uniformly to
+the centre, compressed each other at a certain distance from it,
+and, like the stones in an arch of masonry, prevented each
+other's nearer approach. That island, however, does not
+experience the vicissitude of land and sea breezes, being too
+small, and too lofty, and situated in a latitude where the trade
+or perpetual winds prevail in their utmost force. In sandy
+countries, the effect of the sun's rays penetrating deeply, a
+more permanent heat is produced, the consequence of which should
+be the longer continuance of the sea-breeze in the evening; and
+agreeably to this supposition I have been informed that on the
+coast of Coromandel it seldom dies away before ten at night. I
+shall only add on this subject that the land-wind on Sumatra is
+cold, chilly, and damp; an exposure to it is therefore dangerous
+to the health, and sleeping in it almost certain death.</p>
+
+<p>SOIL.</p>
+
+<p>The soil of the western side of Sumatra may be spoken of
+generally as a stiff, reddish clay, covered with a stratum or
+layer of black mould, of no considerable depth. From this there
+springs a strong and perpetual verdure of rank grass, brushwood,
+or timber-trees, according as the country has remained a longer
+or shorter time undisturbed by the consequences of population,
+which, being in most places extremely thin, it follows that a
+great proportion of the island, and especially to the southward,
+is an impervious forest.</p>
+
+<p>UNEVENNESS OF SURFACE.</p>
+
+<p>Along the western coast of the island the low country, or
+space of land which extends from the seashore to the foot of the
+mountains, is intersected and rendered uneven to a surprising
+degree by swamps whose irregular and winding course may in some
+places be traced in a continual chain for many miles till they
+discharge themselves either into the sea, some neighbouring lake,
+or the fens that are so commonly found near the banks of the
+larger rivers and receive their overflowings in the rainy
+monsoons. The spots of land which these swamps encompass become
+so many islands and peninsulas, sometimes flat at top, and often
+mere ridges; having in some places a gentle declivity, and in
+others descending almost perpendicularly to the depth of a
+hundred feet. In few parts of the country of Bencoolen, or of the
+northern districts adjacent to it, could a tolerably level space
+of four hundred yards square be marked out. I have often, from an
+elevated situation, where a wider range was subjected to the eye,
+surveyed with admiration the uncommon face which nature assumes,
+and made inquiries and attended to conjectures on the causes of
+these inequalities. Some choose to attribute them to the
+successive concussions of earthquakes through a course of
+centuries. But they do not seem to be the effect of such a cause.
+There are no abrupt fissures; the hollows and swellings are for
+the most part smooth and regularly sloping so as to exhibit not
+unfrequently the appearance of an amphitheatre, and they are
+clothed with verdure from the summit to the edge of the swamp.
+From this latter circumstance it is also evident that they are
+not, as others suppose, occasioned by the falls of heavy rains
+that deluge the country for one half of the year; which is
+likewise to be inferred from many of them having no apparent
+outlet and commencing where no torrent could be conceived to
+operate. The most summary way of accounting for this
+extraordinary unevenness of surface were to conclude that, in the
+original construction of our globe, Sumatra was thus formed by
+the same hand which spread out the sandy plains of Arabia, and
+raised up the alps and Andes beyond the region of the clouds. But
+this is a mode of solution which, if generally adopted, would
+become an insuperable bar to all progress in natural knowledge by
+damping curiosity and restraining research. Nature, we know from
+sufficient experience, is not only turned from her original
+course by the industry of man, but also sometimes checks and
+crosses her own career. What has happened in some instances it is
+not unfair to suppose may happen in others; nor is it presumption
+to trace the intermediate causes of events which are themselves
+derived from one first, universal, and eternal principle.</p>
+
+<p>CAUSES OF THIS INEQUALITY.</p>
+
+<p>To me it would seem that the springs of water with which these
+parts of the island abound in an uncommon degree operate
+directly, though obscurely, to the producing this irregularity of
+the surface of the earth. They derive their number and an
+extraordinary portion of activity from the loftiness of the
+ranges of mountains that occupy the interior country, and
+intercept and collect the floating vapours. Precipitated into
+rain at such a hight, the water acquires in its descent through
+the fissures or pores of these mountains a considerable force
+which exerts itself in every direction, lateral and
+perpendicular, to procure a vent. The existence of these copious
+springs is proved in the facility with which wells are everywhere
+sunk; requiring no choice of ground but as it may respect the
+convenience of the proprietor; all situations, whether high or
+low, being prodigal of this valuable element. Where the
+approaches of the sea have rendered the cliffs abrupt,
+innumerable rills, or rather a continued moisture, is seen to
+ooze through and trickle down the steep. Where on the contrary
+the sea has retired and thrown up banks of sand in its retreat I
+have remarked the streams of water, at a certain level and
+commonly between the boundaries of the tide, effecting their
+passage through the loose and feeble barrier opposed to them. In
+short, every part of the low country is pregnant with springs
+that labour for the birth; and these continual struggles, this
+violent activity of subterraneous waters, must gradually
+undermine the plains above. The earth is imperceptibly excavated,
+the surface settles in, and hence the inequalities we speak of.
+The operation is slow but unremitting, and, I conceive, fully
+capable of the effect.</p>
+
+<p>MINERAL PRODUCTIONS.</p>
+
+<p>The earth of Sumatra is rich in minerals and other fossil
+productions.</p>
+
+<p>GOLD.</p>
+
+<p>No country has been more famous in all ages for gold, and,
+though the sources from whence it is drawn may be supposed in
+some measure exhausted by the avarice and industry of ages, yet
+at this day the quantity procured is very considerable, and
+doubtless might be much increased were the simple labour of the
+gatherer assisted by a knowledge of the arts of mineralogy.</p>
+
+<p>COPPER, IRON, TIN, SULPHUR.</p>
+
+<p>There are also mines of copper, iron, and tin. Sulphur is
+gathered in large quantities about the numerous volcanoes.</p>
+
+<p>SALTPETRE.</p>
+
+<p>Saltpetre the natives procure by a process of their own from
+the earth which is found impregnated with it; chiefly in
+extensive caves that have been, from the beginning of time, the
+haunt of a certain species of birds, of whose dung the soil is
+formed.</p>
+
+<p>COAL.</p>
+
+<p>Coal, mostly washed down by the floods, is collected in
+several parts, particularly at Kataun, Ayer-rammi, and Bencoolen.
+It is light and not esteemed very good; but I am informed that
+this is the case with all coal found near the surface of the
+earth, and, as the veins are observed to run in an inclined
+direction until the pits have some depth, the fossil must be of
+an indifferent quality. The little island of Pisang, near the
+foot of Mount Pugong, was supposed to be chiefly a bed of rock
+crystal, but upon examination of specimens taken from thence they
+proved to be calcareous spar.</p>
+
+<p>HOT SPRINGS.</p>
+
+<p>Mineral and hot springs have been discovered in many
+districts. In taste the waters mostly resemble those of
+Harrowgate, being nauseous to the palate.</p>
+
+<p>EARTH OIL.</p>
+
+<p>The oleum terrae, or earth oil, used chiefly as a preservative
+against the destructive ravages of the white-ants, is collected
+at Ipu and elsewhere.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The fountain of Naphtha or liquid balsam
+found at Pedir, so much celebrated by the Portuguese writers, is
+doubtless this oleum terrae, or meniak tanah, as it is called by
+the Malays.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>SOFT ROCK.</p>
+
+<p>There is scarcely any species of hard rock to be met with in
+the low parts of the island near the seashore. Besides the ledges
+of coral, which are covered by the tide, that which generally
+prevails is the napal, as it is called by the inhabitants,
+forming the basis of the red cliffs, and not infrequently the
+beds of the rivers. Though this napal has the appearance of rock
+it possesses in fact so little solidity that it is difficult to
+pronounce whether it be a soft stone or only an indurated clay.
+The surface of it becomes smooth and glossy by a slight
+attrition, and to the touch resembles soap, which is its most
+striking characteristic; but it is not soluble in water and makes
+no effervescence with acids. Its colour is either grey, brown, or
+red, according to the nature of the earth that prevails in its
+composition. The red napal has by much the smallest proportion of
+sand, and seems to possess all the qualities of the steatite or
+soap-earth found in Cornwall and other countries. The specimens
+of stone which I brought from the hills in the neighbourhood of
+Bencoolen were pronounced by some mineralogists, to whom I showed
+them at the time, to be granite; but upon more particular
+examination they appear to be a species of trap, consisting
+principally of feldspar and hornblende, of a greyish colour and
+nearly similar to the mountain stone of North Wales.</p>
+
+<p>PETRIFACTION.</p>
+
+<p>Where the encroachments of the sea have undermined the land
+the cliffs are left abrupt and naked, in some places to a very
+considerable height. In these many curious fossils are
+discovered, such as petrified wood, and seashells of various
+sorts. Hypotheses on this subject have been so ably supported and
+so powerfully attacked that I shall not presume to intrude myself
+in the lists. I shall only observe that, being so near the sea,
+many would hesitate to allow such discoveries to be of any weight
+in proving a violent alteration to have taken place in the
+surface of the terraqueous globe; whilst, on the other hand, it
+is unaccountable how, in the common course of natural events,
+such extraneous matter should come to be lodged in strata at the
+height perhaps of fifty feet above the level of the water, and as
+many below the surface of the land.</p>
+
+<p>COLOURED EARTHS.</p>
+
+<p>Here are likewise found various species of earths which might
+be applied to valuable purposes, as painters' colours, and
+otherwise. The most common are the yellow and red, probably
+ochres, and the white, which answers the description of the
+milenum of the ancients.</p>
+
+<p>VOLCANOES.</p>
+
+<p>There are a number of volcano mountains in this, as in almost
+all the other islands of the eastern Archipelago. They are called
+in the Malay language gunong-api, or more correctly, gunong
+ber-api. Lava has been seen to flow from a considerable one near
+Priamang; but I have never heard of its causing any other damage
+than the burning of woods. This however may be owing to the
+thinness of population, which does not render it necessary for
+the inhabitants to settle in a situation that exposes them to
+danger of this kind. The only volcano I had an opportunity of
+observing opened in the side of a mountain, about twenty miles
+inland of Bencoolen, one-fourth way from its top, as nearly as I
+can judge. It scarcely ever failed to emit smoke; but the column
+was only visible for two or three hours in the morning, seldom
+rising and preserving its form, above the upper edge of the hill,
+which is not of a conical shape but extending with a gradual
+slope.</p>
+
+<p>EARTHQUAKES.</p>
+
+<p>The high trees with which the country thereabout is covered,
+prevent the crater from being discernible at a distance; and this
+proves that the spot is not considerably raised or otherwise
+affected by the earthquakes which are very frequently felt there.
+Sometimes it has emitted smoke upon these occasions, and in other
+instances not. Yet during a smart earthquake which happened a few
+years before my arrival it was remarked to send forth flame,
+which it is rarely known to do.* The apprehension of the European
+inhabitants however is rather more excited when it continues any
+length of time without a tendency to an eruption, as they
+conceive it to be the vent by which the inflammable matter
+escapes that would otherwise produce these commotions of the
+earth. Comparatively with the descriptions I have read of
+earthquakes in South America, Calabria, and other countries,
+those which happen in Sumatra are generally very slight; and the
+usual manner of building renders them but little formidable to
+the natives.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Some gentlemen who deny the fact of its
+having at any time emitted flame, conjecture that what exhibits
+the appearance of smoke is more probably vapour arising from a
+considerable hot spring. The natives speak of it as a
+volcano.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>REMARKABLE EFFECTS OF AN EARTHQUAKE.</p>
+
+<p>The most severe that I have known was chiefly experienced in
+the district of Manna in the year 1770. A village was destroyed
+by the houses falling down and taking fire, and several lives
+were lost.* The ground was in one place rent a quarter of a mile,
+the width of two fathoms, and depth of four or five. A bituminous
+matter is described to have swelled over the sides of the cavity,
+and the earth for a long time after the shocks was observed to
+contract and dilate alternately. Many parts of the hills far
+inland could be distinguished to have given way, and a
+consequence of this was that during three weeks Manna River was
+so much impregnated with particles of clay that the natives could
+not bathe in it. At this time was formed near to the mouth of
+Padang Guchi, a neighbouring river south of the former, a large
+plain, seven miles long and half a mile broad; where there had
+been before only a narrow beach. The quantity of earth brought
+down on this occasion was so considerable that the hill upon
+which the English resident's house stands appears, from
+indubitable marks, less elevated by fifteen feet than it was
+before the event.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. I am informed that in 1763 an entire
+village was swallowed up by an earthquake in Pulo Nias, one of
+the islands which lie off the western coast of Sumatra. In July
+or August of the same year a severe one was felt in
+Bengal.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>Earthquakes have been remarked by some to happen usually upon
+sudden changes of weather, and particularly after violent heats;
+but I do not vouch this upon my own experience, which has been
+pretty ample. They are preceded by a low rumbling noise like
+distant thunder. The domestic cattle and fowls are sensible of
+the preternatural motion, and seem much alarmed; the latter
+making the cry they are wont to do on the approach of birds of
+prey. Houses situated on a low sandy soil are least affected, and
+those which stand on distinct hills suffer most from the shocks
+because the further removed from the centre of motion the greater
+the agitation; and the loose contexture of the one foundation,
+making less resistance than the solidity of the other, subjects
+the building to less violence. Ships at anchor in the road,
+though several miles distant from the shore, are strongly
+sensible of the concussion.</p>
+
+<p>NEW LAND FORMED.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the new land formed by the convulsions above
+described, the sea by a gradual recess in some parts produces the
+same effect. Many instances of this kind, of no considerable
+extent however have been observed within the memory of persons
+now living. But it would seem to me that that large tract of land
+called Pulo Point, forming the bay of the name, near to Silebar,
+with much of the adjacent country has thus been left by the
+withdrawing or thrown up by the motion of the sea. Perhaps the
+point may have been at first an island (from whence its
+appellation of Pulo) and the parts more inland gradually united
+to it.* Various circumstances tend to corroborate such an
+opinion, and to evince the probability that this was not an
+original portion of the main but new, half-formed land. All the
+swamps and marshy grounds that lie within the beach, and near the
+extremity there are little else, are known, in consequence of
+repeated surveys, to be lower than the level of high-water; the
+bank of sand alone preventing an inundation. The country is not
+only quite free from hills or inequalities of any kind, but has
+scarcely a visible slope. Silebar River, which empties itself
+into Pulo Bay, is totally unlike those in other parts of the
+island. The motion of its stream is hardly perceptible; it is
+never affected by floods; its course is marked out, not by banks
+covered with ancient and venerable woods but by rows of mangroves
+and other aquatics springing from the ooze, and perfectly
+regular. Some miles from the mouth it opens into a beautiful and
+extensive lake, diversified with small islands, flat, and verdant
+with rushes only. The point of Pulo is covered with the arau tree
+(casuarina) or bastard-pine, as some have called it, which never
+grows but in the seasand and rises fast.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Since I formed this conjecture I have
+been told that such a tradition of no very ancient date prevails
+amongst the inhabitants.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>ENCROACHMENT OF THE SEA.</p>
+
+<p>None such are found toward Sungei-Lamo and the rest of the
+shore northward of Marlborough Point, where, on the contrary, you
+perceive the effects of continual depredations by the ocean. The
+old forest trees are there yearly undermined and, falling,
+obstruct the traveller; whilst about Pulo the arau-trees are
+continually springing up faster than they can be cut down or
+otherwise destroyed. Nature will not readily be forced from her
+course. The last time I visited that part there was a beautiful
+rising grove of these trees, establishing a possession in their
+proper soil. The country, as well immediately here about as to a
+considerable distance inland, is an entire bed of sand without
+any mixture of clay or mould, which I know to have been in vain
+sought for many miles up the neighbouring rivers. To the
+northward of Padang there is a plain which has evidently been, in
+former times, a bay. Traces of a shelving beach are there
+distinguishable at the distance of one hundred and fifty yards
+from the present boundary of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>But upon what hypothesis can it be accounted for that the sea
+should commit depredations on the northern coast, of which there
+are the most evident tokens as high up at least as Ipu, and
+probably to Indrapura, where the shelter of the neighbouring
+islands may put a stop to them, and that it should restore the
+land to the southward in the manner I have described? I am aware
+that according to the general motion of the tides from east to
+west this coast ought to receive a continual accession
+proportioned to the loss which others, exposed to the direction
+of this motion, must and do sustain; and it is likely that it
+does gain upon the whole. But the nature of my work obliges me to
+be more attentive to effects than causes, and to record facts
+though they should clash with systems the most just in theory,
+and most respectable in point of authority.</p>
+
+<p>ISLANDS NEAR THE WEST COAST.</p>
+
+<p>The chain of islands which lie parallel with the west coast of
+Sumatra may probably have once formed a part of the main and been
+separated from it, either by some violent effort of nature, or
+the gradual attrition of the sea. I should scarcely introduce the
+mention of this apparently vague surmise but that a circumstance
+presents itself on the coast which affords some stronger colour
+of proof than can be usually obtained in such instances. In many
+places, and particularly about Pally, we observe detached pieces
+of land standing singly, as islands, at the distance of one or
+two hundred yards from the shore, which were headlands of points
+running out into the sea within the remembrance of the
+inhabitants. The tops continue covered with trees or shrubs; but
+the sides are bare, abrupt, and perpendicular. The progress of
+insulation here is obvious and incontrovertible, and why may not
+larger islands, at a greater distance, have been formed in the
+revolution of ages by the same accidents? The probability is
+heightened by the direction of the islands Nias, Batu, Mantawei,
+Pagi, Mego, etc., the similarity of the rock, soil, and
+productions, and the regularity of soundings between them and the
+main, whilst without them the depth is unfathomable.</p>
+
+<p>CORAL ROCKS.</p>
+
+<p>Where the shore is flat or shelving the coast of Sumatra, as
+of all other tropical islands, is defended from the attacks of
+the sea by a reef or ledge of coral rock on which the surfs exert
+their violence without further effect than that of keeping its
+surface even, and reducing to powder those beautiful excrescences
+and ramifications which have been so much the object of the
+naturalist's curiosity, and which some ingenious men who have
+analysed them contend to be the work of insects. The coral powder
+is in particular places accumulated on the shore in great
+quantities, and appears, when not closely inspected, like a fine
+white sand.</p>
+
+<p>SURF.</p>
+
+<p>The surf (a word not to be found, I believe, in our
+dictionaries) is used in India, and by navigators in general, to
+express a peculiar swell and breaking of the sea upon the shore;
+the phenomena of which not having been hitherto much adverted to
+by writers I shall be the more circumstantial in my description
+of them.</p>
+
+<p>The surf forms sometimes but a single range along the shore.
+At other times there is a succession of two, three, four, or
+more, behind each other, extending perhaps half a mile out to
+sea. The number of ranges is generally in proportion to the
+height and violence of the surf.</p>
+
+<p>The surf begins to assume its form at some distance from the
+place where it breaks, gradually accumulating as it moves forward
+till it gains a height, in common, of fifteen to twenty feet,*
+when it overhangs at top and falls like a cascade, nearly
+perpendicular, involving itself as it descends. The noise made by
+the fall is prodigious, and during the stillness of the night may
+be heard many miles up the country.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. It may be presumed that in this
+estimation of its height I was considerably
+deceived.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>Though in the rising and formation of the surf the water seems
+to have a quick progressive motion towards the land, yet a light
+body on the surface is not carried forward, but, on the contrary,
+if the tide is ebbing, will recede from the shore; from which it
+would follow that the motion is only propagated in the water,
+like sound in air, and not the mass of water protruded. A similar
+species of motion is observed on shaking at one end a long cord
+held moderately slack, which is expressed by the word undulation.
+I have sometimes remarked however that a body which sinks deep
+and takes hold of the water appears to move towards shore with
+the course of the surf, as is perceptible in a boat landing which
+seems to shoot swiftly forward on the top of the swell; though
+probably it is only after having reached the summit, and may owe
+its velocity to its own weight in the descent.</p>
+
+<p>Countries where the surfs prevail require boats of a peculiar
+construction, and the art of managing them demands the experience
+of a man's life. All European boats are more or less unfit, and
+seldom fail to occasion the sacrifice of the people on board
+them, in the imprudent attempts that are sometimes made to land
+with them on the open coast. The natives of Coromandel are
+remarkably expert in the management of their craft; but it is to
+be observed that the intervals between the breaking of the surfs
+are usually on that coast much longer than on the coast of
+Sumatra.</p>
+
+<p>The force of the surf is extremely great. I have known it to
+overset a country vessel in such a manner that the top of the
+mast has stuck in the sand, and the lower end made its appearance
+through her bottom. Pieces of cloth have been taken up from a
+wreck, twisted and rent by its involved motion. In some places
+the surfs are usually greater at high, and in others at low,
+water; but I believe they are uniformly more violent during the
+spring-tides.</p>
+
+<p>CONSIDERATIONS RESPECTING THE CAUSE OF THE SURF.</p>
+
+<p>I shall proceed to inquire into the efficient cause of the
+surfs. The winds have doubtless a strong relation to them. If the
+air was in all places of equal density, and not liable to any
+motion, I suppose the water would also remain perfectly at rest
+and its surface even; abstracting from the general course of the
+tides and the partial irregularities occasioned by the influx of
+rivers. The current of the air impels the water and causes a
+swell, which is the regular rising and subsiding of the waves.
+This rise and fall is similar to the vibrations of a pendulum and
+subject to like laws. When a wave is at its height it descends by
+the force of gravity, and the momentum acquired in descending
+impels the neighbouring particles, which in their turn rise and
+impel others, and thus form a succession of waves. This is the
+case in the open sea; but when the swell approaches the shore and
+the depth of water is not in proportion to the size of the swell
+the subsiding wave, instead of pressing on a body of water, which
+might rise in equal quantity, presses on the ground, whose
+reaction causes it to rush on in that manner which we call a
+surf. Some think that the peculiar form of it may be plainly
+accounted for from the shallowness and shelving of the beach.
+When a swell draws near to such a beach the lower parts of the
+water, meeting first with obstruction from the bottom, stand
+still, whilst the higher parts respectively move onward, by which
+a rolling and involved motion is produced that is augmented by
+the return of the preceding swell. I object that this solution is
+founded on the supposition of an actual progressive motion of the
+body of water in forming a surf; and, that certainly not being
+the fact, it seems deficient. The only real progression of the
+water is occasioned by the perpendicular fall, after the breaking
+of the surf, when from its weight it foams on to a greater or
+less distance in proportion to the height from which it fell and
+the slope of the shore.</p>
+
+<p>That the surfs are not, like common waves, the immediate
+effect of the wind, is evident from this, that the highest and
+most violent often happen when there is the least wind and vice
+versa. And sometimes the surfs will continue with an equal degree
+of violence during a variety of weather. On the west coast of
+Sumatra the highest are experienced during the south-east
+monsoon, which is never attended with such gales of wind as the
+north-west. The motion of the surf is not observed to follow the
+course of the wind, but often the contrary; and when it blows
+hard from the land the spray of the sea may be seen to fly in a
+direction opposite to the body of it, though the wind has been
+for many hours in the same point.</p>
+
+<p>Are the surfs the effect of gales of wind at sea, which do not
+happen to extend to the shore but cause a violent agitation
+throughout a considerable tract of the waters, which motion,
+communicating with less distant parts, and meeting at length with
+resistance from the shore, occasions the sea to swell and break
+in the manner described? To this I object that there seems no
+regular correspondence between their magnitude and the apparent
+agitation of the water without them: that gales of wind, except
+at particular periods, are very unfrequent in the Indian seas,
+where the navigation is well known to be remarkably safe, whilst
+the surfs are almost continual; and that gales are not found to
+produce this effect in other extensive oceans. The west coast of
+Ireland borders a sea nearly as extensive and much more wild than
+the coast of Sumatra, and yet there, though when it blows hard
+the swell on the shore is high and dangerous, is there nothing
+that resembles the surfs of India.</p>
+
+<p>PROBABLE CAUSE OF THE SURF.</p>
+
+<p>These, so general in the tropical latitudes, are, upon the
+most probable hypothesis I have been able to form, after long
+observation and much thought and inquiry, the consequence of the
+trade or perpetual winds which prevail at a distance from shore
+between the parallels of thirty degrees north and south, whose
+uniform and invariable action causes a long and constant swell,
+that exists even in the calmest weather, about the line, towards
+which its direction tends from either side. This swell or
+libration of the sea is so prodigiously long, and the sensible
+effect of its height, of course, so much diminished, that it is
+not often attended to; the gradual slope engrossing almost the
+whole horizon when the eye is not very much elevated above its
+surface: but persons who have sailed in those parts may recollect
+that, even when the sea is apparently the most still and level, a
+boat or other object at a distance from the ship will be hidden
+from the sight of one looking towards it from the lower deck for
+the space of minutes together. This swell, when a squall happens
+or the wind freshens up, will for a time have other subsidiary
+waves on the extent of its surface, breaking often in a direction
+contrary to it, and which will again subside as a calm returns
+without having produced on it any perceptible effect. Sumatra,
+though not continually exposed to the south-east trade-wind, is
+not so distant but that its influence may be presumed to extend
+to it, and accordingly at Pulo Pisang, near the southern
+extremity of the island, a constant southerly sea is observed
+even after a hard north-west wind. This incessant and powerful
+swell rolling in from an ocean, open even to the pole, seems an
+agent adequate to the prodigious effects produced on the coast;
+whilst its very size contributes to its being overlooked. It
+reconciles almost all the difficulties which the phenomena seem
+to present, and in particular it accounts for the decrease of the
+surf during the north-west monsoon, the local wind then
+counteracting the operation of the general one; and it is
+corroborated by an observation I have made that the surfs on the
+Sumatran coast ever begin to break at their southern extreme, the
+motion of the swell not being perpendicular to the direction of
+the shore. This manner of explaining their origin seems to carry
+much reason with it; but there occurs to me one objection which I
+cannot get over, and which a regard to truth obliges me to state.
+The trade-winds are remarkably steady and uniform, and the swell
+generated by them is the same. The surfs are much the reverse,
+seldom persevering for two days in the same degree of violence;
+often mountains high in the morning and nearly subsided by night.
+How comes a uniform cause to produce effects so unsteady, unless
+by the intervention of secondary causes, whose nature and
+operation we are unacquainted with?</p>
+
+<p>It is clear to me that the surfs as above described are
+peculiar to those climates which lie within the remoter limits of
+the trade-winds, though in higher latitudes large swells and
+irregular breakings of the sea are to be met with after
+boisterous weather. Possibly the following causes may be judged
+to conspire, with that I have already specified, towards
+occasioning this distinction. The former region being exposed to
+the immediate influence of the two great luminaries, the water,
+from their direct impulse, is liable to more violent agitation
+than nearer the poles where their power is felt only by indirect
+communication. The equatorial parts of the earth performing their
+diurnal revolution with greater velocity than the rest, a larger
+circle being described in the same time, the waters thereabout,
+from the stronger centrifugal force, may be supposed to feel less
+restraint from the sluggish principle of matter; to have less
+gravity; and therefore to be more obedient to external impulses
+of every kind, whether from the winds or any other cause.</p>
+
+<p>TIDES.</p>
+
+<p>The spring-tides on the west coast of Sumatra are estimated to
+rise in general no more than four feet, owing to its open,
+unconfined situation, which prevents any accumulation of the
+tide, as is the case in narrow seas. It is always high-water
+there when the moon is in the horizon, and consequently at six
+o'clock nearly, on the days of conjunction and opposition
+throughout the year, in parts not far remote from the equator.*
+This, according to Newton's theory, is about three hours later
+than the uninterrupted course of nature, owing to the obvious
+impediment the waters meet with in revolving from the
+eastward.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Owing to this uniformity it becomes an
+easy matter for the natives to ascertain the height of the tide
+at any hour that the moon is visible. Whilst she appears to
+ascend the water falls and vice versa; the lowest of the ebb
+happening when she is in her meridian. The vulgar rule for
+calculating the tides is rendered also to Europeans more simple
+and practical from the same cause. There only needs to add
+together the epact, number of the month, and day of the month;
+the sum of which, if under thirty, gives the moon's age--the
+excess, if over. Allow forty-eight minutes for each day or, which
+is the same, take four-fifths of the age, and it will give you
+the number of hours after six o'clock at which high-water
+happens. A readiness at this calculation is particularly useful
+in a country where the sea-beach is the general road for
+travelling.)</blockquote>
+
+<p><a name="ch-02"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 2.</h3>
+
+<p><b>DISTINCTION OF INHABITANTS.<br>
+REJANGS CHOSEN FOR GENERAL DESCRIPTION.<br>
+PERSONS AND COMPLEXION.<br>
+CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS.</b></p>
+
+<p>GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS.</p>
+
+<p>Having exhibited a general view of the island as it is in the
+hands of nature, I shall now proceed to a description of the
+people who inhabit and cultivate it, and shall endeavour to
+distinguish the several species or classes of them in such a
+manner as may best tend to perspicuity, and to furnish clear
+ideas of the matter.</p>
+
+<p>VARIOUS MODES OF DIVISION.</p>
+
+<p>The most obvious division, and which has been usually made by
+the writers of voyages, is that of Mahometan inhabitants of the
+sea-coast, and Pagans of the inland country. This division,
+though not without its degree of propriety, is vague and
+imperfect; not only because each description of people differ
+considerably among themselves, but that the inland inhabitants
+are, in some places, Mahometans, and those of the coast, in
+others, what they term Pagans. It is not unusual with persons who
+have not resided in this part of the East to call the inhabitants
+of the islands indiscriminately by the name of Malays. This is a
+more considerable error, and productive of greater confusion than
+the former. By attempting to reduce things to heads too general
+we defeat the very end we propose to ourselves in defining them
+at all: we create obscurity where we wish to throw light. On the
+other hand, to attempt enumerating and distinguishing the
+variety, almost endless, of petty sovereignties and nations into
+which this island is divided, many of which differ nothing in
+person or manners from their neighbours, would be a task both
+insurmountable and useless. I shall aim at steering a middle
+course, and accordingly shall treat of the inhabitants of Sumatra
+under the following summary distinctions, taking occasion as it
+may offer to mention the principal subdivisions. And first it is
+proper to distinguish the empire of Menangkabau and the Malays;
+in the next place the Achinese; then the Battas; the Rejangs; and
+next to them the people of Lampong.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. In the course of my inquiries amongst the
+natives concerning the aborigines of the island I have been
+informed of two different species of people dispersed in the
+woods and avoiding all communication with the other inhabitants.
+These they call Orang Kubu and Orang Gugu. The former are said to
+be pretty numerous, especially in that part of the country which
+lies between Palembang and Jambi. Some have at times been caught
+and kept as slaves in Labun; and a man of that place is now
+married to a tolerably handsome Kubu girl who was carried off by
+a party that discovered their huts. They have a language quite
+peculiar to themselves, and they eat promiscuously whatever the
+woods afford, as deer, elephant, rhinoceros, wild hog, snakes, or
+monkeys. The Gugu are much scarcer than these, differing in
+little but the use of speech from the Orang Utan of Borneo; their
+bodies being covered with long hair. There have not been above
+two or three instances of their being met with by the people of
+Labun (from whom my information is derived) and one of these was
+entrapped many years ago in much the same manner as the carpenter
+in Pilpay's Fables caught the monkey. He had children by a Labun
+woman which also were more hairy than the common race; but the
+third generation are not to be distinguished from others. The
+reader will bestow what measure of faith he thinks due to this
+relation, the veracity of which I do not pretend to vouch for. It
+has probably some foundation in truth but is exaggerated in the
+circumstances.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>Menangkabau being the principal sovereignty of the island,
+which formerly comprehended the whole, and still receives a
+shadow of homage from the most powerful of the other kingdoms
+which have sprung up from its ruins, would seem to claim a right
+to precedence in description, but I have a sufficient reason for
+deferring it to a subsequent part of the work; which is that the
+people of this empire, by their conversion to Mahometanism and
+consequent change of manners, have lost in a greater degree than
+some neighbouring tribes the genuine Sumatran character, which is
+the immediate object of my investigation.</p>
+
+<p>MALAYS.</p>
+
+<p>They are distinguished from the other inhabitants of this
+island by the appellation of Orang Malayo, or Malays, which
+however they have in common with those of the coast of the
+Peninsula and of many other islands; and the name is applied to
+every Mussulman speaking the Malayan as his proper language, and
+either belonging to, or claiming descent from, the ancient
+kingdom of Menangkabau; wherever the place of his residence may
+be. Beyond Bencoolen to the southward there are none to be met
+with excepting such as have been drawn thither by, and are in the
+pay of, Europeans. On the eastern side of the island they are
+settled at the entrance of almost all the navigable rivers, where
+they more conveniently indulge their habitual bent for trade and
+piracy. It must be observed indeed that in common speech the term
+Malay, like that of Moor in the continent of India, is almost
+synonymous with Mahometan; and when the natives of other parts
+learn to read the Arabic character, submit to circumcision, and
+practise the ceremonies of religion, they are often said men-jadi
+Malayo, to become Malays, instead of the more correct expression
+sudah masuk Islam, have embraced the faith. The distinction will
+appear more strongly from this circumstance, that whilst the
+sultan of Anak Sungei (Moco-moco), ambitious of imitating the
+sultan of Menangkabau, styles himself and his immediate subjects
+Malays, his neighbour, the Pangeran of Sungei Lamo, chief of the
+Rejangs, a very civilised Mahometan, and whose ancestors for some
+generations were of the same faith, seemed offended, in a
+conversation I had with him, at my supposing him (as he is
+usually considered) a Malay, and replied with some emotion,
+"Malayo tidah, sir; orang ulu betul sayo." "No Malay sir; I am a
+genuine, aboriginal countryman." The two languages he wrote and
+talked (I know not if he be still living) with equal facility;
+but the Rejang he esteemed his mother tongue.</p>
+
+<p>Attempts to ascertain from what quarter Sumatra was peopled
+must rest upon mere conjecture. The adjacent peninsula (called by
+Europeans or other foreigners the Malayan Peninsula) presents the
+most obvious source of population; and it has accordingly been
+presumed that emigrants from thence supplied it and the other
+islands of the eastern Archipelago with inhabitants. By this
+opinion, adopted without examination, I was likewise misled and,
+on a former occasion, spoke of the probability of a colony from
+the peninsula having settled upon the western coast of the
+island; but I have since learned from the histories and
+traditions of the natives of both countries that the reverse is
+the fact, and that the founders of the celebrated kingdoms of
+Johor, Singapura, and Malacca were adventurers from Sumatra. Even
+at this day the inhabitants of the interior parts of the
+peninsula are a race entirely distinct from those of the two
+coasts.</p>
+
+<p>Thus much it was necessary, in order to avoid ambiguity, to
+say in the first instance concerning the Malays, of whom a more
+particular account will be given in a subsequent part of the
+work.</p>
+
+<p>As the most dissimilar among the other classes into which I
+have divided the inhabitants must of course have very many points
+of mutual resemblance, and many of their habits, customs, and
+ceremonies, in common, it becomes expedient, in order to avoid a
+troublesome and useless repetition, to single out one class from
+among them whose manners shall undergo a particular and full
+investigation, and serve as a standard for the whole; the
+deviation from which, in other classes, shall afterwards be
+pointed out, and the most singular and striking usages peculiar
+to each superadded.</p>
+
+<p>NATION OF THE REJANGS ADOPTED AS A STANDARD OF
+DESCRIPTION.</p>
+
+<p>Various circumstances induce me on this occasion to give the
+preference to the Rejangs, though a nation of but small account
+in the political scale of the island. They are placed in what may
+be esteemed a central situation, not geographically, but with
+respect to the encroachments of foreign manners and opinions
+introduced by the Malays from the north, and Javans from the
+south; which gives them a claim to originality superior to that
+of most others. They are a people whose form of government and
+whose laws extend with very little variation over a considerable
+part of the island, and principally that portion where the
+connexions of the English lie. There are traditions of their
+having formerly sent forth colonies to the southward; and in the
+country of Passummah the site of their villages is still pointed
+out; which would prove that they have formerly been of more
+consideration than they can boast at present. They have a proper
+language and a perfect written character. These advantages point
+out the Rejang people as an eligible standard of description; and
+a motive equally strong that induces me to adopt them as such is
+that my situation and connexions in the island led me to a more
+intimate and minute acquaintance with their laws and manners than
+with those of any other class. I must premise however that the
+Malay customs having made their way in a greater or less degree
+to every part of Sumatra, it will be totally impossible to
+discriminate with entire accuracy those which are original from
+those which are borrowed; and of course what I shall say of the
+Rejangs will apply for the most part not only to the Sumatrans in
+general but may sometimes be in strictness proper to the Malays
+alone, and by them taught to the higher rank of country
+people.</p>
+
+<p>SITUATION OF THE REJANG COUNTRY.</p>
+
+<p>The country of the Rejangs is divided to the north-west from
+the kingdom of Anak Sungei (of which Moco-moco is the capital) by
+the small river of Uri, near that of Kattaun; which last, with
+the district of Labun on its banks, bounds it on the north or
+inland side. The country of Musi, where Palembang River takes its
+rise, forms its limit to the eastward. Bencoolen River, precisely
+speaking, confines it on the south-east; though the inhabitants
+of the district called Lemba, extending from thence to Silebar,
+are entirely the same people in manners and language. The
+principal rivers besides those already mentioned are Laye, Pally,
+and Sungeilamo; on all of which the English have factories, the
+resident or chief being stationed at Laye.</p>
+
+<p>PERSONS OF THE INHABITANTS.</p>
+
+<p>The persons of the inhabitants of the island, though differing
+considerably in districts remote from each other, may in general
+be comprehended in the following description; excepting the
+Achinese, whose commixture with the Moors of the west of India
+has distinguished them from the other Sumatrans.</p>
+
+<p>GENERAL DESCRIPTION.</p>
+
+<p>They are rather below the middle stature; their bulk is in
+proportion; their limbs are for the most part slight, but well
+shaped, and particularly small at the wrists and ankles. Upon the
+whole they are gracefully formed, and I scarcely recollect to
+have ever seen one deformed person among the natives.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Ghirardini, an Italian painter, who
+touched at Sumatra on his way to China in 1698 observes of the
+Malays:
+
+<p>Son di persona ben formata<br>
+Quanto mai finger san pittori industri.<br>
+He speaks in high terms of the country as being beautifully
+picturesque.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>The women however have the preposterous custom of flattening
+the noses, and compressing the heads of children newly born,
+whilst the skull is yet cartilaginous, which increases their
+natural tendency to that shape. I could never trace the origin of
+the practice, or learn any other reason for moulding the features
+to this uncouth appearance, but that it was an improvement of
+beauty in their estimation. Captain Cook takes notice of a
+similar operation at the island of Ulietea. They likewise pull
+out the ears of infants to make them stand at an angle from the
+head. Their eyes are uniformly dark and clear, and among some,
+especially the southern women, bear a strong resemblance to those
+of the Chinese, in the peculiarity of formation so generally
+observed of that people. Their hair is strong and of a shining
+black; the improvement of both which qualities it probably owes
+in great measure to the early and constant use of coconut oil,
+with which they keep it moist. The men frequently cut their hair
+short, not appearing to take any pride in it; the women encourage
+theirs to a considerable length, and I have known many instances
+of its reaching the ground. The men are beardless and have chins
+so remarkably smooth that, were it not for the priests displaying
+a little tuft, we should be apt to conclude that nature had
+refused them this token of manhood. It is the same in respect to
+other parts of the body with both sexes; and this particular
+attention to their persons they esteem a point of delicacy, and
+the contrary an unpardonable neglect. The boys as they approach
+to the age of puberty rub their chins, upper lips, and those
+parts of the body that are subject to superfluous hair with
+chunam (quicklime) especially of shells, which destroys the roots
+of the incipient beard. The few pilae that afterwards appear are
+plucked out from time to time with tweezers, which they always
+carry about them for that purpose. Were it not for the numerous
+and very respectable authorities from which we are assured that
+the natives of America are naturally beardless, I should think
+that the common opinion on that subject had been rashly adopted,
+and that their appearing thus at a mature age was only the
+consequence of an early practice, similar to that observed among
+the Sumatrans. Even now I must confess that it would remove some
+small degree of doubt from my mind could it be ascertained that
+no such custom prevails.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. It is allowed by travellers that the
+Patagonians have tufts of hair on the upper lip and chin. Captain
+Carver says that among the tribes he visited the people made a
+regular practice of eradicating their beards with pincers. At
+Brussels is preserved, along with a variety of ancient and
+curious suits of armour, that of Montezuma, king of Mexico, of
+which the visor, or mask for the face, has remarkably large
+whiskers; an ornament which those Americans could not have
+imitated unless nature had presented them with the model. See a
+paper in the Philosophical Transactions for 1786, which puts this
+matter beyond a doubt. In a French dictionary of the Huron
+language, published in 1632, I observe a term corresponding to
+"arracher la barbe.")</blockquote>
+
+<p>Their complexion is properly yellow, wanting the red tinge
+that constitutes a tawny or copper colour. They are in general
+lighter than the Mestees, or halfbreed, of the rest of India;
+those of the superior class who are not exposed to the rays of
+the sun, and particularly their women of rank, approaching to a
+great degree of fairness. Did beauty consist in this one quality
+some of them would surpass our brunettes in Europe. The major
+part of the females are ugly, and many of them even to disgust,
+yet there are those among them whose appearance is strikingly
+beautiful; whatever composition of person, features, and
+complexion that sentiment may be the result of.</p>
+
+<p>COLOUR NOT ASCRIBABLE TO CLIMATE.</p>
+
+<p>The fairness of the Sumatrans comparatively with other
+Indians, situated as they are under a perpendicular sun where no
+season of the year affords an alternative of cold, is I think an
+irrefragable proof that the difference of colour in the various
+inhabitants of the earth is not the immediate effect of climate.
+The children of Europeans born in this island are as fair as
+those born in the country of their parents. I have observed the
+same of the second generation, where a mixture with the people of
+the country has been avoided. On the other hand the offspring and
+all the descendants of the Guinea and other African slaves
+imported there continue in the last instance as perfectly black
+as in the original stock. I do not mean to enter into the merits
+of the question which naturally connects with these observations;
+but shall only remark that the sallow and adust countenances so
+commonly acquired by Europeans who have long resided in hot
+climates are more ascribable to the effect of bilious distempers,
+which almost all are subject to in a greater or less degree, than
+of their exposure to the influence of the weather, which few but
+seafaring people are liable to, and of which the impression is
+seldom permanent. From this circumstance I have been led to
+conjecture that the general disparity of complexions in different
+nations might POSSIBLY be owing to the more or less copious
+secretion or redundance of that juice, rendering the skin more or
+less dark according to the qualities of the bile prevailing in
+the constitutions of each. But I fear such a hypothesis would not
+stand the test of experiment, as it might be expected to follow
+that, upon dissection, the contents of a negro's gall-bladder, or
+at least the extravasated bile, should uniformly be found black.
+Persons skilled in anatomy will determine whether it is possible
+that the qualities of any animal secretion can so far affect the
+frame as to render their consequences liable to be transmitted to
+posterity in their full force.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. In an Essay on the Causes of the Variety
+of Complexion and Figure in the Human Species published at
+Philadelphia in 1787 the permanent effect of the bilious
+secretion in determining the colour is strongly insisted
+upon.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>The small size of the inhabitants, and especially of the
+women, may be in some measure owing to the early communication
+between the sexes; though, as the inclinations which lead to this
+intercourse are prompted here by nature sooner than in cold
+climates, it is not unfair to suppose that, being proportioned to
+the period of maturity, this is also sooner attained, and
+consequently that the earlier cessation of growth of these people
+is agreeable to the laws of their constitution, and not
+occasioned by a premature and irregular appetite.</p>
+
+<p>Persons of superior rank encourage the growth of their
+hand-nails, particularly those of the fore and little fingers, to
+an extraordinary length; frequently tingeing them red with the
+expressed juice of a shrub which they call inei, the henna of the
+Arabians; as they do the nails of their feet also, to which,
+being always uncovered, they pay as much attention as to their
+hands. The hands of the natives, and even of the halfbreed, are
+always cold to the touch; which I cannot account for otherwise
+than by a supposition that, from the less degree of elasticity in
+the solids occasioned by the heat of the climate, the internal
+action of the body by which the fluids are put in motion is less
+vigorous, the circulation is proportionably languid, and of
+course the diminished effect is most perceptible in the
+extremities, and a coldness there is the natural consequence.</p>
+
+<p>HILL PEOPLE SUBJECT TO WENS.</p>
+
+<p>The natives of the hills through the whole extent of the
+island are subject to those monstrous wens from the throat which
+have been observed of the Vallaisans and the inhabitants of other
+mountainous districts in Europe. It has been usual to attribute
+this affection to the badness, thawed state, mineral quality, or
+other peculiarity of the waters; many skilful men having applied
+themselves to the investigation of the subject. My experience
+enables me to pronounce without hesitation that the disorder, for
+such it is though it appears here to mark a distinct race of
+people (orang-gunong), is immediately connected with the
+hilliness of the country, and of course, if the circumstances of
+the water they use contribute thereto, it must be only so far as
+the nature of the water is affected by the inequality or height
+of the land. But in Sumatra neither snow nor other congelation is
+ever produced, which militates against the most plausible
+conjecture that has been adopted concerning the Alpine goitres.
+From every research that I have been enabled to make I think I
+have reason to conclude that the complaint is owing, among the
+Sumatrans, to the fogginess of the air in the valleys between the
+high mountains, where, and not on the summits, the natives of
+these parts reside. I before remarked that, between the ranges of
+hills, the kabut or dense mist was visible for several hours
+every morning; rising in a thick, opaque, and well-defined body
+with the sun, and seldom quite dispersed till afternoon. This
+phenomenon, as well as that of the wens, being peculiar to the
+regions of the hills, affords a presumption that they may be
+connected; exclusive of the natural probability that a cold
+vapour, gross to a uncommon degree, and continually enveloping
+the habitations, should affect with tumors the throats of the
+inhabitants. I cannot pretend to say how far this solution may
+apply to the case of the goitres, but I recollect it to have been
+mentioned that the only method of curing the people is by
+removing them from the valleys to the clear and pure air on the
+tops of the hills; which seems to indicate a similar source of
+the distemper to what I have pointed out. The Sumatrans do not
+appear to attempt any remedy for it, the wens being consistent
+with the highest health in other respects.</p>
+
+<p>DIFFERENCE IN PERSON BETWEEN MALAYS AND OTHER SUMATRANS.</p>
+
+<p>The personal difference between the Malays of the coast and
+the country inhabitants is not so strongly marked but that it
+requires some experience to distinguish them. The latter however
+possess an evident superiority in point of size and strength, and
+are fairer complexioned, which they probably owe to their
+situation, where the atmosphere is colder; and it is generally
+observed that people living near the seashore, and especially
+when accustomed to navigation, are darker than their inland
+neighbours. Some attribute the disparity in constitutional vigour
+to the more frequent use of opium among the Malays, which is
+supposed to debilitate the frame; but I have noted that the Limun
+and Batang Asei gold traders, who are a colony of that race
+settled in the heart of the island, and who cannot exist a day
+without opium, are remarkably hale and stout; which I have known
+to be observed with a degree of envy by the opium-smokers of our
+settlements. The inhabitants of Passummah also are described as
+being more robust in their persons than the planters of the low
+country.</p>
+
+<p>CLOTHING.</p>
+
+<p>The original clothing of the Sumatrans is the same with that
+found by navigators among the inhabitants of the South Sea
+Islands, and now generally called by the name of Otaheitean
+cloth. It is still used among the Rejangs for their working
+dress, and I have one in my possession procured from these people
+consisting of a jacket, short drawers, and a cap for the head.
+This is the inner bark of a certain species of tree, beaten out
+to the degree of fineness required, approaching the more to
+perfection as it resembles the softer kind of leather, some being
+nearly equal to the most delicate kid-skin; in which character it
+somewhat differs from the South Sea cloth, as that bears a
+resemblance rather to paper, or to the manufacture of the loom.
+The country people now conform in a great measure to the dress of
+the Malays, which I shall therefore describe in this place,
+observing that much more simplicity still prevails among the
+former, who look upon the others as coxcombs who lay out all
+their substance on their backs, whilst in their turns they are
+regarded by the Malays with contempt as unpolished rustics.</p>
+
+<p>MAN'S DRESS.</p>
+
+<p>A man's dress consists of the following parts. A close
+waistcoat, without sleeves, but having a neck like a shirt,
+buttoned close up to the top, with buttons, often of gold
+filigree. This is peculiar to the Malays. Over this they wear the
+baju, which resembles a morning gown, open at the neck, but
+generally fastened close at the wrists and halfway up the arm,
+with nine buttons to each sleeve. The sleeves, however, are often
+wide and loose, and others again, though nearly tight, reach not
+far beyond the elbow, especially of those worn by the younger
+females, which, as well as those of the young men, are open in
+front no farther down than the bosom, and reach no lower than the
+waist, whereas the others hang loose to the knees, and sometimes
+to the ankles. They are made usually of blue or white cotton
+cloth; for the better sort, of chintz; and for great men, of
+flowered silks. The kain-sarong is not unlike a Scots
+highlander's plaid in appearance, being a piece of party-coloured
+cloth about six or eight feet long and three or four wide, sewed
+together at the ends; forming, as some writers have described it,
+a wide sack without a bottom. This is sometimes gathered up and
+slung over the shoulder like a sash, or else folded and tucked
+about the waist and hips; and in full dress it is bound on by the
+belt of the kris (dagger), which is of crimson silk and wraps
+several times round the body, with a loop at the end in which the
+sheath of the kris hangs. They wear short drawers reaching
+halfway down the thigh, generally of red or yellow taffeta. There
+is no covering to their legs or feet. Round their heads they
+fasten, in a particular manner, a fine, coloured handkerchief, so
+as to resemble a small turban; the country people usually
+twisting a piece of white or blue cloth for this purpose. The
+crown of their head remains uncovered except on journeys, when
+they wear a tudong or umbrella-hat, which completely screens them
+from the weather.</p>
+
+<p>WOMAN'S DRESS.</p>
+
+<p>The women have a kind of bodice, or short waistcoat rather,
+that defends the breasts and reaches to the hips. The
+kain-sarong, before described, comes up as high as the armpits,
+and extends to the feet, being kept on simply by folding and
+tucking it over at the breast, except when the tali-pending, or
+zone, is worn about the waist, which forms an additional and
+necessary security. This is usually of embroidered cloth, and
+sometimes a plate of gold or silver, about two inches broad,
+fastening in the front with a large clasp of filigree or chased
+work, with some kind of precious stone, or imitation of such, in
+the centre. The baju, or upper gown, differs little from that of
+the men, buttoning in the same manner at the wrists. A piece of
+fine, thin, cotton cloth, or slight silk, about five feet long,
+and worked or fringed at each end, called a salendang, is thrown
+across the back of the neck, and hangs down before; serving also
+the purpose of a veil to the women of rank when they walk abroad.
+The handkerchief is carried either folded small in the hand, or
+in a long fold over the shoulder. There are two modes of dressing
+the hair, one termed kundei and the other sanggol. The first
+resembles much the fashion in which we see the Chinese women
+represented in paintings, and which I conclude they borrowed from
+thence, where the hair is wound circularly over the centre of the
+head, and fastened with a silver bodkin or pin. In the other
+mode, which is more general, they give the hair a single twist as
+it hangs behind, and then doubling it up they pass it crosswise
+under a few hairs separated from the rest on the back of the head
+for that purpose. A comb, often of tortoise-shell and sometimes
+filigreed, helps to prevent it from falling down. The hair of the
+front and of all parts of the head is of the same length, and
+when loose hangs together behind, with most of the women, in very
+great quantity. It is kept moist with oil newly expressed from
+the coconut; but those persons who can afford it make use also of
+an empyreumatic oil extracted from gum benzoin, as a grateful
+perfume. They wear no covering except ornaments of flowers, which
+on particular occasions are the work of much labour and
+ingenuity. The head-dresses of the dancing girls by profession,
+who are usually Javans, are very artificially wrought, and as
+high as any modern English lady's cap, yielding only to the
+feathered plumes of the year 1777. It is impossible to describe
+in words these intricate and fanciful matters so as to convey a
+just idea of them. The flowers worn in undress are for the most
+part strung in wreaths, and have a very neat and pretty effect,
+without any degree of gaudiness, being usually white or pale
+yellow, small, and frequently only half-blown. Those generally
+chosen for these occasions are the bunga-tanjong and
+bunga-mellur: the bunga-chumpaka is used to give the hair a
+fragrance, but is concealed from the sight. They sometimes
+combine a variety of flowers in such a manner as to appear like
+one, and fix them on a single stalk; but these, being more
+formal, are less elegant than the wreaths.</p>
+
+<p>DISTINGUISHING ORNAMENTS OF VIRGINS.</p>
+
+<p>Among the country people, particularly in the southern
+countries, the virgins (anak gaddis, or goddesses, as it is
+usually pronounced) are distinguished by a fillet which goes
+across the front of the hair and fastens behind. This is commonly
+a thin plate of silver, about half an inch broad: those of the
+first rank have it of gold, and those of the lowest class have
+their fillet of the leaf of the nipah tree. Beside this peculiar
+ornament their state is denoted by their having rings or
+bracelets of silver or gold on their wrists. Strings of coins
+round the neck are universally worn by children, and the females,
+before they are of an age to be clothed, have what may not be
+inaptly termed a modesty-piece, being a plate of silver in the
+shape of a heart (called chaping) hung before, by a chain of the
+same metal, passing round the waist. The young women in the
+country villages manufacture themselves the cloth that forms the
+body-dress, or kain-sarong, which for common occasions is their
+only covering, and reaches from the breast no lower than the
+knees. The dresses of the women of the Malay bazaars on the
+contrary extend as low as the feet; but here, as in other
+instances, the more scrupulous attention to appearances does not
+accompany the superior degree of real modesty. This cloth, for
+the wear both of men and women, is imported from the island of
+Celebes, or, as it is here termed, the Bugis country.</p>
+
+<p>MODE OF FILING TEETH.</p>
+
+<p>Both sexes have the extraordinary custom of filing and
+otherwise disfiguring their teeth, which are naturally very white
+and beautiful from the simplicity of their food. For files they
+make use of small whetstones of different degrees of fineness,
+and the patients lie on their back during the operation. Many,
+particularly the women of the Lampong country, have their teeth
+rubbed down quite even with the gums; others have them formed in
+points; and some file off no more than the outer coat and
+extremities, in order that they may the better receive and retain
+the jetty blackness with which they almost universally adorn
+them. The black used on these occasions is the empyreumatic oil
+of the coconut-shell. When this is not applied the filing does
+not, by destroying what we term the enamel, diminish the
+whiteness of the teeth; but the use of betel renders them black
+if pains be not taken to prevent it. The great men sometimes set
+theirs in gold, by casing, with a plate of that metal, the under
+row; and this ornament, contrasted with the black dye, has by
+lamp or candlelight a very splendid effect. It is sometimes
+indented to the shape of the teeth, but more usually quite plain.
+They do not remove it either to eat or sleep.</p>
+
+<p>At the age of about eight or nine they bore the ears and file
+the teeth of the female children; which are ceremonies that must
+necessarily precede their marriage. The former they call betende,
+and the latter bedabong; and these operations are regarded in the
+family as the occasion of a festival. They do not here, as in
+some of the adjacent islands (of Nias in particular), increase
+the aperture of the ear to a monstrous size, so as in many
+instances to be large enough to admit the hand, the lower parts
+being stretched till they touch the shoulders. Their earrings are
+mostly of gold filigree, and fastened not with a clasp, but in
+the manner of a rivet or nut screwed to the inner part.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-03"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 3.</h3>
+
+<p><b>VILLAGES.<br>
+BUILDINGS.<br>
+DOMESTIC UTENSILS.<br>
+FOOD.</b></p>
+
+<p>I shall now attempt a description of the villages and
+buildings of the Sumatrans, and proceed to their domestic habits
+of economy, and those simple arts on which the procuring of their
+food and other necessaries depends. These are not among the least
+interesting objects of philosophical speculation. In proportion
+as the arts in use with any people are connected with the primary
+demands of nature, they carry the greater likelihood of
+originality, because those demands must have been administered to
+from a period coeval with the existence of the people themselves.
+Or if complete originality be regarded as a visionary idea,
+engendered from ignorance and the obscurity of remote events,
+such arts must be allowed to have the fairest claim to antiquity
+at least. Arts of accommodation, and more especially of luxury,
+are commonly the effect of imitation, and suggested by the
+improvements of other nations which have made greater advances
+towards civilisation. These afford less striking and
+characteristic features in delineating the picture of mankind,
+and, though they may add to the beauty, diminish from the
+genuineness of the piece. We must not look for unequivocal
+generic marks, where the breed, in order to mend it, has been
+crossed by a foreign mixture. All the arts of primary necessity
+are comprehended within two distinctions: those which protect us
+from the inclemency of the weather and other outward accidents;
+and those which are employed in securing the means of
+subsistence. Both are immediately essential to the continuance of
+life, and man is involuntarily and immediately prompted to
+exercise them by the urgent calls of nature, even in the merest
+possible state of savage and uncultivated existence. In climates
+like that of Sumatra this impulse extends not far. The human
+machine is kept going with small effort in so favourable a
+medium. The spring of importunate necessity there soon loses its
+force, and consequently the wheels of invention that depend upon
+it fail to perform more than a few simple revolutions. In regions
+less mild this original motive to industry and ingenuity carries
+men to greater lengths in the application of arts to the
+occasions of life; and these of course in an equal space of time
+attain to greater perfection than among the inhabitants of the
+tropical latitudes, who find their immediate wants supplied with
+facility, and prefer the negative pleasure of inaction to the
+enjoyment of any conveniences that are to be purchased with
+exertion and labour. This consideration may perhaps tend to
+reconcile the high antiquity universally allowed to Asiatic
+nations, with the limited progress of arts and sciences among
+them; in which they are manifestly surpassed by people who
+compared with them are but of very recent date.</p>
+
+<p>The Sumatrans however in the construction of their habitations
+have stepped many degrees beyond those rude contrivances which
+writers describe the inhabitants of some other Indian countries
+to have been contented with adopting in order to screen
+themselves from the immediate influence of surrounding elements.
+Their houses are not only permanent but convenient, and are built
+in the vicinity of each other that they may enjoy the advantages
+of mutual assistance and protection resulting from a state of
+society.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. In several of the small islands near
+Sumatra (including the Nicobars), whose inhabitants in general
+are in a very low state of civilisation, the houses are built
+circularly. Vid Asiatic Researches volume 4 page 129
+plate.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>VILLAGES.</p>
+
+<p>The dusuns or villages (for the small number of inhabitants
+assembled in each does not entitle them to the appellations of
+towns) are always situated on the banks of a river or lake for
+the convenience of bathing and of transporting goods. An eminence
+difficult of ascent is usually made choice of for security. The
+access to them is by footways, narrow and winding, of which there
+are seldom more than two; one to the country and the other to the
+water; the latter in most places so steep as to render it
+necessary to cut steps in the cliff or rock. The dusuns, being
+surrounded with abundance of fruit-trees, some of considerable
+height, as the durian, coco, and betel-nut, and the neighbouring
+country for a little space about being in some degree cleared of
+wood for the rice and pepper plantations, these villages strike
+the eye at a distance as clumps merely, exhibiting no appearance
+of a town or any place of habitation. The rows of houses form
+commonly a quadrangle, with passages or lanes at intervals
+between the buildings, where in the more considerable villages
+live the lower class of inhabitants, and where also their
+padi-houses or granaries are erected. In the middle of the square
+stands the balei or town hall, a room about fifty to a hundred
+feet long and twenty or thirty wide, without division, and open
+at the sides, excepting when on particular occasions it is hung
+with mats or chintz; but sheltered in a lateral direction by the
+deep overhanging roof.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-19"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-19.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 19. A VILLAGE HOUSE IN SUMATRA.<br>
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-19a"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-19a.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 19a. A PLANTATION HOUSE IN SUMATRA.<br>
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.)</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>BUILDINGS.</p>
+
+<p>In their buildings neither stone, brick, nor clay, are ever
+made use of, which is the case in most countries where timber
+abounds, and where the warmth of the climate renders the free
+admission of air a matter rather to be desired than guarded
+against: but in Sumatra the frequency of earthquakes is alone
+sufficient to have prevented the natives from adopting a
+substantial mode of building. The frames of the houses are of
+wood, the underplate resting on pillars of about six or eight
+feet in height, which have a sort of capital but no base, and are
+wider at top than at bottom. The people appear to have no idea of
+architecture as a science, though much ingenuity is often shown
+in the manner of working up their materials, and they have, the
+Malays at least, technical terms corresponding to all those
+employed by our house carpenters. Their conception of proportions
+is extremely rude, often leaving those parts of a frame which
+have the greatest bearing with the weakest support, and lavishing
+strength upon inadequate pressure. For the floorings they lay
+whole bamboos (a well-known species of large cane) of four or
+five inches diameter, close to each other, and fasten them at the
+ends to the timbers. Across these are laid laths of split bamboo,
+about an inch wide and of the length of the room, which are tied
+down with filaments of the rattan; and over these are usually
+spread mats of different kinds. This sort of flooring has an
+elasticity alarming to strangers when they first tread on it. The
+sides of the houses are generally closed in with palupo, which is
+the bamboo opened and rendered flat by notching or splitting the
+circular joints on the outside, chipping away the corresponding
+divisions within, and laying it to dry in the sun, pressed down
+with weights. This is sometimes nailed onto the upright timbers
+or bamboos, but in the country parts it is more commonly
+interwoven, or matted, in breadths of six inches, and a piece, or
+sheet, formed at once of the size required. In some places they
+use for the same purpose the kulitkayu, or coolicoy, as it is
+pronounced by the Europeans, who employ it on board ship as
+dunnage in pepper and other cargoes. This is a bark procured from
+some particular trees, of which the bunut and ibu are the most
+common. When they prepare to take it the outer rind is first torn
+or cut away; the inner, which affords the material, is then
+marked out with a prang, pateel, or other tool, to the size
+required, which is usually three cubits by one; it is afterwards
+beaten for some time with a heavy stick to loosen it from the
+stem, and being peeled off is laid in the sun to dry, care being
+taken to prevent its warping. The thicker or thinner sorts of the
+same species of kulitkayu owe their difference to their being
+taken nearer to or farther from the root. That which is used in
+building has nearly the texture and hardness of wood. The pliable
+and delicate bark of which clothing is made is procured from a
+tree called kalawi, a bastard species of the bread-fruit.</p>
+
+<p>The most general mode of covering houses is with the atap,
+which is the leaf of a species of palm called nipah. These,
+previous to their being laid on, are formed into sheets of about
+five feet long and as deep as the length of the leaf will admit,
+which is doubled at one end over a slip or lath of bamboo; they
+are then disposed on the roof so as that one sheet shall lap over
+the other, and are tied to the bamboos which serve for rafters.
+There are various other and more durable kinds of covering used.
+The kulitkayu, before described, is sometimes employed for this
+purpose: the galumpei--this is a thatch of narrow split bamboos,
+six feet in length, placed in regular layers, each reaching
+within two feet of the extremity of that beneath it, by which a
+treble covering is formed: iju--this is a vegetable production so
+nearly resembling horse-hair as scarcely to be distinguished from
+it. It envelopes the stem of that species of palm called anau,
+from which the best toddy or palm wine is procured, and is
+employed by the natives for a great variety of purposes. It is
+bound on as a thatch in the manner we do straw, and not
+unfrequently over the galumpei; in which case the roof is so
+durable as never to require renewal, the iju being of all
+vegetable substances the least prone to decay, and for this
+reason it is a common practice to wrap a quantity of it round the
+ends of timbers or posts which are to be fixed in the ground. I
+saw a house about twenty miles up Manna River, belonging to
+Dupati Bandar Agung, the roof of which was of fifty years
+standing. The larger houses have three pitches in the roof; the
+middle one, under which the door is placed, being much lower than
+the other two. In smaller houses there are but two pitches, which
+are always of unequal height, and the entrance is in the smaller,
+which covers a kind of hall or cooking room.</p>
+
+<p>There is another kind of house, erected mostly for a temporary
+purpose, the roof of which is flat and is covered in a very
+uncommon, simple, and ingenious manner. Large, straight bamboos
+are cut of a length sufficient to lie across the house, and,
+being split exactly in two and the joints knocked out, a first
+layer of them is disposed in close order, with the inner or
+hollow sides up; after which a second layer, with the outer or
+convex sides up, is placed upon the others in such manner that
+each of the convex falls into the two contiguous concave pieces,
+covering their edges; the latter serving as gutters to carry off
+the water that falls upon the upper or convex layer.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. I find that the original inhabitants of
+the Philippine Islands covered their buildings in the same
+manner.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>The mode of ascent to the houses is by a piece of timber or
+stout bamboo, cut in notches, which latter an European cannot
+avail himself of, especially as the precaution is seldom taken of
+binding them fast. These are the wonderful light scaling-ladders
+which the old Portuguese writers described to have been used by
+the people of Achin in their wars with their nation. It is
+probable that the apprehension of danger from the wild beasts
+caused them to adopt and continue this rude expedient, in
+preference to more regular and commodious steps. The detached
+buildings in the country, near to their plantations, called
+talangs, they raise to the height of ten or twelve feet from the
+ground, and make a practice of taking up their ladder at night to
+secure themselves from the destructive ravages of the tigers. I
+have been assured, but do not pledge myself for the truth of the
+story, that an elephant, attempting to pass under one of these
+houses, which stand on four or six posts, stuck by the way, but,
+disdaining to retreat, carried it, with the family it contained,
+on his back to a considerable distance.</p>
+
+<p>In the buildings of the dusuns, particularly where the most
+respectable families reside, the woodwork in front is carved in
+the style of bas-relief, in a variety of uncouth ornaments and
+grotesque figures, not much unlike the Egyptian hieroglyphics,
+but certainly without any mystic or historical allusion.</p>
+
+<p>FURNITURE.</p>
+
+<p>The furniture of their houses, corresponding with their manner
+of living, is very simple, and consists of but few articles.
+Their bed is a mat, usually of fine texture, and manufactured for
+the purpose, with a number of pillows, worked at the ends and
+adorned with a shining substance that resembles foil. A sort of
+canopy or valance, formed of various coloured cloths, hangs
+overhead. Instead of tables they have what resemble large wooden
+salvers, with feet called dulang, round each of which three or
+four persons dispose themselves; and on these are laid the talams
+or brass waiters which hold the cups that contain their curry,
+and plantain leaves or matted vessels filled with rice. Their
+mode of sitting is not cross-legged, as the inhabitants of Turkey
+and our tailors use, but either on the haunches or on the left
+side, supported by the left hand with the legs tucked in on the
+right side; leaving that hand at liberty which they always, from
+motives of delicacy, scrupulously eat with; the left being
+reserved for less cleanly offices. Neither knives, spoons, nor
+any substitutes for them are employed; they take up the rice and
+other victuals between the thumb and fingers, and dexterously
+throw it into the mouth by the action of the thumb, dipping
+frequently their hands in water as they eat.</p>
+
+<p>UTENSILS.</p>
+
+<p>They have a little coarse chinaware, imported by the eastern
+praws, which is held a matter of luxury. In cooking they employ a
+kind of iron vessel well-known in India by the name of quallie or
+tauch, resembling in shape the pans used in some of our
+manufactures, having the rim wide and bottom narrow. These are
+likewise brought from the eastward. The priu and balanga, species
+of earthen pipkins, are in more common use, being made in small
+quantities in different parts of the island, particularly in
+Lampong, where they give them a sort of glazing; but the greater
+number of them are imported from Bantam. The original Sumatran
+vessel for boiling rice, and which is still much used for that
+purpose, is the bamboo, that material of general utility with
+which bountiful nature has supplied an indolent people. By the
+time the rice is dressed the utensil is nearly destroyed by the
+fire, but resists the flame so long as there is moisture
+within.</p>
+
+<p>FIRES.</p>
+
+<p>Fire being wanted among these people but occasionally, and
+only when they cook their victuals, there is not much attention
+paid in their buildings to provide conveniences for it. Their
+houses have no chimneys, and their fireplaces are no more than a
+few loose bricks or stones, disposed in a temporary manner and
+frequently on the landing-place before the doors. The fuel made
+use of is wood alone, the coal which the island produces never
+being converted by the inhabitants to that purpose. The flint and
+steel for striking fire are common in the country, but it is a
+practice certainly borrowed from some other people, as that
+species of stone is not a native of the soil. These generally
+form part of their travelling apparatus, and especially with
+those men called risaus (spendthrifts that turn freebooters), who
+find themselves often obliged to take up their habitation in the
+woods or in deserted houses. But they also frequently kindle fire
+from the friction of two sticks.</p>
+
+<p>MODE OF KINDLING THEM.</p>
+
+<p>They choose a piece of dry, porous wood, and cutting smooth a
+spot of it lay it in a horizontal direction. They then apply a
+smaller piece, of a harder substance, with a blunt point, in a
+perpendicular position, and turn it quickly round, between the
+two hands, as chocolate is milled, pressing it downwards at the
+same time. A hole is soon formed by this motion of the smaller
+stick; but it has not penetrated far before the larger one takes
+fire. I have also seen the same effect produced more simply by
+rubbing one bit of bamboo with a sharp edge across another.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. This mode of kindling fire is not
+peculiar to Sumatra: we read of the same practice in Africa and
+even in Kamtschatka. It is surprising, but confirmed by abundant
+authority, that many nations of the earth have at certain
+periods, been ignorant of the use of fire. To our immediate
+apprehension human existence would seem in such circumstances
+impossible. Every art, every convenience, every necessary of
+life, is now in the most intimate manner connected with it: and
+yet the Chinese, the Egyptians, the Phoenicians, and Greeks
+acknowledged traditions concerning its first discovery in their
+respective countries. But in fact if we can once suppose a man,
+or society of men, unacquainted with the being and uses of this
+element, I see no difficulty in conceiving the possibility of
+their supporting life without it; I mean in the tropical
+climates; and of centuries passing before they should arrive at
+the important discovery. It is true that lightning and its
+effects, volcanoes, the firing of dry substances by fortuitous
+attrition, or of moist, by fermentation, might give them an idea
+of its violent and destructive properties; but far from being
+thence induced to appropriate and apply it they would, on the
+contrary, dread and avoid it, even in its less formidable
+appearances. They might be led to worship it as their deity, but
+not to cherish it as their domestic. There is some reason to
+conclude that the man who first reduced it to subjection and
+rendered it subservient to the purposes of life procured it from
+the collision of two flints; but the sparks thus produced,
+whether by accident or design, might be observed innumerable
+times without its suggesting a beneficial application. In
+countries where those did not present themselves the discovery
+had, most probably, its origin in the rubbing together of dry
+sticks, and in this operation, the agent and subject coexisting,
+flame, with its properties and uses, became more immediately
+apparent. Still, as no previous idea was conceived of this latent
+principle, and consequently no search made, no endeavours
+exerted, to bring it to light, I see not the impossibility a
+priori of its remaining almost as long concealed from mankind as
+the properties of the loadstone or the qualities of
+gunpowder.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>Water is conveyed from the spring in bamboos, which for this
+purpose are cut, either to the length of five or six feet and
+carried over the shoulder, or into a number of single joints that
+are put together in a basket. It is drunk out of the fruit called
+labu here, resembling the calabash of the West Indies, a hole
+being made in the side of the neck and another at top for vent.
+In drinking they generally hold the vessel at a distance above
+their mouths and catch the stream as it falls; the liquid
+descending to the stomach without the action of swallowing.
+Baskets (bronong, bakul) are a considerable part of the furniture
+of a man's house, and the number of these seen hanging up are
+tokens of the owner's substance; for in them his harvests of rice
+or pepper are gathered and brought home; no carts being employed
+in the interior parts of the island which I am now describing.
+They are made of slips of bamboo connected by means of split
+rattans; and are carried chiefly by the women, on the back,
+supported by a string or band across the forehead.</p>
+
+<p>FOOD.</p>
+
+<p>Although the Sumatrans live in a great measure upon vegetable
+food they are not restrained by any superstitious opinion from
+other aliments, and accordingly at their entertainments the flesh
+of the buffalo (karbau), goat, and fowls, are served up. Their
+dishes are almost all prepared in that mode of dressing to which
+we have given the name of curry (from a Hindostanic word), and
+which is now universally known in Europe. It is called in the
+Malay language gulei, and may be composed of any kind of edible,
+but is generally of flesh or fowl, with a variety of pulse and
+succulent herbage, stewed down with certain ingredients, by us
+termed, when mixed and ground together, curry powder. These
+ingredients are, among others, the cayenne or chili-pepper,
+turmeric, sarei or lemon-grass, cardamums, garlick, and the pulp
+of the coconut bruised to a milk resembling that of almonds,
+which is the only liquid made use of. This differs from the
+curries of Madras and Bengal, which have greater variety of
+spices, and want the coconut. It is not a little remarkable that
+the common pepper, the chief produce and staple commodity of the
+country, is never mixed by the natives in their food. They esteem
+it heating to the blood, and ascribe a contrary effect to the
+cayenne; which I can say, my own experience justifies. A great
+diversity of curries is usually served up at the same time, in
+small vessels, each flavoured to a nice discerning taste in a
+different manner; and in this consists all the luxury of their
+tables. Let their quantity or variety or meat be what it may, the
+principle article of their food is rice, which is eaten in a
+large proportion with every dish, and very frequently without any
+other accompaniment than salt and chili-pepper. It is prepared by
+boiling in a manner peculiar to India; its perfection, next to
+cleanness and whiteness, consisting in its being, when thoroughly
+dressed and soft to the heart, at the same time whole and
+separate, so that no two grains shall adhere together. The manner
+of effecting this is by putting into the earthen or other vessel
+in which it is boiled a quantity of water sufficient to cover it,
+letting it simmer over a slow fire, taking off the water by
+degrees with a flat ladle or spoon that the grain may dry, and
+removing it when just short of burning. At their entertainments
+the guests are treated with rice prepared also in a variety of
+modes, by frying it in cakes or boiling a particular species of
+it mixed with the kernel of the coconut and fresh oil, in small
+joints of bamboo. This is called lemmang. Before it is served up
+they cut off the outer rind of the bamboo and the soft inner coat
+is peeled away by the person who eats.</p>
+
+<p>FLESH-MEAT.</p>
+
+<p>They dress their meat immediately after killing it, while it
+is still warm, which is conformable with the practice of the
+ancients as recorded in Homer and elsewhere, and in this state it
+is said to eat tenderer than when kept for a day: longer the
+climate will not admit of, unless when it is preserved in that
+mode called dinding. This is the flesh of the buffalo cut into
+small thin steaks and exposed to the heat of the sun in fair
+weather, generally on the thatch of their houses, till it is
+become so dry and hard as to resist putrefaction without any
+assistance from salt. Fish is preserved in the same manner, and
+cargoes of both are sent from parts of the coast where they are
+in plenty to those where provisions are in more demand. It is
+seemingly strange that heat, which in a certain degree promotes
+putrefaction, should when violently increased operate to prevent
+it; but it must be considered that moisture also is requisite to
+the former effect, and this is absorbed in thin substances by the
+sun's rays before it can contribute to the production of
+maggots.</p>
+
+<p>Blachang, a preservation, if it may be so termed, of an
+opposite kind, is esteemed a great delicacy among the Malays, and
+is by them exported to the west of India. The country Sumatrans
+seldom procure it. It is a species of caviar, and is extremely
+offensive and disgusting to persons who are not accustomed to it,
+particularly the black kind, which is the most common. The best
+sort, or the red blachang, is made of the spawn of shrimps, or of
+the shrimps themselves, which they take about the mouths of
+rivers. They are, after boiling, exposed to the sun to dry, then
+pounded in a mortar with salt, moistened with a little water and
+formed into cakes, which is all the process. The black sort, used
+by the lower class, is made of small fish, prepared in the same
+manner. On some parts of the east coast of the island they salt
+the roes of a large fish of the shad kind, and preserve them
+perfectly dry and well flavoured. These are called trobo.</p>
+
+<p>When the natives kill a buffalo, which is always done at their
+public meetings, they do not cut it up into joints as we do an
+ox, but into small pieces of flesh, or steaks, which they call
+bantei. The hide of the buffalo is sometimes scalded, scraped,
+and hung up to dry in their houses where it shrivels and becomes
+perfectly hard. When wanted for use a piece is chopped off and,
+being stewed down for a great number of hours in a small quantity
+of water, forms a rich jelly which, properly seasoned, is
+esteemed a very delicate dish.</p>
+
+<p>The sago (sagu), though common on Sumatra and used
+occasionally by the natives, is not an article of food of such
+general use among them as with the inhabitants of many other
+eastern islands, where it is employed as a substitute for rice.
+Millet (randa jawa) is also cultivated for food, but not in any
+considerable quantity.</p>
+
+<p>When these several articles of subsistence fail the Sumatran
+has recourse to those wild roots, herbs, and leaves of trees
+which the woods abundantly afford in every season without
+culture, and which the habitual simplicity of his diet teaches
+him to consider as no very extraordinary circumstance of
+hardship. Hence it is that famines in this island or, more
+properly speaking, failures of crops of grain, are never attended
+with those dreadful consequences which more improved countries
+and more provident nations experience.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-04"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 4.</h3>
+
+<p><b>AGRICULTURE.<br>
+RICE, ITS CULTIVATION, ETC.<br>
+PLANTATIONS OF COCONUT, BETEL-NUT, AND OTHER VEGETABLES FOR DOMESTIC USE.<br>
+DYE STUFFS.</b></p>
+
+<p>AGRICULTURE.</p>
+
+<p>From their domestic economy I am led to take a view of their
+labours in the field, their plantations and the state of
+agriculture amongst them, which an ingenious writer esteems the
+justest criterion of civilisation.</p>
+
+<p>RICE.</p>
+
+<p>The most important article of cultivation, not in Sumatra
+alone but throughout the East, is rice. It is the grand material
+of food on which a hundred millions of the inhabitants of the
+earth subsist, and although chiefly confined by nature to the
+regions included between and bordering on the tropics, its
+cultivation is probably more extensive than that of wheat, which
+the Europeans are wont to consider as the universal staff of
+life. In the continent of Asia, as you advance to the northward,
+you come to the boundary where the plantations of rice disappear
+and the wheatfields commence; the cold felt in that climate,
+owing in part to the height of the land, being unfriendly to the
+production of the former article.</p>
+
+<p>Rice (Oryza sativa) whilst in the husk is called padi by the
+Malays (from whose language the word seems to have found its way
+to the maritime parts of the continent of India), bras when
+deprived of the husk, and nasi after it has been boiled; besides
+which it assumes other names in its various states of growth and
+preparation. This minuteness of distinction applies also to some
+other articles of common use, and may be accounted for upon this
+principle: that amongst people whose general objects of attention
+are limited, those which do of necessity occupy them are liable
+to be more the subject of thought and conversation than in more
+enlightened countries where the ideas of men have an extensive
+range. The kinds of rice also (whether technically of different
+species I cannot pronounce) are very numerous, but divided in the
+first place into the two comprehensive classes of padi ladang or
+upland, from its growing in high, dry grounds, and padi sawah
+(vulgarly pronounced sawur or sour) or lowland, from its being
+planted in marshes; each of which is said to contain ten or
+fifteen varieties, distinct in shape, size, and colour of the
+grain, modes of growth, and delicacy of flavour; it being
+observed that in general the larger-grained rice is not so much
+prized by the natives as that which is small, when at the same
+time white and in some degree transparent.* To M. Poivre, in his
+Travels of a Philosopher, we are indebted for first pointing out
+these two classes when speaking of the agriculture of
+Cochin-China. The qualities of the ladang, or upland rice, are
+held to be superior to those of the sawah, being whiter, more
+nourishing, better tasted and having the advantage in point of
+keeping. Its mode of culture too is free from the charge of
+unhealthiness attributed to the latter, which is of a watery
+substance, is attended with less increase in boiling, and is
+subject to a swifter decay; but of this the rate of produce from
+the seed is much greater, and the certainty of the crops more to
+be depended on. It is accordingly cheaper and in more common use.
+The seed of each sort is kept separate by the natives, who assert
+that they will not grow reciprocally.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The following sorts of dry-ground padi
+have come under my notice but as the names vary in different
+districts it is possible that some of these may be repetitions,
+where there is no striking difference of character:
+
+<p>Padi Ebbas, large grain, very common;<br>
+Andalong, short round grain, grows in whorls or bunches round the
+stalk, common;<br>
+Galu, light-coloured, scarce;<br>
+Sini, small grain, deep coloured, scarce;<br>
+Iju, light ish colour, scarce;<br>
+Kuning, deep yellow, crooked and pointed, fine rice;<br>
+Kukur-ballum, small, much crooked and resembling a dove's claw,
+from whence the name; light-coloured, highly esteemed for its
+delicate flavour;<br>
+Pisang, outer coat light brown, inner red, longer, smaller, and
+less crooked than the preceding;<br>
+Bringin, long, flattish, ribbed, pointed, dead yellow;<br>
+Bujut, shaped like the preceding, but with a tinge of red in the
+colour;<br>
+Chariap, short, roundish, reddish yellow;<br>
+Janggut or bearded, small, narrow, pale brown;<br>
+Jambi, small, somewhat crooked and pointed, light brown;<br>
+Laye, gibbous, light-coloured;<br>
+Musang, long, small, crooked and pointed, deep purple;<br>
+Pandan, small, light-coloured;<br>
+Pau, long, crooked and pointed, light yellow;<br>
+Puyuh, small, delicate, crooked and pointed, bright ochre;<br>
+Rakkun, roundish grain, resembles the andalong, but larger and
+deeper colour;<br>
+Sihong, much resembles the laye in shape and colour;<br>
+Sutar, short, roundish, bright, reddish brown;<br>
+Pulut gading or ivory, long, nearly straight, light yellow;<br>
+Pulut kechil, small, crooked, reddish yellow;<br>
+Pulut bram, long and rather large grain, purple, when fresh more
+nearly red;<br>
+Pulut bram lematong, in shape like the preceding, but of a dead
+pale colour.<br>
+Beside these four there is also a black kind of pulut.<br>
+Samples of most of these have been in my possession for a number
+of years, and still continue perfectly sound. Of the sorts of
+rice growing in low grounds I have not specimens. The padi
+santong, which is small, straight, and light-coloured, is held to
+be the finest. In the Lampong country they make a distinction of
+padi krawang and padi jerru, of which I know nothing more than
+that the former is a month earlier in growth than the
+latter.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>UPLAND RICE.</p>
+
+<p>For the cultivation of upland padi the site of woods is
+universally preferred, and the more ancient the woods the better,
+on account of the superior richness of the soil; the continual
+fall and rotting of the leaves forming there a bed of vegetable
+mould, which the open plains do not afford, being exhausted by
+the powerful operation of the sun's rays and the constant
+production of a rank grass called lalang. When this grass, common
+to all the eastern islands, is kept under by frequent mowing or
+the grazing of cattle (as is the case near the European
+settlements) its room is supplied by grass of a finer texture.
+Many suppose that the same identical species of vegetable
+undergoes this alteration, as no fresh seeds are sown and the
+substitution uniformly takes place. But this is an evident
+mistake as the generic characters of the two are essentially
+different; the one being the Gramen caricosum and the other the
+Gramen aciculatum described by Rumphius. The former, which grows
+to the height of five feet, is remarkable for the whiteness and
+softness of the down or blossom, and the other for the sharpness
+of its bearded seeds, which prove extremely troublesome to the
+legs of those who walk among it.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Gramen hoc (caricosum) totos occupat
+campos, nudosque colles tam dense et laete germinans, ut e
+longinquo haberetur campus oryza consitus, tam luxuriose ac
+fortiter crescit, ut neque hortos neque sylvas evitet, atque tam
+vehementer prorepit, ut areae vix depurari ac servari possint,
+licet quotidie deambulentur...Potissimum amat solum flavum
+arguillosum. (Gramen aciculatum) Usus ejus fere nullus est, sed
+hic detegendum est taediosum ludibrium, quod quis habet, si quis
+per campos vel in sylvis procedat, ubi hoc gramen ad vias
+publicas crescit, quum praetereuntium vestibus, hoc semen quam
+maxime inhaeret. Rumphius volume 6 book 10 chapters 8 and 13. M.
+Poivre describes the plains of Madagascar and Java as covered
+with a long grass which he calls fatak, and which, from the
+analogy of the countries in other respects, I should suppose to
+be the lalang; but he praises it as affording excellent
+pasturage; whereas in Sumatra it is reckoned the worst, and
+except when very young it is not edible by the largest cattle;
+for which reason the carters and drovers are in the practice of
+setting fire to that which grows on the plains by the roadside,
+that the young shoots which thereupon shoot up, may afterwards
+supply food to their buffaloes.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>If old woods are not at hand ground covered with that of
+younger growth, termed balukar, is resorted to; but not, if
+possible, under the age of four or five years. Vegetation is
+there so strong that spots which had been perfectly cleared for
+cultivation will, upon being neglected for a single season,
+afford shelter to the beasts of the forest; and the same being
+rarely occupied for two successive years, the face of the country
+continues to exhibit the same wild appearance, although very
+extensive tracts are annually covered with fresh plantations.
+From this it will be seen that, in consequence of the fertility
+to which it gives occasion, the abundance of wood in the country
+is not considered by the inhabitants as an inconvenience but the
+contrary. Indeed I have heard a native prince complain of a
+settlement made by some persons of a distant tribe in the inland
+part of his dominions, whom he should be obliged to expel from
+thence in order to prevent the waste of his old woods. This
+seemed a superfluous act of precaution in an island which strikes
+the eye as one general, impervious, and inexhaustible forest.</p>
+
+<p>MODE OF CLEARING THE GROUND.</p>
+
+<p>On the approach of the dry monsoon (April and May) or in the
+course of it, the husbandman makes choice of a spot for his
+ladang, or plantation of upland rice, for that season, and marks
+it out. Here it must be observed that property in land depends
+upon occupancy, unless where fruit-bearing trees have been
+planted, and, as there is seldom any determined boundary between
+the lands of neighbouring villages, such marks are rarely
+disturbed. Collecting his family and dependents, he next proceeds
+to clear the ground. This is an undertaking of immense labour,
+and would seem to require herculean force, but it is effected by
+skill and perseverance. The work divides itself into two parts.
+The first (called tebbas, menebbas) consists in cutting down the
+brushwood and rank vegetables, which are suffered to dry during
+an interval of a fortnight, or more or less, according to the
+fairness of the weather, before they proceed to the second
+operation (called tebbang, menebbang) of felling the large trees.
+Their tools, the prang and billiong (the former resembling a
+bill-hook, and the latter an imperfect adze) are seemingly
+inadequate to the task, and the saw is unknown in the country.
+Being regardless of the timber they do not fell the tree near the
+ground, where the stem is thick, but erect a stage and begin to
+hew, or chop rather, at the height of ten or twelve, to twenty or
+thirty feet, where the dimensions are smaller (and sometimes much
+higher, taking off little more than the head) until it is
+sufficiently weakened to admit of their pulling it down with
+rattans made fast to the branches instead of ropes.* And thus by
+slow degrees the whole is laid low.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. A similar mode of felling is described in
+the Maison rustique de Cayenne.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>In some places however a more summary process is attempted. It
+may be conceived that in the woods the cutting down trees singly
+is a matter of much difficulty on account of the twining plants
+which spread from one to the other and connect them strongly
+together. To surmount this it is not an uncommon practice to cut
+a number of trees half through, on the same side, and then fix
+upon one of great bulk at the extremity of the space marked out,
+which they cut nearly through, and, having disengaged it from
+these lianas (as they are termed in the western world) determine
+its fall in such a direction as may produce the effect of its
+bearing down by its prodigious weight all those trees which had
+been previously weakened for the purpose. By this much time and
+labour are saved, and, the object being to destroy and not to
+save the timber, the rending or otherwise spoiling the stems is
+of no moment. I could never behold this devastation without a
+strong sentiment of regret. Perhaps the prejudices of a classical
+education taught me to respect those aged trees as the habitation
+or material frame of an order of sylvan deities, who were now
+deprived of existence by the sacrilegious hand of a rude,
+undistinguishing savage. But without having recourse to
+superstition it is not difficult to account for such feelings on
+the sight of a venerable wood, old, to appearance, as the soil it
+stood on, and beautiful beyond what pencil can describe,
+annihilated for the temporary use of the space it occupied. It
+seemed a violation of nature in the too arbitrary exercise of
+power. The timber, from its abundance, the smallness of
+consumption, and its distance in most cases from the banks of
+navigable rivers, by which means alone it could be transported to
+any distance, is of no value; and trees whose bulk, height,
+straightness of stem, and extent of limbs excite the admiration
+of a traveller, perish indiscriminately. Some of the branches are
+lopped off, and when these, together with the underwood, are
+become sufficiently arid, they are set fire to, and the country,
+for the space of a month or two, is in a general blaze and smoke,
+until the whole is consumed and the ground effectually cleared.
+The expiring wood, beneficent to its ungrateful destroyer,
+fertilises for his use by its ashes and their salts the earth
+which it so long adorned.</p>
+
+<p>Unseasonable wet weather at this period, which sometimes
+happens, and especially when the business is deferred till the
+close of the dry or south-east monsoon, whose termination is at
+best irregular, produces much inconvenience by the delay of
+burning till the vegetation has had time to renew itself; in
+which case the spot is commonly abandoned, or, if partially
+burned, it is not without considerable toil that it can be
+afterwards prepared for sowing. On such occasions there are
+imposters ready to make a profit of the credulity of the
+husbandman who, like all others whose employments expose them to
+risks, are prone to superstition, by pretending to a power of
+causing or retarding rain. One of these will receive, at the time
+of burning the ladangs, a dollar or more from each family in the
+neighbourhood, under the pretence of ensuring favourable weather
+for their undertaking. To accomplish this purpose he abstains, or
+pretends to abstain, for many days and nights from food and
+sleep, and performs various trifling ceremonies; continuing all
+the time in the open air. If he espies a cloud gathering he
+immediately begins to smoke tobacco with great vehemence, walking
+about with a quick pace and throwing the puffs towards it with
+all the force of his lungs. How far he is successful it is no
+difficult matter to judge. His skill, in fact, lies in choosing
+his time, when there is the greatest prospect of the continuance
+of fair weather in the ordinary course of nature: but should he
+fail there is an effectual salvo. He always promises to fulfil
+his agreement with a Deo volente clause, and so attributes his
+occasional disappointments to the particular interposition of the
+deity. The cunning men who, in this and many other instances of
+conjuration, impose on the simple country people, are always
+Malayan adventurers, and not unfrequently priests. The planter
+whose labour has been lost by such interruptions generally finds
+it too late in the season to begin on another ladang, and the
+ordinary resource for subsisting himself and family is to seek a
+spot of sawah ground, whose cultivation is less dependent upon
+accidental variations of weather. In some districts much
+confusion in regard to the period of sowing is said to have
+arisen from a very extraordinary cause. Anciently, say the
+natives, it was regulated by the stars, and particularly by the
+appearance (heliacal rising) of the bintang baniak or Pleiades;
+but after the introduction of the Mahometan religion they were
+induced to follow the returns of the puisa or great annual fast,
+and forgot their old rules. The consequence of this was obvious,
+for the lunar year of the hejrah being eleven days short of the
+sidereal or solar year the order of the seasons was soon
+inverted; and it is only astonishing that its inaptness to the
+purposes of agriculture should not have been immediately
+discovered.</p>
+
+<p>SOWING.</p>
+
+<p>When the periodical rains begin to fall, which takes place
+gradually about October, the planter assembles his neighbours
+(whom he assists in turn), and with the aid of his whole family
+proceeds to sow his ground, endeavouring to complete the task in
+the course of one day. In order to ensure success he fixes, by
+the priest's assistance, on a lucky day, and vows the sacrifice
+of a kid if his crop should prove favourable; the performance of
+which is sacredly observed, and is the occasion of a feast in
+every family after harvest. The manner of sowing (tugal-menugal)
+is this. Two or three men enter the plantation, as it is usual to
+call the padi-field, holding in each hand sticks about five feet
+long and two inches diameter, bluntly pointed, with which,
+striking them into the ground as they advance, they make small,
+shallow holes, at the distance of about five inches from each
+other. These are followed by the women and elder children with
+small baskets containing the seed-grain (saved with care from the
+choicest of the preceding crop) of which they drop four or five
+grains into every hole, and, passing on, are followed by the
+younger children who with their feet (in the use of which the
+natives are nearly as expert as with their hands) cover them
+lightly from the adjacent earth, that the seed may not be too
+much exposed to the birds, which, as might be expected, often
+prove destructive foes. The ground, it should be observed, has
+not been previously turned up by any instrument of the hoe or
+plough kind, nor would the stumps and roots of trees remaining in
+it admit of the latter being worked; although employed under
+other circumstances, as will hereafter appear. If rain succeeds
+the padi is above ground in four or five days; but by an
+unexpected run of dry weather it is sometimes lost, and the field
+sowed a second time. When it has attained a month or six weeks'
+growth it becomes necessary to clear it of weeds
+(siang-menyiang), which is repeated at the end of two months or
+ten weeks; after which the strength it has acquired is sufficient
+to preserve it from injury in that way. Huts are now raised in
+different parts of the plantation, from whence a communication is
+formed over the whole by means of rattans, to which are attached
+scarecrows, rattles, clappers, and other machines for frightening
+away the birds, in the contrivance of which they employ
+incredible pains and ingenuity; so disposing them that a child,
+placed in the hut, shall be able, with little exertion, to create
+a loud clattering noise to a great extent; and on the borders of
+the field are placed at intervals a species of windmill fixed on
+poles which, on the inexperienced traveller, have an effect as
+terrible as those encountered by the knight of La Mancha. Such
+precautions are indispensable for the protection of the corn,
+when in the ear, against the numerous flights of the pipi, a
+small bird with a light-brown body, white head, and bluish beak,
+rather less than the sparrow, which in its general appearance and
+habits it resembles. Several of these lighting at once upon a
+stalk of padi, and bearing it down, soon clear it of its produce,
+and thus if unmolested destroy whole crops.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of sowing the padi it is a common practice to sow
+also, in the interstices, and in the same manner, jagong or
+maize, which, growing up faster and ripening before it (in little
+more than three months) is gathered without injury to the former.
+It is also customary to raise in the same ground a species of
+momordica, the fruit of which comes forward in the course of two
+months.</p>
+
+<p>REAPING.</p>
+
+<p>The nominal time allowed from the sowing to the reaping of the
+crop is five lunar months and ten days; but from this it must
+necessarily vary with the circumstances of the season. When it
+ripens, if all at the same time, the neighbours are again
+summoned to assist, and entertained for the day: if a part only
+ripens first the family begin to reap it, and proceed through the
+whole by degrees. In this operation, called tuwei-menuwei from
+the instrument used, they take off the head of corn (the term of
+ear not being applicable to the growth of this plant) about six
+inches below the grain, the remaining stalk or halm being left as
+of no value. The tuwei is a piece of wood about six inches long,
+usually of carved work and about two inches diameter, in which is
+fixed lengthwise a blade of four or five inches, secured at the
+extremes by points bent to a right angle and entering the wood.
+To this is added a piece of very small bamboo from two to three
+inches long, fixed at right angles across the back of the wood,
+with a notch for receiving it, and pinned through by a small peg.
+This bamboo rests in the hollow of the hand, one end of the piece
+of wood passing between the two middle fingers, with the blade
+outwards; the natives always cutting FROM them.* With this in the
+right hand and a small basket slung over the left shoulder, they
+very expeditiously crop the heads of padi one by one, bringing
+the stalk to the blade with their two middle fingers, and passing
+them, when cut, from the right hand to the left. As soon as the
+left hand is full the contents are placed in regular layers in
+the basket (sometimes tied up in a little sheaf), and from thence
+removed to larger baskets, in which the harvest is to be conveyed
+to the dusun or village, there to be lodged in the tangkian or
+barns, which are buildings detached from the dwelling-houses,
+raised like them from the ground, widening from the floor towards
+the roof, and well lined with boards or coolitcoy. In each
+removal care is taken to preserve the regularity of the layers,
+by which means it is stowed to advantage, and any portion of it
+readily taken out for use.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The inhabitants of Menangkabau are said
+to reap with an instrument resembling a sickle.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>LOW-GROUND RICE.</p>
+
+<p>Sawahs are plantations of padi in low wet ground, which,
+during the growth of the crop, in the rainy season between the
+months of October and March,* are for the most part overflowed to
+the depth of six inches or a foot, beyond which latter the water
+becomes prejudicial. Level marshes, of firm bottom, under a
+moderate stratum of mud, and not liable to deep stagnant water,
+are the situations preferred; the narrower hollows, though very
+commonly used for small plantations, being more liable to
+accidents from torrents and too great depth of water, which the
+inhabitants have rarely industry enough to regulate to advantage
+by permanent embankments. They are not however ignorant of such
+expedients, and works are sometimes met with, constructed for the
+purpose chiefly of supplying the deficiency of rain to several
+adjoining sawahs by means of sluices, contrived with no small
+degree of skill and attention to levels.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. In the Transactions of the Batavian
+Society the following mention is made of the cultivation of rice
+in Java. The padi sawa is sown in low watered grounds in the
+month of March, transplanted in April, and reaped in August. The
+padi tipar is sown in high ploughed lands in November, and reaped
+in March (earlier in the season than I could have supposed.) when
+sown where woods have been recently cut down, or in the clefts of
+the hills (klooven van het gebergte) it is named padi gaga.
+Volume 1 page 27.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>In new ground, after clearing it from the brushwood, reeds,
+and aquatic vegetables with which the marshes, when neglected,
+are overrun, and burning them at the close of the dry season, the
+soil is, in the beginning of the wet, prepared for culture by
+different modes of working. In some places a number of buffaloes,
+whose greatest enjoyment consists in wading and rolling in mud,
+are turned in, and these by their motions contribute to give it a
+more uniform consistence as well as enrich it by their dung. In
+other parts less permanently moist the soil is turned up, either
+with a wooden instrument between a hoe and a pickaxe, or with the
+plough, of which they use two kinds; their own, drawn by one
+buffalo, extremely simple, and the wooden share of it doing
+little more than scratch the ground to the depth of six inches;
+and one they have borrowed from the Chinese, drawn either with
+one or two buffaloes, very light, and the share more nearly
+resembling ours, turning the soil over as it passes and making a
+narrow furrow. In sawahs however the surface has in general so
+little consistence that no furrow is perceptible, and the plough
+does little more than loosen the stiff mud to some depth, and cut
+the roots of the grass and weeds, from which it is afterwards
+cleared by means of a kind of harrow or rake, being a thick plank
+of heavy wood with strong wooden teeth and loaded with earth
+where necessary. This they contrive to drag along the surface for
+the purpose at the same time of depressing the rising spots and
+filling up the hollow ones. The whole being brought as nearly as
+possible to a level, that the water may lie equally upon it the
+sawah is, for the more effectual securing of this essential
+point, divided into portions nearly square or oblong (called
+piring, which signifies a dish) by narrow banks raised about
+eighteen inches and two feet wide. These drying become harder
+than the rest, confine the water, and serve the purpose of
+footways throughout the plantation. When there is more water in
+one division than another small passages are cut through the dams
+to produce an equality. Through these apertures water is also in
+some instances introduced from adjacent rivers or reservoirs,
+where such exist, and the season requires their aid. The
+innumerable springs and rivulets with which this country abounds
+render unnecessary the laborious processes by which water is
+raised and supplied to the rice grounds in the western part of
+India, where the soil is sandy: yet still the principal art of
+the planter consists, and is required, in the management of this
+article; to furnish it to the ground in proper and moderate
+quantities and to carry it off from time to time by drains; for
+if suffered to be long stagnant it would occasion the grain to
+rot.</p>
+
+<p>TRANSPLANTATION.</p>
+
+<p>Whilst the sawahs have been thus in preparation to receive the
+padi a small, adjacent, and convenient spot of good soil has been
+chosen, in which the seed-grain is sown as thick as it can well
+lie to the ground, and is then often covered with layers of
+lalang (long grass, instead of straw) to protect the grain from
+the birds, and perhaps assist the vegetation. When it has grown
+to the height of from five to eight inches, or generally at the
+end of forty days from the time of sowing, it is taken up in
+showery weather and transplanted to the sawah, where holes are
+made four or five inches asunder to receive the plants. If they
+appear too forward the tops are cropped off. A supply is at the
+same time reserved in the seed-plots to replace such as may
+chance to fail upon removal. These plantations, in the same
+manner as the ladangs, it is necessary to cleanse from weeds at
+least twice in the first two or three months; but no maize or
+other seed is sown among the crop. When the padi begins to form
+the ear or to blossom, as the natives express it, the water is
+finally drawn off, and at the expiration of four months from the
+time of transplanting it arrives at maturity. The manner of
+guarding against the birds is similar to what has been already
+described; but the low ground crop has a peculiar and very
+destructive enemy in the rats, which sometimes consume the whole
+of it, especially when the plantation has been made somewhat out
+of season; to obviate which evil the inhabitants of a district
+sow by agreement pretty nearly at the same time; whereby the
+damage is less perceptible. In the mode of reaping likewise there
+is nothing different. Upon the conclusion of the harvest it is an
+indispensable duty to summon the neighbouring priests to the
+first meal that is made of the new rice, when an entertainment is
+given according to the circumstances of the family. Should this
+ceremony be omitted the crop would be accursed (haram) nor could
+the whole household expect to outlive the season. This
+superstition has been by the Mahometans judiciously engrafted on
+the stock of credulity in the country people.</p>
+
+<p>The same spot of low ground is for the most part used without
+regular intermission for several successive years, the degree of
+culture they bestow by turning up the soil and the overflowing
+water preserving its fertility. They are not however insensible
+to the advantage of occasional fallows. In consequence of this
+continued use the value of the sawah grounds differs from that of
+ladangs, the former being, in the neighbourhood of populous towns
+particularly, distinct property, and of regularly ascertained
+value. At Natal for example those consisting between one and two
+acres sell for sixteen to twenty Spanish dollars. In the interior
+country, where the temperature of the air is more favourable to
+agriculture, they are said to sow the same spot with ladang rice
+for three successive years; and there also it is common to sow
+onions as soon as the stubble is burned off. Millet (randa jawa)
+is sown at the same time with the padi. In the country of Manna,
+southward of Bencoolen, a progress in the art of cultivation is
+discovered, superior to what appears in almost any other part of
+the island; the Batta country perhaps alone excepted. Here may be
+seen pieces of land in size from five to fifteen acres, regularly
+ploughed and harrowed. The difference is thus accounted for. It
+is the most populous district in that southern part, with the
+smallest extent of sea-coast. The pepper plantations and ladangs
+together having in a great measure exhausted the old woods in the
+accessible parts of the country, and the inhabitants being
+therein deprived of a source of fertility which nature formerly
+supplied, they must either starve, remove to another district, or
+improve by cultivation the spot where they reside. The first is
+contrary to the inherent principle that teaches man to preserve
+life by every possible means: their attachment to their native
+soil, or rather their veneration for the sepulchres of their
+ancestors, is so strong that to remove would cost them a struggle
+almost equal to the pangs of death: necessity therefore, the
+parent of art and industry, compels them to cultivate the
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>RATE OF PRODUCE.</p>
+
+<p>The produce of the grounds thus tilled is reckoned at thirty
+for one; from those in the ordinary mode about a hundred fold on
+the average, the ladangs yielding about eighty, and the sawahs a
+hundred and twenty. Under favourable circumstances I am assured
+the rate of produce is sometimes so high as a hundred and forty
+fold. The quantity sown by a family is usually from five to ten
+bamboo measures or gallons. These returns are very extraordinary
+compared with those of our wheat-fields in Europe, which I
+believe seldom exceed fifteen, and are often under ten. To what
+is this disproportion owing? to the difference of grain, as rice
+may be in its nature extremely prolific? to the more genial
+influence of a warmer climate? or to the earth's losing by
+degrees her fecundity from an excessive cultivation? Rather than
+to any of these causes I am inclined to attribute it to the
+different process followed in sowing. In England the saving of
+labour and promoting of expedition are the chief objects, and in
+order to effect these the grain is almost universally scattered
+in the furrows; excepting where the drill has been introduced.
+The Sumatrans, who do not calculate the value of their own labour
+or that of their domestics on such occasions, make holes in the
+ground, as has been described, and drop into each a few grains*;
+or, by a process still more tedious, raise the seed in beds and
+then plant it out. Mr. Charles Miller, in a paper published in
+the Philosophical Transactions, has shown us the wonderful
+effects of successive transplantation. How far it might be worth
+the English farmer's while to bestow more labour in the business
+of sowing the grain, with the view of a proportionate increase in
+the rate of produce, I am not competent, nor is it to my present
+purpose, to form a judgment. Possibly as the advantage might be
+found to lie rather in the quantity of grain saved in the sowing
+than gained in the reaping, it would not answer his purpose; for
+although half the quantity of seed-corn bears reciprocally the
+same proportion to the usual produce that double the latter does
+to the usual allowance of seed, yet in point of profit the scale
+is different. To augment this it is of much more importance to
+increase the produce from a given quantity of land than to
+diminish the quantity of grain necessary for sowing it.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. In an address from the Bath Agricultural
+Society dated 12th October 1795 it is strongly recommended to the
+cultivators of land (on account of the then existing scarcity of
+grain) to adopt the method of dibbling wheat. The holes to be
+made either by the common dibble, or with an implement having
+four or more points in a frame, at the distance of about four
+inches every way, and to the depth of an inch and a half;
+dropping TWO grains into every hole. The man who dibbles is to
+move backwards and to be followed by two or three women or
+children, who drop in the grains. A bush-hurdle, drawn across the
+furrows by a single horse, finishes the business. About six pecks
+of seed-wheat per acre are saved by this method. The expense of
+dibbling, dropping, and covering is reckoned in Norfolk at about
+six shillings per acre. Times Newspaper of 20th October
+1795.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>FERTILITY OF SOIL.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the received opinion of the fertility of what
+are called the Malay Islands, countenanced by the authority of M.
+Poivre and other celebrated writers, and still more by the
+extraordinary produce of grain, as above stated, I cannot help
+saying that I think the soil of the western coast of Sumatra is
+in general rather sterile than rich. It is for the most part a
+stiff red clay, burned nearly to the state of a brick where it is
+exposed to the influence of the sun. The small proportion of the
+whole that is cultivated is either ground from which old woods
+have been recently cleared, whose leaves had formed a bed of
+vegetable earth some inches deep, or else ravines into which the
+scanty mould of the adjoining hills has been washed by the annual
+torrents of rain. It is true that in many parts of the coast
+there are, between the cliffs and the sea-beach, plains varying
+in breadth and extent of a sandy soil, probably left by the sea
+and more or less mixed with earth in proportion to the time they
+have remained uncovered by the waters; and such are found to
+prove the most favourable spots for raising the productions of
+other parts of the world. But these are partial and insufficient
+proofs of fertility. Every person who has attempted to make a
+garden of any kind nor Fort Marlborough must well know how
+ineffectual a labour it would prove to turn up with the spade a
+piece of ground adopted at random. It becomes necessary for this
+purpose to form an artificial soil of dung, ashes, rubbish, and
+such other materials as can be procured. From these alone he can
+expect to raise the smallest supply of vegetables for the table.
+I have seen many extensive plantations of coconut, pinang, lime,
+and coffee-trees, laid out at a considerable expense by different
+gentlemen, and not one do I recollect to have succeeded; owing as
+it would seem to the barrenness of the soil, although covered
+with long grass. These disappointments have induced the Europeans
+almost entirely to neglect agriculture. The more industrious
+Chinese colonists, who work the ground with indefatigable pains,
+and lose no opportunity of saving and collecting manure, are
+rather more successful; yet have I heard one of the most able
+cultivators among this people, who, by the dint of labour and
+perseverance, had raised what then appeared to me a delightful
+garden, designed for profit as well as pleasure, declare that his
+heart was almost broken in struggling against nature; the soil
+being so ungrateful that, instead of obtaining an adequate return
+for his trouble and expense, the undertaking was likely to render
+him a bankrupt; and which he would inevitably have been but for
+assistance afforded him by the East India Company.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Some particular plants, especially the
+tea, Key Sun used to tell me he considered as his children: his
+first care in the morning and his last in the evening was to tend
+and cherish them. I heard with concern of his death soon after
+the first publication of this work, and could have wished the old
+man had lived to know that the above small tribute of attention
+had been paid to his merits as a gardener. In a letter received
+from the late ingenious Mr. Charles Campbell, belonging to the
+medical establishment of Fort Marlborough, whose communications I
+shall have future occasion to notice, he writes on the 29th of
+March 1802: "I must not omit to say a word about my attempts to
+cultivate the land. The result of all my labours in that way was
+disappointment almost as heartbreaking as that of the unlucky
+Chinaman, whose example however did not deter me. After many
+vexations I descended from the plains into the ravines, and there
+met with the success denied me on the elevated land. In one of
+these, through which runs a small rivulet emptying itself into
+the lake of Dusun Besar, I attempted a plantation of coffee,
+where there are now upwards of seven thousand plants firmly
+rooted and putting out new leaves." this cultivation has since
+been so much increased as to become an important article of
+commerce. It should at the same time be acknowledged that our
+acquaintance with the central and eastern parts of the island is
+very imperfect, and that much fertile land may be found beyond
+the range of mountains.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>The natives, it is true, without much or any cultivation raise
+several useful trees and plants; but they are in very small
+quantities, and immediately about their villages, where the
+ground is fertilised in spite of their indolence by the common
+sweepings of their houses and streets and the mere vicinity of
+their buildings. I have often had occasion to observe in young
+plantations that those few trees which surrounded the house of
+the owner or the hut of the keeper considerably over-topped their
+brethren of the same age. Every person at first sight, and on a
+superficial view of the Malayan countries, pronounces them the
+favourites of nature where she has lavished her bounties with a
+profusion unknown in other regions, and laments the infatuation
+of the people, who neglect to cultivate the finest soil in the
+world. But I have scarcely known one who, after a few years'
+residence, has not entirely altered his opinion. Certain it is
+that in point of external appearance they may challenge all
+others to comparison. In many parts of Sumatra, rarely trodden by
+human foot, scenes present themselves adapted to raise the
+sublimest sentiments in minds susceptible of the impression. But
+how rarely are they contemplated by minds of that temper! and yet
+it is alone:</p>
+
+<p>For such the rivers dash their foaming tides,<br>
+The mountain swells, the vale subsides,<br>
+The stately wood detains the wandering sight,<br>
+And the rough barren rock grows pregnant with delight.</p>
+
+<p>Even when there ARE inhabitants, to how little purpose as it
+respects them has she been profuse in ornament! In passing
+through places where my fancy was charmed with more luxuriant,
+wild, and truly picturesque views than I had ever before met
+with, I could not avoid regretting that a country so captivating
+to the eye should be allotted to a race of people who seem
+totally insensible of its beauties. But it is time to return from
+this excursion and pursue the progress of the husbandman through
+his remaining labours.</p>
+
+<p>MODES OF THRESHING.</p>
+
+<p>Different nations have adopted various methods of separating
+the grain from the ear. The most ancient we read of was that of
+driving cattle over the sheaves in order to trample it out. Large
+planks, blocks of marble, heavy carriages, have been employed in
+later times for this end. In most parts of Europe the flail is
+now in use, but in England begins to be superseded by the
+powerful and expeditious but complicated threshing machine. The
+Sumatrans have a mode differing from all these. The bunches of
+padi in the ear being spread on mats, they rub out the grain
+between and under their feet; supporting themselves in common for
+the more easy performance of this labour by holding with their
+hands a bamboo placed horizontally over their heads. Although, by
+going always unshod, their feet are extremely callous, and
+therefore adapted to the exercise, yet the workmen when closely
+tasked by their masters sometimes continue shuffling till the
+blood issues from their soles. This is the universal practice
+throughout the island.</p>
+
+<p>After treading out or threshing the next process is to winnow
+the corn (mengirei), which is done precisely in the same manner
+as practised by us. Advantage being taken of a windy day, it is
+poured out from the sieve or fan; the chaff dispersing whilst the
+heavier grain falls to the ground. This simple mode seems to have
+been followed in all ages and countries, though now giving place,
+in countries where the saving of labour is a principal object, to
+mechanical contrivances.</p>
+
+<p>In order to clear the grain from the husk, by which operation
+the padi acquires the name of rice (bras), and loses one half of
+its measured quantity, two bamboos of the former yielding only
+one of the latter, it is first spread out in the sunshine to dry
+(jumur), and then pounded in large wooden mortars (lesung) with
+heavy pestles (alu) made of a hard species of wood, until the
+outer coat is completely separated from it, when it is again
+fanned. This business falls principally to the lot of the females
+of the family, two of whom commonly work at the same mortar. In
+some places (but not frequently) it is facilitated by the use of
+a lever, to the end of which a short pestle or pounder is fixed;
+and in others by a machine which is a hollow cylinder or frustum
+of a cone, formed of heavy wood, placed upon a solid block of the
+same diameter, the contiguous surfaces of each being previously
+cut in notches or small grooves, and worked backwards and
+forwards horizontally by two handles or transverse arms; a
+spindle fixed in the centre of the lower cylinder serving as an
+axis to the upper or hollow one. Into this the grain is poured,
+and it is thus made to perform the office of the hopper at the
+same time with that of the upper, or movable stone, in our mills.
+In working it is pressed downwards to increase the friction,
+which is sufficient to deprive the padi of its outer coating.</p>
+
+<p>The rice is now in a state for sale, exportation, or laying
+up. To render it perfectly clean for eating, a point to which
+they are particularly attentive, it is put a second time into a
+lesung of smaller size, and, being sufficiently pounded without
+breaking the grains, it is again winnowed by tossing it
+dexterously in a flat sieve until the pure and spotless corns are
+separated from every particle of bran. They next wash it in cold
+water and then proceed to boil it in the manner before
+described.</p>
+
+<p>RICE AS AN ARTICLE OF TRADE.</p>
+
+<p>As an article of trade the Sumatran rice seems to be of a more
+perishable nature than that of some other countries, the upland
+rice not being expected to keep longer than twelve months, and
+the lowland showing signs of decay after six. At Natal there is a
+practice of putting a quantity of leaves of a shrub called
+lagundi (Vitex trifolia) amongst it in granaries, or the holds of
+vessels, on the supposition of its possessing the property of
+destroying or preventing the generation of weevils that usually
+breed in it. In Bengal it is said the rice intended for
+exportation is steeped in hot water whilst still in the husk, and
+afterwards dried by exposure to the sun; owing to which
+precaution it will continue sound for two or three years, and is
+on that account imported for garrison store at the European
+settlements. If retained in the state of padi it will keep very
+long without damaging.* The country people lay it up unthreshed
+from the stalk and beat it out (as we render their word tumbuk)
+from time to time as wanted for use or sale.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. I have in my possession specimens of a
+variety of species which were transmitted to me twelve years ago
+and are still perfectly sound.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>The price of this necessary of life differs considerably
+throughout the island, not only from the circumstances of the
+season but according to the general demand at the places where it
+is purchased, the degree of industry excited by such demand, and
+the aptitude of the country to supply it. The northern parts of
+the coast under the influence of the Achinese produce large
+quantities; particularly Susu and Tampat-tuan, where it is (or
+used to be) purchased at the rate of thirty bamboos (gallons) for
+the Spanish dollar, and exported either to Achin or to the
+settlement of Natal for the use of the Residency of Fort
+Marlborough. At Natal also, and for the same ultimate
+destination, is collected the produce of the small island of
+Nias, whose industrious inhabitants, living themselves upon the
+sweet-potato (Convolvulus batatas), cultivate rice for
+exportation only, encouraged by the demand from the English and
+(what were) the Dutch factories. Not any is exported from Natal
+of its actual produce; a little from Ayer Bungi; more from the
+extensive but neglected districts of Pasaman and Masang, and many
+cargoes from the country adjacent to Padang. Our pepper
+settlements to the northward of Fort Marlborough, from Moco-moco
+to Laye inclusive, export each a small quantity, but from thence
+southward to Kroi supplies are required for the subsistence of
+the inhabitants, the price varying from twelve to four bamboos
+according to the season. At our head settlement the consumption
+of the civil and military establishments, the company's
+LABOURERS, together with the Chinese and Malayan settlers, so
+much exceeds the produce of the adjoining districts (although
+exempted from any obligation to cultivate pepper) that there is a
+necessity for importing a quantity from the islands of Java and
+Bally, and from Bengal about three to six thousand bags
+annually.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. This has reference to the period between
+1770 and 1780 generally. So far as respects the natives there has
+been no material alteration.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>The rice called pulut or bras se-pulut (Oryza gelatinosa), of
+which mention has been made in the list above, is in its
+substance of a very peculiar nature, and not used as common food
+but with the addition of coconut-kernel in making a viscous
+preparation called lemang, which I have seen boiled in a green
+bamboo, and other juadahs or friandises. It is commonly
+distinguished into the white, red, and black sorts, among which
+the red appears to be the most esteemed. The black chiefly is
+employed by the Chinese colonists at Batavia and Fort Marlborough
+in the composition of a fermented liquor called bram or brum, of
+which the basis is the juice extracted from a species of
+palm.</p>
+
+<p>COCONUT.</p>
+
+<p>The coconut-tree, kalapa, nior (Cocos nucifera), may be
+esteemed the next important object of cultivation from the uses
+to which its produce is applied; although by the natives of
+Sumatra it is not converted to such a variety of purposes as in
+the Maldives and those countries where nature has been less
+bountiful in other gifts. Its value consists principally in the
+kernel of the nut, the consumption of which is very great, being
+an essential ingredient in the generality of their dishes. From
+this also, but in a state of more maturity, is procured the oil
+in common use near the sea-coast, both for anointing the hair, in
+cookery, and for burning in lamps. In the interior country other
+vegetable oils are employed, and light is supplied by a kind of
+links made of dammar or resin. A liquor, commonly known in India
+by the name of toddy, is extracted from this as well as from
+other trees of the palm-kind. Whilst quite fresh it is sweet and
+pleasant to the taste, and is called nira. After four and twenty
+hours it acidulates, ferments, and becomes intoxicating, in which
+state it is called tuak. Being distilled with molasses and other
+ingredients it yields the spirit called arrack. In addition to
+these but of trifling importance are the cabbage or succulent
+pith at the head of the tree, which however can be obtained only
+when it is cut down, and the fibres of the leaves, of which the
+natives form their brooms. The stem is never used for building
+nor any carpenter's purposes in a country where fine timber so
+much abounds. The fibrous substance of the husk is not there
+manufactured into cordage, as in the west of India where it is
+known by the name of coir; rattans and eju (a substance to be
+hereafter described) being employed for that purpose. The shell
+of the nut is but little employed as a domestic utensil, the
+lower class of people preferring the bamboo and the labu
+(Cucurbita lagenaria) and the better sort being possessed of
+coarse chinaware. If the filaments surrounding the stem are
+anywhere manufactured into cloth, as has been asserted, it must
+be in countries that do not produce cotton, which is a material
+beyond all comparison preferable: besides that certain kind of
+trees, as before observed, afford in their soft and pliable inner
+bark what may be considered as a species of cloth ready woven to
+their hands.</p>
+
+<p>This tree in all its species, stages, fructification, and
+appropriate uses has been so elaborately and justly described by
+many writers, especially the celebrated Rumphius in his Herbarium
+Amboinense, and Van Rheede in his Hortus Malabaricus, that to
+attempt it here would be an unnecessary repetition, and I shall
+only add a few local observations on its growth. Every dusun is
+surrounded with a number of fruit-bearing trees, and especially
+the coconut where the soil and temperature will allow them to
+grow, and, near the bazaars or sea-port towns, where the
+concourse of inhabitants is in general much greater than in the
+country, there are always large plantations of them to supply the
+extraordinary demand. The tree thrives best in a low, sandy soil,
+near the sea, where it will produce fruit in four or five years;
+whilst in the clayey ground it seldom bears in less than seven to
+ten years. As you recede from the coast the growth is
+proportionably slower, owing to the greater degree of cold among
+the hills; and it must attain there nearly its full height before
+it is productive, whereas in the plains a child can generally
+reach its first fruit from the ground. Here, said a countryman at
+Laye, if I plant a coconut or durian-tree I may expect to reap
+the fruit of it; but in Labun (an inland district) I should only
+plant for my great-grandchildren. In some parts where the land is
+particularly high, neither these, the betel-nut, nor
+pepper-vines, will produce fruit at all.</p>
+
+<p>It has been remarked by some writer that the date-bearing
+palm-tree and the coconut are never found to flourish in the same
+country. However this may hold good as a general assertion it is
+a fact that not one tree of that species is known to grow in
+Sumatra, where the latter, and many others of the palm kind, so
+much abound. All the small low islands which lie off the western
+coast are skirted near the sea-beach so thickly with
+coconut-trees that their branches touch each other, whilst the
+interior parts, though not on a higher level, are entirely free
+from them. This beyond a doubt is occasioned by the accidental
+floating of the nuts to the shore, where they are planted by the
+hand of nature, shoot up, and bear fruit; which, falling when it
+arrives at maturity, causes a successive reproduction. Where
+uninhabited, as is the case with Pulo Mego, one of the
+southernmost, the nuts become a prey to the rats and squirrels
+unless when occasionally disturbed by the crews of vessels which
+go thither to collect cargoes for market on the mainland. In the
+same manner, as we are told by Flacourt,* they have been thrown
+upon a coast of Madagascar and are not there indigenous; as I
+have been also assured by a native. Yet it appears that the
+natives call it voaniou, which is precisely the name by which it
+is familiarly known in Sumatra, being buah-nior; and v being
+uniformly substituted for b, and f for p, in the numerous Malayan
+words occurring in the language of the former island. On the
+other hand the singular production to which the appellation of
+sea-coconut (kalapa laut) has been given, and which is known to
+be the fruit of a species of borassus growing in one of the
+Seychelles Islands,** not far from Madagascar, are sometimes
+floated as far as the Malayan coasts, where they are supposed to
+be natives of the ocean and were held in high veneration for
+their miraculous effects in medicine until, about the year 1772,
+a large cargo of them was brought to Bencoolen by a French
+vessel, when their character soon fell with their price.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Histoire de l'isle Madagascar page
+127.)</blockquote>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. See a particular description of the
+sea-coconut with plates in the Voyage a la Nouvelle Guinee par
+Sonnerat page 3.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>PINANG OR BETEL-NUT.</p>
+
+<p>The pinang (Areca catechu L.) or betel-nut-tree (as it is
+usually, but improperly, called, the betel being a different
+plant) is in its mode of growth and appearance not unlike the
+coconut. It is however straighter in the stem, smaller in
+proportion to the height, and more graceful. The fruit, of which
+the varieties are numerous (such as pinang betul, pinang ambun,
+and pinang wangi), is in its outer coat about the size of a plum;
+the nut something less than that of the nutmeg but rounder. This
+is eaten with the leaf of the sirih or betel (Piper betel L.) a
+claiming plant whose leaf has a strong aromatic flavour and other
+stimulating additions; a practice that shall be hereafter
+described. Of both of these the natives make large
+plantations.</p>
+
+<p>BAMBOO.</p>
+
+<p>In respect to its numerous and valuable uses the bambu or
+bamboo-cane (Arundo bambos) holds a conspicuous rank amongst the
+vegetables of the island, though I am not aware that it is
+anywhere cultivated for domestic purposes, growing wild in most
+parts in great abundance. In the Batta country, and perhaps some
+other inland districts, they plant a particular species very
+thickly about their kampongs or fortified villages as a defence
+against the attacks of an enemy; the mass of hedge which they
+form being almost impenetrable. It grows in common to the
+thickness of a man's leg, and some sorts to that of the thigh.
+The joints are from fifteen to twenty inches asunder, and the
+length about twenty to forty feet. In all manner of building it
+is the chief material, both in its whole state, and split into
+laths and otherwise, as has already appeared in treating of the
+houses of the natives; and the various other modes of employing
+it will be noticed either directly or incidentally in the course
+of the work.</p>
+
+<p>SUGAR-CANE.</p>
+
+<p>The sugar-cane (tubbu) is very generally cultivated, but not
+in large quantities, and more frequently for the sake of chewing
+the juicy reed, which they consider as a delicacy, than for the
+manufacture of sugar. Yet this is not unattended to for home
+consumption, especially in the northern districts. By the
+Europeans and Chinese large plantations have been set on foot
+near Bencoolen, and worked from time to time with more or less
+effect; but in no degree to rival those of the Dutch at Batavia,
+from whence in time of peace the exportation of sugar (gula),
+sugar-candy (gula batu) and arrack is very considerable. In the
+southern parts of the island, and particularly in the district of
+Manna, every village is provided with two or three machines of a
+peculiar construction for squeezing the cane; but the inhabitants
+are content with boiling the juice to a kind of syrup. In the
+Lampong country they manufacture from the liquor yielded by a
+species of palm-tree a moist, clammy, imperfect kind of sugar,
+called jaggri in most parts of India.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. This word is evidently the shakar of the
+Persians, the Latin saccharum, and our sugar.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>JAGGRI.</p>
+
+<p>This palm, named in Sumatra anau, and by the eastern Malays
+gomuto, is the Borassus gomutus of Loureiro, the Saguerus
+pinnatus of the Batavian Transactions, and the cleophora of
+Gaertner. Its leaves are long and narrow and, though naturally
+tending to a point, are scarcely ever found perfect, but always
+jagged at the end. The fruit grows in bunches of thirty or forty
+together, on strings three or four feet long, several of which
+hang from one shoot. In order to procure the nira or toddy (held
+in higher estimation than that from the coconut-tree), one of
+these shoots for fructification is cut off a few inches from the
+stem, the remaining part is tied up and beaten, and an incision
+is then made, from which the liquor distils into a vessel or
+bamboo closely fastened beneath. This is replaced every
+twenty-four hours. The anau palm produces also (beside a little
+sago) the remarkable substance called iju and gomuto, exactly
+resembling coarse black horse-hair, and used for making cordage
+of a very excellent kind, as well as for many other purposes,
+being nearly incorruptible. It encompasses the stem of the tree,
+and is seemingly bound to it by thicker fibres or twigs, of which
+the natives made pens for writing. Toddy is likewise procured
+from the lontar or Borassus flabellifer, the tala of the
+Hindus.</p>
+
+<p>SAGO.</p>
+
+<p>The rambiya, puhn sagu, or proper sago tree, is also of the
+palm kind. Its trunk contains a farinaceous and glutinous pith
+that, being soaked, dried, and granulated, becomes the sago of
+our shops, and has been too frequently and accurately described
+(by Rumphius in particular, Volume 1 chapters 17 and 18, and by
+M. Poivre) to need a repetition here.</p>
+
+<p>NIBONG.</p>
+
+<p>The nibong (Caryota urens), another species of palm, grows
+wild in such abundance as not to need cultivation. The stem is
+tall, slender, and straight, and, being of a hard texture on the
+outer part, it is much used for posts in building the slight
+houses of the country, as well as for paling of a stronger kind
+than the bamboo usually employed. Withinside it is fibrous and
+soft and, when hollowed out, being of the nature of a pipe, is
+well adapted to the purpose of gutters or channels to convey
+water. The cabbage, as it is termed, or pith at the head of the
+tree (the germ of the foliage) is eaten as a delicacy, and
+preferred to that of the coconut.</p>
+
+<p>NIPAH.</p>
+
+<p>The nipah (Cocos nypa, Lour.) a low species of palm, is
+chiefly valuable for its leaves, which are much used as thatch
+for the roofs of houses. The pulpy kernels of the fruit (called
+buah atap) are preserved as a sweetmeat, but are entirely without
+flavour.</p>
+
+<p>CYCAS.</p>
+
+<p>The paku bindu (Cycas circinalis) has the general appearance
+of a young, or rather dwarf coconut-tree, and like that and the
+nibong produces a cabbage that is much esteemed as a culinary
+vegetable. The tender shoots are likewise eaten. The stem is
+short and knobby, the lower part of each branch (if branches they
+may be called) prickly, and the blossom yellow. The term paku,
+applied to it by the Malays, shows that they consider it as
+partaking of the nature of the fern (filix) and Rumphius, who
+names it Sayor calappa and Olus calappoides, describes it as an
+arborescent species of osmunda. It is well depicted in Volume 1
+table 22.</p>
+
+<p>MAIZE.</p>
+
+<p>The maize or turkey-corn (Zea mays), called jagong, though
+very generally sown, is not cultivated in quantities as an
+article of food, excepting in the Batta country. The ears are
+plucked whilst green, and, being slightly roasted on the embers,
+are eaten as a delicacy. Chili or cayenne pepper (capsicum),
+called improperly lada panjang or long pepper, and also lada
+merah, red pepper, which, in preference to the common or black
+pepper, is used in their curries and with almost every article of
+their food, always finds a place in their irregular and
+inartificial gardens. To these indeed their attention is very
+little directed, in consequence of the liberality with which
+nature, unsolicited, supplies their wants. Turmeric (curcuma) is
+a root of general use. Of this there are two kinds, the one
+called kunyit merah, an indispensable ingredient in their
+curries, pilaws, and sundry dishes; the other, kunyit tummu (a
+variety with coloured leaves and a black streak running along the
+midrib) is esteemed a good yellow dye, and is sometimes employed
+in medicine. Ginger (Amomum zinziber) is planted in small
+quantities. Of this also there are two kinds, alia jai (Zinziber
+majus) and alia padas (Zinziber minus), familiarly called se-pade
+or se-pudde, from a word signifying that pungent acrid taste in
+spices which we express by the vague term hot. The tummu (Costus
+arabicus) and lampuyang (Amomum zerumbet) are found both in the
+wild and cultivated state, being used medicinally; as is also the
+galangale (Kaempferia galanga). The coriander, called katumbar,
+and the cardamum, puah lako, grow in abundance. Of the puah
+(amomum) they reckon many species, the most common of which has
+very large leaves, resembling those of the plantain and
+possessing an aromatic flavour not unlike that of the bay tree.
+The jintan or cumin-seed (cuminum) is sometimes an ingredient in
+curries. Of the morunggei or kelor (Guilandina moringa L.
+Hyperanthera moringa Wilden.), a tall shrub with pinnated leaves,
+the root has the appearance, flavour, and pungency of the
+horse-radish, and the long pods are dressed as a culinary
+vegetable; as are also the young shoots of the pringgi (Cucurbita
+pepo) various sorts of the lapang or cucumber, and of the lobak
+or radish. The inei or henna of the Arabians (Lawsonia inermis)
+is a shrub with small light-green leaves, yielding an expressed
+juice with which the natives tinge the nails of their hands and
+feet. Ampalas (Delima sarmentosa and Ficus ampelos) is a shrub
+whose blossom resembles that of our hawthorn in appearance and
+smell. Its leaf has an extraordinary roughness, on which account
+it is employed to give the last fine polish to carvings in wood
+ivory, particularly the handles and sheaths of their krises, on
+which they bestow much labour. The leaf of the sipit also, a
+climbing species of fig, having the same quality, is put to the
+same use. Ganja or hemp (cannabis) is extensively cultivated, not
+for the purpose of making rope, to which they never apply it, but
+to make an intoxicating preparation called bang, which they smoke
+in pipes along with tobacco. In other parts of India a drink is
+prepared by bruising the blossoms, young leaves, and tender parts
+of the stalk. Small plantations of tobacco, which the natives
+call tambaku, are met with in every part of the country. The
+leaves are cut whilst green into fine shreds, and afterwards
+dried in the sun. The species is the same as the Virginian, and,
+were the quantity increased and people more expert in the method
+of curing it, a manufacture and trade of considerable importance
+might be established.</p>
+
+<p>PULAS TWINE.</p>
+
+<p>The kaluwi is a species of urtica or nettle of which excellent
+twine called pulas is made. It grows to the height of about four
+feet, has a stem imperfectly ligneous, without branches. When cut
+down, dried, and beaten, the rind is stripped off and then
+twisted as we do the hemp. It affords me great satisfaction to
+learn that the manufacture of rope from this useful plant has
+lately attracted the attention of the Company's Government, and
+that a considerable nursery of the kaluwi has been established in
+the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, under the zealous and active
+management of Dr. Roxburgh, who expresses his opinion that so
+soon as a method shall be discovered of removing a viscid matter
+found to adhere to the fibres the kaluwi hemp, or pulas, will
+supersede every other material. The bagu-tree (Gnetum gnemon, L.)
+abounds on the southern coast of the island, where its bark is
+beaten, like hemp, and the twine manufactured from it is employed
+in the construction of large fishing nets. The young leaves of
+the tree are dressed in curries. In the island of Nias they make
+a twine of the baru-tree (Hibiscus tiliaceus), which is
+afterwards woven into a coarse cloth for bags. From the pisang
+(musa) a kind of sewing-thread is procured by stripping filaments
+from the midribs of the leaves, as well as from the stem. In some
+places this thread is worked in the loom. The kratau, a dwarf
+species of mulberry (morus, foliis profunde incisis) is planted
+for the food of the silkworms, which they rear, but not to any
+great extent, and the raw silk produced from them seems of but an
+indifferent quality. The samples I have seen were white instead
+of yellow, in large, flat cakes, which would require much trouble
+to wind off, and the filaments appeared coarse; but this may be
+partly occasioned by the method of loosening them from the bags,
+which is by steeping them in hot water. Jarak (ricinus and Palma
+christi), from whence the castor oil is extracted, grows wild in
+abundance: especially near the sea-shore. Bijin (Sesamum indicum)
+is sown extensively in the interior districts for the oil it
+produces, which is there used for burning in place of the
+coconut-oil so common near the coast.</p>
+
+<p>ELASTIC GUM.</p>
+
+<p>In the description of the Urceola elastica, or
+caout-chouc-vine, of Sumatra and Pulo Pinang, by Dr. W. Roxburgh,
+in the Asiatic Researches Volume 5 page 167, he says, "For the
+discovery of this useful vine we are, I believe, indebted to Mr.
+Howison, late surgeon at Pulo Pinang; but it would appear he had
+no opportunity of determining its botanical character. To Dr.
+Charles Campbell of Fort Marlborough we owe the gratification
+arising from a knowledge thereof. About twelve months ago I
+received from that gentleman, by means of Mr. Fleming, very
+complete specimens, in full foliage, flower, and fruit. From
+these I was enabled to reduce it to its class and order in the
+Linnean system. It forms new genus immediately after
+tabernaemontana, and consequently belongs to the class called
+contortae. One of the qualities of the plants of this order is
+their yielding, on being cut, a juice which is generally milky,
+and for the most part deemed of a poisonous nature." Of another
+plant, producing a similar substance, I received the following
+information from Mr. Campbell, in a letter dated in November,
+1803: "You may remember a trailing plant with a small yellowish
+flower and a seed vessel of an oblong form, containing one seed;
+the whole plant resembling much the caout-chouc. To this, finding
+it wholly nondescript, I have taken the liberty to attach your
+name. It has no relationship to a genus yielding a similar
+substance, of which I sent a specimen to Dr. Roxburgh at Bengal,
+who published an account of it under the name of urceola. It is
+called jintan by the Malays, and of its three species I have
+accurately ascertained two, the jintan itam and jintan burong,
+the latter very rare. Its leaves are of a deep glossy green, and
+the flowers lightly tinged with a pale yellow; it belongs to the
+tetrandria, and is a handsome plant--but more of this with the
+drawing." Unfortunately however neither this drawing nor any part
+of his valuable collection of materials for improving the natural
+history of that interesting country, which he bequeathed to me by
+his will, have yet reached my hands.</p>
+
+<p>GUM.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Charles Miller observed in the country near Bencoolen a
+gum exuding spontaneously from the paty tree, which appeared very
+much to resemble the gum-arabic; and, as they belong to the same
+genus of plants, he thought it not improbable that this gum might
+be used for the same purposes. In the list of new species by F.
+Norona (Batavian Transactions Volume 5) he gives to the pete of
+Java the name of Acacia gigantea; which I presume to be the same
+plant.</p>
+
+<p>PULSE.</p>
+
+<p>Kachang is a term applied to all sorts of pulse, of which a
+great variety is cultivated; as the kachang china (Dolichos
+sinensis), kachang putih (Dolichos katjang), k. ka-karah (D.
+lignosus), k. kechil (Phaseolus radiatus), k. ka-karah gatal
+(Dolichos pruriens) and many others. The kachang tanah (Arachis
+hypogaea) is of a different class, being the granulose roots (or,
+according to some, the self-buried pods) of a herb with a yellow,
+papilionaceous flower, the leaves of which have some resemblance
+to the clover, but double only, and, like it, affords rice
+pasture for cattle. The seeds are always eaten fried or parched,
+from whence they obtain their common appellation of kachang
+goring.</p>
+
+<p>YAMS.</p>
+
+<p>The variety of roots of the yam and potato kind, under the
+general name of ubi, is almost endless; the dioscorea being
+generally termed ubi kechil (small), and the convolvulus ubi
+gadang (large); some of which latter, of the sort called at
+Bencoolen the China-yam, weigh as much as forty pounds, and are
+distinguished into the white and the purple. The fruit of the
+trong (melongena), of which the egg-plant is one species, is much
+eaten by the natives, split and fried. They are commonly known by
+the name of brinjals, from the beringelhas of the Portuguese.</p>
+
+<p>DYE-STUFFS.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-08"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-08.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 8. Marsdenia tinctoria, OR BROAD-LEAFED INDIGO.<br>E.W.
+Marsden delt. Swaine fct.<br>Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>INDIGO.</p>
+
+<p>Tarum or indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) being the principal
+dye-stuff they employ, the shrub is always found in their planted
+spots; but they do not manufacture it into a solid substance, as
+is the practice elsewhere. The stalks and branches having lain
+for some days in water to soak and macerate, they then boil it,
+and work among it with their hands a small quantity of chunam
+(quick lime, from shells), with leaves of the paku sabba (a
+species of fern) for fixing the colour. It is afterwards drained
+off, and made use of in the liquid state.</p>
+
+<p>There is another kind of indigo, called in Sumatra tarum akar,
+which appears to be peculiar to that country, and was totally
+unknown to botanists to whom I showed the leaves upon my return
+to England in the beginning of the year 1780. The common kind is
+known to have small pinnated leaves growing on stalks imperfectly
+ligneous. This, on the contrary, is a vine, or climbing plant,
+with leaves from three to five inches in length, thin, of a dark
+green, and in the dried state discoloured with blue stains. It
+yields the same dye as the former sort; they are prepared also in
+the same manner, and used indiscriminately, no preference being
+given to the one above the other, as the natives informed me,
+excepting inasmuch as the tarum akar, by reason of the largeness
+of the foliage, yields a greater proportion of sediment.
+Conceiving it might prove a valuable plant in our colonies, and
+that it was of importance in the first instance that its identity
+and class should be accurately ascertained, I procured specimens
+of its fructification, and deposited them in the rich and
+extensively useful collection of my friend Sir Joseph Banks. In a
+paper on the Asclepiadeae, highly interesting to botanical
+science, communicated by Mr. Robert Brown (who has lately
+explored the vegetable productions of New Holland and other parts
+of the East) to the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, and printed
+in their Transactions, he has done me the honour of naming the
+genus to which this plant belongs, MARSDENIA, and this particular
+species Marsdenia tinctoria.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. 2. M. caule volubili, foliis cordatis
+ovato-oblongis acuminatis glabriusculis basi antice glandulosis,
+thyrsis lateralibus, fauce barbata. Tarram akkar Marsd. Sumat.
+page 78 edition 2 Hab. In insula Sumatra. (v.s. in Herb.
+Banks.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>KASUMBA.</p>
+
+<p>Under the name of kasumba are included two plants yielding
+materials for dyeing, but very different from each other. The
+kasumba (simply) or kasumba jawa, as it is sometimes called, is
+the Carthamus tinctorius, of which the flowers are used to
+produce a saffron colour, as the name imports. The kasumba kling
+or galuga is the Bixa orellana, or arnotto of the West Indies. Of
+this the capsule, about an inch in length, is covered with soft
+prickles or hair, opens like a bivalve shell, and contains in its
+cavities a dozen or more seeds, the size of grape-stones, thickly
+covered with a reddish farina, which is the part that constitutes
+the dye.</p>
+
+<p>Sapang, the Brazil-wood, (Caesalpinia sappan), whether
+indigenous or not, is common in the Malayan countries. The heart
+of this being cut into chips, steeped for a considerable time in
+water, and then boiled, is used for dying here, as in other
+countries. The cloth or thread is repeatedly dipped in this
+liquid, and hung to dry between each wetting till it is brought
+to the shade required. To fix the colour alum is added in the
+boiling.</p>
+
+<p>Of the tree called bangkudu in some districts, and in others
+mangkudu (Morinda umbellata) the outward parts of the root, being
+dried, pounded, and boiled in water, afford a red dye, for fixing
+which the ashes procured from the stalks of the fruit and midribs
+of the leaves of the coconut are employed. Sometimes the bark or
+wood of the sapang tree is mixed with these roots. It is to be
+observed that another species of bangkudu, with broader leaves
+(Morinda citrifolia) does not yield any colouring matter, but is,
+as I apprehend, the tree commonly planted in the Malayan
+peninsula and in Pulo Pinang as a support to the pepper-vine.</p>
+
+<p>RED-WOOD.</p>
+
+<p>Ubar is a red-wood resembling the logwood (haematoxylon) of
+Honduras, and might probably be employed for the same purpose. It
+is used by the natives in tanning twine for fishing nets, and
+appears to be the okir or Tanarius major of Rumphius, Volume 3
+page 192, and Jambolifera rezinoso of Lour. Fl. C. C. page 231.
+Their black dye is commonly made from the coats of the
+mangostin-fruit and of the kataping (Terminalia catappa). With
+this the blue cloth from the west of India is changed to a black,
+as usually worn by the Malays of Menangkabau. It is said to be
+steeped in mud in order to fix the colour.</p>
+
+<p>The roots of the chapada or champadak (Artocarpus
+integrifolia) cut into chips and boiled in water produce a yellow
+dye. To strengthen the tint a little turmeric (the kunyit tumma
+or variety of curcuma already spoken of) is mixed with it, and
+alum to fix it; but as the yellow does not hold well it is
+necessary that the operation of steeping and drying should be
+frequently repeated.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-05"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 5.</h3>
+
+<p><b>FRUITS, FLOWERS, MEDICINAL SHRUBS AND HERBS.</b></p>
+
+<p>FRUITS.</p>
+
+<p>Nature, says a celebrated writer,* seems to have taken a
+pleasure in assembling in the Malayan countries her most
+favourite productions; and with truth I think it may be affirmed
+that no region of the earth can boast an equal abundance and
+variety of indigenous fruits; for although the whole of those
+hereafter enumerated cannot be considered as such, yet there is
+reason to conclude that the greater part may, for the natives,
+who never appear to bestow the smallest labour in improving or
+even in cultivating such as they naturally possess, can hardly be
+suspected of taking the pains to import exotics. The larger
+number grow wild, and the rest are planted in a careless,
+irregular manner about their villages.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Les terres possedees par les Malais, sont
+en general de tres bonne qualite. La nature semble avoir pris
+plaisir d'y placer ses plus excellentes productions. On y voit
+tous les fruits delicieux que j'ai dit se trouver sur le
+territoire de Siam, et une multitude d'autres fruits agreables
+qui sont particuliers a ces isles. On y respire un air embaume
+par une multitude de fleurs agreables qui se succedent toute
+l'annee, et dont l'odeur suave penetre jusqu'a l'ame, et inspire
+la volupte la plus seduisante. Il n'est point de voyageur qui en
+se promenant dans les campagnes de Malacca, ne se sente invite a
+fixer son sejour dans un lieu si plein d'agremens, dont la nature
+seule a fait tous les frais. Voyages d'un Philosophe par M.
+Poivre page 56.)</blockquote>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-03"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-03.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 3. THE MANGUSTIN FRUIT, GARCINIA MANGOSTANA.<br>
+Engraved by J. Swaine.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>MANGUSTIN.</p>
+
+<p>The mangustin, called by the natives manggis and manggista
+(Garcinia mangostana, L.) is the pride of these countries, to
+which it exclusively belongs, and has, by general consent,
+obtained, in the opinion of Europeans, the pre-eminence amongst
+Indian fruits. Its characteristic quality is extreme delicacy of
+flavour, without being rich or luscious. It is a drupe of a
+brownish-red colour, and the size of a common apple, consisting
+of a thick rind, somewhat hard on the outside, but soft and
+succulent within, encompassing kernels which are covered with a
+juicy and perfectly white pulp, which is the part eaten, or, more
+properly, sucked, for it dissolves in the mouth. Its qualities
+are as innocent as they are grateful, and the fruit may be eaten
+in any moderate quantity without danger of surfeit, or other
+injurious effects. The returns of its season appeared to be
+irregular, and the periods short.</p>
+
+<p>DURIAN.</p>
+
+<p>The durian (Durio zibethinus) is also peculiar to the Malayan
+countries. It is a rich fruit but strong and even offensive in
+taste as well as smell, to those who are not accustomed to it,
+and of a very heating quality; yet the natives (and others who
+fall into their habits) are passionately addicted to it, and
+during the time of its continuing in season live almost wholly
+upon its luscious and cream-like pulp; whilst the rinds, thrown
+about in the bazaars, communicate their scent to the surrounding
+atmosphere. The tree is large and lofty; the leaves are small in
+proportion, but in themselves long and pointed. The blossoms grow
+in clusters on the stem and larger branches. The petals are five,
+of a yellowish-white, surrounding five branches of stamina, each
+bunch containing about twelve, and each stamen having four
+antherae. The pointal is knobbed at top. When the stamina and
+petal fall, the empalement resembles a fungus, and nearly in
+shape a Scot's bonnet. The fruit is in its general appearance not
+unlike the bread-fruit, but larger, and its coat is rougher.</p>
+
+<p>BREAD-FRUIT.</p>
+
+<p>The sutun kapas, and sukun biji or kalawi, are two species of
+the bread-fruit-tree (Artocarpus incisa). The former is the
+genuine, edible kind, without kernels, and propagated by cuttings
+of the roots. Though by no means uncommon, it is said not to be
+properly a native of Sumatra. The kalawi, on the contrary, is in
+great abundance, and its bark supplies the country people with a
+sort of cloth for their working dresses. The leaves of both
+species are deeply indented, like those of the fig, but
+considerably longer. The bread-fruit is cut in slices, and, being
+boiled or broiled on the fire, is eaten with sugar, and much
+esteemed. It cannot however be considered as an article of food,
+and I suspect that in quality it is inferior to the bread-fruit
+of the South-Sea Islands.</p>
+
+<p>JACK-FRUIT.</p>
+
+<p>The Malabaric name of jacca, or the jack-fruit, is applied
+both to the champadak or chapada (Artocarpus integrifolia, L. and
+Polyphema jaca, Lour.) and to the nangka (Artocarpus
+integrifolia, L. and Polyphema champeden, Lour). Of the former
+the leaves are smooth and pointed; of the latter they are
+roundish, resembling those of the cashew. This is the more
+common, less esteemed, and larger fruit, weighing, in some
+instances, fifty or sixty pounds. Both grow in a peculiar manner
+from the stem of the tree. The outer coat is rough, containing a
+number of seeds or kernels (which, when roasted, have the taste
+of chestnuts) inclosed in a fleshy substance of a rich, and, to
+strangers, too strong smell and flavour, but which gains upon the
+palate. When the fruit ripens the natives cover it with mats or
+the like to preserve it from injury by the birds. Of the viscous
+juice of this tree they make a kind of bird&shy;lime: the yellow
+wood is employed for various purposes, and the root yields a
+dye-stuff.</p>
+
+<p>MANGO.</p>
+
+<p>The mango, called mangga and mampalam (Mangifera indica, L.)
+is well known to be a rich, high-flavoured fruit of the plumb
+kind, and is found here in great perfection; but there are many
+inferior varieties beside the ambachang, or Mangifera foetida,
+and the tais.</p>
+
+<p>JAMBU.</p>
+
+<p>Of the jambu (eugenia, L.) there are several species, among
+which the jambu merah or kling (Eugenia malaccensis) is the most
+esteemed for the table, and is also the largest. In shape it has
+some resemblance to the pear, but is not so taper near the stalk.
+The outer skin, which is very fine, is tinged with a deep and
+beautiful red, the inside being perfectly white. Nearly the whole
+substance is edible, and when properly ripe it is a delicious
+fruit; but otherwise, it is spongy and indigestible. In smell and
+even in taste it partakes much of the flavour of the rose; but
+this quality belongs more especially to another species, called
+jambu ayer mawar, or the rose-water jambu. Nothing can be more
+beautiful than the blossoms, the long and numerous stamina of
+which are of a bright pink colour. The tree grows in a handsome,
+regular, conical shape, and has large, deep-green, pointed
+leaves. The jambu ayer (Eugenia aquea) is a delicate and
+beautiful fruit in appearance, the colour being a mixture of
+white and pink; but in its flavour, which is a faint, agreeable
+acid, it does not equal the jambu merah.</p>
+
+<p>PLANTAIN.</p>
+
+<p>Of the pisang, or plantain (Musa paradisiaca, L.) the natives
+reckon above twenty varieties, including the banana of the West
+Indies. Among these the pisang amas, or small yellow plantain, is
+esteemed the most delicate; and next to that the pisang raja,
+pisang dingen, and pisang kalle.</p>
+
+<p>Pineapple.</p>
+
+<p>The nanas, or pineapple (Bromelia ananas), though certainly
+not indigenous, grows here in great plenty with the most ordinary
+culture. Some think them inferior to those produced from
+hothouses in England; but this opinion may be influenced by the
+smallness of their price, which does not exceed two or three
+pence. With equal attention it is probable they might be rendered
+much superior, and their variety is considerable. The natives eat
+them with salt.</p>
+
+<p>ORANGES.</p>
+
+<p>Oranges (limau manis) of many sorts, are in the highest
+perfection. That called limau japan, or Japan orange, is a fine
+fruit, not commonly known in Europe. In this the cloves adhere
+but slightly to each other, and scarcely at all to the rind,
+which contains an unusual quantity of the essential oil. The
+limau gadang, or pumple-nose (Citrus aurantium), called in the
+West Indies the shaddock (from the name of the captain who
+carried them thither), is here very fine, and distinguished into
+the white and red sorts. Limes or limau kapas, and lemons, limau
+kapas panjang, are in abundance. The natives enumerate also the
+limau langga, limau kambing, limau pipit, limau sindi masam, and
+limau sindi manis. The true citron, or limau karbau, is not
+common nor in esteem.</p>
+
+<p>GUAVA.</p>
+
+<p>The guava (Psidium pomiferum) called jambu biji, and also
+jambu protukal (for Portugal, in consequence, as we may presume,
+of its having been introduced by the people of that country) has
+a flavour which some admire, and others equally dislike. The pulp
+of the red sort is sometimes mixed with cream by Europeans, to
+imitate strawberries, from a fond partiality to the productions
+of their native soil; and it is not unusual, amidst a profusion
+of the richest eastern fruits, to sigh for an English codling or
+gooseberry.</p>
+
+<p>CUSTARD-APPLE.</p>
+
+<p>The siri kaya, or custard-apple (Annona squamosa), derives its
+name from the likeness which its white and rich pulp bears to a
+custard, and it is accordingly eaten with a spoon. The nona, as
+it is called by the natives (Annona reticulata), is another
+species of the same fruit, but not so grateful to the taste.</p>
+
+<p>PAPAW.</p>
+
+<p>The kaliki, or papaw (Carica papaja), is a large, substantial,
+and wholesome fruit, in appearance not unlike a smooth sort of
+melon, but not very highly flavoured. The pulp is of a reddish
+yellow, and the seeds, which are about the size of grains of
+pepper, have a hot taste like cresses. The watermelon, called
+here samangka (Cucurbita citrullus) is of very fine quality. The
+rock or musk-melons, are not common.</p>
+
+<p>TAMARIND.</p>
+
+<p>Tamarinds, called asam jawa, or the Javan acid, are the
+produce of a large and noble tree, with small pinnated leaves,
+and supply a grateful relief in fevers, which too frequently
+require it. The natives preserve them with salt, and use them as
+an acid ingredient in their curries and other dishes. It may be
+remarked that in general they are not fond of sweets, and prefer
+many of their fruits whilst green to the same in their ripe
+state.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-04"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-04.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 4. THE RAMBUTAN, Nephelium lappaceum.<br>
+L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>RAMBUTAN.</p>
+
+<p>The rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum, L. Mant.) is in appearance
+not much unlike the fruit of the arbutus, but larger, of a
+brighter red, and covered with coarser hair or soft spines, from
+whence it derives its name. The part eaten is a gelatinous and
+almost transparent pulp surrounding the kernel, of a rich and
+pleasant acid.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-05"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-05.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 5. THE LANSEH FRUIT, Lansium domesticum.<br>
+L. Wilkins delt. Hooker Sc.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-06"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-06.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 6. THE RAMBEH FRUIT, A SPECIES OF LANSEH.<br>
+Maria Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>LANSEH.</p>
+
+<p>The lanseh, likewise but little known to botanists, is a small
+oval fruit, of a whitish-brown colour, which, being deprived of
+its thin outer coat, divides into five cloves, of which the
+kernels are covered with a fleshy pulp, subacid, and agreeable to
+the taste. The skin contains a clammy juice, extremely bitter,
+and, if not stripped with care, it is apt to communicate its
+quality to the pulp. M. Correa de Serra, in les Annales du Museum
+d'Histoire Naturelle Tome 10 page 157 plate 7, has given a
+description of the Lansium domesticum from specimens of the fruit
+preserved in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks. The chupak,
+ayer-ayer, and rambe are species or varieties of the same
+fruit.</p>
+
+<p>BLIMBING.</p>
+
+<p>Of the blimbing (Averrhoa carambola) a pentagonal fruit,
+containing five flattish seeds, and extremely acid, there are two
+sorts, called penjuru and besi. The leaves of the latter are
+small, opposite, and of a sap&shy;green; those of the former grow
+promiscuously and are of a silver green. There is also the
+blimbing bulu (Averrhoa billimbi), or smooth species. Their uses
+are chiefly in cookery, and for purposes where a strong acid is
+required, as in cleaning the blades of their krises and bringing
+out the damask, for which they are so much admired. The cheremi
+(Averrhoa acida) is nearly allied to the blimbing besi, but the
+fruit is smaller, of an irregular shape, growing in clusters
+close to the branch, and containing each a single hard seed or
+stone. It is a common substitute for our acid fruits in
+tarts.</p>
+
+<p>KATAPING.</p>
+
+<p>The kataping (Terminalia catappa, L. and Juglans catappa,
+Lour.) resembles the almond both in its outer husk and the
+flavour of its kernel; but instead of separating into two parts,
+like the almond, it is formed of spiral folds, and is developed
+somewhat like a rosebud, but continuous, and not in distinct
+laminae.</p>
+
+<p>SPECIES OF CHESTNUT.</p>
+
+<p>The barangan (a species of fagus) resembles the chestnut. The
+tree is large, and the nuts grow sometimes one, two, and three in
+a husk. The jerring, a species of mimosa, resembles the same
+fruit, but is larger and more irregularly shaped than the
+barangan. The tree is smaller. The tapus (said to be a new genus
+belonging to the tricoccae) has likewise some analogy, but more
+distant, to the chestnut. There are likewise three nuts in one
+husk, forming in shape an oblong spheroid. If eaten unboiled they
+are said to inebriate. The tree is large.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-07"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-07.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 7. THE KAMILING OR BUAH KRAS, Juglans camirium.<br>L. Wilkins
+delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.<br>Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>KAMILING.</p>
+
+<p>The fruit named kamiri, kamiling, and more commonly buah kras,
+or the hard fruit (Camirium cordifolium, Gaert. and Juglans
+camirium, Lour.) bears much resemblance to the walnut in the
+flavour and consistence of the kernel; but the shell is harder
+and does not open in the same manner. The natives of the hills
+make use of it as a substitute for the coconut, both in their
+cookery and for procuring a delicate oil.</p>
+
+<p>RATTAN.</p>
+
+<p>The rotan salak (Calamus zalacca, Gaert.) yields a fruit, the
+pulp of which is sweetish, acidulous, and pleasant. Its outer
+coat, like those of the other rotans, is covered with scales, or
+the appearance of nice basket-work. It incloses sometimes one,
+two, and three kernels, of a peculiar horny substance.</p>
+
+<p>CASHEW.</p>
+
+<p>The cashew-apple and nut, called jambu muniet, or monkey-jambu
+(Anacardium occidentale), are well known for the strong acidity
+of the former, and the caustic quality of the oil contained in
+the latter, from tasting which the inexperienced often
+suffer.</p>
+
+<p>POMEGRANATE.</p>
+
+<p>The pomegranate or dalima (Punica granatum) flourishes here,
+as in all warm climates.</p>
+
+<p>GRAPES, ETC.</p>
+
+<p>Grape-vines are planted with success by Europeans for their
+tables, but not cultivated by the people of the country. There is
+found in the woods a species of wild grape, called pringat (Vitis
+indica); and also a strawberry, the blossom of which is yellow,
+and the fruit has little flavour. Beside these there are many
+other, for the most part wild, fruits, of which some boast a fine
+flavour, and others are little superior to our common berries,
+but might be improved by culture. Such are the buah kandis, a
+variety of garcinia (it should be observed that buah, signifying
+fruit, is always prefixed to the particular name), buah malaka
+(Phyllanthus emblica), rukam (Carissa spinarum), bangkudu or
+mangkudu (Morinda citrifolia), sikaduduk (melastoma), kitapan
+(Callicarpa japonica).</p>
+
+<p>FLOWERS.</p>
+
+<p>"You breathe in the country of the Malays (says the writer
+before quoted) an air impregnated with the odours of innumerable
+flowers of the greatest fragrance, of which there is a perpetual
+succession throughout the year, the sweet flavour of which
+captivates the soul, and inspires the most voluptuous
+sensations." Although this luxurious picture may be drawn in
+too-warm tints it is not however without its degree of justness.
+The people of the country are fond of flowers in the ornament of
+their persons, and encourage their growth, as well as that of
+various odoriferous shrubs and trees.</p>
+
+<p>KANANGA.</p>
+
+<p>The kananga (Uvaria cananga, L.) being a tree of the largest
+size, surpassed by few in the forest, may well take the lead, on
+that account, in a description of those which bear flowers. These
+are of a greenish yellow, scarcely distinguishable from the
+leaves, among which the bunches hang down in a peculiar manner.
+About sunset, if the evening be calm, they diffuse a fragrance
+around that affects the sense at the distance of some hundred
+yards.</p>
+
+<p>CHAMPAKA.</p>
+
+<p>Champaka (Michelia champaca). This tree grows in a regular,
+conical shape, and is ornamental in gardens. The flowers are a
+kind of small tulip, but close and pointed at top; their colour a
+deep yellow, the scent strong, and at a distance agreeable. They
+are wrapped in the folds of the hair, both by the women, and by
+young men who aim at gallantry.</p>
+
+<p>TANJONG.</p>
+
+<p>Bunga tanjong (Mimusops elengi, L.) A fair tree, rich in
+foliage, of a dark green; the flowers small, radiated, of a
+yellowish white, and worn in wreaths by the women; their scent,
+though exquisite at a distance, is too powerful when brought
+nigh. The fruit is a drupe, containing a large blackish flatted
+seed.</p>
+
+<p>GARDENIA.</p>
+
+<p>Sangklapa (Gardenia flore simplice). A handsome shrub with
+leaves of very deep green, long-pointed; the flowers a pure
+white, without visible stamina or pistil, the petals standing
+angularly to each other. It has little or no scent. The
+pachah-piring (Gardenia florida, described by Rumphius under the
+name of catsjopiri) is a grand white double flower, emitting a
+pleasing and not powerful odour.</p>
+
+<p>HIBISCUS.</p>
+
+<p>The bunga raya (Hibiscus rosa sinensis) is a well-known shrub,
+with leaves of a yellowish green, serrated and curled. Of one
+sort the flower is red, yielding a juice of deep purple, and when
+applied to leather produces a bright black, from whence its
+vulgar name of the shoe-flower. Of another sort the blossom is
+white. They are without smell.</p>
+
+<p>PLUMERIA.</p>
+
+<p>Bunga or kumbang kamboja (Plumeria obtusa) is likewise named
+bunga kubur-an, from its being always planted about graves. The
+flower is large, white, yellow towards the centre, consisting of
+five simple, smooth, thick petals, without visible pistil or
+stamina, and yielding a strong scent. The leaf of the tree is
+long, pointed, of a deep green, remarkable in this, that round
+the fibres proceeding from the midrib run another set near the
+edge, forming a handsome border. The tree grows in a stunted,
+irregular manner, and even whilst young has a venerable antique
+appearance.</p>
+
+<p>NYCTANTHES.</p>
+
+<p>The bunga malati and bunga malur (Nyctanthes sambac) are
+different names for the same humble plant, called mugri in
+Bengal. It bears a pretty white flower, diffusing a more
+exquisite fragrance, in the opinion of most persons, than any
+other of which the country boasts. It is much worn by the
+females; sometimes in wreaths, and various combinations, along
+with the bunga tanjong, and frequently the unblown buds are
+strung in imitation of rows of pearls. It should be remarked that
+the appellative bunga, or flower, (pronounced bungo in the
+south-western parts of Sumatra), is almost ever prefixed to the
+proper name, as buah is to fruits. There is also the malati china
+(Nyctanthes multiflora); the elegant bunga malati susun
+(Nyctanthes acuminata).</p>
+
+<p>PERGULARIA.</p>
+
+<p>And the celebrated bunga tonking (Pergularia odoratissima),
+whose fascinating sweets have been widely dispersed in England by
+the successful culture and liberal participation of Sir Joseph
+Banks. At Madras it obtained the appellation of West-coast, i.e.
+Sumatran, creeper, which marks the quarter from whence it was
+obtained. At Bencoolen the same appellation is familiarly applied
+to the bunga tali-tali (Ipomoea quamoclit), a beautiful, little,
+monopetalous flower, divided into five angular segments, and
+closing at sunset. From its bright crimson colour it received
+from Rumphius the name of Flos cardinalis. The plant is a
+luxuriant creeper, with a hairlike leaf.</p>
+
+<p>Pavetta indica, ETC.</p>
+
+<p>The angsuka, or bunga jarum-jarum (Pavetta indica), obtained
+from Rumphius, on account of the glowing red colour of its long
+calices, the name of flamma sylvarum peregrina. The bunga marak
+(Poinciana pulcherrima) is a most splendid flower, the colours
+being a mixture of yellow and scarlet, and its form being
+supposed to resemble the crest of the peacock, from whence its
+Malayan name, which Rumphius translated. The nagasari
+(Calophyllum nagassari) bears a much admired blossom, well known
+in Bengal; but in the upper parts of India, called
+nagakeh&shy;sir, and in the Batavian Transactions Acacia aurea.
+The bakong, or salandap (Crinum asiaticum), is a plant of the
+lily kind, with six large, white, turbinated petals of an
+agreeable scent. It grows wild near the beach amongst those
+plants which bind the loose sands. Another and beautiful species
+of the bakong has a deep shade of purple mixed with the white.
+The kachubong (Datura metel) appears also to flourish mostly by
+the seaside. It bears a white infundibuliform flower, rather
+pentagonal than round, with a small hook at each angle. The
+leaves are dark green, pointed, broad and unequal at the bottom.
+The fruit is shaped like an apple, very prickly, and full of
+small seeds. Sundal malam or harlot of the night (Polyanthes
+tuberosa) is so termed from the circumstance of its diffusing its
+sweet odours at that season. It is the tuberose of our gardens,
+but growing with great vigour and luxuriance. The bunga mawur
+(Rosa semperflorens, Curtis, Number 284), is small and of a deep
+crimson colour. Its scent is delicate and by no means so rich as
+that yielded by the roses of our climate. The Amaranthus
+cristatus (Celosia castrensis, L.) is probably a native, being
+found commonly in the interior of the Batta country, where
+strangers have rarely penetrated. The various species of this
+genus are called by the general name of bayam, of which some are
+edible, as before observed.</p>
+
+<p>PANDAN.</p>
+
+<p>Of the pandan (pandanus), a shrub with very long prickly
+leaves, like those of the pineapple or aloe, there are many
+varieties, of which some are highly fragrant, particularly the
+pandan wangi (Pandanus odoratissima, L.), which produces a
+brownish white spath or blossom, one or two feet in length. This
+the natives shred fine and wear about their persons. The pandan
+pudak, or keura of Thunberg, which is also fragrant, I have
+reason to believe the same as the wangi. The common sort is
+employed for hedging and called caldera by Europeans in many
+parts of India. In the Nicobar islands it is cultivated and
+yields a fruit called the melori, which is one of the principle
+articles of food.</p>
+
+<p>EPIDENDRA.</p>
+
+<p>Bunga anggrek (epidendrum). The species or varieties of this
+remarkable tribe of parasitical plants are very numerous, and may
+be said to exhibit a variety of loveliness. Kaempfer describes
+two kinds by the names of angurek warna and katong'ging; the
+first of which I apprehend to be the anggrek bunga putri
+(Angraecum scriptum, R.) and the other the anggrek kasturi
+(Angraecum moschatum, R.) or scorpion-flower, from its resembling
+that insect, as the former does the butterfly. The musky scent
+resides at the extremity of the tail.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Habetur haec planta apud Javanos in
+deliciis et magno studio colitur; tum ob floris eximium odorem,
+quem spirat, moschi, tum ob singularem elegantiam et figuram
+scorpionis, quam exhibet...spectaculo sane jocundissimo, ut negem
+quicquam elegantius et admiratione dignius in regno vegetabili me
+vidisse...Odorem flos moschi exquisitissimum atque adeo copiosum
+spargit, ut unicus stylus floridus totum conclave impleat. Qui
+vero odor, quod maxi me mireris, in extrema parte petali caudam
+referentis, residet; qua abicissa, omnis cessat odoris expiratio.
+Amoen exoticae, page 868.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>WATER-LILIES, ETC.</p>
+
+<p>The bunga tarati or seruja (Nymphaea nelumbo) as well as
+several other beautiful kinds of aquatic plants are found upon
+the inland waters of this country. Daun gundi or tabung bru
+(Nepenthes destillatoria) can scarcely be termed a flower, but is
+a very extraordinary climbing plant. From the extremity of the
+leaf a prolongation of the mid-rib, resembling the tendril of a
+vine, terminates in a membrane formed like a tankard with the lid
+or valve half opened; and growing always nearly erect, it is
+commonly half full of pure water from the rain or dews. This
+monkey-cup (as the Malayan name implies) is about four or five
+inches long and an inch in diameter. Giring landak (Crotalaria
+retusa) is a papilionaceous flower resembling the lupin, yellow,
+and tinged at the extremities with red. From the rattling of its
+seed in the pod it obtains its name, which signifies
+porcupine-bells, alluding to the small bells worn about the
+ankles of children. The daup (bauhinia) is a small, white,
+semiflosculous flower, with a faint smell. The leaves alone
+attract notice, being double, as if united by a hinge, and this
+peculiarity suggested the Linnean name, which was given in
+compliment to two brothers of the name of Bauhin, celebrated
+botanists, who always worked conjointly.</p>
+
+<p>To the foregoing list, in every respect imperfect, many
+interesting plants might be added by an attentive and qualified
+observer. The natives themselves have a degree of botanical
+knowledge that surprises Europeans. They are in general, and at a
+very early age, acquainted not only with the names, but the
+properties of every shrub and herb amongst that exuberant variety
+with which the island is clothed. They distinguish the sexes of
+many plants and trees, and divide several of the genera into as
+many species as our professors. Of the paku or fern I have had
+specimens brought to me of twelve sorts, which they told me were
+not the whole, and to each they gave a distinct name.</p>
+
+<p>MEDICINAL HERBS.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the shrubs and herbs employed medicinally are as
+follows. Scarcely any of them are cultivated, being culled from
+the woods or plains as they happen to be wanted.</p>
+
+<p>Lagundi (Vitex trifolia, L.) The botanic characters of this
+shrub are well known. The leaves, which are bitter and pungent
+rather than aromatic, are considered as a powerful antiseptic,
+and are employed in fevers in the place of Peruvian bark. They
+are also put into granaries and among cargoes of rice to prevent
+the destruction of the grain by weevils.</p>
+
+<p>Katupong resembles the nettle in growth, in fruit the
+blackberry. I have not been able to identify it. The leaf, being
+chewed, is used in dressing small fresh wounds.</p>
+
+<p>Siup, a kind of wild fig, is applied to the scurf or leprosy
+of the Nias people, when not inveterate.</p>
+
+<p>Sikaduduk (melastoma) has the appearance of a wild rose. A
+decoction of its leaves is used for the cure of a disorder in the
+sole of the foot, called maltus, resembling the impetigo or
+ringworm.</p>
+
+<p>Ampadu-bruang or bear's gall (brucea, foliis serratis) is the
+lussa raja of Rumphius, excessively bitter, and applied in
+infusion for the relief of disorders in the bowels.</p>
+
+<p>Kabu (unknown). Of this the bark and root are used for curing
+the kudis or itch, by rubbing it on the part affected.</p>
+
+<p>Marampuyan (a new genus). The young shoots of this, being
+supposed to have a refreshing and corroborating quality, are
+rubbed over the body and limbs after violent fatigue.</p>
+
+<p>Mali-mali (unknown). The leaf of this plant, which bears a
+white umbellated blossom, is applied to reduce swellings.</p>
+
+<p>Chapo (Conyza balsamifera) resembles the sage (salvia) in
+colour, smell, taste, and qualities, but grows to the height of
+six feet, has a long jagged leaf, and its blossom resembles that
+of groundsel.</p>
+
+<p>Murribungan (unknown). The leaves of this climber are broad,
+roundish, and smooth. The juice of its stalk is applied to heal
+excoriations of the tongue.</p>
+
+<p>Ampi-ampi (unknown). A climbing plant with leaves resembling
+the box, and a small flosculous blossom. It is used as a medicine
+in fevers.</p>
+
+<p>Kadu (species of piper), with a leaf in shape and taste
+resembling the betel. It is burned to preserve children newly
+born from the influence of evil spirits.</p>
+
+<p>Gumbai (unknown). A shrub with monopetalous, stillated, purple
+flowers, growing in tufts. The leaves are used in disorders of
+the bowels.</p>
+
+<p>Tabulan bukan (unknown). A shrub bearing a semiflosculous
+blossom, applied to the cure of sore eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Kachang prang (Dolichos ensiformis). The pods of this are of a
+huge size, and the beans, of a fine crimson colour, are used in
+diseases of the pleura.</p>
+
+<p>Sipit, a species of fig, with a large oval leaf, rough to the
+touch, and rigid. An infusion of it is swallowed in iliac
+affections.</p>
+
+<p>Daun se-dingin (Cotyledon laciniata). This leaf, as the name
+denotes, is of a remarkably cold quality. It is applied to the
+forehead to cure the headache, and sometimes to the body in
+fevers.</p>
+
+<p>Long pepper (Piper longum) is used medicinally.</p>
+
+<p>Turmeric, also, mixed with rice reduced to powder and then
+formed into a paste, is much used outwardly in cases of colds and
+pains in the bones; and chunam or quick-lime is likewise commonly
+rubbed on parts of the body affected with pain.</p>
+
+<p>In the cure of the kura or boss (from the Portuguese word
+baco), which is an obstruction of the spleen, forming a hard lump
+in the upper part of the abdomen, a decoction of the following
+plants is externally applied: sipit tunggul; madang tandok (a new
+genus, highly aromatic); ati ayer (species of arum ?) tapa besi;
+paku tiong (a most beautiful fern, with leaves like a palm; genus
+not ascertained); tapa badak (a variety of callicarpa); laban
+(Vitex altissima); pisang ruko (species of musa); and paku
+lamiding (species of polypodium ?); together with a juice
+extracted from the akar malabatei (unknown).</p>
+
+<p>In the cure of the kurap, tetter or ringworm, they apply the
+daun galinggan (Cassia quadri-alata) a herbaceous shrub with
+large pinnated leaves and a yellow blossom. In the more
+inveterate cases, barangan (coloured arsenic, or orpiment), a
+strong poison, is rubbed in.</p>
+
+<p>The milky exsudation from the sudu-sudu (Euphorbia neriifolia)
+is valued highly by the natives for medicinal purposes. Its
+leaves eaten by sheep or goats occasion present death.</p>
+
+<p>UPAS TREE.</p>
+
+<p>On the subject of the puhn upas or poison tree (Arbor
+toxicaria, R.), of whose properties so extraordinary an account
+was published in the London Magazine for September 1785 by Mr.
+N.P. Foersch, a surgeon in the service of the Dutch East India
+Company, at that time in England, I shall quote the observations
+of the late ingenious Mr. Charles Campbell, of the medical
+establishment at Fort Marlborough. "On my travels in the country
+at the back of Bencoolen I found the upas tree, about which so
+many ridiculous tales have been told. Some seeds must by this
+time have arrived in London in a packet I forwarded to Mr. Aiton
+at Kew. The poison is certainly deleterious, but not in so
+terrific a degree as has been represented. Some of it in an
+inspissated state you will receive by an early opportunity. As to
+the tree itself, it does no manner of injury to those around it.
+I have sat under its shade, and seen birds alight upon its
+branches; and as to the story of grass not growing beneath it,
+everyone who has been in a forest must know that grass is not
+found in such situations." For further particulars respecting
+this poison-tree, which has excited so much interest, the reader
+is referred to Sir George Staunton's Account of Lord Macartney's
+Embassy Volume 1 page 272; to Pennant's Outlines of the Globe
+Volume 4 page 42, where he will find a copy of Foersch's original
+narrative; and to a Dissertation by Professor C.P. Thunberg upon
+the Arbor toxicaria Macassariensis, in the Mem. of the Upsal
+Acad. for 1788. The information given by Rumphius upon the
+subject of the Ipo or Upas, in his Herb. Amboin. Volume 2 page
+263, will also be perused with satisfaction.* It is evident that
+some of the exaggerated stories related to him by the people of
+Celebes (the plant not being indigenous at Amboina) suggested to
+Mr. Foersch, the fables with which he amused the world.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Since the above was written I have seen
+the Dissertation sur les Effets d'un Poison de Java, appele Upas
+tieute, etc.; presentee a la Faculte de Medicine de Paris le 6
+Juillet 1809, par M. Alire Raffeneau-Delile, in which he details
+a set of curious and interesting experiments on this very active
+poison, made with specimens brought from Java by M. Leschenault;
+and also a second dissertation, in manuscript (presented to the
+Royal Society), upon the effects of similar experiments made with
+what he terms the upas antiar. The former he states to be a
+decoction or extract from the bark of the roots of a climbing
+plant of the genus strychnos, called tieute by the natives of
+Java; and the latter to be a milky, bitter, and yellowish juice,
+running from an incision in the bark of a large tree (new genus)
+called antiar; the word upas meaning, as M. Leschenault
+understands, vegetable poison of any kind. A small branch of the
+puhn upas, with some of the poisonous gum, was brought to England
+in 1806 by Dr. Roxburgh, who informed Mr. Lambert that a plant of
+it which he had procured from Sumatra was growing rapidly in the
+Company's Botanic Garden at Calcutta. A specimen of the gum, by
+the favour of the latter gentleman, is in my
+possession.)</blockquote>
+
+<p><a name="ch-06"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 6.</h3>
+
+<p><b>BEASTS.<br>
+REPTILES.<br>
+FISH.<br>
+BIRDS.<br>
+INSECTS.</b></p>
+
+<p>BEASTS.</p>
+
+<p>The animal kingdom claims attention, but, the quadrupeds of
+the island being in general the same as are found elsewhere
+throughout the East, already well described, I shall do little
+more than furnish a list of those which have occurred to my
+notice; adding a few observations on such as may appear to
+require them.</p>
+
+<p>BUFFALO.</p>
+
+<p>The karbau, or buffalo, constituting a principal part of the
+food of the natives, and, being the only animal employed in their
+domestic labours, it is proper that I should enter into some
+detail of its qualities and uses; although it may be found not to
+differ materially from the buffalo of Italy, and to be the same
+with that of Bengal. The individuals of the species, as is the
+case with other domesticated cattle, differ extremely from each
+other in their degree of perfection, and a judgment is not to be
+formed of the superior kinds, from such as are usually furnished
+as provision to the ships from Europe. They are distinguished
+into two sorts; the black and the white. Both are equally
+employed in work, but the latter is seldom killed for food, being
+considered much inferior in quality, and by many as unwholesome,
+occasioning the body to break out in blotches. If such be really
+the effect, it may be presumed that the light flesh-colour is
+itself the consequence of some original disorder, as in the case
+of those of the human species who are termed white negroes. The
+hair upon this sort is extremely thin, scarcely serving to cover
+the hide; nor have the black buffaloes a coat like the cattle of
+England. The legs are shorter than those of the ox, the hoofs
+larger, and the horns are quite peculiar, being rather square or
+flat than round, excepting near the extremities; and whether
+pointing backward, as in general, or forwards, as they often do,
+are always in the plane of the forehead, and not at an angle, as
+those of the cow-kind. They contain much solid substance, and are
+valuable in manufacture. The tail hangs down to the middle joint
+of the leg only, is small, and terminates in a bunch of hair. The
+neck is thick and muscular, nearly round, but somewhat flatted at
+top, and has little or no dewlap dependant from it. The organ of
+generation in the male has an appearance as if the extremity were
+cut off. It is not a salacious animal. The female goes nine
+months with calf, which it suckles during six, from four teats.
+When crossing a river it exhibits the singular sight of carrying
+its young one on its back. It has a weak cry, in a sharp tone,
+very unlike the lowing of oxen. The most part of the milk and
+butter required for the Europeans (the natives not using either)
+is supplied by the buffalo, and its milk is richer than that of
+the cow, but not yielded in equal quantity. What these latter
+produce is also very small compared with the dairies of Europe.
+At Batavia, likewise, we are told that their cows are small and
+lean, from the scantiness of good pasture, and do not give more
+than about an English quart of milk, sixteen of which are
+required to make a pound of butter.</p>
+
+<p>The inland people, where the country is tolerably practicable,
+avail themselves of the strength of this animal to draw timber
+felled in the woods: the Malays and other people on the coast
+train them to the draft, and in many places to the plough. Though
+apparently of a dull, obstinate, capricious nature, they acquire
+from habit a surprising docility, and are taught to lift the
+shafts of the cart with their horns, and to place the yoke, which
+is a curved piece of wood attached to the shafts, across their
+necks; needing no further harness than a breast-band, and a
+string that is made to pass through the cartilage of the
+nostrils. They are also, for the service of Europeans, trained to
+carry burdens suspended from each side of a packsaddle, in roads,
+or rather paths, where carriages cannot be employed. It is
+extremely slow, but steady in its work. The labour it performs,
+however, falls short of what might be expected from its size and
+apparent strength, any extraordinary fatigue, particularly during
+the heat of the day, being sufficient to put a period to its
+life, which is at all times precarious. The owners frequently
+experience the loss of large herds, in a short space of time, by
+an epidemic distemper, called bandung (obstruction), that seizes
+them suddenly, swells their bodies, and occasions, as it is said,
+the serum of the blood to distil through the tubes of the
+hairs.</p>
+
+<p>The luxury of the buffalo consists in rolling itself in a
+muddy pool, which it forms, in any spot, for its convenience,
+during the rainy season. This it enjoys in a high degree,
+dexterously throwing with its horn the water and slime, when not
+of a sufficient depth to cover it, over its back and sides. Their
+blood is perhaps of a hot temperature, which may render this
+indulgence, found to be quite necessary to their health, so
+desirable to their feelings; and the mud, at the same time,
+forming a crust upon their bodies, preserves them from the attack
+of insects, which otherwise prove very troublesome. Their owners
+light fires for them in the evening, in order that the smoke may
+have the same effect, and they have the instinctive sagacity to
+lay themselves down to leeward, that they may enjoy its full
+benefit.</p>
+
+<p>Although common in every part of the country, they are not
+understood to exist in the proper wild or indigenous state, those
+found in the woods being termed karbau jalang, or stray
+buffaloes, and considered as the subject of property; or if
+originally wild, they may afterwards, from their use in labour
+and food, have been all caught and appropriated by degrees. They
+are gregarious, and usually found in large numbers together, but
+sometimes met with singly, when they are more dangerous to
+passengers. Like the turkey and some other animals they have an
+antipathy to a red colour, and are excited by it to mischief.
+When in a state of liberty they run with great swiftness, keeping
+pace with the speed of an ordinary horse. Upon an attack or alarm
+they fly to a short distance, and then suddenly face about and
+draw up in battle-array with surprising quickness and regularity;
+their horns being laid back, and their muzzles projecting. Upon
+the nearer approach of the danger that presses on them they make
+a second flight, and a second time halt and form; and this
+excellent mode of retreat, which but few nations of the human
+race have attained to such a degree of discipline as to adopt,
+they continue till they gain the fastnesses of a neighbouring
+wood. Their principal foe, next to man, is the tiger; but only
+the weaker sort, and the females fall a certain prey to this
+ravager, as the sturdy male buffalo can support the first
+vigorous stroke from the tiger's paw, on which the fate of the
+battle usually turns.</p>
+
+<p>COW.</p>
+
+<p>The cow, called sapi (in another dialect sampi) and jawi, is
+obviously a stranger to the country, and does not appear to be
+yet naturalized. The bull is commonly of what is termed the
+Madagascar breed, with a large hump upon the shoulders, but from
+the general small size of the herds I apprehend that it
+degenerates, from the want of good pasture, the spontaneous
+production of the soil being too rank.</p>
+
+<p>THE HORSE.</p>
+
+<p>The horse, kuda: the breed is small, well made, and hardy. The
+country people bring them down in numbers for sale in nearly a
+wild state; chiefly from the northward. In the Batta country they
+are eaten as food; which is a custom also amongst the people of
+Celebes.</p>
+
+<p>SHEEP, ETC.</p>
+
+<p>Sheep, biri-biri and domba: small breed, introduced probably
+from Bengal.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-11a"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-11a.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 11a. n.2. 1. SKULL OF THE KAMBING-UTAN. 2. SKULL OF THE KIJANG.<br>
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-14"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-14.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 14. n.1. THE KAMBING-UTAN, OR WILD-GOAT.<br>W. Bell delt.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>Goat, kambing: beside the domestic species, which is in
+general small and of a light brown colour, there is the kambing
+utan, or wild goat. One which I examined was three feet in
+height, and four in the length of the body. It had something of
+the gazelle in its appearance, and, with the exception of the
+horns, which were about six inches long and turned back with an
+arch, it did not much resemble the common goat. The hinder parts
+were shaped like those of a bear, the rump sloping round off from
+the back; the tail was very small, and ended in a point; the legs
+clumsy; the hair along the ridge of the back rising coarse and
+strong, almost like bristles; no beard; over the shoulder was a
+large spreading tuft of greyish hair; the rest of the hair black
+throughout; the scrotum globular. Its disposition seemed wild and
+fierce, and it is said by the natives to be remarkably swift.</p>
+
+<p>Hog, babi: that breed we call Chinese.</p>
+
+<p>The wild hog, babi utan.</p>
+
+<p>Dog, anjing: those brought from Europe lose in a few years
+their distinctive qualities, and degenerate at length into the
+cur with erect ears, kuyu, vulgarly called the pariah dog. An
+instance did not occur of any one going mad during the period of
+my residence. Many of them are affected with a kind of
+gonorrhoea.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-11"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-11.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 11. n.1. THE ANJING-AYER, Mustela lutra.<br>
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-13a"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-13a.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 13a. n.2. THE ANJING-AYER.<br>Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>Otter, anjing ayer (Mustela lutra).</p>
+
+<p>Cat, kuching: these in every respect resemble our common
+domestic cat, excepting that the tails of all are more or less
+imperfect, with a knob or hardness at the end, as if they had
+been cut or twisted off. In some the tail is not more than a few
+inches in length, whilst in others it is so nearly perfect that
+the defect can be ascertained only by the touch.</p>
+
+<p>Rat, tikus: of the grey kind.</p>
+
+<p>Mouse, tikus kechil.</p>
+
+<p>ELEPHANT.</p>
+
+<p>Elephant, gajah: these huge animals abound in the woods, and
+from their gregarious habits usually traversing the country in
+large troops together, prove highly destructive to the
+plantations of the inhabitants, obliterating the traces of
+cultivation by merely walking through the grounds; but they are
+also fond of the produce of their gardens, particularly of
+plantain-trees and the sugar-cane, which they devour with
+eagerness. This indulgence of appetite often proves fatal to
+them, for the owners, knowing their attachment to these
+vegetables, have a practice of poisoning some part of the
+plantation, by splitting the canes and putting yellow arsenic
+into the clefts which the animal unwarily eats of, and dies. Not
+being by nature carnivorous, the elephants are not fierce, and
+seldom attack a man but when fired at or otherwise provoked.
+Excepting a few kept for state by the king of Achin, they are not
+tamed in any part of the island.</p>
+
+<p>RHINOCEROS.</p>
+
+<p>The rhinoceros, badak, both that with a single horn and the
+double-horned species, are natives of these woods. The latter has
+been particularly described by the late ingenious Mr. John Bell
+(one of the pupils of Mr. John Hunter) in a paper printed in
+Volume 83 of the Philosophical Transactions for 1793. The horn is
+esteemed an antidote against poison, and on that account formed
+into drinking cups. I do not know anything to warrant the stories
+told of the mutual antipathy and the desperate encounters of
+these two enormous beasts.</p>
+
+<p>HIPPOPOTAMUS.</p>
+
+<p>Hippopotamus, kuda ayer: the existence of this quadruped in
+the island of Sumatra having been questioned by M. Cuvier, and
+not having myself actually seen it, I think it necessary to state
+that the immediate authority upon which I included it in the list
+of animals found there was a drawing made by Mr. Whalfeldt, an
+officer employed on a survey of the coast, who had met with it at
+the mouth of one of the southern rivers, and transmitted the
+sketch along with his report to the government, of which I was
+then secretary. Of its general resemblance to that well-known
+animal there could be no doubt. M. Cuvier suspects that I may
+have mistaken for it the animal called by naturalists the dugong,
+and vulgarly the sea-cow, which will be hereafter mentioned; and
+it would indeed be a grievous error to mistake for a beast with
+four legs, a fish with two pectoral fins serving the purposes of
+feet; but, independently of the authority I have stated, the kuda
+ayer, or river-horse, is familiarly known to the natives, as is
+also the duyong (from which Malayan word the dugong of
+naturalists has been corrupted); and I have only to add that, in
+a register given by the Philosophical Society of Batavia in the
+first Volume of their Transactions for 1799, appears the article
+"couda aijeer, rivier paard, hippopotamus" amongst the animals of
+Java.</p>
+
+<p>BEAR, ETC.</p>
+
+<p>Bear, bruang: generally small and black: climbs the
+coconut-trees in order to devour the tender part or cabbage.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-12"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-12.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 12. n.1. THE PALANDOK, A DIMINUTIVE SPECIES OF MOSCHUS.<br>
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-12a"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-12a.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 12a. n.2. THE KIJANG OR ROE, Cervus muntjak.<br>W. Bell delt.
+A. Cardon sc.<br>Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>Of the deer kind there are several species: rusa, the stag, of
+which some are very large; kijang, the roe, with unbranched
+horns, the emblem of swiftness and wildness with the Malayan
+poets; palandok, napu, and kanchil, three varieties, of which the
+last is the smallest, of that most delicate animal, termed by
+Buffon the chevrotin, but which belong to the moschus. Of a
+kanchil measured at Batavia the extreme length was sixteen
+inches, and the height ten behind, and eight at the shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>Babi-rusa, or hog-deer: an animal of the hog kind, with
+peculiar tusks resembling horns. Of this there is a
+representation in Valentyn, Volume 3 page 268 fig. c., and also
+in the very early travels of Cosmas, published in Thevenot's
+Collect. Volume 1 page 2 of the Greek Text.</p>
+
+<p>The varieties of the monkey tribe are innumerable: among them
+the best known are the muniet, karra, bru, siamang (or simia
+gibbon of Buffon), and lutong. With respect to the appellation of
+orang utan, or wild man, it is by no means specific, but applied
+to any of these animals of a large size that occasionally walks
+erect, and bears the most resemblance to the human figure.</p>
+
+<p>Sloth, ku-kang, ka-malas-an (Lemur tardigradus).</p>
+
+<p>Squirrel, tupei; usually small and dark-coloured.</p>
+
+<p>Teleggo, stinkard.</p>
+
+<p>TIGER.</p>
+
+<p>Tiger, arimau, machang: this beast is here of a very large
+size, and proves a destructive foe to man as well as to most
+other animals. The heads being frequently brought in to receive
+the reward given by the East India Company for killing them, I
+had an opportunity of measuring one, which was eighteen inches
+across the forehead. Many circumstances respecting their ravages,
+and the modes of destroying them, will occur in the course of the
+work.</p>
+
+<p>Tiger-cat, kuching-rimau (said to feed on vegetables as well
+as flesh).</p>
+
+<p>Civet-cat, tanggalong (Viverra civetta): the natives take the
+civet, as they require it for use, from a peculiar receptacle
+under the tail of the animal. It appears from the Ayin Akbari
+(Volume 1 page 103) that the civet used at Delhi was imported
+from Achin.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-09a"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-09a.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 9a. THE MUSANG, A SPECIES OF VIVERRA.<br>W. Bell delt. A.
+Cardon fc.<br>Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>Polecat, musang (Viverra fossa, or a new species).</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-13"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-13.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 13. n.1. THE LANDAK, Hystrix longicauda.<br>
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.<br>Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>Porcupine (Hystrix longicauda) landak, and, for distinction,
+babi landak.</p>
+
+<p>Hedgehog (erinaceus) landak.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-10"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-10.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 10. THE TANGGILING OR PENG-GOLING-SISIK, A SPECIES OF MANIS.<br>
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fct.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>PENG-GOLING.</p>
+
+<p>Peng-goling, signifying the animal which rolls itself up; or
+pangolin of Buffon: this is distinguished into the peng-goling
+rambut, or hairy sort (myrmophaga), and the peng-goling sisik, or
+scaly sort, called more properly tanggiling (species of manis);
+the scales of this are esteemed by the natives for their
+medicinal properties. See Asiatic Researches Volume 1 page 376
+and Volume 2 page 353.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-09"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-09.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 9. A SPECIES OF Lemur volans, SUSPENDED FROM THE RAMBEH-TREE.<br>
+Sinensis delt. N. Cardon fct.<br>Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>BATS.</p>
+
+<p>Of the bat kind there is an extraordinary variety: the
+churi-churi is the smallest species, called vulgarly burong
+tikus, or the mouse-bird; next to these is the kalalawar; then
+the kalambit; and the kaluwang (noctilio) is of considerable
+size; of these I have observed very large flights occasionally
+passing at a great height in the air, as if migrating from one
+country to another, and Captain Forrest notices their crossing
+the Straits of Sunda from Java Head to Mount Pugong; they are
+also seen hanging by hundreds upon trees. The flying-foxes and
+flying-squirrels (Lemur volans), which by means of a membrane
+extending from what may be termed the forelegs to those behind,
+are enabled to take short flights, are also not uncommon.</p>
+
+<p>ALLIGATORS AND OTHER LIZARDS.</p>
+
+<p>Alligators, buaya (Crocodilus biporcatus of Cuvier), abound in
+most of the rivers, grow to a large Size, and do much
+mischief.</p>
+
+<p>The guana, or iguana, biawak (Lacerta iguana) is another
+animal of the lizard kind, about three or four feet in length,
+harmless, excepting to the poultry and young domestic cattle, and
+sometimes itself eaten as food. The bingkarong is next in size,
+has hard, dark scales on the back, and is often found under heaps
+of decayed timber; its bite venomous.</p>
+
+<p>The koke, goke, or toke, as it is variously called, is a
+lizard, about ten or twelve inches long, frequenting old
+buildings, and making a very singular noise. Between this and the
+small house-lizard (chichak) are many gradations in size, chiefly
+of the grass-lizard kind, which is smooth and glossy. The former
+are in length from about four inches down to an inch or less, and
+are the largest reptiles that can walk in an inverted situation:
+one of these, of size sufficient to devour a cockroach, runs on
+the ceiling of a room, and in that situation seizes its prey with
+the utmost facility. This they seem to be enabled to do from the
+rugose structure of their feet, with which they adhere strongly
+to the smoothest surface. Sometimes however, on springing too
+eagerly at a fly, they lose their hold, and drop to the floor, on
+which occasions a circumstance occurs not undeserving of notice.
+The tail being frequently separated from the body by the shock
+(as it may be at any of the vertebrae by the slightest force,
+without loss of blood or evident pain to the animal, and
+sometimes, as it would seem, from the effect of fear alone)
+within a little time, like the mutilated claw of a lobster,
+begins to renew itself. They are produced from eggs about the
+size of the wren's, of which the female carries two at a time,
+one in the lower, and one in the upper part of the abdomen, on
+opposite sides; they are always cold to the touch, and yet the
+transparency of their bodies gives an opportunity of observing
+that their fluids have as brisk a circulation as those of
+warm-blooded animals: in none have I seen the peristaltic motion
+so obvious as in these. It may not be useless to mention that
+these phenomena were best observed at night when the lizard was
+on the outside of a pane of glass, with a candle on the inside.
+There is, I believe, no class of living creatures in which the
+gradations can be traced with such minuteness and regularity as
+in this; where, from the small animal just described, to the huge
+alligator or crocodile, a chain may be traced containing almost
+innumerable links, of which the remotest have a striking
+resemblance to each other, and seem, at first view, to differ
+only in bulk.</p>
+
+<p>CHAMELEON.</p>
+
+<p>The chameleon, gruning: these are about a foot and half long,
+including the tail; the colour, green with brown spots, as I had
+it preserved; when alive in the woods they are generally green,
+but not from the reflection of the leaves, as some have supposed.
+When first caught they usually turn brown, apparently the effect
+of fear or anger, as men become pale or red; but if undisturbed
+soon resume a deep green on the back, and a yellow green on the
+belly, the tail remaining brown. Along the spine, from the head
+to the middle of the back, little membranes stand up like the
+teeth of a saw. As others of the genus of lacerta they feed on
+flies and grasshoppers, which the large size of their mouths and
+peculiar structure of their bony tongues are well adapted for
+catching.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-14a"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-14a.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 14a. n.2. THE KUBIN, Draco volans.<br>
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon sc.<br>Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>The flying lizard, kubin, or chachak terbang (Draco volans),
+is about eight inches in its extreme length, and the membranes
+which constitute the wings are about two or three inches in
+extent. These do not connect with the fore and hind legs, as in
+the bat tribe, but are supported by an elongation of the
+alternate ribs, as pointed out by my friend Mr. Everard Home.
+They have flapped ears, and a singular kind of pouch or
+alphorges, under the jaws. In other respects they much resemble
+the chameleon in appearance. They do not take distant flights,
+but merely from tree to tree, or from one bough to another. The
+natives take them by springs fastened to the stems.</p>
+
+<p>FROGS. SNAKES.</p>
+
+<p>With animals of the frog kind (kodok) the swamps everywhere
+teem; and their noise upon the approach of rain is tremendous.
+They furnish prey to the snakes, which are found here of all
+sizes and in great variety of species; the larger proportion
+harmless, but of some, and those generally small and
+dark-coloured, the bite is mortal. If the cobra capelo, or hooded
+snake, be a native of the island, as some assert, it must be
+extremely rare. The largest of the boa kind (ular sauh) that I
+had an opportunity of observing was no more than twelve feet
+long. This was killed in a hen-house where it was devouring the
+poultry. It is very surprising, but not less true, that snakes
+will swallow animals of twice or three times their own apparent
+circumference; having in their jaws or throat a compressive force
+that gradually and by great efforts reduces the prey to a
+convenient dimension. I have seen a small snake (ular sini) with
+the hinder legs of a frog sticking out of its mouth, each of them
+nearly equal to the smaller parts of its own body, which in the
+thickest did not exceed a man's little finger. The stories told
+of their swallowing deer, and even buffaloes, in Ceylon and Java,
+almost choke belief, but I cannot take upon me to pronounce them
+false; for if a snake of three inches diameter can gorge a fowl
+of six, one of thirty feet in length and proportionate bulk and
+strength might well be supposed capable of swallowing a beast of
+the size of a goat; and I have respectable authority for the fact
+that the fawn of a kijang or roe was cut out of the body of a
+very large snake killed at one of the southern settlements. The
+poisonous kinds are distinguished by the epithet of ular bisa,
+among which is the biludak or viper. The ular garang, or
+sea-snake, is coated entirely with scales, both on the belly and
+tail, not differing from those on the back, which are small and
+hexagonal; the colour is grey, with here and there shades of
+brown. The head and about one-third of the body from thence is
+the smallest part, and it increases in bulk towards the tail,
+which resembles that of the eel. It has not any dog-fangs.</p>
+
+<p>TORTOISE.</p>
+
+<p>The tortoise, kura-kura, and turtle, katong, are both found in
+these seas; the former valuable for its scales, and the latter as
+food; the land&shy;tortoise (Testudo graeca) is brought from the
+Seychelles Islands.</p>
+
+<p>There is also an extensive variety of shellfish. The crayfish,
+udang laut (Cancer homarus or ecrevisse-de-mer), is as large as
+the lobster, but wants its biting claws. The small freshwater
+crayfish, the prawns and shrimps (all named udang, with
+distinctive epithets), are in great perfection.</p>
+
+<p>The crab, kapiting and katam (cancer), is not equally fine,
+but exhibits many extraordinary varieties.</p>
+
+<p>The kima, or gigantic cockle (chama), has been already
+mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>The oysters, tiram, are by no means so good as those of
+Europe. The smaller kind are generally found adhering to the
+roots of the mangrove, in the wash of the tide.</p>
+
+<p>The mussel, kupang (mytilus), rimis (donax), kapang (Teredo
+navalis), sea&shy;egg, bulu babi (echinus), bia papeda
+(nautilus), ruma gorita (argonauta), bia unam (murex), bia balang
+(cuprea), and many others may be added to the list. The beauty of
+the madrepores and corallines, of which the finest specimens are
+found in the recesses of the Bay of Tappanuli, is not to be
+surpassed in any country. Of these a superb collection is in the
+possession of Mr. John Griffiths, who has given, in Volume 96 of
+the Philosophical Transactions, the Description of a rare species
+of Worm-Shells, discovered at an island lying off the North-west
+coast of Sumatra. In the same volume is also a Paper by Mr.
+Everard Home, containing Observations on the Shell of the Sea
+Worm found on the Coast of Sumatra, proving it to belong to a
+species of Teredo; with an Account of the Anatomy of the Teredo
+navalis. The former he proposes to call the Teredo gigantea. The
+sea-grass, or ladang laut, concerning which Sir James Lancaster
+tells some wonderful stories, partakes of the nature of a
+sea-worm and of a coralline; in its original state it is soft and
+shrinks into the sand from the touch; but when dry it is quite
+hard, straight, and brittle.</p>
+
+<p>FISH.</p>
+
+<p>The duyong is a very large sea-animal or fish, of the order of
+mammalia, with two large pectoral fins serving the purposes of
+feet. By the early Dutch voyagers it was, without any obvious
+analogy, called the sea-cow; and from the circumstance of the
+head being covered with a kind of shaggy hair, and the mammae of
+the female being placed immediately under the pectus, it has
+given rise to the stories of mermaids in the tropical seas. The
+tusks are applied to the same uses as ivory, especially for the
+handles of krises, and being whiter are more prized. It has much
+general resemblance to the manatee or lamantin of the West
+Indies, and has been confounded with it; but the distinction
+between them has been ascertained by M. Cuvier, Annales du Museum
+d'Histoire Naturelle 22 cahier page 308.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. "Some time ago (says Captain Forrest) a
+large fish, with valuable teeth, being cast ashore in the Illana
+districts, there arose a dispute who should have the teeth, but
+the Magindanoers carried it." Voyage to New Guinea page 272. See
+also Valentyn Volume 3 page 341.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>WHALE.</p>
+
+<p>The grampus whale (species of delphinus) is well known to the
+natives by the names of pawus and gajah mina; but I do not
+recollect to have heard any instance of their being thrown upon
+the coast.</p>
+
+<p>VOILIER.</p>
+
+<p>Of the ikan layer (genus novum schombro affine) a grand
+specimen is preserved in the British Museum, where it was
+deposited by Sir Joseph Banks;* and a description of it by the
+late M. Brousonet, under the name of le Voilier, is published in
+the Mem. de l'Acad. de Scien. de Paris for 1786 page 450 plate
+10. It derives its appellation from the peculiarity of its dorsal
+fin, which rises so high as to suggest the idea of a sail; but it
+is most remarkable for what should rather be termed its snout
+than its horn, being an elongation of the frontal bone, and the
+prodigious force with which it occasionally strikes the bottoms
+of ships, mistaking them, as we may presume, for its enemy or
+prey. A large fragment of one of these bones, which had
+transfixed the plank of an East India ship, and penetrated about
+eighteen inches, is likewise preserved in the same national
+collection, together with the piece of plank, as it was cut out
+of the ship's bottom upon her being docked in England. Several
+accidents of a similar nature are known to have occurred. There
+is an excellent representation of this fish, under the name of
+fetisso, in Barbot's Description of the Coasts of Guinea, plate
+18, which is copied in Astley's Collection of Voyages, Volume 2
+plate 73.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. This fish was hooked by Mr. John
+Griffiths near the southern extremity of the west coast of
+Sumatra, and was given to Captain Cumming of the Britannia
+indiaman, by whom it was presented to Sir Joseph
+Banks.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>VARIOUS FISH.</p>
+
+<p>To attempt an enumeration of the species of fish with which
+these seas abound would exceed my power, and I shall only mention
+briefly some of the most obvious; as the shark, hiyu (squalus);
+skate, ikan pari (raya); ikan mua (muraena); ikan chanak
+(gymnotus); ikan gajah (cepole); ikan karang or bonna
+(chaetodon), described by Mr. John Bell in Volume 82 of the
+Philosophical Transactions. It is remarkable for certain tumours
+filled with oil, attached to its bones. There are also the ikan
+krapo, a kind of rock-cod or sea-perch; ikan marrang or kitang
+(teuthis), commonly named the leather fish, and among the best
+brought to table; jinnihin, a rock-fish shaped like a carp; bawal
+or pomfret (species of chaetodon); balanak, jumpul, and marra,
+three fish of the mullet kind (mugil); kuru (polynemus); ikan
+lidah, a kind of sole; tingeri, resembles the mackerel; gagu,
+catfish; summa, a river fish, resembling the salmon; ringkis,
+resembles the trout, and is noted for the size of its roe; ikan
+tambarah, I believe the shad of Siak River; ikan gadis, good
+river fish, about the size of a carp; ikan bada, small, like
+white bait; ikan gorito, sepia; ikan terbang, flying-fish
+(exocoetus). The little seahorse (Syngnathus hippocampus) is
+commonly found here.</p>
+
+<p>BIRDS.</p>
+
+<p>Of birds the variety is considerable, and the following list
+contains but a small portion of those that might be discovered in
+the island by a qualified person who should confine his
+researches to that branch of natural history.</p>
+
+<p>KUWAU.</p>
+
+<p>The kuwau, or Sumatran pheasant (Phasianus argus), is a bird
+of uncommon magnificence and beauty; the plumage being perhaps
+the most rich, without any mixture of gaudiness, of all the
+feathered race. It is found extremely difficult to keep it alive
+for any considerable time after catching it in the woods, yet it
+has in one instance been brought to England; but, having lost its
+fine feathers by the voyage, it did not excite curiosity, and
+died unnoticed. There is now a good specimen in the Liverpool
+Museum. It has in its natural state an antipathy to the light,
+and in the open day is quite moped and inanimate. When kept in a
+darkened place it seems at its ease, and sometimes makes use of
+the note or call from which it takes its name, and which is
+rather plaintive than harsh. The flesh, of which I have eaten,
+perfectly resembles that of the common pheasant (tugang), also
+found in the woods, but the body is of much larger size. I have
+reason to believe that it is not, as supposed, a native of the
+North or any part of China. From the Malayan Islands, of which it
+is the boast, it must be frequently carried thither.</p>
+
+<p>PEACOCK, ETC.</p>
+
+<p>The peacock, burong marak (pavo), appears to be well known to
+the natives, though I believe not common.</p>
+
+<p>I should say the same of the eagle and the vulture (coracias),
+to the one or the other of which the name of raja wali is
+familiarly applied.</p>
+
+<p>The kite, alang (falco), is very common, as is the crow, gadak
+(corvus), and jackdaw, pong (gracula), with several species of
+the woodpecker.</p>
+
+<p>The kingfisher (alcedo) is named burong buaya, or the
+alligator-bird.</p>
+
+<p>The bird-of-paradise, burong supan, or elegant-bird, is known
+here only in the dried state, as brought from the Moluccas and
+coast of New Guinea (tanah papuah).</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-15"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-15.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 15. BEAKS OF THE BUCEROS OR HORN-BILL.<br>
+M. de Jonville delt. Swaine sc.<br>Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>The rhinoceros bird, hornbill, or calao (buceros), called by
+the natives anggang and burong taun, is chiefly remarkable for
+what is termed the horn, which in the most common species extends
+halfway down the upper mandible of its large beak, and then turns
+up; but the varieties of shape are numerous. The length of one I
+measured whilst alive was ten inches and a half; the breadth,
+including the horn, six and a half; length from beak to tail four
+feet; wings four feet six inches; height one foot; length of neck
+one foot; the beak whitish; the horn yellow and red; the body
+black; the tail white ringed with black; rump, and feathers on
+the legs down to the heel, white; claws three before and one
+behind; the iris red. In a hen chick there was no appearance of a
+horn, and the iris was whitish. They eat either boiled rice or
+tender fresh meat. Of the use of such a singular cavity I could
+not learn any plausible conjecture. As a receptacle for water, it
+must be quite unnecessary in the country of which it is a
+native.</p>
+
+<p>STORK, ETC.</p>
+
+<p>Of the stork kind there are several species, some of great
+height and otherwise curious, as the burong kambing and burong
+ular, which frequent the rice plantations in wet ground.</p>
+
+<p>We find also the heron, burong kuntul (ardea); the snipe,
+kandidi (scolopax); the coot, or water-hen, ayam ayer (fulica);
+and the plover, cheruling (charadrius).</p>
+
+<p>The cassowary, burong rusa, is brought from the island of
+Java.</p>
+
+<p>The domestic hen is as common as in most other countries. In
+some the bones (or the periostea) are black, and these are at
+least equally good as food. The hen of the woods, ayam barugo, or
+ayam utan (which latter name is in some places applied to the
+pheasant), differs little from the common sort, excepting in the
+uniformity of its brown colour. In the Lampong country of Sumatra
+and western part of Java lying opposite to it there is a very
+large breed of fowls, called ayam jago; of these I have seen a
+cock peck from off of a common dining table; when inclined to
+rest they sit on the first joint of the leg and are then taller
+than the ordinary fowls. It is singular if the same country
+produces likewise the diminutive breed that goes by the name of
+bantam.</p>
+
+<p>A species of partridge is called ayam gunong, or mountain
+hen.</p>
+
+<p>DOVES.</p>
+
+<p>Beside the pigeon, merapeti and burong darah (columba), and
+two common species of doves, the one of a light brown or
+dove-colour, called ballum, and the other green, called punei,
+there are of the latter some most exquisite varieties: the punei
+jambu is smaller than the usual size of doves; the back, wings,
+and tail are green; the breast and crop are white, but the front
+of the latter has a slight shade of pink; the forepart of the
+head is of a deep pink, resembling the blossom of the jambu
+fruit, from whence its name; the white of the breast is continued
+in a narrow streak, having the green on one side and the pink on
+the other, half round the eye, which is large, full, and yellow;
+of which colour is also the beak. It will live upon boiled rice
+and padi; but its favourite food, when wild, is the berry of the
+rumpunnei (Ardisia coriacea), perhaps from this circumstance so
+called. The selaya, or punei andu, another variety, has the body
+and wings of deep crimson, with the head, and extremity of its
+long indented tail, white; the legs red. It lives on the worms
+generated in the decayed part of old trees, and is about the size
+of a blackbird. Of the same size is the burong sawei, a bird of a
+bluish black colour, with a dove-tail, from which extend two very
+long feathers, terminating circularly. It seems to be what is
+called the widow-bird, and is formidable to the kite.</p>
+
+<p>The burong pipit resembles the sparrow in its appearance,
+habits, numbers, and the destruction it causes to the grain.</p>
+
+<p>The quail, puyuh (coturnix); but whether a native or a bird of
+passage, I cannot determine.</p>
+
+<p>The starling (sturnus), of which I know not the Malayan
+name.</p>
+
+<p>The swallow, layang-layang (hirundo), one species of which,
+called layang buhi, from its being supposed to collect the froth
+of the sea, is that which constructs the edible nests.</p>
+
+<p>The mu&shy;rei, or dial-bird, resembling a small magpie, has a
+pretty but short note. There is not any bird in the country that
+can be said to sing. The ti&shy;yong, or mino, a black bird with
+yellow gills, has the faculty of imitating human speech in
+greater perfection than any other of the feathered tribe. There
+is also a yellow species, but not loquacious.</p>
+
+<p>Of the parrot kind the variety is not so great as might be
+expected, and consists chiefly of those denominated parakeets.
+The beautiful luri, though not uncommon, is brought from the
+eastward. The kakatua is an inhabitant chiefly of the southern
+extremity of the island.</p>
+
+<p>The Indian goose, angsa and gangsa (anser); the duck, bebek
+and itik (anas); and the teal, belibi, are common.</p>
+
+<p>INSECTS.</p>
+
+<p>With insects the island may truly be said to swarm; and I
+doubt whether there is any part of the world where greater
+variety is to be found. Of these I shall only attempt to
+enumerate a few:</p>
+
+<p>The kunang, or firefly, larger than the common fly, (which it
+resembles), with the phosphoric matter in the abdomen, regularly
+and quickly intermitting its light, as if by respiration; by
+holding one of them in my hand I could see to read at night;</p>
+
+<p>Lipas, the cockroach (blatta); chingkarek, the cricket
+(gryllus);</p>
+
+<p>Lebah, taun, the bee (apis), whose honey is gathered in the
+woods; kumbang, a species of apis, that bores its nest in timber,
+and thence acquires the name of the carpenter;</p>
+
+<p>Sumut, the ant (formica), the multitudes of which overrun the
+country, and its varieties are not less extraordinary than its
+numbers. The following distinctions are the most obvious: the
+krangga, or great red ant, about three-fourths of an inch long,
+bites severely, and usually leaves its head, as a bee its sting,
+in the wound; it is found mostly on trees and bushes, and forms
+its nest by fastening together, with a glutinous matter, a
+collection of the leaves of a branch, as they grow; the common
+red ant; the minute red ant; the large black ant, not equal in
+size to the krangga, but with a head of disproportioned bulk; the
+common black ant; and the minute black ant: they also differ from
+each other in a circumstance which I believe has not been
+attended to; and that is the sensation with which they affect the
+taste when put into the mouth, as frequently happens
+unintentionally: some are hot and acrid, some bitter, and some
+sour. Perhaps this will be attributed to the different kinds of
+food they have accidentally devoured; but I never found one which
+tasted sweet, though I have caught them in the fact of robbing a
+sugar or honey-pot. Each species of ant is a declared enemy of
+the other, and never suffers a divided empire. Where one party
+effects a settlement the other is expelled; and in general they
+are powerful in proportion to their bulk, with the exception of
+the white-ant, sumut putih (termes), which is beaten from the
+field by others of inferior size; and for this reason it is a
+common expedient to strew sugar on the floor of a warehouse in
+order to allure the formicae to the spot, who do not fail to
+combat and overcome the ravaging but unwarlike termites. Of this
+insect and its destructive qualities I had intended to give some
+description, but the subject is so elaborately treated (though
+with some degree of fancy) by Mr. Smeathman, in Volume 71 of the
+Philosophical Transactions for 1781, who had an opportunity of
+observing them in Africa, that I omit it as superfluous.</p>
+
+<p>Of the wasp kind there are several curious varieties. One of
+them may be observed building its nest of moistened clay against
+a wall, and inclosing in each of its numerous compartments a
+living spider; thus revenging upon this bloodthirsty race the
+injuries sustained by harmless flies, and providently securing
+for its own young a stock of food.</p>
+
+<p>Lalat, the common fly (musca); lalat kuda (tabanus); lalat
+karbau (oestrus);</p>
+
+<p>Niamok, agas, the gnat or mosquito (culex), producing a degree
+of annoyance equal to the sum of all the other physical plagues
+of a hot climate, but even to these I found that habit rendered
+me almost indifferent;</p>
+
+<p>Kala-jingking, the scorpion (scorpio), the sting of which is
+highly inflammatory and painful, but not dangerous;</p>
+
+<p>Sipasan, centipede (scholopendra), not so venomous as the
+preceding;</p>
+
+<p>Alipan (jules);</p>
+
+<p>Alintah, water-leech (hirudo); achih, small land-leech,
+dropping from the leaves of trees whilst moist with dew, and
+troublesome to travellers in passing through the woods.</p>
+
+<p>To this list I shall only add the suala, tripan, or sea-slug
+(holothurion), which, being collected from the rocks and dried in
+the sun, is exported to China, where it is an article of
+food.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-07"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 7.</h3>
+
+<p><b>VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF THE ISLAND CONSIDERED AS ARTICLES OF COMMERCE.<br>
+PEPPER.<br>
+CULTIVATION OF PEPPER.<br>
+CAMPHOR.<br>
+BENZOIN.<br>
+CASSIA, ETC.</b></p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-01"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-01.jpg"></p>
+
+<p><b>PLATE 1. THE PEPPER-PLANT, PIPER NIGRUM.<br>
+E.W. Marsden delt. Engraved by J. Swaine, Queen Street, Golden
+Square.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>PEPPER.</p>
+
+<p>OF those productions of Sumatra, which are regarded as
+articles of commerce, the most important and most abundant is
+pepper. This is the object of the East India Company's trade
+thither, and this alone it keeps in its own hands; its servants,
+and merchants under its protection, being free to deal in every
+other commodity.</p>
+
+<p>ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TRADE.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the princes or chiefs in different parts of the island
+having invited the English to form settlements in their
+respective districts, factories were accordingly established, and
+a permanency and regularity thereby given to the trade, which was
+very uncertain whilst it depended upon the success of occasional
+voyages to the coast; disappointments ensuing not only from
+failure of adequate quantities of pepper to furnish cargoes when
+required, but also from the caprices and chicanery of the chiefs
+with whom the disposal of it lay, the motives of whose conduct
+could not be understood by those who were unacquainted with the
+language and manners of the people. These inconveniencies were
+obviated when the agents of the Company were enabled, by their
+residence on the spot, to obtain an influence in the country, to
+inspect the state of the plantations, secure the collection of
+the produce, and make an estimate of the tonnage necessary for
+its conveyance to Europe.</p>
+
+<p>In order to bind the chiefs to the observance of their
+original promises and professions, and to establish a plausible
+and legal claim, in opposition to the attempts of rival European
+powers to interfere in the trade of the same country, written
+contracts, attended with much form and solemnity, were entered
+into with the former; by which they engaged to oblige all their
+dependants to cultivate pepper, and to secure to us the exclusive
+purchase of it; in return for which they were to be protected
+from their enemies, supported in the rights of sovereignty, and
+to be paid a certain allowance or custom on the produce of their
+respective territories.</p>
+
+<p>PRICE.</p>
+
+<p>The price for many years paid to the cultivators for their
+produce was ten Spanish dollars or fifty shillings per bahar of
+five hundredweight or five hundred and sixty pounds. About the
+year 1780, with a view to their encouragement and the increase of
+investment, as it is termed, the sum was augmented to fifteen
+dollars. To this cost is to be added the custom above mentioned,
+varying in different districts according to specific agreements,
+but amounting in general to one dollar and a half, or two dollars
+on each bahar, which is distributed amongst the chiefs at an
+annual entertainment; and presents are made at the same time to
+planters who have distinguished themselves by their industry.
+This low price, at which the natives submit to cultivate the
+plantations, affording to each man an income of not more than
+from eight to twelve dollars yearly, and the undisturbed monopoly
+we have so long possessed of the trade, from near Indrapura
+northward to Flat Point southward, are doubtless in a principal
+degree to be attributed to the peculiar manner in which this part
+of the island is shut up, by the surfs which prevail along the
+south-west coast, from communication with strangers, whose
+competition would naturally produce the effect of enhancing the
+price of the commodity. The general want of anchorage too, for so
+many leagues to the northward of the Straits of Sunda, has in all
+ages deterred the Chinese and other eastern merchants from
+attempting to establish an intercourse that must be attended with
+imminent risk to unskilful navigators; indeed I understand it to
+be a tradition among the natives who border on the sea-coast that
+it is not many hundred years since these parts began to be
+inhabited, and they speak of their descent as derived from the
+more inland country. Thus it appears that those natural
+obstructions, which we are used to lament as the greatest
+detriment to our trade, are in fact advantages to which it in a
+great measure owes its existence. In the northern countries of
+the island, where the people are numerous and their ports good,
+they are found to be more independent also, and refuse to
+cultivate plantations upon any other terms than those on which
+they can deal with private traders.</p>
+
+<p>CULTIVATION OF PEPPER.</p>
+
+<p>In the cultivation of pepper (Piper nigrum, L.)* the first
+circumstance that claims attention, and on which the success
+materially depends, is the choice of a proper site for the
+plantation. A preference is usually given to level ground lying
+along the banks of rivers or rivulets, provided they are not so
+low as to be inundated, both on account of the vegetable mould
+commonly found there, and the convenience of water-carriage for
+the produce. Declivities, unless very gentle, are to be avoided,
+because the soil loosened by culture is liable in such situations
+to be washed away by heavy rains. When these plains however are
+naked, or covered with long grass only, they will not be found to
+answer without the assistance of the plough and of manure, their
+fertility being exhausted by exposure to the sun. How far the
+returns in general might be increased by the introduction of
+these improvements in agriculture I cannot take upon me to
+determine; but I fear that, from the natural indolence of the
+natives, and their want of zeal in the business of
+pepper-planting, occasioned by the smallness of the advantage it
+yields to them, they will never be prevailed upon to take more
+pains than they now do. The planters therefore, depending more
+upon the natural qualities of the soil than on any advantage it
+might receive from their cultivation, find none to suit their
+purpose better than those spots which, having been covered with
+old woods and long fertilized by decaying foliage and trunks,
+have recently been cleared for ladangs or padi-fields, in the
+manner already described; where it was also observed that, being
+allured by the certainty of abundant produce from a virgin soil,
+and having land for the most part at will, they renew their toil
+annually, and desert the ground so laboriously prepared after
+occupying it for one, or at the furthest for two, seasons. Such
+are the most usual situations chosen for the pepper plantations
+(kabun) or gardens, as they are termed; but, independently of the
+culture of rice, land is very frequently cleared for the pepper
+in the first instance by felling and burning the trees.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. See Remarks on the Species of Pepper (and
+on its Cultivation) at Prince of Wales Island, by Dr. William
+Hunter, in the Asiatic Researches Volume 9 page
+383.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>FORMATION OF THE GARDEN.</p>
+
+<p>The ground is then marked out in form of a regular square or
+oblong, with intersections throughout at the distance of six feet
+(being equal to five cubits of the measure of the country), the
+intended interval between the plants, of which there are commonly
+either one thousand or five hundred in each garden; the former
+number being required from those who are heads of families (their
+wives and children assisting them in their work), and the latter
+from single men. Industrious or opulent persons sometimes have
+gardens of two or three thousand vines. A border twelve feet in
+width, within which limit no tree is suffered to grow, surrounds
+each garden, and it is commonly separated from others by a row of
+shrubs or irregular hedge. Where the nature of the country admits
+of it the whole or greater part of the gardens of a dusun or
+village lie adjacent to each other, both for the convenience of
+mutual assistance in labour and mutual protection from wild
+beasts; single gardens being often abandoned from apprehension of
+their ravages, and where the owner has been killed in such a
+situation none will venture to replace him.</p>
+
+<p>VEGETATING PROPS.</p>
+
+<p>After lining out the ground and marking the intersections by
+slight stakes the next business is to plant the trees that are to
+become props to the pepper, as the Romans planted elms, and the
+modern Italians more commonly plant poplars and mulberries, for
+their grape-vines. These are cuttings of the chungkariang
+(Erythrina corallodendron), usually called chinkareens, put into
+the ground about a span deep, sufficiently early to allow time
+for a shoot to be strong enough to support the young pepper-plant
+when it comes to twine about it. The cuttings are commonly two
+feet in length, but sometimes a preference is given to the length
+of six feet, and the vine is then planted as soon as the
+chinkareen has taken root: but the principal objections to this
+method are that in such state they are very liable to fail and
+require renewal, to the prejudice of the garden; and that their
+shoots are not so vigorous as those of the short cuttings,
+frequently growing crooked, or in a lateral instead of a
+perpendicular direction. The circumstances which render the
+chinkareen particularly proper for this use are its readiness and
+quickness of growth, even after the cuttings have been kept some
+time in bundles,* if put into the ground with the first rains;
+and the little thorns with which it is armed enabling the vine to
+take a firmer hold. They are distinguished into two sorts, the
+white and red, not from the colour of the flowers (as might be
+supposed) for both are red, but from the tender shoots of the one
+being whitish and of the other being of a reddish hue. The bark
+of the former is of a pale ash colour, of the latter brown; the
+former is sweet, and the food of elephants, for which reason it
+is not much used in parts frequented by those animals; the latter
+is bitter and unpalatable to them; but they are not deterred by
+the short prickles which are common to the branches of both
+sorts.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. It is a common and useful practice to
+place these bundles of cuttings in water about two inches deep
+and afterwards to reject such of them as in that state do not
+show signs of vegetation.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>Trial has frequently been made of other trees, and
+particularly of the bangkudu or mangkudu (Morinda citrifolia),
+but none have been found to answer so well for these vegetating
+props. It has been doubted indeed whether the growth and produce
+of the pepper-vine are not considerably injured by the
+chinkareen, which may rob it of its proper nourishment by
+exhausting the earth; and on this principle, in other of the
+eastern islands (Borneo, for instance), the vine is supported by
+poles in the manner of hops in England. Yet it is by no means
+clear to me that the Sumatran method is so disadvantageous in the
+comparison as it may seem; for, as the pepper-plant lasts many
+years, whilst the poles, exposed to sun and rain, and loaded with
+a heavy weight, cannot be supposed to continue sound above two
+seasons, there must be a frequent renewal, which, notwithstanding
+the utmost care, must lacerate and often destroy the vines. It is
+probable also that the shelter from the violence of the sun's
+rays afforded by the branches of the vegetating prop, and which,
+during the dry monsoon, is of the utmost consequence, may
+counterbalance the injury occasioned by their roots; not to
+insist on the opinion of a celebrated writer that trees, acting
+as siphons, derive from the air and transmit to the earth as much
+of the principle of vegetation as is expended in their
+nourishment.</p>
+
+<p>When the most promising shoot of the chinkareen reserved for
+rearing has attained the height of twelve to fifteen feet (which
+latter it is not to exceed), or in the second year of its growth,
+it must be headed or topped; and the branches that then extend
+themselves laterally, from the upper part only, so long as their
+shade is required, are afterwards lopped annually at the
+commencement of the rainy season (about November), leaving little
+more than the stem; from whence they again shoot out to afford
+their protection during the dry weather. By this operation also
+the damage to the plant that would ensue from the droppings of
+rain from the leaves is avoided.</p>
+
+<p>DESCRIPTION OF THE PEPPER-VINE.</p>
+
+<p>The pepper-vine is, in its own climate, a hardy plant, growing
+readily from cuttings or layers, rising in several knotted stems,
+twining round any neighbouring support, and adhering to it by
+fibres that shoot from every joint at intervals of six to ten
+inches, and from which it probably derives a share of its
+nourishment. If suffered to run along the ground these fibres
+would become roots; but in this case (like the ivy) it would
+never exhibit any appearance of fructification, the prop being
+necessary for encouraging it to throw out its bearing shoots. It
+climbs to the height of twenty or twenty-five feet, but thrives
+best when restrained to twelve or fifteen, as in the former case
+the lower part of the vine bears neither leaves nor fruit, whilst
+in the latter it produces both from within a foot of the ground.
+The stalk soon becomes ligneous, and in time acquires
+considerable thickness. The leaves are of a deep green and glossy
+surface, heart-shaped, pointed, not pungent to the taste, and
+have but little smell. The branches are short and brittle, not
+projecting above two feet from the stem, and separating readily
+at the joints. The blossom is small and white, the fruit round,
+green when young and full&shy;grown, and turning to a bright red
+when ripe and in perfection. It grows abundantly from all the
+branches in long small clusters of twenty to fifty grains,
+somewhat resembling bunches of currants, but with this
+difference, that every grain adheres to the common stalk, which
+occasions the cluster of pepper to be more compact, and it is
+also less pliant.</p>
+
+<p>MODES OF PROPAGATING IT.</p>
+
+<p>The usual mode of propagating the pepper is by cuttings, a
+foot or two in length, of the horizontal shoots that run along
+the ground from the foot of the old vines (called lado sulur),
+and one or two of these are planted within a few inches of the
+young chinkareen at the same time with it if of the long kind, or
+six months after if of the short kind, as before described. Some
+indeed prefer an interval of twelve months; as in good soil the
+luxuriancy of the vine will often overpower and bear down the
+prop, if it has not first acquired competent strength. In such
+soil the vine rises two or three feet in the course of the first
+year, and four or five more in the second, by which time, or
+between the second and third year of its growth, it begins to
+show its blossom (be-gagang), if in fact it can be called such,
+being nothing more than the germ of the future bunch of fruit, of
+a light straw colour, darkening to green as the fruit forms.
+These germs or blossoms are liable to fall untimely (gugur) in
+very dry weather, or to be shaken off in high winds (although
+from this accident the gardens are in general well sheltered by
+the surrounding woods), when, after the fairest promise, the crop
+fails.</p>
+
+<p>TURNING DOWN THE VINES.</p>
+
+<p>In the rainy weather that succeeds the first appearance of the
+fruit the whole vine is loosened from the chinkareen and turned
+down again into the earth, a hole being dug to receive it, in
+which it is laid circularly or coiled, leaving only the extremity
+above ground, at the foot of the chinkareen, which it now
+reascends with redoubled vigour, attaining in the following
+season the height of eight or ten feet, and bearing a full crop
+of fruit. There is said to be a great nicety in hitting the exact
+time proper for this operation of turning down; for if it be done
+too soon, the vines have been known not to bear till the third
+year, like fresh plants; and on the other hand the produce is
+ultimately retarded when they omit to turn them down until after
+the first fruit has been gathered; to which avarice of present,
+at the expense of future advantage, sometimes inclines the
+owners. It is not very material how many stems the vine may have
+in its first growth, but now one only, if strong, or two at the
+most, should be suffered to rise and cling to the prop: more
+would be superfluous and only weaken the whole. The supernumerary
+shoots however are usefully employed, being either conducted
+through narrow trenches to adjacent chinkareens whose vines have
+failed, or taken off at the root and transplanted to others more
+distant, where, coiled round and buried as the former, they rise
+with the same vigour, and the garden is completed of uniform
+growth, although many of its original vines have not succeeded.
+With these offsets or layers (called anggor and tettas) new
+gardens may be at once formed; the necessary chinkareens being
+previously planted, and of sufficient growth to receive them.</p>
+
+<p>This practice of turning down the vines, which appears
+singular but certainly contributes to the duration as well as
+strength of the plants, may yet amount to nothing more than a
+substitute for transplantation. Our people observing that
+vegetables often fail to thrive when permitted to grow up in the
+same beds where they were first set or sown, find it advantageous
+to remove them, at a certain period of their growth, to fresh
+situations. The Sumatrans observing the same failure have had
+recourse to an expedient nearly similar in its principle but
+effected in a different and perhaps more judicious mode.</p>
+
+<p>In order to lighten the labour of the cultivator, who has also
+the indispensable task of raising grain for himself and his
+family, it is a common practice, and not attended with any
+detriment to the gardens, to sow padi in the ground in which the
+chinkareens have been planted, and when this has become about six
+inches high, to plant the cuttings of the vines, suffering the
+shoots to creep along the ground until the crop has been taken
+off, when they are trained to the chinkareens, the shade of the
+corn being thought favourable to the young plants.</p>
+
+<p>PROGRESS OF BEARING.</p>
+
+<p>The vines, as has been observed, generally begin to bear in
+the course of the third year from the time of planting, but the
+produce is retarded for one or two seasons by the process just
+described; after which it increases annually for three years,
+when the garden (about the seventh or eighth year) is esteemed in
+its prime, or at its utmost produce; which state it maintains,
+according to the quality of the soil, from one to four years,
+when it gradually declines for about the same period until it is
+no longer worth the labour of keeping it in order. From some, in
+good ground, fruit has been gathered at the age of twenty years;
+but such instances are uncommon. On the first appearance of
+decline it should be renewed, as it is termed; but, to speak more
+properly, another garden should be planted to succeed it, which
+will begin to bear before the old one ceases.</p>
+
+<p>MODE OF PRUNING.</p>
+
+<p>The vine having acquired its full growth, and being limited by
+the height of the chinkareen, sometimes grows bushy and overhangs
+at top, which, being prejudicial to the lower parts, must be
+corrected by pruning or thinning the top branches, and this is
+done commonly by hand, as they break readily at every joint.
+Suckers too, or superfluous side&shy;shoots (charang), which
+spring luxuriantly, are to be plucked away. The ground of the
+garden must be kept perfectly clear of weeds, shrubs, and
+whatever might injure or tend to choke the plants. During the hot
+months of June, July, and August the finer kinds of grass may be
+permitted to cover the ground, as it contributes to mitigate the
+effects of the sun's power, and preserves for a longer time the
+dews, which at that season fall copiously; but the rank species,
+called lalang, being particularly difficult to eradicate, should
+not be suffered to fix itself, if it can be avoided. As the vines
+increase in size and strength less attention to the ground is
+required, and especially as their shade tends to check the growth
+of weeds. In lopping the branches of the chinkareens preparatory
+to the rains, some dexterity is required that they may fall clear
+of the vine, and the business is performed with a sharp prang or
+bill that generally separates at one stroke the light pithy
+substance of the bough. For this purpose, as well as that of
+gathering the fruit, light triangular ladders made of bamboo are
+employed.</p>
+
+<p>TIME OF GATHERING.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as any of the berries or corns redden, the bunch is
+reckoned fit for gathering, the remainder being then generally
+full-grown, although green; nor would it answer to wait for the
+whole to change colour, as the most mature would drop off.</p>
+
+<p>MODE OF DRYING AND CLEANSING.</p>
+
+<p>It is collected in small baskets slung over the shoulder, and
+with the assistance of the women and children conveyed to a
+smooth level spot of clean hard ground near the garden or the
+village, where it is spread, sometimes upon mats, to dry in the
+sun, but exposed at the same time to the vicissitudes of the
+weather, which are not much regarded nor thought to injure it. In
+this situation it becomes black and shrivelled, as we see it in
+Europe, and as it dries is hand-rubbed occasionally to separate
+the grains from the stalk. It is then winnowed in large round
+shallow sieves called nyiru, and put in large vessels made of
+bark (kulitkayu) under their houses until the whole of the crop
+is gathered, or a sufficient quantity for carrying (usually by
+water) to the European factory or gadong at the mouth of the
+river. That which has been gathered at the properest stage of
+maturity will shrivel the least; but, if plucked too soon, it
+will in a short time, by removal from place to place, become mere
+dust. Of this defect trial may be made by the hand; but as light
+pepper may have been mixed with the sound it becomes necessary
+that the whole should be garbled at the scale by machines
+constructed for the purpose. Pepper that has fallen to the ground
+overripe and been gathered from thence will be known by being
+stripped of its outer coat, and in that state is an inferior kind
+of white pepper.</p>
+
+<p>WHITE PEPPER.</p>
+
+<p>This was for centuries supposed in Europe to be the produce of
+a different plant, and to possess qualities superior to those of
+the common black pepper; and accordingly it sold at a
+considerably higher price. But it has lost in some measure that
+advantage since it has been known that the secret depended merely
+upon the art of blanching the grains of the other sort, by
+depriving it of the exterior pellicle. For this purpose the
+ripest red grains are picked out and put in baskets to steep,
+either in running water (which is preferred), in pits dug for the
+occasion near the banks of rivers, or in stagnant pools.
+Sometimes it is only buried in the ground. In any of these
+situations it swells, and in the course of a week or ten days
+bursts its tegument, from which it is afterwards carefully
+separated by drying in the sun, rubbing between the hands, and
+winnowing. It has been much disputed, and is still undetermined,
+to which sort the preference ought to be given. The white pepper
+has this obvious recommendation, that it can be made of no other
+than the best and soundest grains, taken at their most perfect
+stage of maturity: but on the other hand it is argued that, by
+being suffered to remain the necessary time in water, its
+strength must be considerably diminished; and that the outer
+husk, which is lost by the process, has a peculiar flavour
+distinct from that of the heart, and though not so pungent, more
+aromatic. For the white pepper the planter receives the fourth
+part of a dollar, or fifteen pence, per bamboo or gallon measure,
+equal to about six pounds weight. At the sales in England the
+prices are at this time in the proportion of seventeen to ten or
+eleven, and the quantity imported has for some years been
+inconsiderable.</p>
+
+<p>APPEARANCE OF THE GARDENS.</p>
+
+<p>The gardens being planted in even rows, running parallel, and
+at right angles with each other, their symmetrical appearance is
+very beautiful, and rendered more striking by the contrast they
+exhibit to the wild scenes of nature which surround them. In
+highly cultivated countries such as England, where landed
+property is all lined out and bounded and intersected with walls
+and hedges, we endeavour to give our gardens and pleasure-grounds
+the charm of variety and novelty by imitating the wildness of
+nature, in studied irregularities. Winding walks, hanging woods,
+craggy rocks, falls of water, are all looked upon as
+improvements; and the stately avenues, the canals, and
+rectangular lawns of our ancestors, which afforded the beauty of
+contrast in ruder times are now exploded. This difference of
+taste is not merely the effect of caprice, nor entirely of
+refinement, but results from the change of circumstances. A man
+who should attempt to exhibit in Sumatra the modern or irregular
+style of laying out grounds would attract but little attention,
+as the unimproved scenes adjoining on every side would probably
+eclipse his labours. Could he, on the contrary, produce, amidst
+its magnificent wilds, one of those antiquated parterres, with
+its canals and fountains, whose precision he has learned to
+despise, his work would create admiration and delight. A
+pepper-garden cultivated in England would not in point of
+external appearance be considered as an object of extraordinary
+beauty, and would be particularly found fault with for its
+uniformity; yet in Sumatra I never entered one, after travelling
+many miles, as is usually the case, through the woods, that I did
+not find myself affected with a strong sensation of pleasure.
+Perhaps the simple view of human industry, so scantily presented
+in that island, might contribute to this pleasure, by awakening
+those social feelings that nature has inspired us with, and which
+make our breasts glow on the perception of whatever indicates the
+prosperity and happiness of our fellow-creatures.</p>
+
+<p>SURVEYS.</p>
+
+<p>Once in every year a survey of all the pepper-plantations is
+taken by the Company's European servants resident at the various
+settlements, in the neighbourhood of which that article is
+cultivated. The number of vines in each particular garden is
+counted; accurate observation is made of its state and condition;
+orders are given where necessary for further care, for completion
+of stipulated quantity, renewals, changes of situation for better
+soil; and rewards and punishments are distributed to the planters
+as they appear, from the degree of their industry or remissness,
+deserving of either. Minutes of all these are entered in the
+survey-book, which, beside giving present information to the
+chief, and to the governor and council, to whom a copy is
+transmitted, serves as a guide and check for the survey of the
+succeeding year. An abstract of the form of the book is as
+follows. It is divided into sundry columns, containing the name
+of the village; the names of the planters; the number of
+chinkareens planted; the number of vines just planted; of young
+vines, not in a bearing state, three classes or years; of young
+vines in a bearing state, three classes; of vines in prime; of
+those on decline; of those that are old, but still productive;
+the total number; and lastly the quantity of pepper received
+during the year. A space is left for occasional remarks, and at
+the conclusion is subjoined a comparison of the totals of each
+column, for the whole district or residency, with those of the
+preceding year. This business the reader will perceive to be
+attended with considerable trouble, exclusive of the actual
+fatigue of the surveys, which from the nature of the country must
+necessarily be performed on foot, in a climate not very
+favourable to such excursions. The journeys in few places can be
+performed in less than a month, and often require a much longer
+time.</p>
+
+<p>The arrival of the Company's Resident at each dusun is
+considered as a period of festivity. The chief, together with the
+principal inhabitants, entertain him and his attendants with
+rustic hospitality, and when he retires to rest, his slumbers are
+soothed, or interrupted, by the songs of young females, who never
+fail to pay this compliment to the respected guest; and receive
+in return some trifling ornamental and useful presents (such as
+looking-glasses, fans, and needles) at his departure.</p>
+
+<p>SUCCESSION OF GARDENS.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants, by the original contracts of the headmen with
+the Company, are obliged to plant a certain number of vines; each
+family one thousand, and each young unmarried man five hundred;
+and, in order to keep up the succession of produce, so soon as
+their gardens attain to their prime state, they are ordered to
+prepare others, that they may begin to bear as the old ones fall
+off; but as this can seldom be enforced till the decline becomes
+evident, and as young gardens are liable to various accidents
+which older ones are exempt from, the succession is rendered
+incomplete, and the consequence is that the annual produce of
+each district fluctuates, and is greater or less in the
+proportion of the quantity of bearing vines to the whole number.
+To enter minutely into the detail of this business will not
+afford much information or entertainment to the generality of
+readers, who will however be surprised to hear that
+pepper-planting, though scarcely an art, so little skill appears
+to be employed in its cultivation, has nevertheless been rendered
+an abstruse science by the investigations which able men have
+bestowed upon the subject. These took their rise from censures
+conveyed for supposed mismanagement, when the investment, or
+annual provision of pepper, decreased in comparison with
+preceding years, and which was not satisfactorily accounted for
+by unfavourable seasons. To obviate such charges it became
+necessary for those who superintended the business to pay
+attention to and explain the efficient causes which unavoidably
+occasioned this fluctuation, and to establish general principles
+of calculation by which to determine at any time the probable
+future produce of the different residencies. These will depend
+upon a knowledge of the medium produce of a determinate number of
+vines, and the medium number to which this produce is to be
+applied; both of which are to be ascertained only from a
+comprehensive view of the subject, and a nice discrimination.
+Nothing general can be determined from detached instances. It is
+not the produce of one particular plantation in one particular
+stage of bearing and in one particular season, but the mean
+produce of all the various classes of bearing vines collectively,
+drawn from the experience of several years, that can alone be
+depended on in calculations of this nature. So in regard to the
+median number of vines presumed to exist at any residency in a
+future year, to which the medium produce of a certain number, one
+thousand, for instance, is to be applied, the quantity of young
+vines of the first, second, and third year must not be
+indiscriminately advanced, in their whole extent, to the next
+annual stage, but a judicious allowance founded on experience
+must be made for the accidents to which, in spite of a resident's
+utmost care, they will be exposed. Some are lost by neglect or
+death of the owner; some are destroyed by inundations, others by
+elephants and wild buffaloes, and some by unfavourable seasons,
+and from these several considerations the number of vines will
+ever be found considerably decreased by the time they have
+arrived at a bearing state. Another important object of
+consideration in these matters is the comparative state of a
+residency at any particular period with what may be justly
+considered as its medium state. There must exist a determinate
+proportion between any number of bearing vines and such a number
+of young as are necessary to replace them when they go off and
+keep up a regular succession. This will depend in general upon
+the length of time before they reach a bearing state and during
+which they afterwards continue in it. If this certain proportion
+happens at any time to be disturbed the produce must become
+irregular. Thus, if at any period the number of bearing vines
+shall be found to exceed their just proportion to the total
+number, the produce at such period is to be considered as above
+the mean, and a subsequent decrease may with certainty be
+predicted, and vice versa. If then this proportion can be known,
+and the state of population in a residency ascertained, it
+becomes easy to determine the true medium number of bearing vines
+in that residency.</p>
+
+<p>There are, agreeably to the form of the survey book, eleven
+stages or classes of vines, each advanced one year. Of these
+classes six are bearing and five young. If therefore the gardens
+were not liable to accidents, but passed on from column to column
+undiminished, the true proportion of the bearing vines to the
+young would be as six to five, or to the total, as six to eleven.
+But the various contingencies above hinted at must tend to reduce
+this proportion; while, on the other hand, if any of the gardens
+should continue longer than is necessary to pass through all the
+stages on the survey-book, or should remain more than one year in
+a prime state, these circumstances would tend to increase the
+proportion. What then is the true medium proportion can only be
+determined from experience, and by comparing the state of a
+residency at various successive periods. In order to ascertain
+this point a very ingenious gentleman and able servant of the
+East India Company, Mr. John Crisp, to whom I am indebted for the
+most part of what I have laid before the reader on this part of
+the subject, drew out in the year 1777 a general comparative view
+of Manna residency, from the surveys of twelve years, annexing
+the produce of each year. From the statement it appeared that the
+proportion of the bearing vines to the whole number in that
+district was no more than 5.1 to 11, instead of 6 to 11, which
+would be the proportion if not reduced by accidents; and further
+that, when the whole produce of the twelve years was diffused
+over the whole number of bearing vines during that period, the
+produce of one thousand vines came out to be four hundred and
+fifty-three pounds, which must therefore be estimated as the
+medium produce of that residency. The same principle of
+calculation being applied to the other residencies, it appeared
+that the mean annual produce of one thousand vines, in all the
+various stages of bearing, taken collectively throughout the
+country, deduced from the experience of twelve years, was four
+hundred and four pounds. It likewise became evident from the
+statements drawn out by that gentleman that the medium annual
+produce of the Company's settlements on the west coast of Sumatra
+ought to be estimated at twelve hundred tons, of sixteen hundred
+weight; which is corroborated by an average of the actual
+receipts for any considerable number of years.</p>
+
+<p>Thus much will be sufficient to give the reader an idea of
+pepper-planting as a kind of science. How far in a commercial
+light this produce answers the Company's views in supporting the
+settlements, is foreign from my purpose to discuss, though it is
+a subject on which not a little might be said. It is the history
+of the island and its inhabitants, and not of the European
+interests, that I attempt to lay before the public.</p>
+
+<p>SPECIES OF PEPPER.</p>
+
+<p>The natives distinguish three species of pepper, which are
+called at different places by different names. At Laye, in the
+Rejang country, they term them lado kawur, lado manna, and lado
+jambi, from the parts where each sort is supposed to prevail, or
+from whence it was first brought to them. The lado kawur, or
+Lampong pepper, is the strongest plant, and bears the largest
+leaf and fruit; is slower in coming to perfection than the
+second, but of much longer duration. The leaf and fruit of the
+lado manna are somewhat smaller, and it has this peculiarity,
+that it bears soon and in large quantities, but seldom passes the
+third or fourth year's crop. The jambi, which has deservedly
+fallen into disrepute, is of the smallest leaf and fruit, very
+short-lived, and not without difficulty trained to the
+chinkareen. In some places to the southward they distinguish two
+kinds only, lado sudul and lado jambi. Lado sulur and lado anggor
+are not distinctions of species; the former denoting the cuttings
+of young creeping shoots commonly planted, in opposition to the
+latter, which is the term for planting by layers.</p>
+
+<p>SEASONS.</p>
+
+<p>The season of the pepper-vines bearing, as well as that of
+most other fruit-trees on Sumatra, is subject to great
+irregularities, owing perhaps to the uncertainty of the monsoons,
+which are not there so strictly periodical as on the western side
+of India. Generally speaking however the pepper produces two
+crops in the year; one called the greater crop (pupul agung)
+between the months of October and March; the other called the
+lesser or half crop (buah sello) between the months of April and
+September, which is small in proportion as the former has been
+considerable, and vice versa. Sometimes in particular districts
+they will be employed in gathering it in small quantities during
+the whole year round, whilst perhaps in others the produce of
+that year is confined to one crop; for, although the regular
+period between the appearance of the blossom and maturity is
+about four months, the whole does not ripen at once, and blossoms
+are frequently found on the same vine with green and ripe fruit.
+In Laye residency the principal harvest of pepper in the year
+1766 was gathered between the months of February and May; in 1767
+and 1768 about September and October; in 1778 between June and
+August; and for the four succeeding years was seldom received
+earlier than November and December. Long-continued droughts,
+which sometimes happen, stop the vegetation of the vines and
+retard the produce. This was particularly experienced in the year
+1775, when, for a period of about eight months, scarcely a shower
+of rain fell to moisten the earth. The vines were deprived of
+their foliage, many gardens perished and a general destruction
+was expected. But this apparent calamity was attended with a
+consequence not foreseen, though analogous to the usual
+operations of nature in that climate. The natives, when they
+would force a tree that is backward to produce fruit, strip it of
+its leaves, by which means the nutritive juices are reserved for
+that more important use, and the blossoms soon begin to show
+themselves in abundance. A similar effect was displayed in the
+pepper gardens by the inclemency of the season. The vines, as
+soon as the rains began to descend, threw out blossoms in a
+profusion unknown before; old gardens which had been unprolific
+for two or three years began to bear; and accordingly the crop of
+1776/1777 considerably surpassed that of many preceding
+years.</p>
+
+<p>TRANSPORTATION OF PEPPER.</p>
+
+<p>The pepper is mostly brought down from the country on rafts
+(rakit), which are sometimes composed of rough timbers, but
+usually of large bamboos, with a platform of split bamboos to
+keep the cargo dry. They are steered at both head and stern, in
+the more rapid rivers with a kind of rudder, or scull rather,
+having a broad blade fixed in a fork or crutch. Those who steer
+are obliged to exert the whole strength of the body in those
+places especially where the fall of water is steep, and the
+course winding; but the purchase of the scull is of so great
+power that they can move the raft bodily across the river when
+both ends are acted upon at the same time. But, notwithstanding
+their great dexterity and their judgment in choosing the channel,
+they are liable to meet with obstruction in large trees and
+rocks, which, from the violence of the stream, occasion their
+rafts to be overset, and sometimes dashed to pieces.</p>
+
+<p>It is a generally received opinion that pepper does not
+sustain any damage by an immersion in seawater; a circumstance
+that attends perhaps a fourth part of the whole quantity shipped
+from the coast. The surf, through which it is carried in an open
+boat, called a sampan lonchore, renders such accidents
+unavoidable. This boat, which carries one or two tons, being
+hauled up on the beach and there loaded, is shoved off, with a
+few people in it, by a number collected for that purpose, who
+watch the opportunity of a lull or temporary intermission of the
+swell. A tambangan, or long narrow vessel, built to contain from
+ten to twenty tons, (peculiar to the southern part of the coast),
+lies at anchor without to receive the cargoes from the sampans.
+At many places, where the kwallas, or mouths of the rivers, are
+tolerably practicable, the pepper is sent out at once in the
+tambangans over the bar; but this, owing to the common
+shallowness of the water and violence of the surfs, is attended
+with considerable risk. Thus the pepper is conveyed either to the
+warehouses at the head-settlement or to the ship from Europe
+lying there to receive it. About one-third part of the quantity
+of black pepper collected, but none of the white, is annually
+sent to China. Of the extent and circumstances of the trade in
+pepper carried on by private merchants (chiefly American) at the
+northern ports of Nalabu, Susu, and Mukki, where it is managed by
+the subjects of Achin, I have not any accurate information, and
+only know that it has increased considerably during the last
+twelve years.</p>
+
+<p>NUTMEGS AND CLOVES.</p>
+
+<p>It is well known with what jealousy and rigour the Batavian
+government has guarded against the transplantation of the trees
+producing nutmegs and cloves from the islands of Banda and
+Amboina to other parts of India. To elude its vigilance many
+attempts have been made by the English, who considered Sumatra to
+be well adapted, from its local circumstances, to the cultivation
+of these valuable spices; but all proved ineffectual, until the
+reduction of the eastern settlements in 1796 afforded the wished
+for opportunity, which was eagerly seized by Mr. Robert Broff, at
+that period chief of the Residency of Fort Marlborough. As the
+culture is now likely to become of importance to the trade of
+this country, and the history of its introduction may hereafter
+be thought interesting, I shall give it in Mr. Broff's own
+words:</p>
+
+<p>The acquisition of the nutmeg and clove plants became an
+object of my solicitude the moment I received by Captain
+Newcombe, of his Majesty's ship Orpheus, the news of the
+surrender of the islands where they are produced; being
+convinced, from the information I had received, that the country
+in the neighbourhood of Bencoolen, situated as it is in the same
+latitude with the Moluccas, exposed to the same periodical winds,
+and possessing the same kind of soil, would prove congenial to
+their culture. Under this impression I suggested to the other
+members of the Board the expediency of freighting a vessel for
+the twofold purpose of sending supplies to the forces at Amboina,
+for which they were in distress, and of bringing in return as
+many spice-plants as could be conveniently stowed. The
+proposition was acceded to, and a vessel, of which I was the
+principal owner (no other could be obtained), was accordingly
+dispatched in July 1806; but the plan was unfortunately
+frustrated by the imprudent conduct of a person on the civil
+establishment to whom the execution was entrusted. Soon
+afterwards however I had the good fortune to be more successful,
+in an application I made to Captain Hugh Moore, who commanded the
+Phoenix country ship, to undertake the importation, stipulating
+with him to pay a certain sum for every healthy plant he should
+deliver.</p>
+
+<p>FIRST INTRODUCTION.</p>
+
+<p>Complete success attended the measure: he returned in July
+1798, and I had the satisfaction of planting myself, and
+distributing for that purpose, a number of young nutmeg and a few
+clove trees in the districts of Bencoolen and Silebar, and other
+more distant spots, in order to ascertain from experience the
+situations best adapted to their growth. I particularly delivered
+to Mr. Charles Campbell, botanist, a portion to be under his own
+immediate inspection; and another to Mr. Edward Coles, this
+gentleman having in his service a family who were natives of a
+spice island and had been used to the cultivation. When I quitted
+the coast in January 1799 I had the gratification of witnessing
+the prosperous state of the plantations, and of receiving
+information from the quarters where they had been distributed of
+their thriving luxuriantly; and since my arrival in England
+various letters have reached me to the same effect. To the merit
+therefore of introducing this important article, and of forming
+regulations for its successful culture, I put in my exclusive
+claim; and am fully persuaded that if a liberal policy is adopted
+it will become of the greatest commercial advantage to the
+Company and to the nation.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+<p>Further light will be thrown upon this subject and the
+progress of the cultivation by the following extract of a letter
+to me from Mr. Campbell, dated in November 1803:</p>
+
+<p>Early in the year 1798 Mr. Broff, to whom the highest praise
+is due for his enterprising and considerative scheme of procuring
+the spice trees from our newly-conquered islands (after
+experiencing much disappointment and want of support) overcame
+every obstacle, and we received, through the agency of Mr. Jones,
+commercial resident at Amboina, five or six hundred nutmeg
+plants, with about fifty cloves; but these latter were not in a
+vigorous state. They were distributed and put generally under my
+inspection. Their culture was attended with various success, but
+Mr. Coles, from the situation of his farm, near Silebar River but
+not too close to the seashore, and from, I believe, bestowing
+more personal attention than any of us, has outstripped his
+competitors. Some trees which I planted as far inland as the
+Sugar-loaf Mountain blossomed with his, but the fruit was first
+perfected in his ground. The plants were dispatched from Amboina
+in March 1798, just bursting from the shell, and two months ago I
+plucked the perfect fruit, specimens of which I now send you;
+being a period of five years and nine months only; whereas in
+their native land eight years at least are commonly allowed.
+Having early remarked the great promise of the trees I tried by
+every means in my power to interest the Bengal government in our
+views, and at length, by the assistance of Dr. Roxburgh, I
+succeeded.</p>
+
+<p>SECOND IMPORTATION OF PLANTS.</p>
+
+<p>A few months ago his son arrived here from Amboina, with
+twenty-two thousand nutmeg plants, and upwards of six thousand
+cloves, which are already in my nurseries, and flourishing like
+those which preceded them. About the time the nutmegs fruited one
+clove tree flowered. Only three of the original importation had
+survived their transit and the accidents attending their planting
+out. Its buds are now filling, and I hope to transmit specimens
+of them also. The Malay chiefs have eagerly engaged in the
+cultivation of their respective shares. I have retained eight
+thousand nutmegs as a plantation from which the fruit may
+hereafter be disseminated. Every kind of soil and every variety
+of situation has been tried. The cloves are not yet widely
+dispersed, for, being a tender plant, I choose to have them under
+my own eye.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+<p>Since the death of Mr. Campbell Mr. Roxburgh has been
+appointed to the superintendence, and the latest accounts from
+thence justify the sanguine expectations formed of the ultimate
+importance of the trade; there being at that period upwards of
+twenty thousand nutmeg trees in full bearing, capable of yielding
+annually two hundred thousand pounds weight of nutmegs, and fifty
+thousand pounds of mace. The clove plants have proved more
+delicate, but the quality of their spice equal to any produced in
+the Moluccas.</p>
+
+<p>CULTURE LEFT TO INDIVIDUALS.</p>
+
+<p>It is understood that the Company has declined the monopoly of
+the trade and left the cultivation to individual exertion;
+directing however that its own immediate plantations be kept up
+by the labour of convicts from Bengal, and reserving to itself an
+export duty of ten per cent on the value of the spices.</p>
+
+<p>CAMPHOR.</p>
+
+<p>Among the valuable productions of the island as articles of
+commerce a conspicuous place belongs to the camphor.</p>
+
+<p>This peculiar substance, called by the natives kapur-barus,*
+and distinguished by the epithet of native camphor from another
+sort which shall be mentioned hereafter, is a drug for which
+Sumatra and Borneo have been celebrated from the earliest times,
+and with the virtues of which the Arabian physicians appear to
+have been acquainted. Chemists formerly entertained opinions
+extremely discordant in regard to the nature and the properties
+of camphor; and even at this day they seem to be but imperfectly
+known. It is considered however as a sedative and powerful
+diaphoretic: but my province is to mention such particulars of
+its history as have come within my knowledge, leaving to others
+to investigate its most beneficial uses.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The word kapur appears to be derived from
+the Sanskrit karpura, and the Arabic and Persian kafur (from
+whence our camphor) to have been adopted from the language of the
+country where the article is produced. Barus is the name of a
+place in Sumatra.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>PLACE OF GROWTH.</p>
+
+<p>The tree is a native of the northern parts of the island only,
+not being found to the southward of the line, nor yet beyond the
+third degree of north latitude. It grows without cultivation in
+the woods lying near to the sea-coast, and is equal in height and
+bulk to the largest timber trees, being frequently found upwards
+of fifteen feet in circumference.</p>
+
+<p>WOOD.</p>
+
+<p>For carpenters' purposes the wood is in much esteem, being
+easy to work, light, durable, and not liable to be injured by
+insects, particularly by the kumbang, a species of the bee, whose
+destructive perforations have been already mentioned; but is also
+said to be more affected than most others by the changes of the
+atmosphere. The leaf is small, of a roundish oval, the fibres
+running straight and parallel to each other, and terminates in a
+remarkably long and slender point. The flower has not yet been
+brought to England. The fruit is described by C.F. Gaertner (De
+Seminibus Volume 3 page 49 tab. 186) by the name of Dryobalanops
+aromatica, from specimens in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks;
+but he has unaccountably mistaken it for the cinnamon tree, and
+spoken of it as a native of Ceylon. It is also described, from
+the same specimens, by M. Correa de Serra (Annales du Museum
+d'Histoire Naturelle Tome 10 page 159 plate 8) by the name of
+Pterigium teres; without any reference whatever to the nature of
+the tree as yielding this valuable drug. A beautiful engraving of
+its very peculiar foliage has been made under the direction of
+Mr. A.B. Lambert.</p>
+
+<p>CAMPHOR FOUND IN THE FISSURES.</p>
+
+<p>The camphor is found in the concrete state in which we see it,
+in natural fissures or crevices of the wood, but does not exhibit
+any exterior appearance by which its existence can be previously
+ascertained, and the persons whose employment it is to collect it
+usually cut down a number of trees, almost at random, before they
+find one that contains a sufficient quantity to repay their
+labour, although always assisted in their research by a
+professional conjurer, whose skill must be chiefly employed in
+concealing or accounting for his own mistakes. It is said that
+not a tenth part of the number felled is productive either of
+camphor or of camphor-oil (meniak kapur), although the latter is
+less rare; and that parties of men are sometimes engaged for two
+or three months together in the forests, with very precarious
+success. This scarcity tends to enhance the price. The tree when
+cut down is divided transversely into several blocks, and these
+again are split with wedges into small pieces, from the
+interstices of which the camphor, if any there be, is extracted.
+That which comes away readily in large flakes, almost
+transparent, is esteemed the prime sort or head; the smaller,
+clean pieces are considered as belly, and the minute particles,
+chiefly scraped from the wood, and often mixed with it, are
+called foot; according to the customary terms adopted in the
+assortment of drugs. The mode of separating it from these and
+other impurities is by steeping and washing it in water, and
+sometimes with the aid of soap. It is then passed through sieves
+or screens of different apertures in order to make the
+assortment, so far as that depends upon the size of the grains;
+but much of the selection is also made by hand, and particular
+care is taken to distinguish from the more genuine kinds that
+which is produced by an artificial concretion of the essential
+oil.</p>
+
+<p>CAMPHOR OIL.</p>
+
+<p>The inquiries I formerly made on the subject (not having been
+myself in the district where the tree grows) led me to believe
+with confidence that the oil and the dry crystallized resin were
+not procured from the same individual tree; but in this I was
+first undeceived by Mr. R. Maidman, who in June 1788 wrote to me
+from Tappanuli, where he was resident, to the following
+effect:</p>
+
+<p>I beg your acceptance of a piece of camphor-wood, the genuine
+quality of which I can answer for, being cut by one of my own
+people, who was employed in making charcoal, of which the best
+for smiths' work is made from this wood. On cutting deep into a
+pretty large tree the fine oil suddenly gushed out and was lost
+for want of a receiver. He felled the tree, and, having split it,
+brought me three or four catties (four or five pounds) of the
+finest camphor I ever saw, and also this log, which is very rich.
+My reason for being thus particular is that the country people
+have a method of pouring oil of inferior camphor-trees into a log
+of wood that has natural cracks, and, by exposing this to the sun
+every day for a week, it appears like genuine camphor; but is the
+worst sort.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+<p>This coexistence of the two products has been since confirmed
+to me by others, and is particularly stated by Mr. Macdonald in
+his ingenious paper on certain Natural Productions of Sumatra,
+published in the Asiatic Researches Volume 4 Calcutta 1795. It
+seems probable on the whole that, as the tree advances in age, a
+greater proportion of this essential oil takes a concrete form,
+and it has been observed to me that, when the fresh oil has been
+allowed to stand and settle, a sediment of camphor is procured;
+but the subject requires further examination by well-informed
+persons on the spot.</p>
+
+<p>PRICE.</p>
+
+<p>Head camphor is usually purchased from those who procure it at
+the rate of six Spanish dollars the pound, or eight dollars the
+catty, and sells in the China market at Canton for nine to twelve
+dollars the pound, or twelve to fifteen hundred dollars the pekul
+of a hundred catties or one hundred thirty-three pounds and a
+third, avoirdupois. When of superior quality it sells for two
+thousand dollars, and I have been assured that some small choice
+samples have produced upwards of thirty dollars per catty.* It is
+estimated that the whole quantity annually brought down for sale
+on the western side of the island does not exceed fifty pekul.
+The trade is chiefly in the hands of the Achinese settled at
+Sinkell, who buy the article from the Batta people and dispose of
+it to the Europeans and Chinese settlers.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. See Price Currents of the China trade.
+Camphor was purchased in Sumatra by Commodore Beaulieu in 1622 at
+the rate of fifteen Spanish dollars for twenty-eight ounces,
+which differs but little from the modern price. In the
+Transactions of the Society at Batavia it appears that the
+camphor of Borneo sells in their market for 3200 rix dollars, and
+that of Japan for 50 rix dollars the pekul.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>JAPAN CAMPHOR.</p>
+
+<p>It has been commonly supposed that the people of China or
+Japan prepare a factitious substance resembling native camphor,
+and impregnated with its virtues by the admixture of a small
+quantity of the genuine, which is sold to the Dutch factory for
+thirty or forty dollars the pekul, sent to Holland, and
+afterwards refined to the state in which we see it in our shops,
+where it is sold at eight to twelve shillings the pound. It
+appears however an extraordinary circumstance that any article
+could possibly be so adulterated, bearing at the same time the
+likeness and retaining the sensible qualities of its original, as
+that the dealers should be enabled, with profit to themselves to
+resell it for the fiftieth part of the price they gave. But, upon
+inquiry of an ingenious person long resident in China, I learned
+that the Japan camphor is by no means a factitious substance, but
+the genuine produce of a tree growing in abundance in the latter
+country, different in every character from that of Sumatra or
+Borneo, and well known to our botanists by the name of Laurus
+camphora, L. He further informed me that the Chinese never mix
+the Sumatran camphor with that from Japan, but purchase the
+former for their own use, at the before-mentioned extravagant
+price, from an idea of its efficacy, probably superstitious, and
+export the latter as a drug not held in any particular
+estimation. Thus we buy the leaves of their tea-plant at a high
+rate and neglect herbs, the natives of our own soil, possessing
+perhaps equal virtues. It is known also that the Japan camphor,
+termed factitious, will evaporate till it wholly disappears, and
+at all stages of its diminution retain its full proportion of
+strength; which does not seem the property of an adulterated or
+compounded body. Kaempfer informs us that it is prepared from a
+decoction of the wood and roots of the tree cut into small
+pieces; and the form of the lumps in which it is brought to us
+shows that it has undergone a process. The Sumatran sort, though
+doubtless from its extreme volatility it must be subject to
+decrease, does not lose any very sensible quantity from being
+kept, as I find from the experience of many years that it has
+been in my possession. It probably may not be very easy to
+ascertain its superiority over the other in the materia medica,
+not being brought for sale to this country, nor generally
+administered; but from a medical person who practised at
+Bencoolen I learned that the usual dose he gave was from half a
+grain to one or two grains at the most. The oil, although
+hitherto of little importance as an article of commerce, is a
+valuable domestic medicine, and much used by the natives as well
+as Europeans in cases of strains, swellings, and rheumatic pains;
+its particles, from their extreme subtlety, readily entering the
+pores. It undergoes no preparation, and is used in the state in
+which, upon incision, it has distilled from the tree. The kayu
+putih (Melaleuca leucadendron) oil, which is somewhat better
+known in England, is obtained in the same manner; but to procure
+the meniak kayu or common wood-oil, used for preserving timber or
+boards exposed to the weather, from decay, and for boiling with
+dammar to pay the bottoms of ships and boats, the following
+method is practised. They make a transverse incision into the
+tree to the depth of some inches, and then cut sloping down from
+the notch, till they leave a flat superficies. This they hollow
+out to a capacity to receive about a quart. They then put into
+the hollow a bit of lighted reed, and let it remain for about ten
+minutes, which, acting as a stimulus, draws the fluid to that
+part. In the space of a night the liquor fills the receptacle
+prepared for it, and the tree continues to yield a lesser
+quantity for three successive nights, when the fire must be again
+applied: but on a few repetitions it is exhausted.</p>
+
+<p>BENZOIN.</p>
+
+<p>Benzoin or Benjamin (Styrax benzoin*) called by the Malays
+kami&shy;nian, is, like the camphor, found almost exclusively in
+the Batta country, to the northward of the equator, but not in
+the Achinese dominions immediately beyond that district. It is
+also met with, though rarely, south of the line, but there,
+either from natural inferiority or want of skill in collecting
+it, the small quantity produced is black and of little value. The
+tree does not grow to any considerable size, and is of no value
+as timber. The seeds or nuts, which are round, of a brown colour,
+and about the size of a moderate bolus, are sown in the
+padi-fields and afterwards require no other cultivation than to
+clear away the shrubs from about the young plants. In some
+places, especially near the sea-coast, large plantations of it
+are formed, and it is said that the natives, sensible of the
+great advantage accruing to them from the trade, in a national
+point of view, oblige the proprietors, by legal regulation, to
+keep up the succession.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. See a Botanical Description of this tree
+by my friend Mr. Jonas Dryander, with a plate, in Volume 77 page
+307 of the Philosophical Transactions for the year
+1787.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>MODE OF PROCURING IT.</p>
+
+<p>When the trees have attained the age of about seven years, and
+are six or eight inches in diameter, incisions are made in the
+bark, from whence the balsam or gum (as it is commonly termed,
+although being soluble in spirits and not in water, it is rather
+a resin) exudes, which is carefully pared off. The purest of the
+gum, or Head benzoin, is that which comes from these incisions
+during the first three years, and is white, inclining to yellow,
+soft, and fragrant; after which it gradually changes to the
+second sort, which is of a reddish yellow, degenerating to brown;
+and at length when the tree, which will not bear a repetition of
+the process for more than ten or twelve years, is supposed to be
+worn out, they cut it down, and when split in pieces procure, by
+scraping, the worst sort, or Foot benzoin, which is dark
+coloured, hard, and mixed more or less with parings of the wood
+and other impurities. The Head is further distinguished into
+Europe and India-head, of which the first is superior, and is the
+only sort adapted to the home market: the latter, with most of
+the inferior sorts, is exported to Arabia,* Persia, and some
+parts of India, where it is burned to perfume with its smoke
+their temples and private houses, expel troublesome insects, and
+obviate the pernicious effects of unwholesome air or noxious
+exhalations; in addition to which uses, in the Malayan countries,
+it is always considered as a necessary part of the apparatus in
+administering an oath. It is brought down from the country for
+sale in large cakes, called tampang, covered with mats; and
+these, as a staple commodity, are employed in their dealings for
+a standard of value, to which the price of other things have
+reference, as in most parts of the world to certain metals. In
+order to pack it in chests it is necessary to soften the coarser
+sorts with boiling water; for the finer it is sufficient to break
+the lumps and to expose it to the heat of the sun. The greater
+part of the quantity brought to England is re-exported from
+thence to countries where the Roman Catholic and Mahometan
+religions prevail, to be there burnt as incense in the churches
+and temples.** The remainder is chiefly employed in medicine,
+being much esteemed as an expectorant and styptic, and
+constitutes the basis of that valuable balsam distinguished by
+the name of Turlington, whose very salutary effects, particularly
+in healing green and other wounds, is well known to persons
+abroad who cannot always obtain surgical assistance. It is also
+employed, if I am not misinformed, in the preparation of court
+sticking-plaster. The gum or resin called dulang is named by us
+scented benzoin from its peculiar fragrance. The rasamala (Lignum
+papuanum of Rumphius, and Altingia excelsa of the Batavian
+Transactions) is a sort of wild benzoin, of little value, and
+not, in Sumatra, considered as an object of commerce.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Les Arabes tirent beaucoup d'autres
+sortes d'encens de l'Habbesch, de Sumatra, Siam, Java, etc. et
+parmi celles-la une qu'ils appellent Bachor (bakhor) Java, et que
+les Anglois nomment Benzoin, est tres semblable a l'Oliban. On en
+exporte en grande quantite en Turquie parles golfes d'Arabie et
+de Perse, et la moindre des trois especes de Benzoin, que les
+marchands vendent, est estimee meilleure que l'Oliban d'Arabie.
+Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie page 126.)</blockquote>
+
+<blockquote>(**Footnote. According to Mr. Jackson the annual
+importation of Benzoin at Mogodor from London is about 13,000
+pounds annually.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>CASSIA.</p>
+
+<p>Cassia or kulit manis (Laurus cassia) is a coarse species of
+cinnamon which flourishes chiefly, as well as the two foregoing
+articles, in the northern part of the island; but with this
+difference, that the camphor and benzoin grow only near the
+coast, whereas the cassia is a native of the central parts of the
+country. It is mostly procured in those districts which lie
+inland of Tapanuli, but it is also found in Musi, where Palembang
+River takes its rise. The leaves are about four inches long,
+narrower than the bay (to which tribe it belongs) and more
+pointed; deep green; smooth surface, and plain edge. The
+principal fibres take their rise from the peduncle. The young
+leaves are mostly of reddish hue. The blossoms grow six in number
+upon slender foot&shy;stalks, close to the bottom of the leaf.
+They are monopetalous, small, white, stellated in six points. The
+stamina are six, with one stile, growing from the germen, which
+stands up in three brownish segments, resembling a cup. The trees
+grow from fifty to sixty feet high, with large, spreading,
+horizontal branches, almost as low as the earth. The root is said
+to contain much camphor that may be obtained by boiling or other
+processes unknown on Sumatra. No pains is bestowed on the
+cultivation of the cassia. The bark, which is the part in use, is
+commonly taken from such of the trees as are a foot or eighteen
+inches diameter, for when they are younger it is said to be so
+thin as to lose all its qualities very soon. The difference of
+soil and situation alters considerably the value of the bark.
+Those trees which grow in a high rocky soil have red shoots, and
+the bark is superior to that which is produced in a moist clay,
+where the shoots are green. I have been assured by a person of
+extensive knowledge that the cassia produced on Sumatra is from
+the same tree which yields the true cinnamon, and that the
+apparent difference arises from the less judicious manner of
+quilling it. Perhaps the younger and more tender branches should
+be preferred; perhaps the age of the tree or the season of the
+year ought to be more nicely attended to; and lastly I have known
+it to be suggested that the mucilaginous slime which adheres to
+the inside of the fresh peeled rind does, when not carefully
+wiped off, injure the flavour of the cassia and render it
+inferior to that of the cinnamon. I am informed that it has been
+purchased by Dutch merchants at our India sales, where it
+sometimes sold to much loss, and afterwards by them shipped for
+Spain as cinnamon, being packed in boxes which had come from
+Ceylon with that article. The price it bears in the island is
+about ten or twelve dollars the pecul.</p>
+
+<p>RATTANS.</p>
+
+<p>Rattans or rotan (Calamus rotang) furnish annually many large
+cargoes, chiefly from the eastern side of the island, where the
+Dutch buy them to send to Europe; and the country traders for the
+western parts of India. Walking-canes, or tongkat, of various
+kinds, are also produced near the rivers which open to the
+straits of Malacca.</p>
+
+<p>COTTON.</p>
+
+<p>In almost every part of the country two species of cotton are
+cultivated, namely, the annual sort named kapas (Gossypium
+herbaceum), and the shrub cotton named kapas besar (Gossypium
+herboreum). The cotton produced from both appears to be of very
+good quality, and might, with encouragement, be procured in any
+quantities; but the natives raise no more than is necessary for
+their own domestic manufactures. The silk cotton or kapok
+(bombax) is also to be met with in every village. This is, to
+appearance, one of the most beautiful raw materials the hand of
+nature has presented. Its fineness, gloss, and delicate softness
+render it, to the sight and touch, much superior to the labour of
+the silkworm; but owing to the shortness and brittleness of the
+staple it is esteemed unfit for the reel and loom, and is only
+applied to the unworthy purpose of stuffing pillows and
+mattresses. Possibly it has not undergone a fair trial in the
+hands of our ingenious artists, and we may yet see it converted
+into a valuable manufacture. It grows in pods, from four to six
+inches long, which burst open when ripe. The seeds entirely
+resemble the black pepper, but are without taste. The tree is
+remarkable from the branches growing out perfectly straight and
+horizontal, and being always three, forming equal angles, at the
+same height: the diminutive shoots likewise grow flat; and the
+several gradations of branches observe the same regularity to the
+top. Some travellers have called it the umbrella tree, but the
+piece of furniture called a dumb-waiter exhibits a more striking
+picture of it.</p>
+
+<p>BETEL-NUT.</p>
+
+<p>The betel-nut or pinang (Areca catechu) before mentioned is a
+considerable article of traffic to the coast of Coromandel or
+Telinga, particularly from Achin.</p>
+
+<p>COFFEE.</p>
+
+<p>The coffee-trees are universally planted, but the fruit
+produced here is not excellent in quality, which is probably
+owing entirely to the want of skill in the management of them.
+The plants are disposed too close to each other, and are so much
+overshaded by other trees that the sun cannot penetrate to the
+fruit; owing to which the juices are not well ripened, and the
+berries, which become large, do not acquire a proper flavour. Add
+to this that the berries are gathered whilst red, which is before
+they have arrived at a due degree of maturity, and which the
+Arabs always permit them to attain to, esteeming it essential to
+the goodness of the coffee. As the tree is of the same species
+with that cultivated in Arabia there is little doubt but with
+proper care this article might be produced of a quality equal,
+perhaps superior, to that imported from the West Indies; though
+probably the heavy rains on Sumatra may prevent its attaining to
+the perfection of the coffee of Mocha.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. For these observations on the growth of
+the coffee, as well as many others on the vegetable productions
+of the island, I am indebted to the letters of Mr. Charles
+Miller, entered on the Company's records at Bencoolen, and have
+to return him my thanks for many communications since his return
+to England. On the subject of this article of produce I have
+since received the following interesting information from the
+late Mr. Charles Campbell in a letter dated November 1803. "The
+coffee you recollect on this coast I found so degenerated from
+want of culture and care as not to be worth the rearing. But this
+objection has been removed, for more than three years ago I
+procured twenty-five plants from Mocha; they produced fruit in
+about twenty months, are now in their second crop, and loaded
+beyond any fruit-trees I ever saw. The average produce is about
+eight pounds a tree; but so much cannot be expected in extensive
+plantations, nor in every soil. The berries are in no respect
+inferior in flavour to those of the parent country." This
+cultivation, I am happy to hear, has since been carried to a
+great extent.)</blockquote>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-02"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-02.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 2. THE DAMMAR, A SPECIES OF PINUS.<br>
+Sinensis delt. Swaine Sc.<br>
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>DAMMAR.</p>
+
+<p>The dammar is a kind of turpentine or resin from a species of
+pine, and used for the same purposes to which that and pitch are
+applied. It is exported in large quantities to Bengal and
+elsewhere. It exudes, or flows rather, spontaneously from the
+tree in such plenty that there is no need of making incisions to
+procure it. The natives gather it in lumps from the ground where
+it has fallen, or collect it from the shores of bays and rivers
+whither it has floated. It hangs from the bough of the tree which
+produces it in large pieces, and hardening in the air it becomes
+brittle and is blown off by the first high wind. When a quantity
+of it has fallen in the same place it appears like a rock, and
+thence, they say, or more probably from its hardness, it is
+called dammar batu; by which name it is distinguished from the
+dammar kruyen. This is another species of turpentine, yielded by
+a tree growing in Lampong, called kruyen, the wood of which is
+white and porous. It differs from the common sort, or dammar
+batu, in being soft and whitish, having the consistence and
+somewhat the appearance of putty. It is in much estimation for
+paying the bottoms of vessels, for which use, to give it firmness
+and duration, it ought to be mixed with some of the hard kind, of
+which it corrects the brittleness. The natives, in common, do not
+boil it, but rub or smear it on with their hands; a practice
+which is probably derived from indolence, unless, as I have been
+informed, that boiling it, without oil, renders it hard. To
+procure it, an incision is made in the tree.</p>
+
+<p>DRAGONS-BLOOD.</p>
+
+<p>Dragons-blood, Sanguis draconis, or jaranang, is a drug
+obtained from a large species of rattan, called rotan jaranang,
+growing abundantly in the countries of Palembang and Jambi, where
+it is manufactured and exported, in the first instance to
+Batavia, and from thence to China, where it is held in much
+estimation; but whether it be precisely the drug of our shops, so
+named, I cannot take upon me to determine. I am informed that it
+is prepared in the following manner: the stamina and other parts
+of fructification of this plant, covered with the farina, are
+mixed with a certain proportion of white dammar, and boiled in
+water until the whole is well incorporated, and the water
+evaporated; by which time the composition has acquired a red
+colour, and, when rubbed between the fingers, comes off in a dry
+powder. Whilst soft, it is usually poured into joints of small
+bamboo, and shipped in that state. According to this account,
+which I received from my friend Mr. Philip Braham, who had an
+opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of the process, the resinous
+quality of the drug belongs only to the dammar, and not to the
+rotan.</p>
+
+<p>GAMBIR.</p>
+
+<p>Gambir, or gatah gambir, is a juice extracted from the leaves
+of a plant of that name, inspissated by decoction, strained,
+suffered to cool and harden, and then cut into cakes of different
+shapes, or formed into balls. It is very generally eaten by the
+natives with their sirih or betel, and is supposed to have the
+property of cleansing and sweetening the mouth; for which reason
+it is also rubbed to the gums of infants. For a minute detail of
+the culture and manufacture of this article at Malacca see the
+Batavian Transactions Volume 2 page 356, where the plant is
+classed between the portlandia and roella of L. In other places
+it is obtained from a climbing or trailing plant, evidently the
+Funis uncatus of Rumphius.* See also Observations on the Nauclea
+Gambir, by Mr. W. Hunter, in the Linnean Transactions Volume 9
+page 218. At Siak, Kampar, and Indragiri, on the eastern side of
+Sumatra, it is an important article of commerce.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Hoc unum adhuc addendum est, in Sumatra
+nempe ac forte in Java aliam quoque esse plantam repentem gatta
+gambir akar dictam, qum forte unae eaedemque erunt plantae; ac
+verbum akar Malaiensibus denotat non tantum radicem, sed repentem
+quoque fruticem. Volume 5 page 64.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>LIGNUM ALOES.</p>
+
+<p>The agallochin, agila-wood, or lignum aloes, called by the
+natives kalambak and kayu gahru, is highly prized in all parts of
+the East, for the fragrant scent it emits in burning. I find
+these two names used indiscriminately in Malayan writings, and
+sometimes coupled together; but Valentyn pronounces the gahru to
+be an inferior species, and the Batavian Catalogue describes it
+as the heart of the rasamala, and different from the genuine
+kalambak. This unctuous substance, which burns like a resin, is
+understood to be the decayed, and probably disordered, part of
+the tree. It is described by Kaempfer (Amaenit page 903) under
+the Chinese name of sinkoo, and by Dr. Roxburgh under that of
+Aquillaria agallocha.</p>
+
+<p>TIMBER.</p>
+
+<p>The forests contain an inexhaustible store and endless variety
+of timber trees, many sorts of which are highly valuable and
+capable of being applied to ship-building and other important
+purposes. On the western coast the general want of navigable
+rivers has materially hindered both the export and the employment
+of timber; but those on the eastern side, particularly Siak, have
+heretofore supplied the city of Batavia with great abundance, and
+latterly the naval arsenal at Pulo Pinang with what is required
+for the construction of ships of war.</p>
+
+<p>TEAK.</p>
+
+<p>The teak however, the pride of Indian forests, called by the
+Malays jati (Tectona grandis, L.), does not appear to be
+indigenous to this island, although flourishing to the northward
+and southward of it, in Pegu and Java; and I believe it is
+equally a stranger to the Malayan peninsula. Attempts have been
+made by the servants of the Company to promote its cultivation.
+Mr. Robert Hay had a plantation near Bencoolen, but the situation
+seemed unfavourable. Mr. John Marsden, when resident of Laye in
+the year 1776, sowed some seeds of it, and distributed a quantity
+amongst the inhabitants of his district. The former, at least,
+throve exceedingly, as if in their natural soil. The appearance
+of the tree is stately, the leaves are broad and large, and they
+yield, when squeezed, a red juice. The wood is well known to be,
+in many respects, preferable to oak, working more kindly,
+surpassing it in durability, and having the peculiar property of
+preserving the iron bolts driven into it from rust; a property
+that may be ascribed to the essential oil or tar contained in it,
+and which has lately been procured from it in large quantities by
+distillation at Bombay. Many ships built at that place have
+continued to swim so long that none could recollect the period at
+which they were launched.</p>
+
+<p>POON, ETC.</p>
+
+<p>For masts and yards the wood preferred is the red bintangur (a
+species of uvaria), which in all the maritime parts of India has
+obtained the name of poon or puhn, from the Malayan word
+signifying tree in general; as puhn upas, the poison-tree, puhn
+kayu, a timber-tree, etc.</p>
+
+<p>The camphor-wood, so useful for carpenters' purposes, has been
+already mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>Kayu pindis or kapini (species of metrosideros), is named also
+kayu besi, or iron-wood, on account of its extraordinary
+hardness, which turns the edge of common tools.</p>
+
+<p>Marbau (Metrosideros amboinensis, R.) grows to a large size,
+and is used for beams both in ship and house&shy;building, as
+well as for other purposes to which oak is applied in Europe.
+Pinaga is valuable as crooked timber, and used for frames and
+knees of ships, being also very durable. It frequently grows in
+the wash of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Juar, ebony, called in the Batavian Catalogue kayu arang, or
+charcoal-wood, is found here in great plenty.</p>
+
+<p>Kayu gadis, a wood possessing the flavour and qualities of the
+sassafras, and used for the same purposes in medicine, but in the
+growth of the tree resembling rather our elm than the laurus (to
+which latter tribe the American sassafras belongs), is very
+common in the plains near Bencoolen.</p>
+
+<p>Kayu arau (Casuarina littorea) is often termed a bastard-pine,
+and as such gave name to the Isle of Pines discovered by Captain
+Cook. By the Malays it is usually called kayu chamara, from the
+resemblance of its branches to the ornamental cowtails of Upper
+India. It has been already remarked of this tree, whose wood is
+not particularly useful, that it delights in a low sandy soil,
+and is ever the first that springs up from land relinquished by
+the sea.</p>
+
+<p>The rangas or rungi, commonly supposed to be the manchineel of
+the West Indies, but perhaps only from the noxious quality of its
+juices, is the Arbor vernicis of Rumphius, and particularly
+described in the Batavian Transactions Volume 5 under the name of
+Manga deleteria sylvestris, fructu parvo cordiformi. In a list of
+plants in the same volume, by F. Norona, it is termed Anacardium
+encardium. The wood has some resemblance to mahogany, is worked
+up into articles of furniture, and resists the destructive
+ravages of the white ant, but its hardness and acrid sap, which
+blisters the hands of those employed about it, are objections to
+its general use. I am not aware of the natives procuring a
+varnish from this tree.</p>
+
+<p>Of the various sorts of tree producing dammar, some are said
+to be valuable as timber, particularly the species called dammar
+laut, not mentioned by Rumphius, which is employed at Pulo Pinang
+for frame timbers of ships, beams, and knees.</p>
+
+<p>Kamuning (camunium, R. chalcas paniculata, Lour.) is a
+light-coloured wood, close, and finely grained, takes an
+exquisite polish, and is used for the sheaths of krises. There is
+also a red-grained sort, in less estimation. The appearance of
+the tree is very beautiful, resembling in its leaves the larger
+myrtle, with a white flower.</p>
+
+<p>The langsani likewise is a wood handsomely veined, and is
+employed for cabinet and carved work.</p>
+
+<p>Beside these the kinds of wood most in use are the madang,
+ballam, maranti, laban, and marakuli. The variety is much
+greater, but many, from their porous nature and proneness to
+decay, are of very little value, and scarcely admit of seasoning
+before they become rotten.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot quit the vegetable kingdom without noticing a tree
+which, although of no use in manufacture or commerce, not
+peculiar to the island, and has been often described, merits yet,
+for its extreme singularity, that it should not be passed over in
+silence. This is the jawi-jawi and ulang-ulang of the Malays, the
+banyan tree of the continent, the Grossularia domestica of
+Rumphius, and the Ficus indica or Ficus racemosa of Linnaeus. It
+possesses the uncommon property of dropping roots or fibres from
+certain parts of its boughs, which, when they touch the earth,
+become new stems, and go on increasing to such an extent that
+some have measured, in circumference of the branches, upwards of
+a thousand feet, and have been said to afford shelter to a troop
+of horse.* These fibres, that look like ropes attached to the
+branches, when they meet with any obstruction in their descent
+conform themselves to the shape of the resisting body, and thus
+occasion many curious metamorphoses. I recollect seeing them
+stand in the perfect shape of a gate long after the original
+posts and cross piece had decayed and disappeared; and I have
+been told of their lining the internal circumference of a large
+bricked well, like the worm in a distiller's tub; there
+exhibiting the view of a tree turned inside out, the branches
+pointing to the centre, instead of growing from it. It is not
+more extraordinary in its manner of growth than whimsical and
+fantastic in its choice of situations. From the side of a wall or
+the top of a house it seems to spring spontaneously. Even from
+the smooth surface of a wooden pillar, turned and painted, I have
+seen it shoot forth, as if the vegetative juices of the seasoned
+timber had renewed their circulation and begun to produce leaves
+afresh. I have seen it flourish in the centre of a hollow tree of
+a very different species, which however still retained its
+verdure, its branches encompassing those of the adventitious
+plant whilst its decayed trunk enclosed the stem, which was
+visible, at interstices, from nearly the level of the plain on
+which they grew. This in truth appeared so striking a curiosity
+that I have often repaired to the spot to contemplate the
+singularity of it. How the seed from which it is produced happens
+to occupy stations seemingly so unnatural is not easily
+determined. Some have imagined the berries carried thither by the
+wind, and others, with more appearance of truth, by the birds;
+which, cleansing their bills where they light, or attempt to
+light, leave, in those places, the seeds adhering by the viscous
+matter which surrounds them. However this be, the jawi-jawi,
+growing on buildings without earth or water, and deriving from
+the genial atmosphere its principle of nourishment, proves in its
+increasing growth highly destructive to the fabric where it is
+harboured; for the fibrous roots, which are at first extremely
+fine, penetrate common cements, and, overcoming as their size
+enlarges the most powerful resistance, split, with the force of
+the mechanic wedge, the most substantial brickwork. When the
+consistence is such as not to admit the insinuation of the fibres
+the root extends itself along the outside, and to an
+extraordinary length, bearing not unfrequently to the stem the
+proportion of eight to one when young. I have measured the former
+sixty inches, when the latter, to the extremity of the leaf,
+which took up a third part, was no more than eight inches. I have
+also seen it wave its boughs at the apparent height of two
+hundred feet, of which the roots, if we may term them such,
+occupied at least one hundred; forming by their close combination
+the appearance of a venerable gothic pillar. It stood near the
+plains of Krakap, but, like other monuments of antiquity, it had
+its period of existence, and is now no more.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The following is an account of the
+dimensions of a remarkable banyan or burr tree, near Manjee,
+twenty miles west of Patna in Bengal. Diameter 363 to 375 feet.
+Circumference of shadow at noon 1116 feet. Circumference of the
+several stems, in number fifty or sixty, 921 feet. Under this
+tree sat a naked Fakir, who had occupied that situation for
+twenty-five years; but he did not continue there the whole year
+through, for his vow obliged him to lie, during the four cold
+months, up to his neck in the waters of the river
+Ganges.)</blockquote>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-18"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-18.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 18. ENTRANCE OF PADANG RIVER. With Buffaloes.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-18a"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-18a.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 18A. VIEW OF PADANG HILL.<br>Published by W. Marsden, 1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p><a name="ch-08"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 8.</h3>
+
+<p><b>GOLD, TIN, AND OTHER METALS.<br>
+BEESWAX.<br>
+IVORY.<br>
+BIRDS-NEST, ETC.<br>
+IMPORT-TRADE.</b></p>
+
+<p>GOLD.</p>
+
+<p>Beside those articles of trade afforded by the vegetable
+kingdom Sumatra produces many others, the chief of which is gold.
+This valuable metal is found mostly in the central parts of the
+island; none (or with few exceptions) being observed to the
+southward of Limun, a branch of Jambi River, nor to the northward
+of Nalabu, from which port Achin is principally supplied.
+Menangkabau has always been esteemed the richest seat of it; and
+this consideration probably induced the Dutch to establish their
+head factory at Padang, in the immediate neighbourhood of that
+kingdom. Colonies of Malays from thence have settled themselves
+in almost all the districts where gold is procured, and appear to
+be the only persons who dig for it in mines, or collect it in
+streams; the proper inhabitants or villagers confining their
+attention to the raising of provisions, with which they supply
+those who search for the metal. Such at least appears to be the
+case in Limun, Batang Asei, and Pakalang jambu, where a
+considerable gold trade is carried on.</p>
+
+<p>It has been generally understood at the English settlements
+that earth taken up from the beds of rivers, or loosened from the
+adjacent banks, and washed by means of rivulets diverted towards
+the newly-opened ground, furnishes the greater proportion of the
+gold found in the island, and that the natives are not accustomed
+to venture upon any excavation that deserves the name of mining;
+but our possession, during the present war, of the settlements
+that belonged to the Dutch, has enabled us to form juster notions
+on the subject, and the following account, obtained from
+well-informed persons on the spot, will show the methods pursued
+in both processes, and the degree of enterprise and skill
+employed by the workmen.</p>
+
+<p>In the districts situated inland of Padang, which is the
+principal mart for this article, little is collected otherwise
+than from mines (tambang) by people whose profession it is to
+work them, and who are known by the appellation of orang gulla.
+The metal brought down for sale is for the most part of two
+sorts, distinguished by the terms amas supayang and amas
+sungei-abu, from the names of places where they are respectively
+procured. The former is what we usually call rock-gold,
+consisting of pieces of quartz more or less intermixed with veins
+of gold, generally of fine quality, running through it in all
+directions, and forming beautiful masses, which, being admired by
+Europeans, are sometimes sold by weight as if the whole were
+solid metal. The mines yielding this sort are commonly situated
+at the foot of a mountain, and the shafts are driven horizontally
+to the extent of from eight to twenty fathoms. The gold to which
+sungei-abu gives name is on the contrary found in the state of
+smooth solid lumps, in shape like gravel, and of various sizes,
+the largest lump that I have seen weighing nine ounces fifteen
+grains, and one in my possession (for which I am indebted to Mr.
+Charles Holloway) weighing eight grains less than nine ounces.
+This sort is also termed amas lichin or smooth gold, and appears
+to owe that quality to its having been exposed, in some prior
+state of the soil or conformation of the earth, to the action of
+running water, and deprived of its sharp and rough edges by
+attrition. This form of gravel is the most common in which gold
+is discovered. Gold-dust or amas urei is collected either in the
+channels of brooks running over ground rich in the metal, in
+standing pools of water occasioned by heavy rains, or in a number
+of holes dug in a situation to which a small rapid stream can be
+directed.</p>
+
+<p>The tools employed in working the mines are an iron crow three
+feet in length, called tabah, a shovel called changkul, and a
+heavy iron mallet or hammer, the head of which is eighteen inches
+in length and as thick as a man's leg, with a handle in the
+middle. With this they beat the lumps of rock till they are
+reduced to powder, and the pounded mass is then put into a sledge
+or tray five or six feet long and one and a half broad, in the
+form of a boat, and thence named bidu. To this vessel a rope of
+iju is attached, by which they draw it when loaded out of the
+horizontal mine to the nearest place where they can meet with a
+supply of water, which alone is employed to separate the gold
+from the pulverized quartz.</p>
+
+<p>In the perpendicular mines the smooth or gravel-gold is often
+found near the surface, but in small quantities, improving as the
+workmen advance, and again often vanishing suddenly. This they
+say is most likely to be the case when after pursuing a poor vein
+they suddenly come to large lumps. When they have dug to the
+depth of four, six, or sometimes eight fathoms (which they do at
+a venture, the surface not affording any indications on which
+they can depend), they work horizontally, supporting the shaft
+with timbers; but to persons acquainted with the berg-werken of
+Germany or Hungary, these pits would hardly appear to merit the
+appellation of mines.* In Siberia however, as in Sumatra, the
+hills yield their gold by slightly working them. Sand is commonly
+met with at the depth of three or four fathoms, and beneath this
+a stratum of napal or steatite, which is considered as a sign
+that the metal is near; but the least fallible mark is a red
+stone, called batu kawi, lying in detached pieces. It is mostly
+found in red and white clay, and often adhering to small stones,
+as well as in homogeneous lumps. The gold is separated from the
+clay by means of water poured on a hollow board, in the
+management of which the persons employed are remarkably
+expert.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. It has been observed to me that it is not
+so much the want of windlasses or machines (substitutes for which
+they are ready enough at contriving) that prevents excavation to
+a great depth as the apprehension of earthquakes, the effect of
+which has frequently been to overwhelm them before they could
+escape even from their shallow mines.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>In these perpendicular mines the water is drawn off by hand in
+pails or buckets. In the horizontal they make two shafts or
+entries in a direction parallel to each other, as far as they
+mean to extend the work, and there connect them by a cross
+trench. One of these, by a difference in their respective levels,
+serves as a drain to carry off the water, whilst the other is
+kept dry. They work in parties of from four or five to forty or
+fifty in number; the proprietor of the ground receiving one half
+of the produce and the undertakers the other; and it does not
+appear that the prince receives any established royalty. The hill
+people affect a kind of independence or equality which they
+express by the term of sama rata.</p>
+
+<p>It may well be imagined that mines of this description are
+very numerous, and in the common estimation of the natives they
+amount to no fewer than twelve hundred in the dominions of
+Menangkabau. A considerable proportion of their produce (perhaps
+one half) never comes into the hands of Europeans but is conveyed
+to the eastern side of the island, and yet I have been assured on
+good authority that from ten to twelve thousand ounces have
+annually been received, on public and private account, at Padang
+alone; at Nalabu about two thousand, Natal eight hundred, and
+Moco-moco six hundred. The quality of the gold collected in the
+Padang districts is inferior to that purchased at Natal and
+Moco-moco, in consequence of the practice of blending together
+the unequal produce of such a variety of mines which in other
+parts it is customary to keep distinct. The gold from the former
+is of the fineness of from nineteen to twenty-one, and from the
+latter places is generally of from twenty-two to twenty-three
+carats. The finest that has passed through my hands was
+twenty-three carats, one grain and a half, assayed at the Tower
+of London. Gold of an inferior touch, called amas muda from the
+paleness of its colour, is found in the same countries where the
+other is produced. I had some assayed which was two carats three
+grains worse than standard, and contained an alloy of silver, but
+not in a proportion to be affected by the acids. I have seen gold
+brought from Mampawah in Borneo which was in the state of a fine
+uniform powder, high-coloured, and its degree of fineness not
+exceeding fifteen or sixteen carats. The natives suppose these
+differences to proceed from an original essential inferiority of
+the metal, not possessing the art of separating it from the
+silver or copper. In this island it is never found in the state
+of ore, but is always completely metallic. A very little pale
+gold is now and then found in the Lampong country.</p>
+
+<p>Of those who dig for it the most intelligent, distinguished by
+the name of sudagar or merchants, are intrusted by the rest with
+their collections, who carry the gold to the places of trade on
+the great eastern rivers, or to the settlements on the west
+coast, where they barter it for iron (of which large quantities
+are consumed in tools for working the mines), opium, and the fine
+piece-goods of Madras and Bengal with which they return heavily
+loaded to their country. In some parts of the journey they have
+the convenience of water-carriage on lakes and rivers; but in
+others they carry on their backs a weight of about eighty pounds
+through woods, over streams, and across mountains, in parties
+generally of one hundred or more, who have frequent occasion to
+defend their property against the spirit of plunder and extortion
+which prevails among the poorer nations through whose districts
+they are obliged to pass. Upon the proposal of striking out any
+new road the question always asked by these intermediate people
+is, apa ontong kami, what is to be our advantage?</p>
+
+<p>PRICE.</p>
+
+<p>When brought to our settlements it was formerly purchased at
+the rate of eighteen Spanish dollars the tail, or about three
+pounds five shillings the ounce, but in later times it has risen
+to twenty-one dollars, or to three pounds eighteen shillings the
+ounce. Upon exportation to Europe therefore it scarcely affords a
+profit to the original buyer, and others who employ it as a
+remittance incur a loss when insurance and other incidental
+charges are deducted. A duty of five per cent which it had been
+customary to charge at the East India-house was, about twenty
+years ago, most liberally remitted by the Company upon a
+representation made by me to the Directors of the hardship
+sustained in this respect by its servants at Fort Marlborough,
+and the public benefit that would accrue from giving
+encouragement to the importation of bullion. The long continuance
+of war and peculiar risk of Indian navigation resulting from it
+may probably have operated to counteract these good effects.</p>
+
+<p>It has generally been thought surprising that the European
+Companies who have so long had establishments in Sumatra should
+not have considered it an object to work these mines upon a
+regular system, with proper machinery, and under competent
+inspection; but the attempt has in fact been made, and experience
+and calculation may have taught them that it is not a scheme
+likely to be attended with success, owing among other causes to
+the dearness of labour, and the necessity it would occasion for
+keeping up a force in distant parts of the country for the
+protection of the persons engaged and the property collected.
+Europeans cannot be employed upon such work in that climate, and
+the natives are unfit for (nor would they submit to) the
+laborious exertion required to render the undertaking profitable.
+A detailed and in many respects interesting account of the
+working a gold mine at Sileda, with a plate representing a
+section of the mine, is given by Elias Hesse,* who in the year
+1682 accompanied the Bergh-Hoofdman, Benj. Olitzsch, and a party
+of miners from Saxony, sent out by the Dutch East India Company
+for that purpose. The superintendent, with most of his people,
+lost their lives, and the undertaking failed. It is said at
+Padang that the metal proved to be uncommonly poor. Many years
+later trial was made of a vein running close to that settlement;
+but the returns not being adequate to the expense it was let to
+farm, and in a few years fell into such low repute as to be at
+length disposed of by public auction at a rent of two Spanish
+dollars.** The English company, also having intelligence of a
+mine said to be discovered near Fort Marlborough, gave orders for
+its being worked; but if it ever existed no trace now
+remains.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Ost-Indische Reise-beschreibung oder
+Diarium. Leipzig 1690 octavo. See also J.W. Vogel's
+Ost-Indianische Reise-beschreibung. Altenburg 1704
+octavo.)</blockquote>
+
+<blockquote>(**Footnote. The following is an extract of a letter
+from Mr. James Moore, a servant of the Company, dated from Padang
+in 1778. "They have lately opened a vein of gold in the country
+inland of this place, from which the governor at one time
+received a hundred and fifty tials (two hundred ounces). He has
+procured a map to be made of a particular part of the gold
+country, which points out the different places where they work
+for it; and also the situation of twenty-one Malay forts, all
+inhabited and in repair. These districts are extremely populous
+compared to the more southern part of the island. They collect
+and export annually to Batavia about two thousand five hundred
+tials of gold from this place: the quantity never exceeds three
+thousand tials nor falls short of two thousand." This refers to
+the public export on the Company's account, which agrees with
+what is stated in the Batavian Transactions. "In een goed Jaar
+geeven de Tigablas cottas omtrent 3000 Thail, zynde 6 Thail een
+Mark, dus omtrent 500 Mark Goud, van 't gchalte van 19 tot 20
+carat.")</blockquote>
+
+<p>Before the gold dust is weighed for sale, in order to cleanse
+it from all impurities and heterogeneous mixtures, whether
+natural or fraudulent, (such as filings of copper or of iron) a
+skilful person is employed who, by the sharpness of his eye and
+long practice, is able to effect this to a surprising degree of
+nicety. The dust is spread out on a kind of wooden platter, and
+the base particles (lanchong) are touched out from the mass and
+put aside one by one with an instrument, if such it may be
+termed, made of cotton cloth rolled up to a point. If the honesty
+of these gold&shy;cleaners can be depended upon their dexterity
+is almost infallible; and as some check upon the former it is
+usual to pour the contents of each parcel when thus cleansed into
+a vessel of aqua-fortis, which puts their accuracy to the test.
+The parcels or bulses in which the gold is packed up are formed
+of the integument that covers the heart of the buffalo. This has
+the appearance of bladder, but is both tougher and more pliable.
+In those parts of the country where the traffic in the article is
+considerable it is generally employed as currency instead of
+coin; every man carries small scales about him, and purchases are
+made with it so low as to the weight of a grain or two of padi.
+Various seeds are used as gold weights, but more especially these
+two: the one called rakat or saga-timbangan (Glycine abrus L. or
+Abrus maculatus of the Batavian Transactions) being the
+well-known scarlet pea with a black spot, twenty-four of which
+constitute a mas, and sixteen mas a tail: the other called
+saga&shy;puhn and kondori batang (Adenanthera pavonia, L.), a
+scarlet or rather coral bean, much larger than the former and
+without the black spot. It is the candarin-weight of the Chinese,
+of which a hundred make a tail, and equal, according to the
+tables published by Stevens, to 5.7984 gr. troy; but the average
+weight of those in my possession is 10.50 grains. The tail
+differs however in the northern and southern parts of the island,
+being at Natal twenty-four pennyweights nine grains, and at
+Padang, Bencoolen, and elsewhere, twenty-six pennyweights twelve
+grains. At Achin the bangkal of thirty pennyweights twenty-one
+grains, is the standard. Spanish dollars are everywhere current,
+and accounts are kept in dollars, sukus (imaginary
+quarter-dollars) and kepping or copper cash, of which four
+hundred go to the dollar. Beside these there are silver fanams,
+single, double, and treble (the latter called tali) coined at
+Madras, twenty-four fanams or eight talis being equal to the
+Spanish dollar, which is always valued in the English settlements
+at five shillings sterling. Silver rupees have occasionally been
+struck in Bengal for the use of the settlements on the coast of
+Sumatra, but not in sufficient quantities to become a general
+currency; and in the year 1786 the Company contracted with the
+late Mr. Boulton of Soho for a copper coinage, the proportions of
+which I was desired to adjust, as well as to furnish the
+inscriptions; and the same system, with many improvements
+suggested by Mr. Charles Wilkins, has since been extended to the
+three Presidencies of India. At Achin small thin gold and silver
+coins were formerly struck and still are current; but I have not
+seen any of the pieces that bore the appearance of modern
+coinage; nor am I aware that this right of sovereignty is
+exercised by any other power in the island.</p>
+
+<p>TIN.</p>
+
+<p>Tin, called timar, is a very considerable article of trade,
+and many cargoes of it are yearly carried to China, where the
+consumption is chiefly for religious purposes. The mines are
+situated in the island of Bangka, lying near Palembang, and are
+said to have been accidentally discovered there in 1710, by the
+burning of a house. They are worked by a colony of Chinese (said
+in the Batavian Transactions to consist of twenty-five thousand
+persons) under the nominal direction of the king of Palembang,
+but for the account and benefit of the Dutch Company, which has
+endeavoured to monopolize the trade, and actually obtained two
+millions of pounds yearly; but the enterprising spirit of private
+merchants, chiefly English and American, finds means to elude the
+vigilance of its cruisers, and the commerce is largely
+participated by them. It is exported for the most part in small
+pieces or cakes called tampang, and sometimes in slabs. M.
+Sonnerat reports that this tin (named calin by the French
+writers), was analysed by M. Daubenton, who found it to be the
+same metal as that produced in England; but it sells something
+higher than our grain-tin. In different parts of Sumatra, there
+are indications of tin-earth, or rather sand, and it is worked at
+the mountain of Sungei-pagu, but not to any great extent. Of this
+sand, at Bangka, a pikul, or 133 pounds is said to yield about 75
+pounds of the metal.</p>
+
+<p>COPPER.</p>
+
+<p>A rich mine of copper is worked at Mukki near Labuan-haji, by
+the Achinese. The ore produces half its original weight in pure
+metal, and is sold at the rate of twenty dollars the pikul. A
+lump which I deposited in the Museum of the East India Company is
+pronounced to be native copper. The Malays are fond of mixing
+this metal with gold in equal quantities, and using the
+composition, which they name swasa, in the manufacture of
+buttons, betel-boxes, and heads of krises. I have never heard
+silver spoken of as a production of this part of the East.</p>
+
+<p>IRON.</p>
+
+<p>Iron ore is dug at a place named Turawang, in the eastern part
+of Menangkabau, and there smelted, but not, I apprehend, in large
+quantities, the consumption of the natives being amply supplied
+with English and Swedish bar-iron, which they are in the practice
+of purchasing by measure instead of weight.</p>
+
+<p>SULPHUR.</p>
+
+<p>Sulphur (balerang), as has been mentioned, is abundantly
+procured from the numerous volcanoes, and especially from that
+very great one which is situated about a day's journey inland
+from Priaman. Yellow Arsenic (barangan) is also an article of
+traffic.</p>
+
+<p>SALTPETRE.</p>
+
+<p>In the country of Kattaun, near the head of Urei River, there
+are extensive caves (goha) from the soil of which saltpetre
+(mesiyu mantah) is extracted. M. Whalfeldt, who was employed as a
+surveyor, visited them in March 1773. Into one he advanced seven
+hundred and forty&shy;three feet, when his lights were
+extinguished by the damp vapour. Into a second he penetrated six
+hundred feet, when, after getting through a confined passage
+about three feet wide and five in height, an opening in the rock
+led to a spacious place forty feet high. The same caves were
+visited by Mr. Christopher Terry and Mr. Charles Miller. They are
+the habitation of innumerable birds, which are perceived to
+abound the more the farther you proceed. Their nests are formed
+about the upper parts of the cave, and it is thought to be their
+dung simply that forms the soil (in many places from four to six
+feet deep, and from fifteen to twenty broad) which affords the
+nitre. A cubic foot of this earth, measuring seven gallons,
+produced on boiling seven pounds fourteen ounces of saltpetre,
+and a second experiment gave a ninth part more. This I afterwards
+saw refined to a high degree of purity; but I conceive that its
+value would not repay the expense of the process.</p>
+
+<p>BIRDS-NEST.</p>
+
+<p>The edible birds-nest, so much celebrated as a peculiar luxury
+of the table, especially amongst the Chinese, is found in similar
+caves in different parts of the island, but chiefly near the
+sea-coast, and in the greatest abundance at its southern
+extremity. Four miles up the river Kroi there is one of
+considerable size. The birds are called layang-layang, and
+resemble the common swallow, or perhaps rather the martin. I had
+an opportunity of giving to the British Museum some of these
+nests with the eggs in them. They are distinguished into white
+and black, of which the first are by far the more scarce and
+valuable, being found in the proportion of one only to
+twenty-five. The white sort sells in China at the rate of a
+thousand to fifteen hundred dollars the pikul (according to the
+Batavian Transactions for nearly its weight in silver), the black
+is usually disposed of at Batavia at about twenty or thirty
+dollars for the same weight, where I understand it is chiefly
+converted into a kind of glue. The difference between the two
+sorts has by some been supposed to be owing to the mixture of the
+feathers of the birds with the viscous substance of which the
+nests are formed; and this they deduce from the experiment of
+steeping the black nests for a short time in hot water, when they
+are said to become white to a certain degree. Among the natives I
+have heard a few assert that they are the work of a different
+species of bird. It was also suggested to me that the white might
+probably be the recent nests of the season in which they were
+taken, and the black such as had been used for several years
+successively. This opinion appearing plausible, I was particular
+in my inquiries as to that point, and learned what seems much to
+corroborate it. When the natives prepare to take the nests they
+enter the cave with torches, and, forming ladders of bamboos
+notched according to the usual mode, they ascend and pull down
+the nests, which adhere in numbers together, from the sides and
+top of the rock. I was informed that the more regularly the cave
+is thus stripped the greater proportion of white nests they are
+sure to find, and that on this experience they often make a
+practice of beating down and destroying the old nests in larger
+quantities than they trouble themselves to carry away, in order
+that they may find white nests the next season in their room. The
+birds, I am assured, are seen, during the building time, in large
+flocks upon the beach, collecting in their beaks the foam thrown
+up by the surf, of which there appears little doubt of their
+constructing their gelatinous nests, after it has undergone,
+perhaps, some preparation from commixture with their saliva or
+other secretion in the beak or the craw; and that this is the
+received opinion of the natives appears from the bird being very
+commonly named layang-buhi, the foam-swallow. Linnaeus however
+has conjectured, and with much plausibility, that it is the
+animal substance frequently found on the beach which fishermen
+call blubber or jellies, and not the foam of the sea, that these
+birds collect; and it is proper to mention that, in a Description
+of these Nests by M. Hooyman, printed in Volume 3 of the Batavian
+Transactions, he is decidedly of opinion that the substance of
+them has nothing to do with the sea-foam but is elaborated from
+the food of the bird. Mr. John Crisp informed me that he had seen
+at Padang a common swallow's nest, built under the eaves of a
+house, which was composed partly of common mud and partly of the
+substance that constitutes the edible nests. The young birds
+themselves are said to be very delicate food, and not inferior in
+richness of flavour to the beccafico.</p>
+
+<p>TRIPAN.</p>
+
+<p>The swala, tripan, or sea-slug (holothurion), is likewise an
+article of trade to Batavia and China, being employed, as
+birds-nest or vermicelli, for enriching soups and stews, by a
+luxurious people. It sells at the former place for forty-five
+dollars per pikul, according to the degree of whiteness and other
+qualities.</p>
+
+<p>WAX.</p>
+
+<p>Beeswax is a commodity of great importance in all the eastern
+islands, from whence it is exported in large oblong cakes to
+China, Bengal, and other parts of the continent. No pains are
+taken with the bees, which are left to settle where they list
+(generally on the boughs of trees) and are never collected in
+hives. Their honey is much inferior to that of Europe, as might
+be expected from the nature of the vegetation.</p>
+
+<p>GUM-LAC.</p>
+
+<p>Gum-lac, called by the natives ampalu or ambalu, although
+found upon trees and adhering strongly to the branches, is known
+to be the work of insects, as wax is of the bee. It is procured
+in small quantities from the country inland of Bencoolen; but at
+Padang is a considerable article of trade. Foreign markets
+however are supplied from the countries of Siam and Camboja. It
+is chiefly valued in Sumatra for the animal part, found in the
+nidus of the insect, which is soluble in water, and yields a very
+fine purple dye, used for colouring their silks and other webs of
+domestic manufacture. Like the cochineal it would probably, with
+the addition of a solution of tin, become a good scarlet. I find
+in a Bisayan dictionary that this substance is employed by the
+people of the Philippine Islands for staining their teeth red.
+For an account of the lac insect see in the Philosophical
+Transactions Volume 71 page 374 a paper by Mr. James Kerr.</p>
+
+<p>IVORY.</p>
+
+<p>The forests abounding with elephants, ivory (gading) is
+consequently found in abundance, and is carried both to the China
+and Europe markets. The animals themselves were formerly the
+objects of a considerable traffic from Achin to the coast of
+Coromandel, or kling country, and vessels were built expressly
+for their transport; but it has declined, or perhaps ceased
+altogether, from the change which the system of warfare has
+undergone, since the European tactics have been imitated by the
+princes of India.</p>
+
+<p>FISH-ROES.</p>
+
+<p>The large roes of a species of fish (said to be like the shad,
+but more probably of the mullet-kind) taken in great quantities
+at the mouth of Siak River, are salted and exported from thence
+to all the Malayan countries, where they are eaten with boiled
+rice, and esteemed a delicacy. This is the botarga of the
+Italians, and here called trobo and telur-trobo.</p>
+
+<p>IMPORT-TRADE.</p>
+
+<p>The most general articles of import-trade are the
+following:</p>
+
+<p>From the coast of Coromandel various cotton goods, as
+long-cloth, blue and white, chintz, and coloured handkerchiefs,
+of which those manufactured at Pulicat are the most prized; and
+salt.</p>
+
+<p>From Bengal muslins, striped and plain, and several other
+kinds of cotton goods, as cossaes, baftaes, hummums, etc.,
+taffetas and some other silks; and opium in considerable
+quantities.</p>
+
+<p>From the Malabar coast various cotton goods, mostly of a
+coarse raw fabric.</p>
+
+<p>From China coarse porcelain, kwalis or iron pans, in sets of
+various sizes, tobacco shred very fine, gold thread, fans, and a
+number of small articles.</p>
+
+<p>From Celebes (known here by the names of its chief provinces,
+Mangkasar, Bugis, and Mandar), Java, Balli, Ceram, and other
+eastern islands, the rough, striped cotton cloth called
+kain-sarong, or vulgarly bugis-clouting, being the universal
+body-dress of the natives; krises and other weapons, silken
+kris-belts, tudongs or hats, small pieces of ordnance, commonly
+of brass, called rantaka, spices, and also salt of a large grain,
+and sometimes rice, chiefly from Balli.</p>
+
+<p>From Europe silver, iron, steel, lead, cutlery, various sorts
+of hardware, brass wire, and broadcloths, especially scarlet.</p>
+
+<p>It is not within my plan to enlarge on this subject by
+entering into a detail of the markets for, or prices of, the
+several articles, which are extremely fluctuating, according to
+the more or less abundant or scanty supply. Most of the kinds of
+goods above enumerated are incidentally mentioned in other parts
+of the work, as they happen to be connected with the account of
+the natives who purchase them.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-09"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 9.</h3>
+
+<p><b>ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.<br>
+ART OF MEDICINE.<br>
+SCIENCES.<br>
+ARITHMETIC<br>.
+GEOGRAPHY.<br>
+ASTRONOMY.<br>
+MUSIC, ETC.</b></p>
+
+<p>ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.</p>
+
+<p>I shall now take a view of those arts and manufactures which
+the Sumatrans are skilled in, and which are not merely domestic
+but contribute rather to the conveniences, and in some instances
+to the luxuries, than to the necessaries of life. I must remind
+the reader that my observations on this subject are mostly drawn
+from the Rejangs, or those people of the island who are upon
+their level of improvement. We meet with accounts in old writers
+of great foundries of cannon in the dominion of Achin, and it is
+certain that firearms as well as krises are at this day
+manufactured in the country of Menangkabau; but my present
+description does not go to these superior exertions of art, which
+certainly do not appear among those people of the island whose
+manners, more immediately, I am attempting to delineate.</p>
+
+<p>FILIGREE.</p>
+
+<p>What follows, however, would seem an exception to this
+limitation; there being no manufacture in that part of the world,
+and perhaps I might be justified in saying, in any part of the
+world, that has been more admired and celebrated than the fine
+gold and silver filigree of Sumatra. This indeed is, strictly
+speaking, the work of the Malayan inhabitants; but as it is in
+universal use and wear throughout the country, and as the
+goldsmiths are settled everywhere along the coast, I cannot be
+guilty of much irregularity in describing here the process of
+their art.</p>
+
+<p>MODE OF WORKING IT.</p>
+
+<p>There is no circumstance that renders the filigree a matter of
+greater curiosity than the coarseness of the tools employed in
+the workmanship, and which, in the hands of a European, would not
+be thought sufficiently perfect for the most ordinary purposes.
+They are rudely and inartificially formed by the goldsmith
+(pandei) from any old iron he can procure. When you engage one of
+them to execute a piece of work his first request is usually for
+a piece of iron hoop to make his wire-drawing instrument; an old
+hammer head, stuck in a block, serves for an anvil; and I have
+seen a pair of compasses composed of two old nails tied together
+at one end. The gold is melted in a piece of a priuk or earthen
+rice-pot, or sometimes in a crucible of their own making, of
+common clay. In general they use no bellows but blow the fire
+with their mouths through a joint of bamboo, and if the quantity
+of metal to be melted is considerable three or four persons sit
+round their furnace, which is an old broken kwali or iron pot,
+and blow together. At Padang alone, where the manufacture is more
+considerable, they have adopted the Chinese bellows. Their method
+of drawing the wire differs but little from that used by European
+workmen. When drawn to a sufficient fineness they flatten it by
+beating it on their anvil; and when flattened they give it a
+twist like that in the whalebone handle of a punch-ladle, by
+rubbing it on a block of wood with a flat stick. After twisting
+they again beat it on the anvil, and by these means it becomes
+flat wire with indented edges. With a pair of nippers they fold
+down the end of the wire, and thus form a leaf or element of a
+flower in their work, which is cut off. The end is again folded
+and cut off till they have got a sufficient number of leaves,
+which are all laid on singly. Patterns of the flowers or foliage,
+in which there is not very much variety, are prepared on paper,
+of the size of the gold plate on which the filigree is to be
+laid. According to this they begin to dispose on the plate the
+larger compartments of the foliage, for which they use plain flat
+wire of a larger size, and fill them up with the leaves before
+mentioned. To fix their work they employ a glutinous substance
+made of the small red pea with a black spot before mentioned,
+ground to a pulp on a rough stone. This pulp they place on a
+young coconut about the size of a walnut, the top and bottom
+being cut off. I at first imagined that caprice alone might have
+directed them to the use of the coconut for this purpose; but I
+have since reflected on the probability of the juice of the young
+fruit being necessary to keep the pulp moist, which would
+otherwise speedily become dry and unfit for the work. After the
+leaves have been all placed in order and stuck on, bit by bit, a
+solder is prepared of gold filings and borax, moistened with
+water, which they strew or daub over the plate with a feather,
+and then putting it in the fire for a short time the whole
+becomes united. This kind of work on a gold plate they call
+karrang papan: when the work is open, they call it karrang trus.
+In executing the latter the foliage is laid out on a card, or
+soft kind of wood covered with paper, and stuck on, as before
+described, with the paste of the red seed; and the work, when
+finished, being strewed over with their solder, is put into the
+fire, when, the card or soft wood burning away, the gold remains
+connected. The greatest skill and attention is required in this
+operation as the work is often made to run by remaining too long
+or in too hot a fire. If the piece be large they solder it at
+several times. When the work is finished they give it that fine
+high colour they so much admire by an operation which they term
+sapoh. This consists in mixing nitre, common salt, and alum,
+reduced to powder and moistened, laying the composition on the
+filigree and keeping it over a moderate fire until it dissolves
+and becomes yellow. In this situation the piece is kept for a
+longer or shorter time according to the intensity of colour they
+wish the gold to receive. It is then thrown into water and
+cleansed. In the manufacture of baju buttons they first make the
+lower part flat, and, having a mould formed of a piece of
+buffalo's horn, indented to several sizes, each like one half of
+a bullet mould, they lay their work over one of these holes, and
+with a horn punch they press it into the form of the button.
+After this they complete the upper part. The manner of making the
+little balls with which their works are sometimes ornamented is
+as follows. They take a piece of charcoal, and, having cut it
+flat and smooth, they make in it a small hole, which they fill
+with gold dust, and this melted in the fire becomes a little
+ball. They are very inexpert at finishing and polishing the plain
+parts, hinges, screws, and the like, being in this as much
+excelled by the European artists as these fall short of them in
+the fineness and minuteness of the foliage. The Chinese also make
+filigree, mostly of silver, which looks elegant, but wants
+likewise the extraordinary delicacy of the Malayan work. The
+price of the workmanship depends upon the difficulty or novelty
+of the pattern. In some articles of usual demand it does not
+exceed one-third of the value of the gold; but, in matters of
+fancy, it is generally equal to it. The manufacture is not now
+(1780) held in very high estimation in England, where costliness
+is not so much the object of luxury as variety; but, in the
+revolution of taste, it may probably be again sought after and
+admired as fashionable.</p>
+
+<p>IRON MANUFACTURES.</p>
+
+<p>But little skill is shown amongst the country people in
+forging iron. They make nails however, though not much used by
+them in building, wooden pins being generally substituted; also
+various kinds of tools, as the prang or bill, the banchi, rembe,
+billiong, and papatil, which are different species of adzes, the
+kapak or axe, and the pungkur or hoe. Their fire is made with
+charcoal; the fossil coal which the country produces being
+rarely, if ever, employed, except by the Europeans; and not by
+them of late years, on the complaint of its burning away too
+quickly: yet the report made of it in 1719 was that it gave a
+surer heat than the coal from England. The bed of it (described
+rather as a large rock above ground) lies four days' journey up
+Bencoolen River, from whence quantities are washed down by the
+floods. The quality of coal is rarely good near the surface.
+Their bellows are thus constructed: two bamboos, of about four
+inches diameter and five feet in length, stand perpendicularly
+near the fire, open at the upper end and stopped below. About an
+inch or two from the bottom a small joint of bamboo is inserted
+into each, which serve as nozzles, pointing to, and meeting at,
+the fire. To produce a stream of air bunches of feathers or other
+soft substance, being fastened to long handles, are worked up and
+down in the upright tubes, like the piston of a pump. These, when
+pushed downwards, force the air through the small horizontal
+tubes, and, by raising and sinking each alternately, a continual
+current or blast is kept up; for which purpose a boy is usually
+placed on a high seat or stand. I cannot retrain from remarking
+that the description of the bellows used in Madagascar, as given
+by Sonnerat, Volume 2 page 60, so entirely corresponds with this
+that the one might almost pass for a copy of the other.</p>
+
+<p>CARPENTER'S WORK.</p>
+
+<p>The progress they have made in carpenter's work has been
+already pointed out, where there buildings were described.</p>
+
+<p>TOOLS.</p>
+
+<p>They are ignorant of the use of the saw, excepting where we
+have introduced it among them. Trees are felled by chopping at
+the stems, and in procuring boards they are confined to those the
+direction of whose grain or other qualities admit of their being
+easily split asunder. In this respect the species called maranti
+and marakuli have the preference. The tree, being stripped of its
+branches and its bark, is cut to the length required, and by the
+help of wedges split into boards. These being of irregular
+thickness are usually dubbed upon the spot. The tool used for
+this purpose is the rembe, a kind of adze. Most of their smaller
+work, and particularly on the bamboo, is performed with the
+papatil, which resembles in shape as much as in name the patupatu
+of the New Zealanders, but has the vast superiority of being made
+of iron. The blade, which is fastened to the handle with a nice
+and curious kind of rattan-work, is so contrived as to turn in
+it, and by that means can be employed either as an adze or small
+hatchet. Their houses are generally built with the assistance of
+this simple instrument alone. The billiong is no other than a
+large papatil, with a handle of two or three feet in length,
+turning, like that, in its socket.</p>
+
+<p>CEMENTS.</p>
+
+<p>The chief cement they employ for small work is the curd of
+buffalo&shy;milk, called prakat. It is to be observed that butter
+is made (for the use of Europeans only; the words used by the
+Malays, for butter and cheese, monteiga and queijo, being pure
+Portuguese) not as with us, by churning, but by letting the milk
+stand till the butter forms of itself on the top. It is then
+taken off with a spoon, stirred about with the same in a flat
+vessel, and well washed in two or three waters. The thick sour
+milk left at the bottom, when the butter or cream is removed, is
+the curd here meant. This must be well squeezed, formed into
+cakes, and left to dry, when it will grow nearly as hard as
+flint. For use you must scrape some of it off, mix it with quick
+lime, and moisten it with milk. I think there is no stronger
+cement in the world, and it is found to hold, particularly in a
+hot and damp climate, much better than glue; proving also
+effectual in mending chinaware. The viscous juice of the saga-pea
+(abrus) is likewise used in the country as a cement.</p>
+
+<p>INK.</p>
+
+<p>Ink is made by mixing lamp-black with the white of egg. To
+procure the former they suspend over a burning lamp an earthen
+pot, the bottom of which is moistened, in order to make the soot
+adhere to it.</p>
+
+<p>DESIGNING.</p>
+
+<p>Painting and drawing they are quite strangers to. In carving,
+both in wood and ivory, they are curious and fanciful, but their
+designs are always grotesque and out of nature. The handles of
+the krises are the most common subjects of their ingenuity in
+this art, which usually exhibit the head and beak of a bird, with
+the folded arms of a human creature, not unlike the
+representation of one of the Egyptian deities. In cane and
+basketwork they are particularly neat and expert; as well as in
+mats, of which some kinds are much prized for their extreme
+fineness and ornamental borders.</p>
+
+<p>LOOMS.</p>
+
+<p>Silk and cotton cloths, of varied colours, manufactured by
+themselves, are worn by the natives in all parts of the country;
+especially by the women. Some of their work is very fine, and the
+patterns prettily fancied. Their loom or apparatus for weaving
+(tunun) is extremely defective, and renders their progress
+tedious. One end of the warp being made fast to a frame, the
+whole is kept tight, and the web stretched out by means of a
+species of yoke, which is fastened behind the body, when the
+person weaving sits down. Every second of the longitudinal
+threads, or warp, passes separately through a set of reeds, like
+the teeth of a comb, and the alternate ones through another set.
+These cross each other, up and down, to admit the woof, not from
+the extremities, as in our looms, nor effected by the feet, but
+by turning edgeways two flat sticks which pass between them. The
+shuttle (turak) is a hollow reed about sixteen inches long,
+generally ornamented on the outside, and closed at one end,
+having in it a small bit of stick, on which is rolled the woof or
+shoot. The silk cloths have usually a gold head. They use
+sometimes another kind of loom, still more simple than this,
+being no more than a frame in which the warp is fixed, and the
+woof darned with a long small-pointed shuttle. For spinning the
+cotton they make use of a machine very like ours. The women are
+expert at embroidery, the gold and silver thread for which is
+procured from China, as well as their needles. For common work
+their thread is the pulas before mentioned, or else filaments of
+the pisang (musa).</p>
+
+<p>EARTHENWARE.</p>
+
+<p>Different kinds of earthenware, I have elsewhere observed, are
+manufactured in the island.</p>
+
+<p>PERFUMES.</p>
+
+<p>They have a practice of perfuming their hair with oil of
+benzoin, which they distil themselves from the gum by a process
+doubtless of their own invention. In procuring it a priuk, or
+earthen rice-pot, covered close, is used for a retort. A small
+bamboo is inserted in the side of the vessel, and well luted with
+clay and ashes, from which the oil drops as it comes over. Along
+with the benzoin they put into the retort a mixture of sugar-cane
+and other articles that contribute little or nothing to the
+quantity or quality of the distillation; but no liquid is added.
+This oil is valued among them at a high price, and can only be
+used by the superior rank of people.</p>
+
+<p>OIL.</p>
+
+<p>The oil in general use is that of the coconut, which is
+procured in the following manner. The fleshy part being scraped
+out of the nut, which for this use must be old, is exposed for
+some time to the heat of the sun. It is then put into a mat bag
+and placed in the press (kampahan) between two sloping timbers,
+which are fixed together in a socket in the lower part of the
+frame, and forced towards each other by wedges in a groove at
+top, compressing by this means the pulp of the nut, which yields
+an oil that falls into a trough made for its reception below. In
+the farther parts of the country this oil also, owing to the
+scarcity of coconuts, is dear; and not so much used for burning
+as that from other vegetables, and the dammar or rosin, which is
+always at hand.</p>
+
+<p>TORCHES.</p>
+
+<p>When travelling at night they make use of torches or links,
+called suluh, the common sort of which are nothing more than
+dried bamboos of a convenient length, beaten at the joints till
+split in every part, without the addition of any resinous or
+other inflammable substance. A superior kind is made by filling
+with dammar a young bamboo, about a cubit long, well dried, and
+having the outer skin taken off.</p>
+
+<p>These torches are carried with a view, chiefly, to frighten
+away the tigers, which are alarmed at the appearance of fire; and
+for the same reason it is common to make a blaze with wood in
+different parts round their villages. The tigers prove to the
+inhabitants, both in their journeys and even their domestic
+occupations, most fatal and destructive enemies. The number of
+people annually slain by these rapacious tyrants of the woods is
+almost incredible. I have known instances of whole villages being
+depopulated by them. Yet, from a superstitious prejudice, it is
+with difficulty they are prevailed upon, by a large reward which
+the India Company offers, to use methods of destroying them till
+they have sustained some particular injury in their own family or
+kindred, and their ideas of fatalism contribute to render them
+insensible to the risk.</p>
+
+<p>TIGER-TRAPS.</p>
+
+<p>Their traps, of which they can make variety, are very
+ingeniously contrived. Sometimes they are in the nature of strong
+cages, with falling doors, into which the beast is enticed by a
+goat or dog enclosed as a bait; sometimes they manage that a
+large timber shall fall, in a groove, across his back; he is
+noosed about the loins with strong rattans, or he is led to
+ascend a plank, nearly balanced, which, turning when he is past
+the centre, lets him fall upon sharp stakes prepared below.
+Instances have occurred of a tiger being caught by one of the
+former modes, which had many marks in his body of the partial
+success of this last expedient. The escapes, at times, made from
+them by the natives are surprising, but these accounts in general
+carry too romantic an air to admit of being repeated as facts.
+The size and strength of the species which prevails on this
+island are prodigious. They are said to break with a stroke of
+their forepaw the leg of a horse or a buffalo; and the largest
+prey they kill is without difficulty dragged by them into the
+woods. This they usually perform on the second night, being
+supposed, on the first, to gratify themselves with sucking the
+blood only. Time is by this delay afforded to prepare for their
+destruction; and to the methods already enumerated, beside
+shooting them, I should add that of placing a vessel of water,
+strongly impregnated with arsenic, near the carcase, which is
+fastened to a tree to prevent its being carried off: The tiger
+having satiated himself with the flesh, is prompted to assuage
+his thirst with the tempting liquor at hand, and perishes in the
+indulgence. Their chief subsistence is most probably the
+unfortunate monkeys with which the woods abound. They are
+described as alluring them to their fate, by a fascinating power,
+similar to what has been supposed of the snake, and I am not
+incredulous enough to treat the idea with contempt, having myself
+observed that when an alligator, in a river, comes under an
+overhanging bough of a tree, the monkeys, in a state of alarm and
+distraction, crowd to the extremity, and, chattering and
+trembling, approach nearer and nearer to the amphibious monster
+that waits to devour them as they drop, which their fright and
+number renders almost unavoidable. These alligators likewise
+occasion the loss of many inhabitants, frequently destroying the
+people as they bathe in the river, according to their regular
+custom, and which the perpetual evidence of the risk attending it
+cannot deter them from. A superstitious idea of their sanctity
+also (or, perhaps, of consanguinity, as related in the journal of
+the Endeavour's voyage) preserves these destructive animals from
+molestation, although, with a hook of sufficient strength, they
+may be taken without much difficulty. A musket-ball appears to
+have no effect upon their impenetrable hides.</p>
+
+<p>FISHING.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the common methods of taking fish, of which the seas
+that wash the coasts of Sumatra afford an extraordinary variety
+and abundance, the natives employ a mode, unpractised, I
+apprehend, in any part of Europe. They steep the root of a
+certain climbing plant, called tuba, of strong narcotic
+qualities, in the water where the fish are observed, which
+produces such an effect that they become intoxicated and to
+appearance dead, float on the surface of the water, and are taken
+with the hand. This is generally made use of in the basins of
+water formed by the ledges of coral rock which, having no outlet,
+are left full when the tide has ebbed.* In the manufacture and
+employment of the casting-net they are particularly expert, and
+scarcely a family near the sea-coast is without one. To supply
+this demand great quantities of the pulas twine are brought down
+from the hill-country to be there worked up; and in this article
+we have an opportunity of observing the effect of that
+conformation which renders the handiwork of orientals (unassisted
+by machinery) so much more delicate than that of the western
+people. Mr. Crisp possessed a net of silk, made in the country
+behind Padang, the meshes of which were no wider than a small
+fingernail, that opened sixteen feet in diameter. With such they
+are said to catch small fish in the extensive lake situated on
+the borders of Menangkabau.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. In Captain Cook's second voyage is a
+plate representing a plant used for the same purpose at Otaheite,
+which is the exact delineation of one whose appearance I was well
+acquainted with in Sumatra, and which abounds in many parts of
+the sea-beach, but which is a different plant from the tuba-akar,
+but may be another kind, named tuba-biji. In South America also,
+we are informed, the inhabitants procure fish after this
+extraordinary manner, employing three different kinds of plants;
+but whether any of them be the same with that of Otaheite or
+Sumatra I am ignorant. I have lately been informed that this
+practice is not unknown in England, but has been prohibited. It
+is termed foxing: the drug made use of was the Coculus
+indicus.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>BIRD-CATCHING.</p>
+
+<p>Birds, particularly the plover (cheruling) and quails (puyu)
+are caught by snares or springs laid for them in the grass. These
+are of iju, which resembles horsehair, many fathoms in length,
+and disposed in such a manner as to entangle their feet; for
+which purpose they are gently driven towards the snares. In some
+parts of the country they make use of clasp-nets. I never
+observed a Sumatran to fire a shot at a bird, though many of
+them, as well as the more eastern people, have a remarkably fine
+aim; but the mode of letting off the matchlocks, which are the
+pieces most habitual to them, precludes the possibility of
+shooting flying.</p>
+
+<p>GUNPOWDER.</p>
+
+<p>Gunpowder is manufactured in various parts of the island, but
+less in the southern provinces than amongst the people of
+Menangkabau, the Battas, and Achinese, whose frequent wars demand
+large supplies. It appears however, by an agreement upon record,
+formed in 1728, that the inhabitants of Anak-sungei were
+restricted from the manufacture, which they are stated to have
+carried to a considerable extent. It is made, as with us, of
+proportions of charcoal, sulphur, and nitre, but the composition
+is very imperfectly granulated, being often hastily prepared in
+small quantities for immediate use. The last article, though
+found in the greatest quantity in the saltpetre-caves before
+spoken of, is most commonly procured from goat's dung, which is
+always to be had in plenty.</p>
+
+<p>SUGAR.</p>
+
+<p>Sugar (as has already been observed) is commonly made for
+domestic use from the juice of a species of palm, boiled till a
+consistence is formed, but scarcely at all granulated, being
+little more than a thick syrup. This spread upon leaves to dry,
+made into cakes, and afterwards folded up in a peculiar vegetable
+substance called upih, which is the sheath that envelopes the
+branch of the pinang tree where it is inserted in the stem. In
+this state it is called jaggri, and, beside its ordinary uses as
+sugar, it is mixed with chunam in making cement for buildings,
+and that exquisite plaster for walls which, on the coast of
+Coromandel, equals Parian marble in whiteness and polish. But in
+many parts of the island sugar is also made from the sugar-cane.
+The rollers of the mill used for this purpose are worked by the
+endless screw instead of cogs, and are turned with the hand by
+means of a bar passing through one of the rollers which is higher
+than the other. As an article of traffic amongst the natives it
+is not considerable, nor have they the art of distilling arrack,
+the basis of which is molasses, along with the juice of the anau
+or of the coconut palm in a state of fermentation. Both however
+are manufactured by Europeans.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Many attempts have been made by the
+English to bring to perfection the manufacture of sugar and
+arrack from the canes; but the expenses, particularly of the
+slaves, were always found to exceed the advantages. Within these
+few years (about 1777) that the plantations and works were
+committed to the management of Mr. Henry Botham, it has
+manifestly appeared that the end is to be obtained by employing
+the Chinese in the works of the field and allowing them a
+proportion of the produce for their labour. The manufacture had
+arrived at considerable perfection when the breaking out of war
+gave a check to its progress; but the path is pointed out, and it
+may be worth pursuing. The sums of money thrown into Batavia for
+arrack and sugar have been immense.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>SALT.</p>
+
+<p>Salt is here, as in most other countries, an article of
+general consumption. The demand for it is mostly supplied by
+cargoes imported, but they also manufacture it themselves. The
+method is tedious. They kindle a fire close to the sea-beach, and
+gradually pour upon it sea water. When this has been continued
+for a certain time, the water evaporating, and the salt being
+precipitated among the ashes, they gather these in baskets, or in
+funnels made of the bark or leaves of trees, and again pour
+seawater on them till the particles of salt are well separated,
+and pass with the water into a vessel placed below to receive
+them. This water, now strongly impregnated, is boiled till the
+salt adheres in a thick crust to the bottom and sides of the
+vessel. In burning a square fathom of firewood a skilful person
+procures about five gallons of salt. What is thus made has so
+considerable a mixture of the salt of the wood that it soon
+dissolves, and cannot be carried far into the country. The
+coarsest grain is preferred.</p>
+
+<p>ART OF MEDICINE.</p>
+
+<p>The art of medicine among the Sumatrans consists almost
+entirely in the application of simples, in the virtues of which
+they are well skilled. Every old man and woman is a physician,
+and their rewards depend upon their success; but they generally
+procure a small sum in advance under the pretext of purchasing
+charms.* The mode of practice is either by administering the
+juices of certain trees and herbs inwardly, or by applying
+outwardly a poultice of leaves chopped small upon the breast or
+part affected, renewing it as soon as it becomes dry. For
+internal pains they rub oil on a large leaf of a stimulant
+quality, and, heating it before the fire, clap it on the body of
+the patient as a blister, which produces very powerful effects.
+Bleeding they never use, but the people of the neighbouring
+island of Nias are famous for their skill in cupping, which they
+practise in a manner peculiar to themselves.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Charms are there hung about the necks of
+children, as in Europe, and also worn by persons whose situations
+expose them to risk. They are long narrow scrolls of paper,
+filled with incoherent scraps of verse, which are separated from
+each other by a variety of fanciful drawings. A charm against an
+ague I once accidentally met with, which from circumstances I
+conclude to be a translation of such as are employed by the
+Portuguese Christians in India. Though not properly belonging to
+my subject, I present it to the reader. "(Sign of the cross).
+When Christ saw the cross he trembled and shaked; and they said
+unto him hast thou an ague? and he said unto them, I have neither
+ague nor fever; and whosoever bears these words, either in
+writing or in mind, shall never be troubled with ague or fever.
+So help thy servants, O Lord, who put their trust in thee!" From
+the many folds that appear in the original I have reason to
+apprehend that it had been worn, and by some Englishmen, whom
+frequent sickness and the fond love of life had rendered weak and
+superstitious enough to try the effects of this barbarous and
+ridiculous quackery.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>FEVERS.</p>
+
+<p>In fevers they give a decoction of the herb lakun, and bathe
+the patient, for two or three mornings, in warm water. If this
+does not prove effectual, they pour over him, during the
+paroxysm, a quantity of cold water, rendered more chilly by the
+daun sedingin (Cotyledon laciniata) which, from the sudden
+revulsion it causes, brings on a copious perspiration. Pains and
+swellings in the limbs are likewise cured by sweating; but for
+this purpose they either cover themselves over with mats and sit
+in the sunshine at noon, or, if the operation be performed within
+doors, a lamp, and sometimes a pot of boiling herbs, is enclosed
+in the covering with them.</p>
+
+<p>LEPROSY.</p>
+
+<p>There are two species of leprosy known in these parts. The
+milder sort, or impetigo, as I apprehend it to be, is very common
+among the inhabitants of Nias, great numbers of whom are covered
+with a white scurf or scales that renders them loathsome to the
+sight. But this distemper, though disagreeable from the violent
+itching and other inconveniences with which it is attended, does
+not appear immediately to affect the health, slaves in that
+situation being bought and sold for field and other outdoor work.
+It is communicated from parents to their offspring, but though
+hereditary it is not contagious. I have sometimes been induced to
+think it nothing more than a confirmed stage of the serpigo or
+ringworm, or it may be the same with what is elsewhere termed the
+shingles. I have known a Nias man who has effected a temporary
+removal of this scurf by the frequent application of the
+golinggang or daun kurap (Cassia alata) and such other herbs as
+are used to cure the ringworm, and sometimes by rubbing gunpowder
+and strong acids to his skin; but it always returned after some
+time. The other species with which the country people are in some
+instances affected is doubtless, from the description given of
+its dreadful symptoms, that severe kind of leprosy which has been
+termed elephantiasis, and is particularly described in the
+Asiatic Researches Volume 2, the skin coming off in flakes, and
+the flesh falling from the bones, as in the lues venerea. This
+disorder being esteemed highly infectious, the unhappy wretch who
+labours under it is driven from the village he belonged to into
+the woods, where victuals are left for him from time to time by
+his relations. A prang and a knife are likewise delivered to him,
+that he may build himself a hut, which is generally erected near
+to some river or lake, continual bathing being supposed to have
+some effect in removing the disorder, or alleviating the misery
+of the patient. Few instances of recovery have been known. There
+is a disease called the nambi which bears some affinity to this,
+attacking the feet chiefly, the flesh of which it eats away. As
+none but the lowest class of people seem to suffer from this
+complaint I imagine it proceeds in a great degree from want of
+cleanliness.</p>
+
+<p>SMALLPOX.</p>
+
+<p>The smallpox (katumbuhan) sometimes visits the island and
+makes terrible ravages. It is regarded as a plague, and drives
+from the country thousands whom the infection spares. Their
+method of stopping its progress (for they do not attempt a cure)
+is by converting into a hospital or receptacle for the rest that
+village where lie the greatest number of sick, whither they send
+all who are attacked by the disorder from the country round. The
+most effectual methods are pursued to prevent any person's escape
+from this village, which is burnt to the ground as soon as the
+infection has spent itself or devoured all the victims thus
+offered to it. Inoculation was an idea long unthought of, and, as
+it could not be universal, it was held to be a dangerous
+experiment for Europeans to introduce it partially, in a country
+where the disorder makes its appearance at distant intervals
+only, unless those periods could be seized and the attempts made
+when and where there might be well-founded apprehension of its
+being communicated in the natural way. Such an opportunity
+presented itself in 1780, when great numbers of people (estimated
+at a third of the population) were swept away in the course of
+that and the two following years; whilst upon those under the
+immediate influence of the English and Dutch settlements
+inoculation was practised with great success. I trust that the
+preventive blessing of vaccination has or will be extended to a
+country so liable to be afflicted with this dreadful scourge. A
+distemper called chachar, much resembling the smallpox, and in
+its first stages mistaken for it, is not uncommon. It causes an
+alarm but does not prove mortal, and is probably what we term the
+chickenpox.</p>
+
+<p>VENEREAL DISEASE.</p>
+
+<p>The venereal disease, though common in the Malay bazaars, is
+in the inland country almost unknown. A man returning to his
+village with the infection is shunned by the inhabitants as an
+unclean and interdicted person. The Malays are supposed to cure
+it with the decoction of a china-root, called by them gadong,
+which causes a salivation.</p>
+
+<p>INSANITY.</p>
+
+<p>When a man is by sickness or otherwise deprived of his reason,
+or when subject to convulsion fits, they imagine him possessed by
+an evil spirit, and their ceremony of exorcism is performed by
+putting the unfortunate wretch into a hut, which they set fire to
+about his ears, suffering him to make his escape through the
+flames in the best manner he can. The fright, which would go nigh
+to destroy the intellects of a reasonable man, may perhaps have
+under contrary circumstances an opposite effect.</p>
+
+<p>SCIENCES.</p>
+
+<p>The skill of the Sumatrans in any of the sciences, is, as may
+be presumed, very limited.</p>
+
+<p>ARITHMETIC.</p>
+
+<p>Some however I have met with who, in arithmetic, could
+multiply and divide, by a single multiplier or divisor, several
+places of figures. Tens of thousands (laksa) are the highest
+class of numbers the Malay language has a name for. In counting
+over a quantity of small articles each tenth, and afterwards each
+hundredth piece is put aside; which method is consonant with the
+progress of scientific numeration, and probably gave it origin.
+When they may have occasion to recollect at a distance of time
+the tale of any commodities they are carrying to market, or the
+like, the country people often assist their memory by tying knots
+on a string, which is produced when they want to specify the
+number. The Peruvian quipos were I suppose an improvement upon
+this simple invention.</p>
+
+<p>MEASURES.</p>
+
+<p>They estimate the quantity of most species of merchandise by
+what we call dry measure, the use of weights, as applied to bulky
+articles, being apparently introduced among them by foreigners;
+for the pikul and catti are used only on the sea-coast and places
+which the Malays frequent. The kulah or bamboo, containing very
+nearly a gallon, is the general standard of measure among the
+Rejangs: of these eight hundred make a koyan: the chupah is one
+quarter of a bamboo. By this measure almost all articles, even
+elephants' teeth, are bought and sold; but by a bamboo of ivory
+they mean so much as is equal in weight to a bamboo of rice. This
+still includes the idea of weight, but is not attended with their
+principal objection to that mode of ascertaining quantity which
+arises, as they say, from the impossibility of judging by the eye
+of the justness of artificial weights, owing to the various
+materials of which they may be composed, and to which measurement
+is not liable. The measures of length here, as perhaps originally
+among every people upon earth, are taken from the dimensions of
+the human body. The deppa, or fathom, is the extent of the arms
+from each extremity of the fingers: the etta, asta, or cubit, is
+the forearm and hand; kaki is the foot; jungka is the span; and
+jarri, which signifies a finger, is the inch. These are estimated
+from the general proportions of middle-sized men, others making
+an allowance in measuring, and not regulated by an exact
+standard.</p>
+
+<p>GEOGRAPHY.</p>
+
+<p>The ideas of geography among such of them as do not frequent
+the sea are perfectly confined, or rather they entertain none.
+Few of them know that the country they inhabit is an island, or
+have any general name for it. Habit renders them expert in
+travelling through the woods, where they perform journeys of
+weeks and months without seeing a dwelling. In places little
+frequented, where they have occasion to strike out new paths (for
+roads there are none), they make marks on trees for the future
+guidance of themselves and others. I have heard a man say, "I
+will attempt a passage by such a route, for my father, when
+living, told me that he had left his tokens there." They estimate
+the distance of places from each other by the number of days, or
+the proportion of the day, taken up in travelling it, and not by
+measurement of the space. Their journey, or day's walk, may be
+computed at about twenty miles; but they can bear a long
+continuance of fatigue.</p>
+
+<p>ASTRONOMY.</p>
+
+<p>The Malays as well as the Arabs and other Mahometan nations
+fix the length of the year at three hundred and fifty-four days,
+or twelve lunar months of twenty-nine days and a half; by which
+mode of reckoning each year is thrown back about eleven days. The
+original Sumatrans rudely estimate their annual periods from the
+revolution of the seasons, and count their years from the number
+of their crops of grain (taun padi); a practice which, though not
+pretending to accuracy, is much more useful for the general
+purposes of life than the lunar period, which is merely adapted
+to religious observances. They as well as the Malays compute time
+by lunations, but do not attempt to trace any relation or
+correspondence between these smaller measures and the solar
+revolution. Whilst more polished nations were multiplying
+mistakes and difficulties in their endeavours to ascertain the
+completion of the sun's course through the ecliptic, and in the
+meanwhile suffering their nominal seasons to become almost the
+reverse of nature, these people, without an idea of
+intercalation, preserved in a rude way the account of their years
+free from essential, or at least progressive, error and the
+confusion which attends it. The division of the month into weeks
+I believe to be unknown except where it has been taught with
+Mahometanism; the day of the moon's age being used instead of it
+where accuracy is required; nor do they subdivide the day into
+hours. To denote the time of day at which any circumstance they
+find it necessary to speak of happened, they point with their
+finger to the height in the sky at which the sun then stood. And
+this mode is the more general and precise as the sun, so near the
+equator, ascends and descends almost perpendicularly, and rises
+and sets at all seasons of the year within a few minutes of six
+o'clock. Scarcely any of the stars or constellations are
+distinguished by them. They notice however the planet Venus, but
+do not imagine her to be the same at the different periods of her
+revolution when she precedes the rising, and follows the setting
+sun. They are aware of the night on which the new moon should
+make its appearance, and the Malays salute it with the discharge
+of guns. They also know when to expect the returns of the tides,
+which are at their height, on the south-western coast of the
+island, when that luminary is in the horizon, and ebb as it
+rises. When they observe a bright star near the moon (or rubbing
+against her, as they express it), they are apprehensive of a
+storm, as European sailors foretell a gale from the sharpness of
+her horns. These are both, in part, the consequence of an unusual
+clearness in the air, which, proceeding from an extraordinary
+alteration of the state of the atmosphere, may naturally be
+followed by a violent rushing of the circumjacent parts to
+restore the equilibrium, and thus prove the prognostic of high
+wind. During an eclipse they make a loud noise with
+sounding-instruments to prevent one luminary from devouring the
+other, as the Chinese, to frighten away the dragon, a
+superstition that has its source in the ancient systems of
+astronomy (particularly the Hindu) where the nodes of the moon
+are identified with the dragon's head and tail. They tell of a
+man in the moon who is continually employed in spinning cotton,
+but that every night a rat gnaws his thread and obliges him to
+begin his work afresh. This they apply as an emblem of endless
+and ineffectual labour, like the stone of Sisyphus, and the
+sieves of the Danaides.</p>
+
+<p>With history and chronology the country people are but little
+acquainted, the memory of past events being preserved by
+tradition only.</p>
+
+<p>MUSIC.</p>
+
+<p>They are fond of music and have many instruments in use among
+them, but few, upon inquiry, appear to be original, being mostly
+borrowed from the Chinese and other more eastern people;
+particularly the kalintang, gong, and sulin. The violin has found
+its way to them from the westward. The kalintang resembles the
+sticcado and the harmonica; the more common ones having the
+cross-pieces, which are struck with two little hammers, of split
+bamboo, and the more perfect of a certain composition of metal
+which is very sonorous. The gongs, a kind of bell, but differing
+much in shape and struck on the outside, are cast in sets
+regularly tuned to thirds, fourth, fifth, and octave, and often
+serve as a bass, or under part, to the kalintang. They are also
+sounded for the purpose of calling together the inhabitants of
+the village upon any particular occasion; but the more ancient
+and still common instrument for this use is a hollowed log of
+wood named katut. The sulin is the Malayan flute. The country
+flute is called serdum. It is made of bamboo, is very imperfect,
+having but few stops, and resembles much an instrument described
+as found among the people of Otaheite. A single hole underneath
+is covered with the thumb of the left hand, and the hole nearest
+the end at which it is blown, on the upper side, with a finger of
+the same hand. The other two holes are stopped with the
+right-hand fingers. In blowing they hold it inclined to the right
+side. They have various instruments of the drum kind,
+particularly those called tingkah, which are in pairs and beaten
+with the hands at each end. They are made of a certain kind of
+wood hollowed out, covered with dried goat-skins, and laced with
+split rattans. It is difficult to obtain a proper knowledge of
+their division of the scale, as they know nothing of it in
+theory. The interval we call an octave seems to be divided with
+them into six tones, without any intermediate semitones, which
+must confine their music to one key. It consists in general of
+but few notes, and the third is the interval that most frequently
+occurs. Those who perform on the violin use the same notes as in
+our division, and they tune the instrument by fifths to a great
+nicety. They are fond of playing the octave, but scarcely use any
+other chord. The Sumatran tunes very much resemble, to my ear,
+those of the native Irish, and have usually, like them, a flat
+third: the same has been observed of the music of Bengal, and
+probably it will be found that the minor key obtains a preference
+amongst all people at a certain stage of civilization.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-10"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 10.</h3>
+
+<p><b>LANGUAGES.<br>
+MALAYAN.<br>
+ARABIC CHARACTER USED.<br>
+LANGUAGES OF THE INTERIOR PEOPLE.<br>
+PECULIAR CHARACTERS.<br>
+SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES AND OF ALPHABETS.</b></p>
+
+<p>LANGUAGES.</p>
+
+<p>Before I proceed to an account of the laws, customs, and
+manners of the people of the island it is necessary that I should
+say something of the different languages spoken on it, the
+diversity of which has been the subject of much contemplation and
+conjecture.</p>
+
+<p>MALAYAN.</p>
+
+<p>The Malayan language, which has commonly been supposed
+original in the peninsula of Malayo, and from thence to have
+extended itself throughout the eastern islands, so as to become
+the lingua franca of that part of the globe, is spoken everywhere
+along the coasts of Sumatra, prevails without the mixture of any
+other in the inland country of Menangkabau and its immediate
+dependencies, and is understood in almost every part of the
+island. It has been much celebrated, and justly, for the
+smoothness and sweetness of its sound, which have gained it the
+appellation of the Italian of the East. This is owing to the
+prevalence of vowels and liquids in the words (with many nasals
+which may be thought an objection) and the infrequency of any
+harsh combination of mute consonants. These qualities render it
+well adapted to poetry, which the Malays are passionately
+addicted to.</p>
+
+<p>SONGS.</p>
+
+<p>They amuse all their leisure hours, including the greater
+portion of their lives, with the repetition of songs which are,
+for the most part, proverbs illustrated, or figures of speech
+applied to the occurrences of life. Some that they rehearse, in a
+kind of recitative, at their bimbangs or feasts, are historical
+love tales like our old English ballads, and are often
+extemporaneous productions. An example of the former species is
+as follows:</p>
+
+<pre>
+Apa guna passang palita,
+Kallo tidah dangan sumbu'nia?
+Apa guna bermine matta,
+Kalla tidah dangan sunggu'nia?
+
+What signifies attempting to light a lamp,
+If the wick be wanting?
+What signifies playing with the eyes,
+If nothing in earnest be intended?
+</pre>
+
+<p>It must be observed however that it often proves a very
+difficult matter to trace the connexion between the figurative
+and the literal sense of the stanza. The essentials in the
+composition of the pantun, for such these little pieces are
+called, the longer being called dendang, are the rhythmus and the
+figure, particularly the latter, which they consider as the life
+and spirit of the poetry. I had a proof of this in an attempt
+which I made to impose a pantun of my own composing on the
+natives as a work of their countrymen. The subject was a dialogue
+between a lover and a rich coy mistress: the expressions were
+proper to the occasion, and in some degree characteristic. It
+passed with several, but an old lady who was a more discerning
+critic than the others remarked that it was "katta katta
+saja"--mere conversation; meaning that it was destitute of the
+quaint and figurative expressions which adorn their own poetry.
+Their language in common speaking is proverbial and sententious.
+If a young woman prove with child before marriage they observe it
+is daulu buah, kadian bunga--the fruit before the flower. Hearing
+of a person's death they say, nen matti, matti; nen idup,
+bekraja: kallo sampi janji'nia, apa buli buat?--Those who are
+dead, are dead; those who survive must work: if his allotted time
+was expired, what resource is there? The latter phrase they
+always make use of to express their sense of inevitability, and
+has more force than any translation of it I can employ.</p>
+
+<p>ARABIC CHARACTER USED BY MALAYS.</p>
+
+<p>Their writing is in the Arabic character, with modifications
+to adapt that alphabet to their language, and, in consequence of
+the adoption of their religion from the same quarter, a great
+number of Arabic words are incorporated with the Malayan. The
+Portuguese too have furnished them with several terms, chiefly
+for such ideas as they have acquired since the period of European
+discoveries to the eastward. They write on paper, using ink of
+their own composition, with pens made of the twig of the anau
+tree. I could never discover that the Malays had any original
+written characters peculiar to themselves before they acquired
+those now in use; but it is possible that such might have been
+lost, a fate that may hereafter attend the Batta, Rejang, and
+others of Sumatra, on which the Arabic daily makes encroachments.
+Yet I have had frequent occasion to observe the former language
+written by inland people in the country character; which would
+indicate that the speech is likely to perish first. The Malayan
+books are very numerous, both in prose and verse. Many of them
+are commentaries on the koran, and others romances or heroic
+tales.</p>
+
+<p>The purest or most elegant Malayan is said, and with great
+appearance of reason, to be spoken at Malacca. It differs from
+the dialect used in Sumatra chiefly in this, that words, in the
+latter, made to terminate in "o," are in the former, sounded as
+ending in "a." Thus they pronounce lada (pepper) instead of lado.
+Those words which end with "k" in writing, are, in Sumatra,
+always softened in speaking, by omitting it; as tabbe bannia,
+many compliments, for tabbek banniak; but the Malaccans, and
+especially the more eastern people, who speak a very broad
+dialect, give them generally the full sound. The personal
+pronouns also differ materially in the respective countries.</p>
+
+<p>Attempts have been made to compose a grammar of this tongue
+upon the principles on which those of the European languages are
+formed. But the inutility of such productions is obvious. Where
+there is no inflexion of either nouns or verbs there can be no
+cases, declensions, moods, or conjugations. All this is performed
+by the addition of certain words expressive of a determinate
+meaning, which should not be considered as mere auxiliaries, or
+as particles subservient to other words. Thus, in the instance of
+rumah, a house; deri pada rumah signifies from a house; but it
+would be talking without use or meaning to say that deri pada is
+the sign of the ablative case of that noun, for then every
+preposition should equally require an appropriate case, and as
+well as of, to, and from, we should have a case for deatas rumah,
+on top of the house. So of verbs: kallo saya buli jalan, If I
+could walk: this may be termed the preter-imperfect tense of the
+subjunctive or potential mood of the verb jalan; whereas it is in
+fact a sentence of which jalan, buli, etc. are constituent words.
+It is improper, I say, to talk of the case of a noun which does
+not change its termination, or the mood of a verb which does not
+alter its form. A useful set of observations might be collected
+for speaking the language with correctness and propriety, but
+they must be independent of the technical rules of languages
+founded on different principles.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. I have ventured to make this attempt, and
+have also prepared a Dictionary of the language which it is my
+intention to print with as little delay as circUmstances will
+admit.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>INTERIOR PEOPLE USE LANGUAGES DIFFERENT FROM THE MALAYAN.</p>
+
+<p>Beside the Malayan there are a variety of languages spoken in
+Sumatra which however have not only a manifest affinity among
+themselves, but also to that general language which is found to
+prevail in, and to be indigenous to all the islands of the
+eastern sea; from Madagascar to the remotest of Captain Cook's
+discoveries; comprehending a wider extent than the Roman or any
+other tongue has yet boasted. Indisputable examples of this
+connexion and similarity I have exhibited in a paper which the
+Society of Antiquaries have done me the honour to publish in
+their Archaeologia, Volume 6. In different places it has been
+more or less mixed and corrupted, but between the most dissimilar
+branches an evident sameness of many radical words is apparent,
+and in some, very distant from each other in point of situation,
+as for instance the Philippines and Madagascar, the deviation of
+the words is scarcely more than is observed in the dialects of
+neighbouring provinces of the same kingdom. To render this
+comparison of languages more extensive, and if possible to bring
+all those spoken throughout the world into one point of view, is
+an object of which I have never lost sight, but my hopes of
+completing such a work are by no means sanguine.</p>
+
+<p>PECULIAR WRITTEN CHARACTERS.</p>
+
+<p>The principal of these Sumatran languages are the Botta, the
+Rejang, and the Lampong, whose difference is marked not so much
+by the want of correspondence in the terms as by the circumstance
+of their being expressed in distinct and peculiar written
+characters. But whether this apparent difference be radical and
+essential, or only produced by accident and the lapse of time,
+may be thought to admit of doubt; and, in order that the reader
+may be enabled to form his own judgment, a plate containing the
+Alphabetical characters of each, with the mode of applying the
+orthographical marks to those of the Rejang language in
+particular, is annexed. It would indeed be extraordinary, and
+perhaps singular in the history of human improvement, that
+divisions of people in the same island, with equal claims to
+originality, in stages of civilization nearly equal, and speaking
+languages derived from the same source, should employ characters
+different from each other, as well as from the rest of the world.
+It will be found however that the alphabet used in the
+neighbouring island of Java (given by Corneille Le Brun), that
+used by the Tagala people of the Philippines (given by Thevenot),
+and by the Bugis people of Celebes (given by Captain Forrest),
+vary at least as much from these and from each other as the
+Rejang from the Batta. The Sanskrit scholar will at the same time
+perceive in several of them an analogy to the rhythmical
+arrangement, terminating with a nasal, which distinguishes the
+alphabet of that ancient language whose influence is known to
+have been extensive in this quarter. In the country of Achin,
+where the language differs considerably from the Malayan, the
+Arabic character has nevertheless been adopted, and on this
+account it has less claim to originality.</p>
+
+<p>ON BARK OF TREES AND BAMBOO.</p>
+
+<p>Their manuscripts of any bulk and importance are written with
+ink of their own making on the inner bark of a tree cut into
+slips of several feet in length and folded together in squares;
+each square or fold answering to a page or leaf. For more common
+occasions they write on the outer coat of a joint of bamboo,
+sometimes whole but generally split into pieces of two or three
+inches in breadth, with the point of the weapon worn at their
+side, which serves the purpose of a stylus; and these writings,
+or scratchings rather, are often performed with a considerable
+degree of neatness. Thus the Chinese also are said by their
+historians to have written on pieces of bamboo before they
+invented paper. Of both kinds of manuscript I have many specimens
+in my possession. The lines are formed from the left hand towards
+the right, contrary to the practice of the Malays and the
+Arabians.</p>
+
+<p>In Java, Siam, and other parts of the East, beside the common
+language of the country, there is established a court language
+spoken by persons of rank only; a distinction invented for the
+purpose of keeping the vulgar at a distance, and inspiring them
+with respect for what they do not understand. The Malays also
+have their bhasa dalam, or courtly style, which contains a number
+of expressions not familiarly used in common conversation or
+writing, but yet by no means constituting a separate language,
+any more than, in English, the elevated style of our poets and
+historians. Amongst the inhabitants of Sumatra in general
+disparity of condition is not attended with much ceremonious
+distance of behaviour between the persons.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+
+<p align="center"><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-20.jpg"></p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+
+<p align="center"><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-21.jpg"></p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+
+<p><a name="ch-11"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 11.</h3>
+
+<p><b>COMPARATIVE STATE OF THE SUMATRANS IN CIVIL SOCIETY.<br>
+DIFFERENCE OF CHARACTER BETWEEN THE MALAYS AND OTHER INHABITANTS.<br>
+GOVERNMENT.<br>
+TITLES AND POWER OF THE CHIEFS AMONG THE REJANGS.<br>
+INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEANS.<br>
+GOVERNMENT IN PASSUMMAH.</b></p>
+
+<p>COMPARATIVE STATE OF SUMATRANS IN SOCIETY.</p>
+
+<p>Considered as a people occupying a certain rank in the scale
+or civil society, it is not easy to determine the proper
+situation of the inhabitants of this island. Though far distant
+from that point to which the polished states of Europe have
+aspired, they yet look down, with an interval almost as great, on
+the savage tribes of Africa and America. Perhaps if we
+distinguish mankind summarily into five classes; but of which
+each would admit of numberless subdivisions; we might assign a
+third place to the more civilized Sumatrans, and a fourth to the
+remainder. In the first class I should of course include some of
+the republics of ancient Greece, in the days of their splendour;
+the Romans, for some time before and after the Augustan age;
+France, England, and other refined nations of Europe, in the
+latter centuries; and perhaps China. The second might comprehend
+the great Asiatic empires at the period of their prosperity;
+Persia, the Mogul, the Turkish, with some European kingdoms. In
+the third class, along with the Sumatrans and a few other states
+of the eastern archipelago, I should rank the nations on the
+northern coast of Africa, and the more polished Arabs. The fourth
+class, with the less civilized Sumatrans, will take in the people
+of the new discovered islands in the South Sea; perhaps the
+celebrated Mexican and Peruvian empires; the Tartar hordes, and
+all those societies of people in various parts of the globe, who,
+possessing personal property, and acknowledging some species of
+established subordination, rise one step above the Caribs, the
+New Hollanders, the Laplanders, and the Hottentots, who exhibit a
+picture of mankind in its rudest and most humiliating aspect.</p>
+
+<p>FEW IMPROVEMENTS ADOPTED FROM EUROPEANS.</p>
+
+<p>As mankind are by nature so prone to imitation it may seem
+surprising that these people have not derived a greater share of
+improvement in manners an arts from their long connection with
+Europeans, particularly with the English, who have now been
+settled among them for a hundred years. Though strongly attached
+to their own habits they are nevertheless sensible of their
+inferiority, and readily admit the preference to which our
+attainments in science, and especially in mechanics, entitle us.
+I have heard a man exclaim, after contemplating the structure and
+uses of a house-clock, "Is it not fitting that such as we should
+be slaves to people who have the ingenuity to invent, and the
+skill to construct, so wonderful a machine as this?" "The sun,"
+he added, "is a machine of this nature." "But who winds it up?"
+said his companion. "Who but Allah," he replied. This admiration
+of our superior attainments is however not universal; for, upon
+an occasion similar to the above, a Sumatran observed, with a
+sneer, "How clever these people are in the art of getting
+money."</p>
+
+<p>Some probable causes of this backwardness may be suggested. We
+carry on few or no species of manufacture at our settlements;
+everything is imported ready wrought to its highest perfection;
+and the natives therefore have no opportunity of examining the
+first process, or the progress of the work. Abundantly supplied
+with every article of convenience from Europe, and prejudiced in
+their favour because from thence, we make but little use of the
+raw materials Sumatra affords. We do not spin its cotton; we do
+not rear its silkworms; we do not smelt its metals; we do not
+even hew its stone: neglecting these, it is in vain we exhibit to
+the people, for their improvement in the arts, our rich brocades,
+our timepieces, or display to them in drawings the elegance of
+our architecture. Our manners likewise are little calculated to
+excite their approval and imitation. Not to insist on the
+licentiousness that has at times been imputed to our communities;
+the pleasures of the table; emulation in wine; boisterous mirth;
+juvenile frolics, and puerile amusements, which do not pass
+without serious, perhaps contemptuous, animadversion--setting
+these aside it appears to me that even our best models are but
+ill adapted for the imitation of a rude, incurious, and
+unambitious people. Their senses, not their reason, should be
+acted on, to rouse them from their lethargy; their imaginations
+must be warmed; a spirit of enthusiasm must pervade and animate
+them before they will exchange the pleasures of indolence for
+those of industry. The philosophical influence that prevails and
+characterizes the present age in the western world is
+unfavourable to the producing these effects. A modern man of
+sense and manners despises, or endeavours to despise, ceremony,
+parade, attendance, superfluous and splendid ornaments in his
+dress or furniture: preferring ease and convenience to cumbrous
+pomp, the person first in rank is no longer distinguished by his
+apparel, his equipage, or his number of servants, from those
+inferior to him; and though possessing real power is divested of
+almost every external mark of it. Even our religious worship
+partakes of the same simplicity. It is far from my intention to
+condemn or depreciate these manners, considered in a general
+scale of estimation. Probably, in proportion as the prejudices of
+sense are dissipated by the light of reason, we advance towards
+the highest degree of perfection our natures are capable of;
+possibly perfection may consist in a certain medium which we have
+already stepped beyond; but certainly all this refinement is
+utterly incomprehensible to an uncivilized mind which cannot
+discriminate the ideas of humility and meanness. We appear to the
+Sumatrans to have degenerated from the more splendid virtues of
+our predecessors. Even the richness of their laced suits and the
+gravity of their perukes attracted a degree of admiration; and I
+have heard the disuse of the large hoops worn by the ladies
+pathetically lamented. The quick, and to them inexplicable,
+revolutions of our fashions, are subject of much astonishment,
+and they naturally conclude that those modes can have but little
+intrinsic merit which we are so ready to change; or at least that
+our caprice renders us very incompetent to be the guides of their
+improvement. Indeed in matters of this kind it is not to be
+supposed that an imitation should take place, owing to the total
+incongruity of manners in other respects, and the dissimilarity
+of natural and local circumstances. But perhaps I am
+superfluously investigating minute and partial causes of an
+effect which one general one may be thought sufficient to
+produce. Under the frigid, and more especially the torrid zone,
+the inhabitants will naturally preserve an uninterrupted
+similarity and consistency of manners, from the uniform influence
+of their climate. In the temperate zones, where this influence is
+equivocal, the manners will be fluctuating, and dependent rather
+on moral than physical causes.</p>
+
+<p>DIFFERENCE IN CHARACTER BETWEEN THE MALAYS AND OTHER
+SUMATRANS.</p>
+
+<p>The Malays and the other native Sumatrans differ more in the
+features of their mind than in those of their person. Although we
+know not that this island, in the revolutions of human grandeur,
+ever made a distinguished figure in the history of the world (for
+the Achinese, though powerful in the sixteenth century, were very
+low in point of civilization) yet the Malay inhabitants have an
+appearance of degeneracy, and this renders their character
+totally different from that which we conceive of a savage,
+however justly their ferocious spirit of plunder on the eastern
+coast may have drawn upon them that name. They seem rather to be
+sinking into obscurity, though with opportunities of improvement,
+than emerging from thence to a state of civil or political
+importance. They retain a strong share of pride, but not of that
+laudable kind which restrains men from the commission of mean and
+fraudulent actions. They possess much low cunning and plausible
+duplicity, and know how to dissemble the strongest passions and
+most inveterate antipathy beneath the utmost composure of
+features till the opportunity of gratifying their resentment
+offers. Veracity, gratitude, and integrity are not to be found in
+the list of their virtues, and their minds are almost strangers
+to the sentiments of honour and infamy. They are jealous and
+vindictive. Their courage is desultory, the effect of a momentary
+enthusiasm which enables them to perform deeds of incredible
+desperation; but they are strangers to that steady magnanimity,
+that cool heroic resolution in battle, which constitutes in our
+idea the perfection of this quality, and renders it a virtue.*
+Yet it must be observed that, from an apathy almost paradoxical,
+they suffer under sentence of death, in cases where no indignant
+passions could operate to buoy up the mind to a contempt of
+punishment, with astonishing composure and indifference; uttering
+little more on these occasions than a proverbial saying, common
+among them, expressive of the inevitability of fate--apa buli
+buat? To this stoicism, their belief in predestination, and very
+imperfect ideas of a future, eternal existence, doubtless
+contribute.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. In the history of the Portuguese wars in
+this part of the East there appear some exceptions to this
+remark, and particularly in the character of Laksamanna (his
+title of commander-in-chief being mistaken for his proper name),
+who was truly a great man and most consummate
+warrior.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>Some writer has remarked that a resemblance is usually found
+between the disposition and qualities of the beasts proper to any
+country and those of the indigenous inhabitants of the human
+species, where an intercourse with foreigners has not destroyed
+the genuineness of their character. The Malay may thus be
+compared to the buffalo and the tiger. In his domestic state he
+is indolent, stubborn, and voluptuous as the former, and in his
+adventurous life he is insidious, bloodthirsty, and rapacious as
+the latter. Thus also the Arab is said to resemble his camel, and
+the placid Hindu his cow.</p>
+
+<p>CHARACTER OF NATIVE SUMATRANS.</p>
+
+<p>The Sumatran of the interior country, though he partakes in
+some degree of the Malayan vices, and this partly from the
+contagion of example, possesses many exclusive virtues; but they
+are more properly of the negative than the positive kind. He is
+mild, peaceable, and forbearing, unless his anger be roused by
+violent provocation, when he is implacable in his resentments. He
+is temperate and sober, being equally abstemious in meat and
+drink. The diet of the natives is mostly vegetable; water is
+their only beverage; and though they will kill a fowl or a goat
+for a stranger, whom perhaps they never saw before, nor ever
+expect to see again, they are rarely guilty of that extravagance
+for themselves; nor even at their festivals (bimbang), where
+there is a plenty of meat, do they eat much of anything but rice.
+Their hospitality is extreme, and bounded by their ability alone.
+Their manners are simple; they are generally, except among the
+chiefs, devoid of the Malay cunning and chicane; yet endued with
+a quickness of apprehension, and on many occasions discovering a
+considerable degree of penetration and sagacity. In respect to
+women they are remarkably continent, without any share of
+insensibility. They are modest; particularly guarded in their
+expressions; courteous in their behaviour; grave in their
+deportment, being seldom or never excited to laughter; and
+patient to a great degree. On the other hand, they are litigious;
+indolent; addicted to gaming; dishonest in their dealings with
+strangers, which they esteem no moral defect; suspicious;
+regardless of truth; mean in their transactions; servile; though
+cleanly in their persons, dirty in their apparel, which they
+never wash. They are careless and improvident of the future,
+because their wants are few, for though poor they are not
+necessitous; nature supplying, with extraordinary facility,
+whatever she has made requisite for their existence. Science and
+the arts have not, by extending their views, contributed to
+enlarge the circle of their desires; and the various refinements
+of luxury, which in polished societies become necessaries of
+life, are totally unknown to them. The Makassar and Bugis people,
+who come annually in their praws from Celebes to trade at
+Sumatra, are looked up to by the inhabitants as their superiors
+in manners. The Malays affect to copy their style of dress, and
+frequent allusions to the feats and achievements of these people
+are made in their songs. Their reputation for courage, which
+certainly surpasses that of all other people in the eastern seas,
+acquires them this flattering distinction. They also derive part
+of the respect paid them from the richness of the cargoes they
+import, and the spirit with which they spend the produce in
+gaming, cock-fighting, and opium-smoking.</p>
+
+<p>GOVERNMENT.</p>
+
+<p>Having endeavoured to trace the character of these people with
+as much fidelity and accuracy as possible, I shall now proceed to
+give an account of their government, laws, customs, and manners;
+and, in order to convey to the reader the clearest ideas in my
+power, I shall develop the various circumstances in such order
+and connection as shall appear best to answer this intent,
+without confining myself, in every instance, to a rigid and
+scrupulous arrangement under distinct heads.</p>
+
+<p>REJANGS DIVIDED INTO TRIBES.</p>
+
+<p>The Rejang people, whom, for reasons before assigned, I have
+fixed upon for a standard of description, but which apply
+generally to the orang ulu, or inhabitants of the inland country,
+are distinguished into tribes, the descendants of different
+ancestors. Of these there are four principal, who are said to
+trace their origin to four brothers, and to have been united from
+time immemorial in a league offensive and defensive; though it
+may be presumed that the permanency of this bond of union is to
+be attributed rather to considerations of expediency resulting
+from their situation than to consanguinity or any formal
+compact.</p>
+
+<p>THEIR GOVERNMENT.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants live in villages, called dusun, each under the
+government of a headman or magistrate, styled dupati, whose
+dependants are termed his ana-buah, and in number seldom exceed
+one hundred. The dupatis belonging to each river (for here, the
+villages being almost always situated by the waterside, the names
+we are used to apply to countries or districts are properly those
+of the rivers) meet in a judicial capacity at the kwalo, where
+the European factory is established, and are then distinguished
+by the name of proattin.</p>
+
+<p>PANGERAN.</p>
+
+<p>The pangeran (a Javanese title), or feudal chief of the
+country, presides over the whole. It is not an easy matter to
+describe in what consists the fealty of a dupati to his pangeran,
+or of his ana-buah to himself, so very little in either case is
+practically observed. Almost without arts, and with but little
+industry, the state of property is nearly equal among all the
+inhabitants, and the chiefs scarcely differ but in title from the
+bulk of the people.</p>
+
+<p>HIS AUTHORITY.</p>
+
+<p>Their authority is no more than nominal, being without that
+coercive power necessary to make themselves feared and implicitly
+obeyed. This is the natural result of poverty among nations
+habituated to peace; where the two great political engines of
+interest and military force are wanting. Their government is
+founded in opinion, and the submission of the people is
+voluntary. The domestic rule of a private family beyond a doubt
+suggested first the idea of government in society, and, this
+people having made but small advances in civil policy, theirs
+continues to retain a strong resemblance of its original. It is
+connected also with the principle of the feudal system, into
+which it would probably settle should it attain to a greater
+degree of refinement. All the other governments throughout the
+island are likewise a mixture of the patriarchal and feudal; and
+it may be observed that, where a spirit of conquest has reduced
+the inhabitants under the subjection of another power, or has
+added foreign districts to their dominion, there the feudal
+maxims prevail: where the natives, from situation or disposition,
+have long remained undisturbed by revolutions, there the
+simplicity of patriarchal rule obtains; which is not only the
+first and natural form of government of all rude nations rising
+from imperceptible beginnings, but is perhaps also the highest
+state of perfection at which they can ultimately arrive. It is
+not in this art alone that we perceive the next step from
+consummate refinement, leading to simplicity.</p>
+
+<p>MUCH LIMITED.</p>
+
+<p>The foundation of right to government among these people
+seems, as I said, to be the general consent. If a chief exerts an
+undue authority, or departs from their long established customs
+and usages, they conceive themselves at liberty to relinquish
+their allegiance. A commanding aspect, an insinuating manner, a
+ready fluency in discourse, and a penetration and sagacity in
+unravelling the little intricacies of their disputes, are
+qualities which seldom fail to procure to their possessor respect
+and influence, sometimes perhaps superior to that of an
+acknowledged chief. The pangean indeed claims despotic sway, and
+as far as he can find the means scruples not to exert it; but,
+his revenues being insufficient to enable him to keep up any
+force for carrying his mandates into execution, his actual powers
+are very limited, and he has seldom found himself able to punish
+a turbulent subject any otherwise than by private assassination.
+In appointing the heads of dusuns he does little more than
+confirm the choice already made among the inhabitants, and, were
+he arbitrarily to name a person of a different tribe or from
+another place, he would not be obeyed. He levies no tax, nor has
+any revenue (what he derives from the India Company being out of
+the question), or other emolument from his subjects than what
+accrues to him from the determination of causes. Appeals lie to
+him in all cases, and none of the inferior courts or assemblies
+of proattins are competent to pronounce sentence of death. But,
+all punishments being by the laws of the country commutable for
+fines, and the appeals being attended with expense and loss of
+time, the parties generally abide by the first decision. Those
+dusuns which are situated nearest to the residence of the
+pangeran, at Sungey-lamo, acknowledge somewhat more of
+subordination than the distant ones, which even in case of war
+esteem themselves at liberty to assist or not, as they think
+proper, without being liable to consequences. In answer to a
+question on this point, "we are his subjects, not his slaves,"
+replied one of the proattins. But from the pangeran you hear a
+tale widely different. He has been known to say, in a political
+conversation, "such and such dusuns there will be no trouble
+with; they are my powder and shot;" explaining himself by adding
+that he could dispose of the inhabitants, as his ancestors had
+done, to purchase ammunition in time of war.</p>
+
+<p>ORIGIN OF THE PANGERAN IN RAJANG.</p>
+
+<p>The father of Pangeran Mangko Raja (whose name is preserved
+from oblivion by the part he took in the expulsion of the English
+from Fort Marlborough in the year 1719) was the first who bore
+the title of pangeran of Sungey-lamo. He had before been simply
+Baginda Sabyam. Until about a hundred years ago the southern
+coast of Sumatra as far as Urei River was dependant on the king
+of Bantam, whose Jennang (lieutenant or deputy) came yearly to
+Silebar or Bencoolen, collected the pepper and filled up the
+vacancies by nominating, or rather confirming in their
+appointments, the proattins. Soon after that time, the English
+having established a settlement at Bencoolen, the jennang
+informed the chiefs that he should visit them no more, and,
+raising the two headmen of Sungey-lamo and Sungey-itam (the
+latter of whom is chief of the Lemba country in the neighbourhood
+of Bencoolen River; on which however the former possesses some
+villages, and is chief of the Rejang tribes), to the dignity of
+pangeran, gave into their hands the government of the country,
+and withdrew his master's claim. Such is the account given by the
+present possessors of the origin of their titles, which nearly
+corresponds with the recorded transactions of the period. It
+followed naturally that the chief thus invested should lay claim
+to the absolute authority of the king whom he represented, and on
+the other hand that the proattins should still consider him but
+as one of themselves, and pay him little more than nominal
+obedience. He had no power to enforce his plea, and they retain
+their privileges, taking no oath of allegiance, nor submitting to
+be bound by any positive engagement. They speak of him however
+with respect, and in any moderate requisition that does not
+affect their adat or customs they are ready enough to aid him
+(tolong, as they express it), but rather as matter of favour than
+acknowledged obligation.</p>
+
+<p>The exemption from absolute subjection, which the dupatis
+contend for, they allow in turn to their ana-buahs, whom they
+govern by the influence of opinion only. The respect paid to one
+of these is little more than as to an elder of a family held in
+esteem, and this the old men of the dusun share with him, sitting
+by his side in judgment on the little differences that arise
+among themselves. If they cannot determine the cause, or the
+dispute be with one of a separate village, the neighbouring
+proattins of the same tribe meet for the purpose. From these
+litigations arise some small emoluments to the dupati, whose
+dignity in other respects is rather an expense than an advantage.
+In the erection of public works, such as the ballei or town hall,
+he contributes a larger share of materials. He receives and
+entertains all strangers, his dependants furnishing their quotas
+of provision on particular occasions; and their hospitality is
+such that food and lodging are never refused to those by whom
+they are required.</p>
+
+<p>SUCCESSION OF DUPATIS.</p>
+
+<p>Though the rank of dupati is not strictly hereditary the son,
+when of age and capable, generally succeeds the father at his
+decease: if too young, the father's brother, or such one of the
+family as appears most qualified, assumes the post; not as a
+regent but in his own right; and the minor comes in perhaps at
+the next vacancy. If this settlement happens to displease any
+portion of the inhabitants they determine amongst themselves what
+chief they will follow, and remove to his village, or a few
+families, separating themselves from the rest, elect a chief, but
+without contesting the right of him whom they leave. The chiefs,
+when nominated, do not however assume the title of dupati until
+confirmed by the pangeran, or by the Company's Resident. On every
+river there is at least one superior proattin, termed a pambarab,
+who is chosen by the rest and has the right or duty of presiding
+at those suits and festivals in which two or more villages are
+concerned, with a larger allotment of the fines, and (like
+Homer's distinguished heroes) of the provisions also. If more
+tribes than one are settled on the same river each has usually
+its pambarab. Not only the rivers or districts but indeed each
+dusun is independent of, though not unconnected with, its
+neighbours, acting in concert with them by specific consent.</p>
+
+<p>INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEANS.</p>
+
+<p>The system of government among the people near the sea-coast,
+who, towards the southern extreme of the island, are the planters
+of pepper, is much influenced by the power of the Europeans, who
+are virtually the lords paramount, and exercise in fact many of
+the functions of sovereignty. The advantages derived to the
+subject from their sway, both in a political and civil sense, are
+infinitely greater than persons at a distance are usually
+inclined to suppose. Oppressions may be some times complained of
+at the hands of individuals, but, to the honour of the Company's
+service let me add, they have been very rare and of
+inconsiderable magnitude. Where a degree of discretionary power
+is intrusted to single persons abuses will, in the nature of
+things, arise in some instances; cases may occur in which the
+private passions of the Resident will interfere with his public
+duty; but the door has ever been open for redress, and examples
+have been made. To destroy this influence and authority in order
+to prevent these consequences were to cut off a limb in order to
+remove a partial complaint. By the Company's power the districts
+over which it extends are preserved in uninterrupted peace. Were
+it not for this power every dusun of every river would be at war
+with its neighbour. The natives themselves allow it, and it was
+evinced, even in the short space of time during which the English
+were absent from the coast, in a former war with France.
+Hostilities of district against district, so frequent among the
+independent nations to the northward, are, within the Company's
+jurisdiction, things unheard of; and those dismal catastrophes
+which in all the Malayan islands are wont to attend on private
+feuds but very rarely happen. "I tell you honestly," said a
+dupati, much irritated against one of his neighbours, "that it is
+only you," pointing to the Resident of Laye, "that prevents my
+plunging this weapon into his breast." The Resident is also
+considered as the protector of the people from the injustice and
+oppression of the chiefs. This oppression, though not carried on
+in the way of open force, which the ill-defined nature of their
+authority would not support, is scarcely less grievous to the
+sufferer. Expounders of the law, and deeply versed in the
+chicanery of it, they are ever lying in wait to take advantage of
+the necessitous and ignorant, till they have stripped them of
+their property, their family, and their personal liberty. To
+prevent these practices the partial administration of justice in
+consequence of bribes, the subornation of witnesses, and the like
+iniquities, a continual exertion of the Resident's attention and
+authority is required, and, as that authority is accidentally
+relaxed, the country falls into confusion.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that this interference is not strictly consonant
+with the spirit of the original contracts entered into by the
+Company with the native chiefs, who, in consideration of
+protection from their enemies, regular purchase of the produce of
+their country, and a gratuity to themselves proportioned to the
+quantity of that produce, undertake on their part to oblige their
+dependants to plant pepper, to refrain from the use of opium, the
+practice of gaming, and other vicious excesses, and to punish
+them in case of non-compliance. But, however prudent or equal
+these contracts might have been at the time their form was
+established, a change of circumstances, the gradual and necessary
+increase of the Company's sway which the peace and good of the
+country required, and the tacit consent of the chiefs themselves
+(among whom the oldest living have never been used to regard the
+Company, who have conferred on them their respective dignities,
+as their equals, or as trading in their districts upon
+sufferance), have long antiquated them; and custom and experience
+have introduced in their room an influence on one side, and a
+subordination on the other, more consistent with the power of the
+Company and more suitable to the benefits derived from the
+moderate and humane exercise of that power. Prescription has
+given its sanction to this change, and the people have submitted
+to it without murmuring, as it was introduced not suddenly but
+with the natural course of events, and bettered the condition of
+the whole while it tended to curb the rapacity of the few. Then
+let not short-sighted or designing persons, upon false principles
+of justice, or ill-digested notions of liberty, rashly endeavour
+to overturn a scheme of government, doubtless not perfect, but
+which seems best adapted to the circumstances it has respect to,
+and attended with the fewest disadvantages. Let them not vainly
+exert themselves to procure redress of imaginary grievances, for
+persons who complain not, or to infuse a spirit of freedom and
+independence, in a climate where nature possibly never intended
+they should flourish, and which, if obtained, would apparently be
+attended with effects that all their advantages would badly
+compensate.</p>
+
+<p>GOVERNMENT IN PASSUMMAH.</p>
+
+<p>In Passummah, which nearly borders upon Rejang, to the
+southward, there appears some difference in the mode of
+government, though the same spirit pervades both; the chiefs
+being equally without a regular coercive power, and the people
+equally free in the choice of whom they will serve. This is an
+extensive and comparatively populous country, bounded on the
+north by that of Lamattang, and on the south-east by that of
+Lampong, the river of Padang-guchi marking the division from the
+latter, near the sea-coast. It is distinguished into Passummah
+lebbar, or the broad, which lies inland, extending to within a
+day's journey of Muaro Mulang, on Palembang River; and Passummah
+ulu Manna, which is on the western side of the range of hills,
+whither the inhabitants are said to have mostly removed in order
+to avoid the government of Palembang.</p>
+
+<p>It is governed by four pangerans, who are independent of each
+other but acknowledge a kind of sovereignty in the sultan of
+Palembang, from whom they hold a chap (warrant) and receive a
+salin (investiture) on their accession. This subordination is the
+consequence of the king of Bantam's former influence over this
+part of the island, Palembang being a port anciently dependent on
+him, and now on the Dutch, whose instrument the sultan is. There
+is an inferior pangeran in almost every dusun (that title being
+nearly as common in Passummah as dupati towards the sea-coast)
+who are chosen by the inhabitants, and confirmed by the superior
+pangeran, whom they assist in the determination of causes. In the
+low country, where the pepper-planters reside, the title of
+kalippah prevails; which is a corruption of the Arabic word
+khalifah, signifying a vicegerent. Each of these presides over
+various tribes, which have been collected at different times
+(some of them being colonists from Rejang, as well as from a
+country to the eastward of them, named Haji) and have ranged
+themselves, some under one and some under another chief; having
+also their superior proattin, or pambarab, as in the northern
+districts. On the rivers of Peeno, Manna, and Bankannon are two
+kalippahs respectively, some of whom are also pangerans, which
+last seems to be here rather a title of honour, or family
+distinction, than of magistracy. They are independent of each
+other, owning no superior; and their number, according to the
+ideas of the people, cannot be increased.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-12"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 12.</h3>
+
+<p><b>LAWS AND CUSTOMS. MODE OF DECIDING CAUSES.<br>
+CODE OF LAWS.</b></p>
+
+<p>LAWS OR CUSTOMS.</p>
+
+<p>There is no word in the languages of the island which properly
+and strictly signifies law; nor is there any person or class of
+persons among the Rejangs regularly invested with a legislative
+power. They are governed in their various disputes by a set of
+long-established customs (adat), handed down to them from their
+ancestors, the authority of which is founded on usage and general
+consent. The chiefs, in pronouncing their decisions, are not
+heard to say, "so the law directs," but "such is the custom." It
+is true that, if any case arises for which there is no precedent
+on record (of memory), they deliberate and agree on some mode
+that shall serve as a rule in future similar circumstances. If
+the affair be trifling that is seldom objected to; but when it is
+a matter of consequence the pangeran, or kalippah (in places
+where such are present), consults with the proattins, or lower
+order of chiefs, who frequently desire time to consider of it,
+and consult with the inhabitants of their dusun. When the point
+is thus determined the people voluntarily submit to observe it as
+an established custom; but they do not acknowledge a right in the
+chiefs to constitute what laws they think proper, or to repeal or
+alter their ancient usages, of which they are extremely tenacious
+and jealous. It is notwithstanding true that, by the influence of
+the Europeans, they have at times been prevailed on to submit to
+innovations in their customs; but, except when they perceived a
+manifest advantage from the change, they have generally seized an
+opportunity of reverting to the old practice.</p>
+
+<p>MODE OF DECIDING CAUSES.</p>
+
+<p>All causes, both civil and criminal, are determined by the
+several chiefs of the district, assembled together at stated
+times for the purpose of distributing justice. These meetings are
+called becharo (which signifies also to discourse or debate), and
+among us, by an easy corruption, bechars. Their manner of
+settling litigations in points of property is rather a species of
+arbitration, each party previously binding himself to submit to
+the award, than the exertion of a coercive power possessed by the
+court for the redress of wrongs.</p>
+
+<p>The want of a written criterion of the laws and the imperfect
+stability of traditionary usage must frequently, in the
+intricacies of their suits, give rise to contradictory decisions;
+particularly as the interests and passions of the chiefs are but
+too often concerned in the determination of the causes that come
+before them.</p>
+
+<p>COMPILATION OF LAWS.</p>
+
+<p>This evil had long been perceived by the English Residents,
+who, in the countries where we are settled, preside at the
+bechars, and, being instigated by the splendid example of the
+Governor-general of Bengal (Mr. Hastings), under whose direction
+a code of the laws of that empire was compiled (and translated by
+Mr. Halhed), it was resolved that the servants of the Company at
+each of the subordinates should, with the assistance of the
+ablest and most experienced of the natives, attempt to reduce to
+writing and form a system of the usages of the Sumatrans in their
+respective residencies. This was accordingly executed in some
+instances, and, a translation of that compiled in the residency
+of Laye coming into my possession, I insert it here, in the
+original form, as being attended with more authority and
+precision than any account furnished from my own memorandums
+could pretend to.</p>
+
+<p>REJANG LAWS.</p>
+
+<p>For the more regular and impartial administration of justice
+in the Residency of Laye, the laws and customs of the Rejangs,
+hitherto preserved by tradition, are now, after being discussed,
+amended, and ratified, in an assembly of the pangeran, pambarabs,
+and proattins, committed to writing in order that they may not be
+liable to alteration; that those deserving death or fine may meet
+their reward; that causes may be brought before the proper
+judges, and due amends made for defaults; that the compensation
+for murder may be fully paid; that property may be equitably
+divided; that what is borrowed may be restored; that gifts may
+become the undoubted property of the receiver; that debts may be
+paid and credits received agreeably to the customs that have been
+ever in force beneath the heavens and on the face of the earth.
+By the observance of the laws a country is made to flourish, and
+where they are neglected or violated ruin ensues.</p>
+
+<p>BECHARS, SUITS, OR TRIALS.</p>
+
+<p>PROCESS IN SUITS.</p>
+
+<p>The plaintiff and defendant first state to the bench the
+general circumstances of the case. If their accounts differ, and
+they consent to refer the matter to the decision of the proattins
+or bench, each party is to give a token, to the value of a suku,
+that he will abide by it, and to find security for the chogo, a
+sum stated to them, supposed to exceed the utmost probable
+damages.</p>
+
+<p>If the chogo do not exceed 30 dollars the bio or fee paid by each is 1 1/4 dollars.<br>
+If the chogo do not exceed 30 to 50 dollars the bio or fee paid by each is 2 1/2 dollars.<br>
+If the chogo do not exceed 50 to 100 dollars the bio or fee paid by each is 5 dollars.<br>
+If the chogo do not exceed 100 dollars and upwards the bio or fee paid by each is 9 dollars.</p>
+
+<p>All chiefs of dusuns, or independent tallangs, are entitled to
+a seat on the bench upon trials.</p>
+
+<p>If the pangeran sits at the bechar he is entitled to one half
+of all bio, and of such fines, or shares of fines, as fall to the
+chiefs, the pambarabs, and other proattins dividing the
+remainder.</p>
+
+<p>If the pangeran be not present the pambarabs have one-third,
+and the other proattins two-thirds of the foregoing. Though a
+single pambarab only sit he is equally entitled to the above
+one-third. Of the other proattins five are requisite to make a
+quorum.</p>
+
+<p>No bechar, the chogo of which exceeds five dollars, to be held
+by the proattins, except in the presence of the Company's
+Resident, or his assistant.</p>
+
+<p>If a person maliciously brings a false accusation and it is
+proved such, he is liable to pay a sum equal to that which the
+defendant would have incurred had his design succeeded; which sum
+is to be divided between the defendant and the proattins, half
+and half.</p>
+
+<p>The fine for bearing false witness is twenty dollars and a
+buffalo.</p>
+
+<p>The punishment of perjury is left to the superior powers
+(orang alus). Evidence here is not delivered on previous
+oath.</p>
+
+<p>LAWS OF INHERITANCE.</p>
+
+<p>If the father leaves a will, or declares before witnesses his
+intentions relative to his effects or estate, his pleasure is to
+be followed in the distribution of them amongst his children.</p>
+
+<p>If he dies intestate and without declaring his intentions the
+male children inherit, share and share alike, except that the
+house and pusako (heirlooms, or effects on which, from various
+causes, superstitious value is placed) devolve invariably to the
+eldest.</p>
+
+<p>The mother (if by the mode of marriage termed jujur, which,
+with the other legal terms, will be hereafter explained) and the
+daughters are dependant on the sons.</p>
+
+<p>If a man, married by semando, dies, leaving children, the
+effects remain to the wife and children. If the woman dies, the
+effects remain to the husband and children. If either dies
+leaving no children the family of the deceased is entitled to
+half the effects.</p>
+
+<p>OUTLAWRY.</p>
+
+<p>Any person unwilling to be answerable for the debts or actions
+of his son or other relation under his charge may outlaw him, by
+which he, from that period, relinquishes all family connexion
+with him, and is no longer responsible for his conduct.</p>
+
+<p>The outlaw to be delivered up to the Resident or pangeran,
+accompanied with his writ of outlawry, in duplicate, one copy to
+be lodged with the Resident, and one with the outlaw's
+pambarab.</p>
+
+<p>The person who outlaws must pay all debts to that day.</p>
+
+<p>On amendment, the outlaw may be recalled to his family, they
+paying such debts as he may have contracted whilst outlawed, and
+redeeming his writ by payment of ten dollars and a goat, to be
+divided among the pangeran and pambarabs.</p>
+
+<p>If an outlaw commits murder he is to suffer death.</p>
+
+<p>If murdered, a bangun, or compensation, of fifty dollars, is
+to be paid for him to the pangeran.</p>
+
+<p>If an outlaw wounds a person he becomes a slave to the Company
+or pangeran for three years. If he absconds and is afterwards
+killed no bangun is to be paid for him.</p>
+
+<p>If an outlaw wounds a person and is killed in the scuffle no
+bangun is to be paid for him.</p>
+
+<p>If the relations harbour an outlaw they are held willing to
+redeem him, and become answerable for his debts.</p>
+
+<p>THEFT.</p>
+
+<p>A person convicted of theft pays double the value of the goods
+stolen, with a fine of twenty dollars and a buffalo, if they
+exceed the value of five dollars: if under five dollars the fine
+is five dollars and a goat; the value of the goods still
+doubled.</p>
+
+<p>All thefts under five dollars, and all disputes for property,
+or offences to that amount, may be compromised by the proattins
+whose dependants are concerned.</p>
+
+<p>Neither assertion nor oath of the prosecutor are sufficient
+for conviction without token (chino) of the robbery, namely, some
+article recovered of the goods stolen; or evidence
+sufficient.</p>
+
+<p>If any person, having permission to pass the night in the
+house of another, shall leave it before daybreak, without giving
+notice to the family, he shall be held accountable for any thing
+that may be that night missing.</p>
+
+<p>If a person passing the night in the house of another does not
+commit his effects to the charge of the owner of it, the latter
+is not accountable if they are stolen during the night. If he has
+given them in charge, and the stranger's effects only are lost
+during the night, the owner of the house becomes accountable. If
+effects both of the owner and lodger are stolen, each is to make
+oath to the other that he is not concerned in the robbery, and
+the parties put up with their loss, or retrieve it as they
+can.</p>
+
+<p>Oaths are usually made on the koran, or at the grave of an
+ancestor, according as the Mahometan religion prevails more or
+less. The party intended to be satisfied by the oath generally
+prescribes the mode and purport of it.</p>
+
+<p>BANGUN, OR COMPENSATION FOR MURDER.</p>
+
+<p>
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of a pambarab is 500 dollars.<br>
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of an inferior proattin is 250 dollars.<br>
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of a common person, man or boy, is 80 dollars.<br>
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of a common person, woman or girl, is 150 dollars.<br>
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of the legitimate children or wife of a pambarab is 250 dollars.</p>
+
+<p>Exclusive of the above, a fine of fifty dollars and a buffalo
+as tippong bumi (expiation), is to be paid on the murder of a
+pambarab; of twenty dollars and a buffalo on the murder of any
+other; which goes to the pambarab and proattins.</p>
+
+<p>The bangun of an outlaw is fifty dollars without tippong
+bumi.</p>
+
+<p>No bangun is to be paid for a person killed in the commission
+of a robbery.</p>
+
+<p>The bangun of pambarabs and proattins is to be divided between
+the pangeran and pambarabs one half; and the family of the
+deceased the other half.</p>
+
+<p>The bangun of private persons is to be paid to their families;
+deducting the adat ulasan of ten per cent to the pambarabs and
+proattins.</p>
+
+<p>If a man kills his slave he pays half his price as bangun to
+the pangeran, and the tippong bumi to the proattins.</p>
+
+<p>If a man kills his wife by jujur he pays her bangun to her
+family, or to the proattins, according as the tali kulo subsists
+or not.</p>
+
+<p>If a man kills or wounds his wife by semando he pays the same
+as for a stranger.</p>
+
+<p>If a man wounds his wife by jujur slightly he pays one tail or
+two dollars.</p>
+
+<p>If a man wounds his wife by jujur with a weapon and an
+apparent intention of killing her he pays a fine of twenty
+dollars.</p>
+
+<p>If the tali kulo (tie of relationship) is broken the wife's
+family can no longer claim bangun or fine: they revert to the
+proattins.</p>
+
+<p>If a pambarab wounds his wife by jujur he pays five dollars
+and a goat.</p>
+
+<p>If a pambarab's daughter, married by jujur, is wounded by her
+husband he pays five dollars and a goat.</p>
+
+<p>For a wound occasioning the loss of an eye or limb or imminent
+danger of death half the bangun is to be paid.</p>
+
+<p>For a wound on the head the pampas or compensation is twenty
+dollars.</p>
+
+<p>For other wounds the pampas from twenty dollars downwards.</p>
+
+<p>If a person is carried off and sold beyond the hills the
+offender, if convicted, must pay the bangun. If the person has
+been recovered previous to the trial the offender pays half the
+bangun.</p>
+
+<p>If a man kills his brother he pays to the proattins the
+tippong bumi.</p>
+
+<p>If a wife kills her husband she must suffer death.</p>
+
+<p>If a wife by semando wounds her husband her relations must pay
+what they would receive if he wounded her.</p>
+
+<p>DEBTS AND CREDITS.</p>
+
+<p>DEBTS.</p>
+
+<p>On the death of a person in debt (unless he die an outlaw, or
+married byambel-anak) his nearest relation becomes accountable to
+the creditors.</p>
+
+<p>Of a person married by ambel-anak the family he married into
+is answerable for debts contracted during the marriage: such as
+were previous to it his relations must pay.</p>
+
+<p>A father, or head of a family, has hitherto been in all cases
+liable to the debts of his sons, or younger relations under his
+care; but to prevent as much as possible his suffering by their
+extravagance it is now resolved:</p>
+
+<p>That if a young unmarried man (bujang) borrows money, or
+purchases goods without the concurrence of his father, or of the
+head of his family, the parent shall not be answerable for the
+debt. Should the son use his father's name in borrowing it shall
+be at the lender's risk if the father disavows it.</p>
+
+<p>If any person gives credit to the debtor of another (publicly
+known as such, either in the state of mengiring, when the whole
+of his labour belongs to the creditor, or of be-blah, when it is
+divided) the latter creditor can neither disturb the debtor for
+the sum nor oblige the former to pay it. He must either pay the
+first debt (membulati, consolidate) or let his claim lie over
+till the debtor finds means to discharge it.</p>
+
+<p>Interest of money has hitherto been three fanams per dollar
+per month, or one hundred and fifty per cent per annum. It is now
+reduced to one fanam, or fifty per cent per annum, and no person
+is to receive more, under penalty of fine, according to the
+circumstances of the case.</p>
+
+<p>No more than double the principal can in any case be recovered
+at law. A person lending money at interest, and letting it lie
+over beyond two years, loses the surplus.</p>
+
+<p>No pepper-planter to be taken as a debtor mengiring, under
+penalty of forty dollars.</p>
+
+<p>A planter in debt may engage in any work for hire that does
+not interfere with the care of his garden, but must on no account
+mengiring, even though his creditor offers to become answerable
+for the care of his garden.</p>
+
+<p>If a debtor mengiring absconds from his master (or creditor,
+who has a right to his personal service) without leave of absence
+he is liable to an increase of debt at the rate of three fanams
+per day. Females have been hitherto charged six fanams, but are
+now put upon a footing the same as the men.</p>
+
+<p>If a debtor mengiring, without security, runs away, his debt
+is liable to be doubled if he is absent above a week.</p>
+
+<p>If a man takes a person mengiring, without security for the
+debt, should the debtor die in that predicament the creditor
+loses his money, having no claim on the relations for it.</p>
+
+<p>If a person takes up money under promise of mengiring at a
+certain period, should he not perform his agreement he must pay
+interest for the money at one fanam per dollar per month.</p>
+
+<p>If a person, security for another, is obliged to pay the debt
+he is entitled to demand double from the debtor; but this claim
+to be moderated according to circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>If a person sues for a debt which is denied the onus probandi
+lies with the plaintiff. If he fails in proof the defendant, on
+making oath to the justness of his denial, shall be
+acquitted.</p>
+
+<p>If a debtor taking care of a pepper garden, or one that gives
+half produce to his creditor (be-blah), neglects it, the person
+in whose debt he is must hire a man to do the necessary work; and
+the hire so paid shall be added to the debt. Previous notice
+shall however be given to the debtor, that he may if he pleases
+avoid the payment of the hire by doing the work himself.</p>
+
+<p>If a person's slave, or debtor mengiring, be carried off and
+sold beyond the hills the offender is liable to the bangun, if a
+debtor, or to his price, if a slave. Should the person be
+recovered the offender is liable to a fine of forty dollars, of
+which the person that recovers him has half, and the owner or
+creditor the remainder. If the offender be not secured the reward
+shall be only five dollars to the person that brings the slave,
+and three dollars the debtor, if on this side the hills; if from
+beyond the hills the reward is doubled.</p>
+
+<p>LAWS REGARDING MARRIAGE.</p>
+
+<p>The modes of marriage prevailing hitherto have been
+principally by jujur, or by ambel-anak, the Malay semando being
+little used. The obvious ill consequences of the two former, from
+the debt or slavery they entailed upon the man that married, and
+the endless lawsuits they gave rise to, have at length induced
+the chiefs to concur in their being as far as possible laid
+aside; adopting in lieu of them the semando malayo, or mardiko,
+which they now strongly recommend to their dependants as free
+from the encumbrances of the other modes, and tending, by
+facilitating marriage, and the consequent increase of population,
+to promote the welfare of their country. Unwilling, however, to
+abolish arbitrarily a favourite custom of their ancestors,
+marriage by jujur is still permitted to take place, but under
+such restrictions as will, it is hoped, effectually counteract
+its hitherto pernicious consequences. Marriage by ambel-anak,
+which rendered a man and his descendants the property of the
+family he married into, is now prohibited, and none permitted for
+the future, but, by semando, or jujur, subject to the following
+regulations.</p>
+
+<p>The jujur of a virgin (gadis) has been hitherto one hundred
+and twenty dollars: the adat annexed to it have been
+tulis-tanggil, fifteen dollars; upah daun kodo, six dollars, and
+tali kulo, five dollars:</p>
+
+<p>The jujur of a widow, eighty dollars, without the adat; unless
+her children by the former marriage went with her, in which case
+the jujur gadis was paid in full.</p>
+
+<p>It is now determined that, on a man's giving his daughter in
+marriage by jujur for the future, there shall, in lieu of the
+above, be fixed a sum not exceeding one hundred and fifty
+dollars, to be in full for jujur and all adat whatever. That this
+sum shall, when the marriage takes place, be paid upon the spot;
+that if credit is given for the whole, or any part, it shall not
+be recoverable by course of law; and as the sum includes the tali
+kulo, or bond of relationship, the wife thereby becomes the
+absolute property of the husband. The marriage by jujur being
+thus rendered equivalent to actual sale, and the difficulty
+enhanced by the necessity of paying the full price upon the spot,
+it is probable that the custom will in a great measure cease,
+and, though not positively, be virtually abolished. Nor can a
+lawsuit follow from any future jujur.</p>
+
+<p>The adat, or custom, of the semando malayo or mardiko, to be
+paid by the husband to the wife's family upon the marriage taking
+place, is fixed at twenty dollars and a buffalo, for such as can
+afford it; and at ten dollars and a goat, for the poorer class of
+people.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever may be acquired by either party during the
+subsistence of the marriage becomes joint property, and they are
+jointly liable to debts incurred, if by mutual consent. Should
+either contract debts without the knowledge and consent of the
+other the party that contracts must alone bear them in case of a
+divorce.</p>
+
+<p>If either party insists upon, or both agree in it, a divorce
+must follow. No other power can separate them. The effects,
+debts, and credits in all cases to be equally divided. If the man
+insists upon the divorce he pays a charo of twenty dollars to the
+wife's family, if he obtained her a virgin; if a widow, ten
+dollars. If the woman insists on the divorce no charo is to be
+paid. If both agree in it the man pays half the charo.</p>
+
+<p>If a man married by semando dies--Vide Inheritance.</p>
+
+<p>If a man carries off a woman with her consent, and is willing
+either to pay her price at once by jujur, or marry her by
+semando, as the father or relations please, they cannot reclaim
+the woman, and the marriage takes place.</p>
+
+<p>If a man carries off a girl under age (which is determined by
+her not having her ears bored and teeth filed--bulum bertinde
+berdabong), though with her own consent, he pays, exclusive of
+the adat jujur, or semando, twenty dollars if she be the daughter
+of a pambarab, and ten dollars for the daughter of any other,
+whether the marriage takes place or not.</p>
+
+<p>If a risau, or person without property and character, carries
+off a woman (though with her own consent) and can neither pay the
+jujur, nor adat semando, the marriage shall not take place, but
+the man be fined five dollars and a goat for misdemeanour. If she
+be under age, his fine ten dollars and a goat.</p>
+
+<p>If a man has but one daughter, whom, to keep her near him, he
+wishes to give in marriage by semando; should a man carry her
+off, he shall not be allowed to keep her by jujur, though he
+offer the money upon the spot. If he refuses to marry her by
+semando, no marriage takes place, and he incurs a fine to the
+father of ten dollars and a goat.</p>
+
+<p>If a man carries off a woman under pretence of marriage he
+must lodge her immediately with some reputable family. If he
+carries her elsewhere, for a single night he incurs a fine of
+fifty dollars, payable to her parents or relations.</p>
+
+<p>If a man carries off a virgin against her inclination
+(me-ulih) he incurs a fine of twenty dollars and a buffalo: if a
+widow, ten dollars and a goat, and the marriage does not take
+place. If he commits a rape, and the parents do not choose to
+give her to him in marriage, he incurs a fine of fifty
+dollars.</p>
+
+<p>The adat libei, or custom of giving one woman in exchange for
+another taken in marriage, being a modification of the jujur, is
+still admitted of; but if the one be not deemed an equivalent for
+the other the necessary compensation (as the pangalappang, for
+nonage) must be paid upon the spot, or it is not recoverable by
+course of law. If a virgin is carried off (te-lari gadis) and
+another is given in exchange for her, by adat libei, twelve
+dollars must be paid with the latter as adat ka-salah.</p>
+
+<p>A man married by ambel-anak may redeem himself and family on
+payment of the jujur and adat of a virgin before-mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>The charo of a jujur marriage is twenty-five dollars. If the
+jujur be not yet paid in full and the man insists on a divorce he
+receives back what he has paid, less twenty-five dollars. If the
+woman insists no charo can be claimed by her relations. If the
+tali kulo is putus (broken) the wife is the husband's property
+and he may sell her if he pleases.</p>
+
+<p>If a man compels a female debtor of his to cohabit with him
+her debt, if the fact be proved, is thereby discharged, if forty
+dollars and upwards: if under forty the debt is cleared and he
+pays the difference. If she accuses her master falsely of this
+offence her debt is doubled. If he cohabits with her by her
+consent her parents may compel him to marry her, either by jujur
+or semando, as they please.</p>
+
+<p>If an unmarried woman proves with child the man against whom
+the fact is proved must marry her; and they pay to the proattins
+a joint fine of twenty dollars and a buffalo. This fine, if the
+parties agree to it, may be levied in the country by the
+neighbouring proattins (without bringing it before the regular
+court).</p>
+
+<p>If a woman proves with child by a relation within the
+prohibited degrees they pay to the proattins a joint fine of
+twice fifty dollars and two buffaloes (hukum duo akup).</p>
+
+<p>A marriage must not take place between relations within the
+third degree, or tungal nene. But there are exceptions for the
+descendants of females who, passing into other families, become
+as strangers. Of two brothers, the children may not intermarry. A
+sister's son may marry a brother's daughter; but a brother's son
+may not marry a sister's daughter.</p>
+
+<p>If relations within the prohibited degrees intermarry they
+incur a fine of twice fifty dollars and two buffaloes, and the
+marriage is not valid.</p>
+
+<p>On the death of a man married by jujur or purchase, any of his
+brothers, the eldest in preference, if he pleases, may succeed to
+his bed. If no brother chooses it they may give the woman in
+marriage to any relation on the father's side, without adat, the
+person who marries her replacing the deceased (mangabalu). If no
+relation takes her and she is given in marriage to a stranger he
+may be either adopted into the family to replace the deceased,
+without adot, or he may pay her jujur, or take her by semando, as
+her relations please.</p>
+
+<p>If a person lies with a man's wife by force he is deserving of
+death; but may redeem his head by payment of the bangun, eighty
+dollars, to be divided between the husband and proattins.</p>
+
+<p>If a man surprises his wife in the act of adultery he may put
+both man and woman to death upon the spot, without being liable
+to any bangun. If he kills the man and spares his wife he must
+redeem her life by payment of fifty dollars to the proattins. If
+the husband spares the offender, or has only information of the
+fact from other persons, he may not afterwards kill him, but has
+his remedy at law, the fine for adultery being fifty dollars, to
+be divided between the husband and the proattins. If he divorces
+his wife on this account he pays no charo.</p>
+
+<p>If a younger sister be first married, the husband pays six
+dollars, adat pelalu, for passing over the elder.</p>
+
+<p>GAMING.</p>
+
+<p>All gaming, except cock-fighting at stated periods, is
+absolutely prohibited. The fine for each offence is fifty
+dollars. The person in whose house it is carried on, if with his
+knowledge, is equally liable to the fine with the gamesters. A
+proattin knowing of gaming in his dusun and concealing it incurs
+a fine of twenty dollars. One half of the fines goes to the
+informer, the other to the Company, to be distributed among the
+industrious planters at the yearly payment of the customs.</p>
+
+<p>OPIUM FARM.</p>
+
+<p>The fine for the retailing of opium by any other than the
+person who farms the license is fifty dollars for each offence:
+one half to the farmer, and the other to the informer.</p>
+
+<p>EXECUTIVE POWER.</p>
+
+<p>The executive power for enforcing obedience to these laws and
+customs, and for preserving the peace of the country, is, with
+the concurrence of the pangeran and proattins, vested in the
+Company's Resident.</p>
+
+<p>Done at Laye, in the month Rabia-al akhir, in the year of the
+Hejra 1193, answering to April 1779.</p>
+
+<p>JOHN MARSDEN, Resident.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+<p>LAWS OR ADAT OF MANNA.</p>
+
+<p>Having procured likewise a copy of the regulations sanctioned
+by the chiefs of the Passummah country assembled at Manna, I do
+not hesitate to insert it, not only as varying in many
+circumstances from the preceding, but because it may eventually
+prove useful to record the document.</p>
+
+<p>INHERITANCE.</p>
+
+<p>If a person dies having children these inherit his effects in
+equal portions, and become answerable for the debts of the
+deceased. If any of his brothers survive they may be permitted to
+share with their nephews, but rather as matter of courtesy than
+of right, and only when the effects of the deceased devolved to
+him from his father or grandfather. If he was a man of rank it is
+common for the son who succeeds him in title to have a larger
+share. This succession is not confined to the eldest born but
+depends much on private agreement in the family. If the deceased
+person leaves no kindred behind him the tribe to which he
+belonged shall inherit his effects, and be answerable for his
+debts.</p>
+
+<p>DEBTS.</p>
+
+<p>When a debt becomes due and the debtor is unable to pay his
+creditors, or has no effects to deposit, he shall himself, or his
+wife, or his children, live with the creditor as a bond-slave or
+slaves until redeemed by the payment of the debt.</p>
+
+<p>If a debt is contracted without any promise of interest none
+shall be demanded, although the debt be not paid until some time
+after it first became due. The rate of interest is settled at
+twenty per cent per annum; but in all suits relating to debts on
+interest, how long soever they may have been outstanding, the
+creditor shall not be entitled to more interest than may amount
+to a sum equal to the capital: if the debt is recent it shall be
+calculated as above. If any person lends to another a sum
+exceeding twenty-five dollars and sues for payment before the
+chiefs he shall be entitled only to one year's interest on the
+sum lent. If money is lent to the owner of a padi-plantation, on
+an agreement to pay interest in grain, and after the harvest is
+over the borrower omits to pay the stipulated quantity, the
+lender shall be entitled to receive at the rate of fifteen
+dollars for ten lent; and if the omission should be repeated
+another season the lender shall be entitled to receive double the
+principal. In all cases of debt contested the onus probandi lies
+with the demandant, who must make good his claim by creditable
+evidence, or in default thereof the respondent may by oath clear
+himself from the debt. On the other hand, if the respondent
+allows such a debt to have existed but asserts a previous
+payment, it rests with him to prove such payment by proper
+evidence, or in defect the demandant shall by oath establish his
+debt.</p>
+
+<p>EVIDENCE AND OATHS.</p>
+
+<p>EVIDENCE.</p>
+
+<p>In order to be deemed a competent and unexceptionable evidence
+person must be of a different family and dusun from the person in
+whose behalf he gives evidence, of good character, and a free
+man: but if the dispute be between two inhabitants of the same
+dusun persons of such dusun are allowed to be complete evidence.
+In respect to the oath taken by the principals in a dispute the
+hukuman (or comprehensive quality of the oath) depends on the
+nature of the property in dispute: if it relates to the effects
+of the grandfather the hukuman must extend to the descendants
+from the grandfather; if it relates to the effects of the father
+it extends to the descendants of the father, etc. If any of the
+parties proposed to be included in the operation of the oath
+refuse to subject themselves to the oath the principal in the
+suit loses his cause.</p>
+
+<p>PAWNS OR PLEDGES.</p>
+
+<p>If any person holding a pawn or pledge such as
+wearing-apparel, household effects, or krises, swords, or kujur
+(lances), shall pledge it for a larger sum than he advanced for
+it, he shall be answerable to the owner for the full value of it,
+on payment of the sum originally advanced. If any person holding
+as a pledge man, woman, or child shall pledge them to any other
+at an advanced sum, or without the knowledge of the owner, and by
+these means the person pledged should be sold as a slave, he
+shall make good to the owner the full value of such slave, and
+pay a fine of twenty-eight dollars. If any person whatever
+holding man, woman, or child as a pawn, either with janji lalu
+(term expired) or not, or with or without the consent of the
+original owner, shall sell such person as a slave without the
+knowledge of the Resident and Chiefs, he shall be fined
+twenty-eight dollars.</p>
+
+<p>BUFFALOES.</p>
+
+<p>CATTLE.</p>
+
+<p>All persons who keep buffaloes shall register at the godong
+(factory&shy;house) their tingas or mark; and, in case any
+dispute shall arise about a marked buffalo, no person shall be
+allowed to plead a mark that is not registered. If any wild
+(stray) buffalo or buffaloes, unmarked, shall be taken in a
+kandang (staked inclosure) they shall be adjudged the property of
+any who takes upon himself to swear to them; and, if it should
+happen that two or more persons insist upon swearing to the same
+buffaloes, they shall be divided among them equally. If no
+individual will swear to the property the buffaloes are to be
+considered as belonging to the kalippah or magistrate of the
+district where they were caught. The person who takes any
+buffaloes in his kandang shall be entitled to a gratuity of two
+dollars per head. If any buffaloes get into a pepper-garden,
+either by day or night, the owner of the garden shall have
+liberty to kill them, without being answerable to the owner of
+the buffaloes: yet, if it shall appear on examination that the
+garden was not properly fenced, and from this defect suffers
+damage, the owner shall be liable to such fine as the Resident
+and Chiefs shall judge it proper to impose.</p>
+
+<p>THEFT.</p>
+
+<p>A person convicted of stealing money, wearing-apparel,
+household effects, arms, or the like shall pay the owner double
+the value of the goods stolen and be fined twenty-eight dollars.
+A person convicted of stealing slaves shall pay to the owner at
+the rate of eighty dollars per head, which is estimated to be
+double the value, and fined twenty&shy;eight dollars. A person
+convicted of stealing betel, fowls, or coconuts shall pay the
+owner double the value and be fined seven dollars, half of which
+fine is to be received by the owner. If buffaloes are stolen they
+shall be valued at twelve dollars per head: padi at four bakul
+(baskets) for the dollar. If the stolen goods be found in the
+possession of a person who is not able to account satisfactorily
+how he came by them he shall be deemed the guilty person. If a
+person attempting to seize a man in the act of thieving shall get
+hold of any part of his clothes which are known, or his kris or
+siwah, this shall be deemed a sufficient token of the theft. If
+two witnesses can be found who saw the stolen goods in possession
+of a third person such person shall be deemed guilty unless he
+can account satisfactorily how he became possessed of the goods.
+The oath taken by such witnesses shall either include the
+descendants of their father, or simply their own descendants,
+according to the discretion of the chiefs who sit as judges. If
+several people sleep in one house, and one of them leaves the
+house in the night without giving notice to any of the rest, and
+a robbery be committed in the house that night, the person so
+leaving the house shall be deemed guilty of the crime, provided
+the owner of the stolen goods be willing to subject himself to an
+oath on the occasion; and provided the other persons sleeping in
+the house shall clear themselves by oath from being concerned in
+the theft: but if it should happen that a person so convicted,
+being really innocent, should in after time discover the person
+actually guilty, he shall have liberty to bring his suit and
+recover. If several persons are sleeping in a house and a robbery
+is committed that night, although none leave the house the whole
+shall be obliged to make oath that they had no knowledge of, or
+concern in, the theft, or on refusal shall be deemed guilty. In
+all cases of theft where only a part of the stolen goods is found
+the owner must ascertain upon oath the whole amount of his
+loss.</p>
+
+<p>MURDER, WOUNDING, AND ASSAULT.</p>
+
+<p>A person convicted of murder shall pay to the relations of the
+deceased a bangun of eighty-eight dollars, one suku, and
+seventy-five cash; to the chiefs a fine of twenty-eight dollars;
+the bhasa lurah, which is a buffalo and one hundred bamboos of
+rice; and the palantan, which is fourteen dollars. If a son kills
+his father, or a father his son, or a man kills his brother, he
+shall pay a fine of twenty-eight dollars, and the bhasa lurah as
+above. If a man kills his wife the relations of the deceased
+shall receive half a bangun: if any other kills a man's wife the
+husband is entitled to the bangun, but shall pay out of it to the
+relations of the wife ten dollars. In wounds a distinction is
+made in the parts of the body. A wound in any part from the hips
+upward is esteemed more considerable than in the lower parts. If
+a person wounds another with sword, kris, kujur, or other weapon,
+and the wound is considerable, so as to maim him, he shall pay to
+the person wounded a half-bangun, and to the chiefs half of the
+fine for murder, with half of the bhasa lurah, etc. If the wound
+is trifling but fetches blood he shall pay the person wounded the
+tepong of fourteen dollars, and be fined fourteen dollars. If a
+person wounds another with a stick, bamboo, etc., he shall simply
+pay the tepong of fourteen dollars. If in any dispute between two
+people krises are drawn the person who first drew his kris shall
+be fined fourteen dollars. If any person having a dispute
+assembles together his friends with arms, he shall be fined
+twenty-eight dollars.</p>
+
+<p>MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, ETC.</p>
+
+<p>MARRIAGE.</p>
+
+<p>There are two modes of marriage used here: one by purchase,
+called jujur or kulu, the other by adoption, called ambel anak.
+First of jujur.</p>
+
+<p>JUJUR.</p>
+
+<p>When a person is desirous of marrying he deposits a sum of
+money in the hands of the father of the virgin, which is called
+the pagatan. This sum is not esteemed part of the purchase, but
+as an equivalent for the dandanan (paraphernalia, or ornamental
+apparel) of the bride, and is not fixed but varies according to
+the circumstances and rank of the father. The amount of the jujur
+is fixed at seventy dollars, including the hurup niawa (price of
+life), forty dollars, a kris with gold about the head and silver
+about the sheath, valued at ten dollars, and the meniudakan billi
+or putus kulo (completion of purchase) at twenty. If a young man
+runs away with a gadis or virgin without the consent of the
+father he does not act contrary to the laws of the country; but
+if he refuses to pay the full jujur on demand he shall be fined
+twenty&shy;eight dollars. If the father, having received the
+pagatan of one man, marries his daughter to another before he
+returns the money to the first, he shall be fined fourteen
+dollars, and the man who marries the daughter shall also be fined
+fourteen dollars. In case of divorce (which may take place at the
+will of either party) the dandanan brought by the wife is to be
+valued and to be deducted from the purchase-money. If a divorce
+originates from the man, and before the whole purchase&shy;money
+is paid, the man shall receive back what he has advanced after
+deducting the dandanan as above, and fourteen dollars, called
+penusutan. If the divorce originates with the woman the whole
+purchase-money shall be returned, and the children, if any,
+remain with the father. If a divorce originates with the man,
+when the whole purchase-money has been paid, or kulo sudah putus,
+he shall not be entitled to receive back the purchase-money, but
+may recall his wife whenever it shall be agreeable to him. An
+exact estimation is made of the value of the woman's ornaments,
+and what are not restored with her must be made good by the
+husband. If there are children they are in this case to be
+divided, or if there be only one the husband is to allow the
+woman fifteen dollars, and to take the child. Secondly, of ambel
+anak.</p>
+
+<p>AMBEL ANAK.</p>
+
+<p>When a man marries after the custom called ambel anak he pays
+no money to the father of the bride, but becomes one of his
+family, and is entirely upon the footing of a son, the father of
+his wife being thenceforward answerable for his debts, etc., in
+the same manner as for his own children. The married man becomes
+entirely separate from his original family, and gives up his
+right of inheritance. It is however in the power of the father of
+the wife to divorce from her his adopted son whenever he thinks
+proper, in which case the husband is not entitled to any of the
+children, nor to any effects other than simply the clothes on his
+back: but if the wife is willing still to live with him, and he
+is able to redeem her and the children by paying the father a
+hundred dollars, it is not at the option of the father to refuse
+accepting this sum; and in that case the marriage becomes a kulo
+or jujur, and is subject to the same rules. If any unmarried
+woman is convicted of incontinence, or a married woman of
+adultery, they shall pay to the chiefs a fine of forty dollars,
+or in defect thereof become slaves, and the man with whom the
+crime was committed shall pay a fine of thirty dollars, or in
+like manner become a slave; and the parties between them shall
+also be at the expense of a buffalo and a hundred bamboos of
+rice. This is called the gawe pati or panjingan. If an unmarried
+woman proves with child and refuses to name the man with whom she
+was guilty she shall pay the whole fine of seventy dollars, and
+furnish the buffalo, etc. If a woman after marriage brings forth
+a child before the due course of nature she shall be fined
+twenty-eight dollars. If a man keeps a young woman in his house
+for any length of time, and has a child by her without being
+regularly married, he shall be fined twenty-eight dollars, and
+furnish a buffalo and a hundred bamboos of rice. If a person
+detects the offenders in the act of adultery, and, attempting to
+seize the man, is obliged to kill him in self-defence, he shall
+not pay the bangun, nor be fined, but only pay the bhasa lurah,
+which is a buffalo and a hundred bamboos of rice. On the other
+hand, if the guilty person kills the one who attempts to seize
+him, he shall be deemed guilty of murder and pay the bangun and
+fine accordingly. If a man holding a woman as a pawn, or in the
+condition of mengiring shall commit fornication with her, he
+shall forfeit his claim to the debt, and the woman become
+free.</p>
+
+<p>OUTLAWRY.</p>
+
+<p>If the members of a family have suffered inconvenience from
+the ill conduct of any of their relations by having been rendered
+answerable for their debts, etc., it shall be in their power to
+clear themselves from all future responsibility on his account by
+paying to the chiefs the sum of thirty dollars, a buffalo, and a
+hundred bamboos of rice. This is termed buang surat. Should the
+person so cast out be afterwards murdered the relations have
+forfeited their right to the bangun, which devolves to the
+chiefs.</p>
+
+<p>Dated at Manna, July 1807.</p>
+
+<p>JOHN CRISP, Resident.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-13"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 13.</h3>
+
+<p><b>REMARKS ON, AND ELUCIDATION OF, THE VARIOUS LAWS AND CUSTOMS.<br>
+MODES OF PLEADING.<br>
+NATURE OF EVIDENCE.<br>
+OATHS.<br>
+INHERITANCE.<br>
+OUTLAWRY.<br>
+THEFT, MURDER, AND COMPENSATION FOR IT.<br>
+ACCOUNT OF A FEUD.<br>
+DEBTS.<br>
+SLAVERY.</b></p>
+
+<p>REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING LAWS.</p>
+
+<p>The foregoing system of the adat, or customs of the country,
+being digested chiefly for the use of the natives, or of persons
+well acquainted with their manners in general, and being
+designed, not for an illustration of the customs, but simply as a
+standard of right, the fewest and concisest terms possible have
+been made use of, and many parts must necessarily be obscure to
+the bulk of readers. I shall therefore revert to those
+particulars that may require explanation, and endeavour to throw
+a light upon the spirit and operation of such of their laws
+especially as seem most to clash with our ideas of distributive
+justice. This comment is the more requisite as it appears that
+some of their regulations, which were judged to be inconsistent
+with the prosperity of the people, were altered and amended
+through the more enlightened reason of the persons who acted as
+the representatives of the English company; and it may be proper
+to recall the idea of the original institutions.</p>
+
+<p>MODE OF PLEADING.</p>
+
+<p>The plaintiff and defendant usually plead their own cause, but
+if circumstances render them unequal to it they are allowed to
+pinjam mulut (borrow a mouth). Their advocate may be a proattin,
+or other person indifferently; nor is there any stated
+compensation for the assistance, though if the cause be gained a
+gratuity is generally given, and too apt to be rapaciously
+exacted by these chiefs from their clients, when their conduct is
+not attentively watched. The proattin also, who is security for
+the damages, receives privately some consideration; but none is
+openly allowed of. A refusal on his part to become security for
+his dependant or client is held to justify the latter in
+renouncing his civil dependence and choosing another patron.</p>
+
+<p>EVIDENCE.</p>
+
+<p>Evidence is used among these people in a manner very different
+from the forms of our courts of justice. They rarely admit it on
+both sides of the question; nor does the witness first make a
+general oath to speak the truth, and nothing but the truth. When
+a fact is to be established, either on the part of the plaintiff
+or of the defendant, he is asked if he can produce any evidence
+to the truth of what he asserts. On answering in the affirmative
+he is directed to mention the person. This witness must not be a
+relation, a party concerned, nor even belong to the same dusun.
+He must be a responsible man, having a family, and a determinate
+place of residence. Thus qualified, his evidence may be admitted.
+They have a settled rule in respect to the party that is to
+produce evidence. For instance; A. sues B. for a debt: B. denies
+the debt: A. is now to bring evidence to the debt, or, on failure
+thereof, it remains with B. to clear himself of the debt by
+swearing himself not indebted. Had B. acknowledged that such a
+debt had formerly subsisted but was since paid, it would be
+incumbent on B. to prove the payment by evidence, or on failure
+it would rest with A. to confirm the debt's being still due, by
+his oath. This is an invariable mode, observed in all cases of
+property.</p>
+
+<p>OATHS.</p>
+
+<p>As their manner of giving evidence differs from ours so also
+does the nature of an oath among them differ from our idea of it.
+In many cases it is requisite that they should swear to what it
+is not possible in the nature of things they should know to be
+true. A. sues B. for a debt due from the father or grandfather of
+B. to the father or grandfather of A. The original parties are
+dead and no witness of the transaction survives. How is the
+matter to be decided? It remains with B. to make oath that his
+father or grandfather never was indebted to those of A.; or that
+if he was indebted the debt had been paid. This, among us, would
+be esteemed a very strange method of deciding causes; but among
+these people something of the kind is absolutely necessary. As
+they have no sort of written accounts, nor anything like records
+or registers among them, it would be utterly impossible for the
+plaintiff to establish the debt by a positive proof in a
+multitude of cases; and were the suit to be dismissed at once, as
+with us, for want of such proof, numbers of innocent persons
+would lose the debts really due to them through the knavery of
+the persons indebted, who would scarce ever fail to deny a debt.
+On the side of the defendant again; if he was not permitted to
+clear himself of the debt by oath, but that it rested with the
+plaintiff only to establish the fact by a single oath, there
+would be a set of unprincipled fellows daily swearing debts
+against persons who never were indebted to any of their
+generation. In such suits, and there are many of them, it
+requires no small discernment to discover, by the attendant
+circumstances, where the truth lies; but this may be done in most
+instances by a person who is used to their manners and has a
+personal knowledge of the parties concerned. But what they mean
+by their oath, in those cases where it is impossible they should
+be acquainted with the facts they design to prove, is no more
+than this; that they are so convinced of the truth of the matter
+as to be willing to subject themselves to the paju sumpah
+(destructive consequences of perjury) if what they assert is
+believed by them to be false. The form of words used is nearly as
+follows: "If what I now declare, namely" (here the fact is
+recited) "is truly and really so, may I be freed and clear from
+my oath: if what I assert is wittingly false, may my oath be the
+cause of my destruction." But it may be easily supposed that,
+where the punishment for a false oath rests altogether with the
+invisible powers, where no direct infamy, no corporal punishment
+is annexed to the perjury, there cannot fail to be many who would
+makan sumpah (swallow an oath), and willingly incur the guilt, in
+order to acquire a little of their neighbour's property.</p>
+
+<p>Although an oath, as being an appeal to the superior powers,
+is supposed to come within their cognizance alone, and that it is
+contrary to the spirit of the customs of these people to punish a
+perjury by human means, even if it were clearly detected; yet, so
+far prevalent is the opinion of their interposition in human
+affairs that it is very seldom any man of substance, or who has a
+family that he fears may suffer by it, will venture to forswear
+himself; nor are there wanting apparent examples to confirm them
+in this notion. Any accident that happens to a man who has been
+known to take a false oath, or to his children or grandchildren,
+is carefully recorded in memory, and attributed to this sole
+cause. The dupati of Gunong Selong and his family have afforded
+an instance that is often quoted among the Rejangs, and has
+evidently had great weight. It was notorious that he had, about
+the year 1770, taken in the most solemn manner a false oath. He
+had at that time five sons grown up to manhood. One of them, soon
+after, in a scuffle with some bugis (country soldiers) was
+wounded and died. The dupati the next year lost his life in the
+issue of a disturbance he had raised in the district. Two of the
+sons died afterwards, within a week of each other. Mas Kaddah,
+the fourth, is blind; and Treman, the fifth, lame. All this is
+attributed to, and firmly believed to be the consequence of, the
+father's perjury.</p>
+
+<p>COLLATERAL OATHS.</p>
+
+<p>In administering an oath, if the matter litigated respects the
+property of the grandfather, all the collateral branches of the
+family descended from him are understood to be included in its
+operation: if the father's effects only are concerned, or the
+transaction happened in his lifetime, his descendants are
+included: if the affair regards only the present parties and
+originated with them, they and their immediate descendants only
+are comprehended in the consequences of the oath; and if any
+single one of these descendants refuses to join in the oath it
+vitiates the whole; that is, it has the same effect as if the
+party himself refused to swear; a case that not unfrequently
+occurs. It may be observed that the spirit of this custom tends
+to the requiring a weight of evidence and an increase of the
+importance of the oath in proportion as the distance of time
+renders the fact to be established less capable of proof in the
+ordinary way.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes the difficulty of the case alone will induce the
+court to insist on administering the oath to the relations of the
+parties, although they are nowise concerned in the transaction. I
+recollect an instance where three people were prosecuted for a
+theft. There was no positive proof against them, yet the
+circumstances were so strong that it appeared proper to put them
+to the test of one of these collateral oaths. They were all
+willing, and two of them swore. When it came to the turn of the
+third he could not persuade his relations to join with him, and
+he was accordingly brought in for the whole amount of the goods
+stolen, and penalties annexed.</p>
+
+<p>These customs bear a strong resemblance to the rules of proof
+established among our ancestors, the Anglo-Saxons, who were
+likewise obliged, in the case of oaths taken for the purpose of
+exculpation, to produce a certain number of compurgators; but, as
+these might be any indifferent persons, who would take upon them
+to bear testimony to the truth of what their neighbour swore,
+from an opinion of his veracity, there seems to be more
+refinement and more knowledge of human nature in the Sumatran
+practice. The idea of devoting to destruction, by a wilful
+perjury, not himself only, but all, even the remotest branches,
+of a family which constitutes his greatest pride, and of which
+the deceased heads are regarded with the veneration that was paid
+to the dii lares of the ancients, has doubtless restrained many a
+man from taking a false oath, who without much compunction would
+suffer thirty or a hundred compurgators of the former description
+to take their chance of that fate. Their strongest prejudices are
+here converted to the most beneficial purposes.</p>
+
+<p>CEREMONY OF TAKING AN OATH.</p>
+
+<p>The place of greatest solemnity for administering an oath is
+the krammat or burying-ground of their ancestors, and several
+superstitious ceremonies are observed on the occasion. The people
+near the sea-coast, in general, by long intercourse with the
+Malays, have an idea of the Koran, and usually employ this in
+swearing, which the priests do not fail to make them pay for; but
+the inland people keep, laid up in their houses, certain old
+reliques, called in the Rejang language pesakko, and in Malayan,
+sactian, which they produce when an oath is to be taken. The
+person who has lost his cause, and with whom it commonly rests to
+bind his adversary by an oath, often desires two or three days'
+time to get ready these his swearing apparatus, called on such
+occasions sumpahan, of which some are looked upon as more sacred
+and of greater efficacy than others. They consist of an old rusty
+kris, a broken gun barrel, or any ancient trumpery, to which
+chance or caprice has annexed an idea of extraordinary virtue.
+These they generally dip in water, which the person who swears
+drinks off, after having pronounced the form of words before
+mentioned.* The pangeran of Sungei-lamo has by him certain copper
+bullets which had been steeped in water drunk by the
+Sungei&shy;etam chiefs, when they bound themselves never to
+molest his districts: which they have only done since as often as
+they could venture it with safety, from the relaxation of our
+government. But these were political oaths. The most ordinary
+sumpahan is a kris, and on the blade of this they sometimes drop
+lime-juice, which occasions a stain on the lips of the person
+performing the ceremony; a circumstance that may not improbably
+be supposed to make an impression on a weak and guilty mind. Such
+would fancy that the external stain conveyed to the beholders an
+image of the internal. At Manna the sumpahan most respected is a
+gun barrel. When produced to be sworn on it is carried to the
+spot in state, under an umbrella, and wrapped in silk. This
+parade has an advantageous effect by influencing the mind of the
+party with a high idea of the importance and solemnity of the
+business. In England the familiarity of the object and the
+summary method of administering oaths are well known to diminish
+their weight, and to render them too often nugatory. They
+sometimes swear by the earth, laying their hands upon it and
+wishing that it may never produce aught for their nourishment if
+they speak falsely. In all these ceremonies they burn on the spot
+a little gum benzoin--Et acerra thuris plena, positusque carbo in
+cespite vivo.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The form of taking an oath among the
+people of Madagascar very nearly resembles the ceremonies used by
+the Sumatrans. There is a strong similarity in the articles they
+swear on and in the circumstance of their drinking the
+consecrated water.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>It is a striking circumstance that practices which boast so
+little of reason in their foundation, which are in fact so
+whimsical and childish, should yet be common to nations the most
+remote in situation, climate, language, complexion, character,
+and everything that can distinguish one race of people from
+another. Formed of like materials, and furnished with like
+original sentiments, the uncivilized tribes of Europe and of
+India trembled from the same apprehensions, excited by similar
+ideas, at a time when they were ignorant, or even denied the
+possibility of each other's existence. Mutual wrong and
+animosity, attended with disputes and accusations, are not by
+nature confined to either description of people. Each, in
+doubtful litigations, might seek to prove their innocence by
+braving, on the justice of their cause, those objects which
+inspired amongst their countrymen the greatest terror. The
+Sumatran, impressed with an idea of invisible powers, but not of
+his own immortality, regards with awe the supposed instruments of
+their agency, and swears on krises, bullets, and gun barrels;
+weapons of personal destruction. The German Christian of the
+seventh century, more indifferent to the perils of this life, but
+not less superstitious, swore on bits of rotten wood and rusty
+nails, which he was taught to revere as possessing efficacy to
+secure him from eternal perdition.</p>
+
+<p>INHERITANCE.</p>
+
+<p>When a man dies his effects, in common course, descend to his
+male children in equal shares; but if one among them is
+remarkable for his abilities above the rest, though not the
+eldest, he usually obtains the largest proportion, and becomes
+the head of the tungguan or house; the others voluntarily
+yielding him the superiority. A pangeran of Manna left several
+children; none of them succeeded to the title, but a name of
+distinction was given to one of the younger, who was looked upon
+as chief of the family after the father's decease. Upon asking
+the eldest how it happened that the name of distinction passed
+over him and was conferred on his younger brother, he answered
+with great naivete, "because I am accounted weak and silly." If
+no male children are left and a daughter only remains they
+contrive to get her married by the mode of ambel anak, and thus
+the tungguan of the father continues. An equal distribution of
+property among children is more natural and conformable to
+justice than vesting the whole in the eldest son, as prevails
+throughout most part of Europe; but where wealth consists in
+landed estate the latter mode, beside favouring the pride of
+family, is attended with fewest inconveniences. The property of
+the Sumatrans being personal merely, this reason does not operate
+with them. Land is so abundant in proportion to the population
+that they scarcely consider it as the subject of right any more
+than the elements of air and water; excepting so far as in
+speculation the prince lays claim to the whole. The ground
+however on which a man plants or builds, with the consent of his
+neighbours, becomes a species of nominal property, and is
+transferable; but as it costs him nothing beside his labour it is
+only the produce which is esteemed of value, and the compensation
+he receives is for this alone. A temporary usufruct is
+accordingly all that they attend to, and the price, in case of
+sale, is generally ascertained by the coconut, durian, and other
+fruit-trees that have been planted on it; the buildings being for
+the most part but little durable. Whilst any of those subsist the
+descendants of the planter may claim the ground, though it has
+been for years abandoned. If they are cut down he may recover
+damages; but if they have disappeared in the course of nature the
+land reverts to the public.</p>
+
+<p>They have a custom of keeping by them a sum of money as a
+resource against extremity of distress, and which common
+exigencies do not call forth. This is a refined antidote against
+despair, because, whilst it remains possible to avoid encroaching
+on that treasure, their affairs are not at the worst, and the
+idea of the little hoard serves to buoy up their spirits and
+encourage them to struggle with wretchedness. It usually
+therefore continues inviolate and descends to the heir, or is
+lost to him by the sudden exit of the parent. From their
+apprehension of dishonesty and insecurity of their houses their
+money is for the most part concealed in the ground, the cavity of
+an old beam, or other secret place; and a man on his death-bed
+has commonly some important discovery of this nature to make to
+his assembled relations.</p>
+
+<p>OUTLAWRY.</p>
+
+<p>The practice of outlawing an individual of a family by the
+head of it (called lepas or buang dangan surat, to let loose, or
+cast out with a writing) has its foundation in the custom which
+obliges all the branches to be responsible for the debts
+contracted by any one of the kindred. When an extravagant and
+unprincipled spendthrift is running a career that appears likely
+to involve his family in ruinous consequences, they have the
+right of dissolving the connexion and clearing themselves of
+further responsibility by this public act, which, as the writ
+expresses it, sends forth the outcast, as a deer into the woods,
+no longer to be considered as enjoying the privileges of society.
+This character is what they term risau, though it is sometimes
+applied to persons not absolutely outlawed, but of debauched and
+irregular manners.</p>
+
+<p>In the Saxon law we find a strong resemblance to this custom;
+the kindred of a murderer being exempt from the feud if they
+abandoned him to his fate. They bound themselves in this case
+neither to converse with him nor to furnish him with meat or
+other necessaries. This is precisely the Sumatran outlawry, in
+which it is always particularly specified (beside what relates to
+common debts) that if the outlaw kills a person the relations
+shall not pay the compensation, nor claim it if he is killed. But
+the writ must have been issued before the event, and they cannot
+free themselves by a subsequent process, as it would seem the
+Saxons might. If an outlaw commits murder the friends of the
+deceased may take personal revenge on him, and are not liable to
+be called to an account for it; but if such be killed, otherwise
+than in satisfaction for murder, although his family have no
+claim, the prince of the country is entitled to a certain
+compensation, all outlaws being nominally his property, like
+other wild animals.</p>
+
+<p>COMPENSATION FOR MURDER.</p>
+
+<p>It seems strange to those who are accustomed to the severity
+of penal laws, which in most instances inflict punishment
+exceeding by many degrees the measure of the offence, how a
+society can exist in which the greatest of all crimes is,
+agreeably to established custom, expiated by the payment of a
+certain sum of money; a sum not proportioned to the rank and
+ability of the murderer, nor to the premeditation, or other
+aggravating circumstances of the fact, but regulated only by the
+quality of the person murdered. The practice had doubtless its
+source in the imbecility of government, which, being unable to
+enforce the law of retaliation, the most obvious rule of
+punishment, had recourse to a milder scheme of retribution as
+being preferable to absolute indemnity. The latter it was
+competent to carry into execution because the guilty persons
+readily submit to a penalty which effectually relieves them from
+the burden of anxiety for the consequences of their action.
+Instances occur in the history of all states, particularly those
+which suffer from internal weakness, of iniquities going
+unpunished, owing to the rigour of the pains denounced against
+them by the law, which defeats its own purpose. The original mode
+of avenging a murder was probably by the arm of the person
+nearest in consanguinity, or friendship, to the deceased; but
+this was evidently destructive of the public tranquillity,
+because thereby the wrong became progressive, each act of
+satisfaction, or justice, as it was called, being the source of a
+new revenge, till the feud became general in the community; and
+some method would naturally be suggested to put a stop to such
+confusion. The most direct step is to vest in the magistrate or
+the law the rights of the injured party, and to arm them with a
+vindictive power; which principle the policy of more civilized
+societies has refined to that of making examples in terrorem,
+with a view of preventing future, not of revenging past crimes.
+But this requires a firmness of authority to which the Sumatran
+governments are strangers. They are without coercive power, and
+the submission of the people is little other than voluntary;
+especially of the men of influence, who are held in subjection
+rather by the sense of general utility planted in the breast of
+mankind, attachment to their family and connexions, and
+veneration for the spot in which their ancestors were interred,
+than by the apprehension of any superior authority. These
+considerations however they would readily forego, renounce their
+fealty, and quit their country, if in any case they were in
+danger of paying with life the forfeit of their crimes; to lesser
+punishments those ties induce them to submit; and to strengthen
+this hold their customs wisely enjoin that every the remotest
+branch of the family shall be responsible for the payment of
+their adjudged and other debts; and in cases of murder the
+bangun, or compensation, may be levied on the inhabitants of the
+village the culprit belonged to, if it happens that neither he
+nor any of his relations can be found.</p>
+
+<p>The equality of punishment, which allows to the rich man the
+faculty of committing, with small inconvenience, crimes that
+bring utter destruction on the poor man and his family, and which
+is in fact the greatest inequality, originates certainly from the
+interested design of those through whose influence the regulation
+came to be adopted. Its view was to establish a subordination of
+persons. In Europe the absolute distinction between rich and
+poor, though too sensibly felt, is not insisted upon in
+speculation, but rather denied or explained away in general
+reasoning. Among the Sumatrans it is coolly acknowledged, and a
+man without property, family, or connexions never, in the
+partiality of self-love, considers his own life as being of equal
+value with that of a man of substance. A maxim, though not the
+practice, of their law, says, "that he who is able to pay the
+bangun for murder must satisfy the relations of the deceased; he
+who is unable, must suffer death." But the avarice of the
+relations prefers selling the body of the delinquent for what his
+slavery will fetch them (for such is the effect of imposing a
+penalty that cannot be paid) to the satisfaction of seeing the
+murder revenged by the public execution of a culprit of that mean
+description. Capital punishments are therefore almost totally out
+of use among them; and it is only par la loi du plus fort that
+the Europeans take the liberty of hanging a notorious criminal
+now and then, whom however their own chiefs always condemn, and
+formally sentence.</p>
+
+<p>CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.</p>
+
+<p>Corporal punishment of any kind is rare. The chain, and a sort
+of stocks, made of the pinang tree, are adopted from us; the word
+pasong, now commonly used to denote the latter, originally
+signifying and being still frequently applied to confinement in
+general. A kind of cage made use of in the country is probably
+their own invention. "How do you secure a prisoner (a man was
+asked) without employing a chain or our stocks?" "We pen him up,"
+said he, "as we would a bear!" The cage is made of bamboos laid
+horizontally in a square, piled alternately, secured by timbers
+at the corners, and strongly covered in at top. To lead a runaway
+they fasten a rattan round his neck, and, passing it through a
+bamboo somewhat longer than his arms, they bring his hands
+together and make them fast to the bamboo, in a state rather of
+constraint than of pain, which I believe never is wantonly or
+unnecessarily inflicted. If the offender is of a desperate
+character they bind him hands and feet and sling him on a pole.
+When they would convey a person from accident or otherwise unable
+to walk they make a palanquin by splitting a large bamboo near
+the middle of its length, where they contrive to keep it open so
+that the cavity forms a bed, the ends being preserved whole, to
+rest upon their shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of exacting the bangun for murder seems only
+designed with a view of making a compensation to the injured
+family, and not of punishing the offender. The word signifies
+awaking or raising up, and the deceased is supposed to be
+replaced, or raised again to his family, in the payment of a sum
+proportioned to his rank, or equivalent to his or her personal
+value. The price of a female slave is generally more than that of
+a male, and therefore, I heard a chief say, is the bangun of a
+woman more than that of a man. It is upon this principle that
+their laws take no cognizance of the distinction between a wilful
+murder and what we term manslaughter. The loss is the same to the
+family, and therefore the compensations are alike. A dupati of
+Laye, in an ill hour, stepped unwarily across the mouth of a
+cannon at the instant it was fired off for a salute, and was
+killed by the explosion, upon which his relations immediately
+sued the sergeant of the country-guard, who applied the match,
+for the recovery of the bangun; but they were cast, and upon
+these grounds: that the dupati was instrumental in his own death,
+and that the Company's servants, being amenable to other laws for
+their crimes, were not, by established custom, subject to the
+bangun or other penalties inflicted by the native chiefs, for
+accidents resulting from the execution of their duty. The tippong
+bumi, expiation, or purification of the earth from the stain it
+has received, was however gratuitously paid. No plea was set up
+that the action was unpremeditated, and the event
+chance-medley.</p>
+
+<p>The introduction of this custom is beyond the extent of
+Sumatran tradition, and has no connexion with, or dependence on,
+Mahometanism, being established amongst the most inland people
+from time immemorial. In early ages it was by no means confined
+to that part of the world. The bangun is perfectly the same as
+the compensation for murder in the rude institutions of our Saxon
+ancestors and other northern nations. It is the eric of Ireland,
+and the apoinon of the Greeks. In the compartments of the shield
+of Achilles Homer describes the adjudgment of a fine for
+homicide. It would seem then to be a natural step in the advances
+from anarchy to settled government, and that it can only take
+place in such societies as have already a strong idea of the
+value of personal property, who esteem its possession of the next
+importance to that of life, and place it in competition with the
+strongest passion that seizes the human soul.</p>
+
+<p>The compensation is so regularly established among the
+Sumatrans that any other satisfaction is seldom demanded. In the
+first heat of resentment retaliation is sometimes attempted, but
+the spirit soon evaporates, and application is usually made, upon
+the immediate discovery of the fact, to the chiefs of the country
+for the exertion of their influence to oblige the criminal to pay
+the bangun. His death is then not thought of unless he is unable,
+and his family unwilling, to raise the established sum.
+Instances, it is true, occur in which the prosecutor, knowing the
+European law in such case, will, from motives of revenge, urge to
+the Resident the propriety of executing the offender rather than
+receive the money; but if the latter is ready to pay it it is
+contrary to their laws to proceed further. The degree of
+satisfaction that attends the payment of the bangun is generally
+considered as absolute to the parties concerned; they receive it
+as full compensation, and pretend to no farther claim upon the
+murderer and his family. Slight provocations however have been
+sometimes known to renew the feud, and there are not wanting
+instances of a son's revenging his father's murder and willingly
+refunding the bangun. When in an affray there happen to be
+several persons killed on both sides, the business of justice is
+only to state the reciprocal losses, in the form of an account
+current, and order the balance to be discharged, if the numbers
+be unequal. The following is a relation of the circumstances of
+one of these bloody feuds, which happened whilst I was in the
+island, but which become every year more rare where the influence
+of our government extends.</p>
+
+<p>ACCOUNT OF A FEUD.</p>
+
+<p>Raddin Siban was the head of a tribe in the district of Manna,
+of which Pangeran Raja-Kalippah was the official chief; though by
+the customs of the country he had no right of sovereignty over
+him. The pangeran's not allowing him what he thought an adequate
+share of fines, and other advantages annexed to his rank, was the
+foundation of a jealousy and ill will between them, which an
+event that happened a few years since raised to the highest pitch
+of family feud. Lessut, a younger brother of the pangeran, had a
+wife who was very handsome, and whom Raddin Siban had endeavoured
+to procure, whilst a virgin, for HIS younger brother, who was in
+love with her: but the pangeran had contrived to circumvent him,
+and obtained the girl for Lessut. However it seems the lady
+herself had conceived a violent liking for the brother of Raddin
+Siban, who found means to enjoy her after she was married, or was
+violently suspected so to have done. The consequence was that
+Lessut killed him to revenge the dishonour of his bed. Upon this
+the families were presently up in arms, but the English Resident
+interfering preserved the peace of the country, and settled the
+affair agreeably to the customs of the place by bangun and fine.
+But this did not prove sufficient to extinguish the fury which
+raged in the hearts of Raddin Siban's family, whose relation was
+murdered. It only served to delay the revenge until a proper
+opportunity offered of gratifying it. The people of the country
+being called together on a particular occasion, the two inimical
+families were assembled, at the same time, in Manna bazaar. Two
+younger brothers (they had been five in all) of Raddin Siban,
+going to the cockpit, saw Raja Muda the next brother of the
+pangeran, and Lessut his younger brother, in the open part of a
+house which they passed. They quickly returned, drew their
+krises, and attacked the pangeran's brothers, calling to them, if
+they were men, to defend themselves. The challenge was instantly
+accepted, Lessut, the unfortunate husband, fell; but the
+aggressors were both killed by Raja Muda, who was himself much
+wounded. The affair was almost over before the scuffle was
+perceived. The bodies were lying on the ground, and Raja Muda was
+supporting himself against a tree which stood near the spot, when
+Raddin Siban, who was in a house on the opposite side of the
+bazaar at the time the affray happened, being made acquainted
+with the circumstances, came over the way, with his lance in his
+hand. He passed on the contrary side of the tree, and did not see
+Raja Muda, but began to stab with his weapon the dead body of
+Lessut, in excess of rage, on seeing the bloody remains of his
+two brothers. Just then, Raja Muda, who was half dead, but had
+his kris in his hand, still unseen by Raddin Siban, crawled a
+step or two and thrust the weapon into his side, saying "Matti
+kau"--"die thou!" Raddin Siban spoke not a word, but put his hand
+on the wound and walked across to the house from whence he came,
+at the door of which he dropped down and expired. Such was the
+catastrophe. Raja Muda survived his wounds, but being much
+deformed by them lives a melancholy example of the effects of
+these barbarous feuds.</p>
+
+<p>PROOF OF THEFT.</p>
+
+<p>In cases of theft the swearing a robbery against a person
+suspected is of no effect, and justly, for were it otherwise
+nothing would be more common than the prosecution of innocent
+persons. The proper proofs are either seizure of the person in
+the fact before witnesses, or discovery of the goods stolen in
+possession of one who can give no satisfactory account how he
+came by them. As it frequently happens that a man finds part only
+of what he had lost it remains with him, when the robbery is
+proved, to ascertain the whole amount, by oath, which in that
+point is held sufficient.</p>
+
+<p>LAW RESPECTING DEBTS.</p>
+
+<p>The law which renders all the members of a family reciprocally
+bound for the security of each others' debts forms a strong
+connexion among them, and occasions the elder branches to be
+particularly watchful of the conduct of those for whose
+imprudence they must be answerable.</p>
+
+<p>When a debtor is unable to pay what he owes, and has no
+relation or friends capable of doing it for him, or when the
+children of a deceased person do not find property enough to
+discharge the debts of their parent, they are forced to the state
+which is called mengiring, which simply means to follow or be
+dependent on, but here implies the becoming a species of
+bond-slaves to the creditor, who allows them subsistence and
+clothing but does not appropriate the produce of their labour to
+the diminution of their debt. Their condition is better than that
+of pure slavery in this, that the creditor cannot strike them,
+and they can change their masters by prevailing on another person
+to pay their debt and accept of their labour on the same terms.
+Of course they may obtain their liberty if they can by any means
+procure a sum equal to their debt; whereas a slave, though
+possessing ever so large property, has not the right of
+purchasing his liberty. If however the creditor shall demand
+formally the amount of his debt from a person mengiring, at three
+several times, allowing a certain number of days between each
+demand, and the latter is not able to persuade anyone to redeem
+him, he becomes, by the custom of the country, a pure slave, upon
+the creditor's giving notice to the chief of the transaction.
+This is the resource he has against the laziness or untoward
+behaviour of his debtor, who might otherwise, in the state of
+mengiring, be only a burden to him. If the children of a deceased
+debtor are too young to be of service the charge of their
+maintenance is added to the debt. This opens a door for many
+iniquitous practices, and it is in the rigorous and frequently
+perverted exertion of these rights which a creditor has over his
+debtor that the chiefs are enabled to oppress the lower class of
+people, and from which abuses the English Residents find it
+necessary to be the most watchful to restrain them. In some cases
+one half of the produce of the labour is applied to the reduction
+of the debt, and this situation of the insolvent debtor is termed
+be-blah. Meranggau is the condition of a married woman who
+remains as a pledge for a debt in the house of the creditor of
+her husband. If any attempt should be made upon her person the
+proof of it annuls the debt; but should she bring an accusation
+of that nature, and be unable to prove it to the satisfaction of
+the court, and the man takes an oath in support of his innocence,
+the debt must be immediately paid by the family, or the woman be
+disposed of as a slave.</p>
+
+<p>When a man of one district or country has a debt owing to him
+from the inhabitant of a neighbouring country, of which he cannot
+recover payment, an usual resource is to seize on one or more of
+his children and carry them off; which they call andak. The
+daughter of a Rejang dupati was carried off in this manner by the
+Labun people. Not hearing for some time from her father, she sent
+him cuttings of her hair and nails, by which she intimated a
+resolution of destroying herself if not soon released.</p>
+
+<p>SLAVERY.</p>
+
+<p>The right of slavery is established in Sumatra, as it is
+throughout the East, and has been all over the world; yet but few
+instances occur of the country people actually having slaves;
+though they are common enough in the Malayan, or sea-port towns.
+Their domestics and labourers are either dependant relations, or
+the orang mengiring above described, who are usually called
+debtors, but should be distinguished by the term of insolvent
+debtors. The simple manners of the people require that their
+servants should live, in a great measure, on a footing of
+equality with the rest of the family, which is inconsistent with
+the authority necessary to be maintained over slaves who have no
+principle to restrain them but that of personal fear,* and know
+that their civil condition cannot be altered for the worse.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. I do not mean to assert that all men in
+the condition of slaves are devoid of principle: I have
+experienced the contrary, and found in them affection and strict
+honesty: but that there does not result from their situation as
+slaves any principle of moral rectitude; whereas every other
+condition of society has annexed to it ideas of duty and mutual
+obligation arising from a sense of general utility. That sublime
+species of morality derived from the injunctions of religion it
+is almost universally their fate to be likewise strangers to,
+because slavery is found inconsistent with the spirit of the
+gospel, not merely as inculcating philanthropy but inspiring a
+principle of equality amongst mankind.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>There is this advantage also, that when a debtor absconds they
+have recourse to his relations for the amount of his debt, who,
+if unable to pay it, must mengiring in his room; whereas when a
+slave makes his escape the law can give no redress, and his value
+is lost to the owner. These people moreover are from habit
+backward to strike, and the state of slavery unhappily requires
+the frequent infliction of punishment in that mode. A slave
+cannot possess independently any property; yet it rarely happens
+that a master is found mean and sordid enough to despoil them of
+the fruits of their industry; and their liberty is generally
+granted them when in a condition to purchase it, though they
+cannot demand it of right. It is nothing uncommon for those
+belonging to the Europeans to possess slaves of their own, and to
+acquire considerable substance. Their condition is here for the
+most part less unhappy than that of persons in other situations
+of life. I am far from wishing to diminish the horror that should
+ever accompany the general idea of a state which, whilst it
+degrades the species, I am convinced is not necessary among
+mankind; but I cannot help remarking, as an extraordinary fact,
+that if there is one class of people eminently happy above all
+others upon earth it is the body of Caffres, or negro slaves
+belonging to the India Company at Bencoolen. They are well
+clothed and fed, and supplied with a proper allowance of liquor;
+their work is by no means severe; the persons appointed as their
+immediate overseers are chosen for their merit from amongst
+themselves; they have no occasion of care or anxiety for the past
+or future, and are naturally of a lively and open temper. The
+contemplation of the effects which such advantages produce must
+afford the highest gratification to a benevolent mind. They are
+usually seen laughing or singing whilst at work, and the
+intervals allowed them are mostly employed in dancing to their
+rude instrumental music, which frequently begins at sunset and
+ceases only with the daylight that recalls them to their labour.
+Since they were first carried thither, from different parts of
+Africa and Madagascar, to the present hour, not so much as the
+rumour of disturbance or discontent has ever been known to
+proceed from them. They hold the natives of the island in
+contempt, have a degree of antipathy towards them, and enjoy any
+mischief they can do them; and these in their turn regard the
+Caffres as devils half humanized.</p>
+
+<p>The practice said to prevail elsewhere of men selling
+themselves for slaves is repugnant to the customs of the
+Sumatrans, as it seems to reason. It is an absurdity to barter
+anything valuable, much more civil existence, for a sum which, by
+the very act of receiving, becomes again the property of the
+buyer. Yet if a man runs in debt without a prospect of paying, he
+does virtually the same thing, and this in cases of distress is
+not uncommon, in order to relieve, perhaps, a beloved wife, or
+favourite child, from similar bondage. A man has even been known
+to apply in confidence to a friend to sell him to a third person,
+concealing from the purchaser the nature of the transaction till
+the money was appropriated.</p>
+
+<p>Ignorant stragglers are often picked up in the country by
+lawless knaves in power and sold beyond the hills. These have
+sometimes procured their liberty again, and prosecuting their
+kidnappers have recovered large damages. In the district of Allas
+a custom prevails by which, if a man has been sold to the hill
+people, however unfairly, he is restricted on his return from
+associating with his countrymen as their equal unless he brings
+with him a sum of money and pays a fine for his
+re-enfranchisement to his kalippah or chief. This regulation has
+taken its rise from an idea of contamination among the people,
+and from art and avarice among the chiefs.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-14"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 14.</h3>
+
+<p><b>MODES OF MARRIAGE, AND CUSTOMS RELATIVE THERETO.<br>
+POLYGAMY.<br>
+FESTIVALS.<br>
+GAMES.<br>
+COCK-FIGHTING.<br>
+USE AND EFFECTS OF OPIUM.</b></p>
+
+<p>MOTIVES FOR ALTERING SOME OF THEIR MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.</p>
+
+<p>By much the greater number of the legal disputes among these
+people have their source in the intricacy attending their
+marriage contracts. In most uncivilized countries these matters
+are very simple, the dictates of nature being obeyed, or the
+calls of appetite satisfied, with little ceremony or form of
+convention; but with the Sumatrans the difficulties, both
+precedent and subsequent, are increased to a degree unknown even
+in the most refined states. To remedy these inconveniences, which
+might be supposed to deter men from engaging in marriage, was the
+view of the Resident of Laye, before mentioned, who prevailed
+upon them to simplify their engagements, as the means of
+preventing litigation between families, and of increasing the
+population of the country. How far his liberal views will be
+answered by having thus influenced the people to change their
+customs, whether they will not soon relapse into the ancient
+track; and whether in fact the cause that he supposed did
+actually contribute to retard population, I shall not pretend to
+determine; but as the last is a point on which a difference of
+opinion prevails I shall take the liberty of quoting here the
+sentiments of another servant of the Company (the late Mr. John
+Crisp) who possessed an understanding highly enlightened.</p>
+
+<p>REASONS AGAINST THIS ALTERATION.</p>
+
+<p>This part of the island is in a low state of population, but
+it is an error to ascribe this to the mode of obtaining wives by
+purchase. The circumstance of children constituting part of the
+property of the parents proves a most powerful incentive to
+matrimony, and there is not perhaps any country on the face of
+the earth where marriage is more general than here, instances of
+persons of either sex passing their lives in a state of celibacy
+being extremely rare. The necessity of purchasing does not prove
+such an obstacle to matrimony as is supposed. Was it indeed true
+that every man was obliged to remain single till he had
+accumulated, from the produce of his pepper-garden, a sum
+adequate to the purchase of a wife, married pairs would truly be
+scarce. But the people have other resources; there are few
+families who are not in possession of some small substance; they
+breed goats and buffaloes, and in general keep in reserve some
+small sum for particular purposes. The purchase-money of the
+daughter serves also to provide wives for the sons. Certain it is
+that the fathers are rarely at a loss for money to procure them
+wives so soon as they become marriageable. In the districts under
+my charge are about eight thousand inhabitants, among whom I do
+not conceive it would be possible to find ten instances of men of
+the age of thirty years unmarried. We must then seek for other
+causes of the paucity of inhabitants, and indeed they are
+sufficiently obvious; among these we may reckon that the women
+are by nature unprolific, and cease gestation at an early age;
+that, almost totally unskilled in the medical art, numbers fall
+victims to the endemic diseases of a climate nearly as fatal to
+its indigenous inhabitants as to the strangers who settle among
+them: to which we may add that the indolence and inactivity of
+the natives tend to relax and enervate the bodily frame, and to
+abridge the natural period of their lives.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+<p>MODES OF MARRIAGE.</p>
+
+<p>The modes of marriage, according to the original institutions
+of these people, are by jujur, by ambel anak, or by semando. The
+jujur is a certain sum of money given by one man to another as a
+consideration for the person of his daughter, whose situation, in
+this case, differs not much from that of a slave to the man she
+marries, and to his family. His absolute property in her depends
+however upon some nice circumstances. Beside the batang jujur (or
+main sum) there are certain appendages or branches, one of which,
+the tali kulo, of five dollars, is usually, from motives of
+delicacy or friendship, left unpaid, and so long as that is the
+case a relationship is understood to subsist between the two
+families, and the parents of the woman have a right to interfere
+on occasions of ill treatment: the husband is also liable to be
+fined for wounding her, with other limitations of absolute right.
+When that sum is finally paid, which seldom happens but in cases
+of violent quarrel, the tali kulo (tie of relationship) is said
+to be putus (broken), and the woman becomes to all intents the
+slave of her lord.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. I cannot omit to remark here that,
+however apposite the word tali, which in Malayan signifies a
+cord, may be to the subject of the marriage tie, there is very
+strong evidence of the term, as applied to this ceremony, having
+been adopted from the customs of the Hindu inhabitants of the
+peninsula of India, in whose language it has a different meaning.
+Among others who have described their rites is M. Sonnerat. In
+speaking of the mode of marriage called pariam, which, like the
+jujur, n'est autre chose qu'un achat que le mari fait de sa
+femme, he says, le mari doit aussi fournir le tali, petit joyau
+d'or, qu'il attache avec un cordon au col de la fille; c'est la
+derniere ceremonie; elle donne la sanction au marriage, qui ne
+peut plus etre rompu des que le tali est attache. Voyage aux
+Indes etc. tome 1 page 70. The reader will also find the Sumatran
+mode of marriage by ambel anak, or adoption, exactly described at
+page 72. An engraving of the tali is given by P. Paolino, Systema
+Brahmanicum tab. 22. This resemblance is not confined to the
+rites of marriage, for it is remarked by Sir W. Jones that,
+"among the laws of the Sumatrans two positive rules concerning
+sureties and interest appear to be taken word for word from the
+Indian legislators." Asiatic Researches Volume 3 page
+9.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>She has then no title to claim a divorce in any predicament;
+and he may sell her, making only the first offer to her
+relations. The other appendages as already mentioned are the
+tulis tanggil (the meaning of which I cannot satisfactorily
+ascertain, this and many other of the legal terms being in the
+Rejang or the Passummah and not the Malayan language) and the
+upah daun kodo, which is a consideration for the expense of the
+marriage feast, paid to the girl's parent, who provides it. But
+sometimes it is deposited at the wedding, when a distribution is
+made of it amongst the old people present. The words allude to
+the leaf in which the rice is served up. These additional sums
+are seldom paid or claimed before the principal is defrayed, of
+which a large proportion, as fifty, eighty, and sometimes a
+hundred and four dollars, is laid down at the time of marriage,
+or in the first visit (after the parties are determined in their
+regards) made by the father of the young man, or the bujang
+himself, to the father of the woman. Upon opening his design this
+money is tendered as a present, and the other's acceptance of it
+is a token that he is inclined to forward the match. It lies
+often in his hands three, six, or twelve months before the
+marriage is consummated. He sometimes sends for more, and is
+seldom refused. Until at least fifty dollars are thus deposited
+the man cannot take his wife home; but so long as the matter
+continues dalam rasa-an (under consideration) it would be deemed
+scandalous in the father to listen to any other proposals. When
+there is a difficulty in producing the necessary sum it is not
+uncommon to resort to an expedient termed mengiring jujur, that
+is, to continue a debtor with the family until he can raise money
+sufficient to redeem himself; and after this long credit is
+usually given for the remainder. Years often elapse, if the
+families continue on good terms, without the debt being demanded,
+particularly when a hundred and four dollars have been paid,
+unless distress obliges them to it. Sometimes it remains
+unadjusted to the second and third generation, and it is not
+uncommon to see a man suing for the jujur of the sister of his
+grandfather. These debts constitute in fact the chief part of
+their substance; and a person is esteemed rich who has several of
+them due to him for his daughters, sisters, aunts, and great
+aunts. Debts of this nature are looked upon as sacred, and are
+scarcely ever lost. In Passummah, if the race of a man is
+extinct, and some of these remain unpaid, the dusun or village to
+which the family belonged must make it good to the creditor; but
+this is not insisted upon amongst the Rejangs.</p>
+
+<p>In lieu of paying the jujur a barter transaction, called
+libei, sometimes takes place, where one gadis (virgin) is given
+in exchange for another; and it is not unusual to borrow a girl
+for this purpose from a friend or relation, the borrower binding
+himself to replace her or pay her jujur when required, A man who
+has a son and daughter gives the latter in exchange for a wife to
+the former. The person who receives her disposes of her as his
+own child or marries her himself. A brother will give his sister
+in exchange for a wife, or, in default of such, procure a cousin
+for the purpose. If the girl given in exchange be under age a
+certain allowance per annum is made till she becomes
+marriageable. Beguppok is a mode of marriage differing a little
+from the common jujur, and probably only taking place where a
+parent wants to get off a child labouring under some infirmity or
+defect. A certain sum is in this case fixed below the usual
+custom, which, when paid, is in full for her value, without any
+appendages. In other cases likewise the jujur is sometimes
+lessened and sometimes increased by mutual agreement; but on
+trials it is always estimated at a hundred and twenty dollars. If
+a wife dies soon after marriage, or at any time without children,
+the full jujur cannot be claimed; it is reduced to eighty
+dollars; but should more than that have been laid down in the
+interim there is no refunding. The jujur of a widow, which is
+generally eighty dollars, without appendages, is again reduced
+upon a third marriage, allowances being made for dilapidation. A
+widow being with child cannot marry again till she is delivered,
+without incurring a penalty. In divorces it is the same. If there
+be no appearance of pregnancy she must yet abstain from making
+another choice during the period of three months and ten
+days.</p>
+
+<p>When the relations and friends of the man go in form to the
+parents of the girl to settle the terms of the marriage they pay
+at that time the adat besasala, or earnest, of six dollars
+generally; and these kill a goat or a few fowls to entertain
+them. It is usually some space of time (except in cases of telari
+gadis or elopement) after the payment of the besasala, before the
+wedding takes place; but, when the father has received that, he
+cannot give his daughter to any other person without incurring a
+fine, which the young lady sometimes renders him liable to; for
+whilst the old folk are planning a match by patutan, or regular
+agreement between families, it frequently happens that miss
+disappears with a more favoured swain and secures a match of her
+own choice. The practice styled telari gadis is not the least
+common way of determining a marriage, and from a spirit of
+indulgence and humanity, which few codes can boast, has the
+sanction of the laws. The father has only the power left of
+dictating the mode of marriage, but cannot take his daughter away
+if the lover is willing to comply with the custom in such cases.
+The girl must be lodged, unviolated, in the house of some
+respectable family till the relations are advised of the
+enlevement and settle the terms. If however upon immediate
+pursuit they are overtaken on the road, she may be forced back,
+but not after she has taken sanctuary.</p>
+
+<p>By the Mosaic law, if a man left a widow without children his
+brother was to marry her. Among the Sumatrans, with or without
+children, the brother, or nearest male relation of the deceased,
+unmarried (the father excepted), takes the widow. This is
+practised both by Malays and country people. The brother, in
+taking the widow to himself, becomes answerable for what may
+remain due of her purchase money, and in every respect represents
+the deceased. This is phrased ganti tikar bantal'nia--supplying
+his place on his mat and pillow.</p>
+
+<p>CHASTITY OF THE WOMEN.</p>
+
+<p>Chastity prevails more perhaps among these than any other
+people. It is so materially the interest of the parents to
+preserve the virtue of their daughters unsullied, as they
+constitute the chief of their substance, that they are
+particularly watchful in this respect. But as marriages in
+general do not take place so early as the forwardness of nature
+in that climate would admit, it will sometimes happen,
+notwithstanding their precaution, that a young woman, not
+choosing to wait her father's pleasure, tastes the fruit by
+stealth. When this is discovered he can oblige the man to marry
+her, and pay the jujur; or, if he chooses to keep his daughter,
+the seducer must make good the difference he has occasioned in
+her value, and also pay the fine, called tippong bumi, for
+removing the stain from the earth. Prostitution for hire is I
+think unknown in the country, and confined to the more polite
+bazaars, where there is usually a concourse of sailors and others
+who have no honest settlement of their own, and whom, therefore,
+it is impossible to restrain from promiscuous concubinage. At
+these places vice generally reigns in a degree proportioned to
+the number and variety of people of different nations who inhabit
+them or occasionally resort thither. From the scenes which these
+sea-ports present travellers too commonly form their judgment,
+and imprudently take upon them to draw, for the information of
+the world, a picture of the manners of a people.</p>
+
+<p>The different species of horrid and disgustful crimes, which
+are emphatically denominated, against nature, are unknown on
+Sumatra; nor have any of their languages terms to express such
+ideas.</p>
+
+<p>INCEST.</p>
+
+<p>Incest, or the intermarriage of persons within a certain
+degree of consanguinity, which is, perhaps (at least after the
+first degree), rather an offence against the institutions of
+human prudence than a natural crime, is forbidden by their
+customs and punishable by fine: yet the guilt is often expiated
+by a ceremony, and the marriages in many instances confirmed.</p>
+
+<p>ADULTERY.</p>
+
+<p>Adultery is punishable by fine; but the crime is rare, and
+suits on the subject still less frequent. The husband, it is
+probable, either conceals his shame or revenges it with his own
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>DIVORCES.</p>
+
+<p>If a man would divorce a wife he has married by jujur he may
+claim back what he has paid in part, less twenty-five dollars,
+the adat charo, for the damage he has done her; but if he has
+paid the jujur in full the relations may choose whether they will
+receive her or not; if not he may sell her. If a man has paid
+part of a jujur but cannot raise the remainder, though repeatedly
+dunned for it, the parents of the girl may obtain a divorce; but
+if it is not with the husband's concurrence they lose the
+advantage of the charo, and must refund all they have received. A
+woman married by jujur must bring with her effects to the amount
+of ten dollars, or, if not, it is deducted from the sum; if she
+brings more the husband is accountable for the difference. The
+original ceremony of divorce consists in cutting a
+rattan&shy;cane in two, in presence of the parties, their
+relations, and the chiefs of the country.</p>
+
+<p>SECOND MODE OF MARRIAGE.</p>
+
+<p>In the mode of marriage by ambel anak the father of a virgin
+makes choice of some young man for her husband, generally from an
+inferior family, which renounces all further right to, or
+interest in, him, and he is taken into the house of his
+father-in-law, who kills a buffalo on the occasion, and receives
+twenty dollars from the son's relations. After this the buruk
+baik'nia (the good and bad of him) is vested in the wife's
+family. If he murders or robs they pay the bangun, or the fine.
+If he is murdered they receive the bangun. They are liable to any
+debts he may contract after marriage; those prior to it remaining
+with his parents. He lives in the family in a state between that
+of a son and a debtor. He partakes as a son of what the house
+affords, but has no property in himself. His rice plantation, the
+produce of his pepper-garden, with everything that he can gain or
+earn, belong to the family. He is liable to be divorced at their
+pleasure, and, though he has children, must leave all, and return
+naked as he came. The family sometimes indulge him with leave to
+remove to a house of his own, and take his wife with him; but he,
+his children, and effects are still their property. If he has not
+daughters by the marriage he may redeem himself and wife by
+paying her jujur; but if there are daughters before they become
+emancipated the difficulty is enhanced, because the family are
+likewise entitled to their value. It is common however when they
+are upon good terms to release him on the payment of one jujur,
+or at most with the addition of an adat of fifty dollars. With
+this addition he may insist upon a release whilst his daughters
+are not marriageable. If the family have paid any debts for him
+he must also make them good. Should he contract more than they
+approve of, and they fear his adding to them, they procure a
+divorce, and send him back to his parents; but must pay his debts
+to that time. If he is a notorious spendthrift they outlaw him by
+means of a writ presented to the magistrate. These are inscribed
+on slips of bamboo with a sharp instrument, and I have several of
+them in my possession. They must banish him from home, and if
+they receive him again, or assist him with the smallest sum, they
+are liable to all his debts. On the prodigal son's return, and
+assurance of amendment, this writ may be redeemed on payment of
+five dollars to the proattins, and satisfying the creditors. This
+kind of marriage is productive of much confusion, for till the
+time it takes place the young man belongs to one dusun and
+family, and afterwards to another, and as they have no records to
+refer to there is great uncertainty in settling the time when
+debts were contracted, and the like. Sometimes the redemption of
+the family and their return to the former dusun take place in the
+second or third generation; and in many cases it is doubtful
+whether they ever took place or not; the two parties
+contradicting each other, and perhaps no evidence to refer to.
+Hence arise various and intricate bechars.</p>
+
+<p>THIRD, OR MALAYAN MODE OF MARRIAGE.</p>
+
+<p>Besides the modes of marriage above described, a third form,
+called semando, has been adopted from the Malays, and thence
+termed semando malayo or mardika (free). This marriage is a
+regular treaty between the parties, on the footing of equality.
+The adat paid to the girl's friends has usually been twelve
+dollars. The agreement stipulates that all effects, gains, or
+earnings are to be equally the property of both, and in case of
+divorce by mutual consent the stock, debts, and credits are to be
+equally divided. If the man only insists on the divorce he gives
+the woman her half of the effects, and loses the twelve dollars
+he has paid. If the woman only claims the divorce she forfeits
+her right to the proportion of the effects, but is entitled to
+keep her tikar, bantal, and dandan (paraphernalia), and her
+relations are liable to pay back the twelve dollars; but it is
+seldom demanded. This mode, doubtless the most conformable to our
+ideas of conjugal right and felicity, is that which the chiefs of
+the Rejang country have formally consented to establish
+throughout their jurisdiction, and to their orders the influence
+of the Malayan priests will contribute to give efficacy.</p>
+
+<p>In the ambel anak marriage, according to the institutions of
+Passummah, when the father resolves to dismiss the husband of his
+daughter and send him back to his dusun the sum for which he can
+redeem his wife and family is a hundred dollars: and if he can
+raise that, and the woman is willing to go with him, the father
+cannot refuse them; and now the affair is changed into a kulo
+marriage; the man returns to his former tungguan (settlement or
+family) and becomes of more consequence in society. These people
+are no strangers to that sentiment which we call a regard to
+family. There are some families among them more esteemed than
+others, though not graced with any title or employment in the
+state. The origin of this distinction it is difficult to trace;
+but it may have arisen from a succession of men of abilities, or
+from the reputation for wisdom or valour of some ancestor.
+Everyone has a regard to his race; and the probability of its
+being extinct is esteemed a great unhappiness. This is what they
+call tungguan putus, and the expression is used by the lowest
+member of the community. To have a wife, a family, collateral
+relations, and a settled place of residence is to have a
+tungguan, and this they are anxious to support and perpetuate. It
+is with this view that, when a single female only remains of a
+family, they marry her by ambel anak; in which mode the husband's
+consequence is lost in the wife's, and in her children the
+tungguan of her father is continued. They find her a husband that
+will menegga tungguan, or, as it is expressed amongst the Rejangs
+menegga rumah, set up the house again.</p>
+
+<p>The semando marriage is little known in Passummah. I recollect
+that a pangeran of Manna, having lost a son by a marriage of this
+kind with a Malay woman, she refused upon the father's death to
+let the boy succeed to his dignities, and at the same time become
+answerable for his debts, and carried him with her from the
+country; which was productive of much confusion. The regulations
+there in respect to incontinence have much severity, and fall
+particularly hard on the girl's father, who not only has his
+daughter spoiled but must also pay largely for her frailty. To
+the northward the offence is not punished with so much rigour,
+yet the instances are there said to be rarer, and marriage is
+more usually the consequence. In other respects the customs of
+Passummah and Rejang are the same in these matters.</p>
+
+<p>RITES OF MARRIAGE.</p>
+
+<p>The rites of marriage, nikah (from the Arabian), consist
+simply in joining the hands of the parties and pronouncing them
+man and wife, without much ceremony excepting the entertainment
+which is given on the occasion. This is performed by one of the
+fathers or the chief of the dusun, according to the original
+customs of the country; but where Mahometanism has found its way,
+a priest or imam executes the business.</p>
+
+<p>COURTSHIP.</p>
+
+<p>But little apparent courtship precedes their marriages. Their
+manners do not admit of it, the bujang and gadis (youth of each
+sex) being carefully kept asunder, and the latter seldom trusted
+from under the wing of their mothers. Besides, courtship with us
+includes the idea of humble entreaty on the man's side, and
+favour and condescension on the part of the woman, who bestows
+person and property for love. The Sumatran on the contrary, when
+he fixes his choice and pays all that he is worth for the object
+of it, may naturally consider the obligation on his side. But
+still they are not without gallantry. They preserve a degree of
+delicacy and respect towards the sex, which might justify their
+retorting on many of the polished nations of antiquity the
+epithet of barbarians. The opportunities which the young people
+have of seeing and conversing with each other are at the
+bimbangs, or public festivals, held at the balei, or town hall of
+the dusun. On these occasions the unmarried people meet together
+and dance and sing in company. It may be supposed that the young
+ladies cannot be long without their particular admirers. The men,
+when determined in their regards, generally employ an old woman
+as their agent, by whom they make known their sentiments and send
+presents to the female of their choice. The parents then
+interfere and, the preliminaries being settled, a bimbang takes
+place.</p>
+
+<p>MARRIAGE FESTIVALS.</p>
+
+<p>At these festivals a goat, a buffalo, or several, according to
+the rank of the parties, are killed, to entertain not only the
+relations and invited guests but all the inhabitants of the
+neighbouring country who choose to repair to them. The greater
+the concourse the more is the credit of the host, who is
+generally on these occasions the father of the girl; but the
+different branches of the family, and frequently all the people
+of the dusun, contribute a quota of rice.</p>
+
+<p>ORDER OBSERVED.</p>
+
+<p>The young women proceed in a body to the upper end of the
+balei where there is a part divided off for them by a curtain.
+The floor is spread with their best mats, and the sides and
+ceiling of that extremity of the building are hung with pieces of
+chintz, palampores, and the like. They do not always make their
+appearance before dinner; that time, with part of the afternoon,
+previous to a second or third meal, being appropriated to
+cock-fighting and other diversions peculiar to the men. Whilst
+the young are thus employed the old men consult together upon any
+affair that may be at the time in agitation; such as repairing a
+public building or making reprisals upon the cattle of a
+neighbouring people. The bimbangs are often given on occasions of
+business only, and, as they are apt to be productive of cabals,
+the Europeans require that they shall not be held without their
+knowledge and approbation. To give authority to their contracts
+and other deeds, whether of a public or private nature, they
+always make one of these feasts. Writings, say they, may be
+altered or counterfeited, but the memory of what is transacted
+and concluded in the presence of a thousand witnesses must remain
+sacred. Sometimes, in token of the final determination of an
+affair, they cut a notch in a post, before the chiefs, which they
+call taka kayu.</p>
+
+<p>AMUSEMENT OF DANCING.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening their softer amusements take place, of which
+the dances are the principal. These are performed either singly
+or by two women, two men, or with both mixed. Their motions and
+attitudes are usually slow, and too much forced to be graceful;
+approaching often to the lascivious, and not unfrequently the
+ludicrous. This is I believe the general opinion formed of them
+by Europeans, but it may be the effect of prejudice. Certain I am
+that our usual dances are in their judgment to the full as
+ridiculous. The minuets they compare to the fighting of two
+game-cocks, alternately approaching and receding. Our country
+dances they esteem too violent and confused, without showing
+grace or agility. The stage dances I have not a doubt would
+please them. Part of the female dress, called the salendang,
+which is usually of silk with a gold head, is tied round the
+waist, and the ends of this they at times extend behind them with
+their hands. They bend forward as they dance, and usually carry a
+fan, which they close and strike smartly against their elbows at
+particular cadences. They keep time well, and the partners
+preserve a consistency with each other though the figure and
+steps are ad libitum. A brisker movement is sometimes adopted
+which proves more conformable to the taste of the English
+spectators.</p>
+
+<p>SINGING.</p>
+
+<p>Dancing is not the only amusement on these occasions. A gadis
+sometimes rises and, leaning her face on her arm, supporting
+herself against a pillar, or the shoulder of one of her
+companions, with her back to the audience, begins a tender song.
+She is soon taken up and answered by one of the bujangs in
+company, whose greatest pretensions to gallantry and fashion are
+founded on an adroitness at this polite accomplishment. The
+uniform subject on such occasions is love, and, as the words are
+extempore, there are numberless degrees of merit in the
+composition, which is sometimes surprisingly well turned, quaint,
+and even witty. Professed story-tellers are sometimes introduced,
+who are raised on a little stage and during several hours arrest
+the attention of their audience by the relation of wonderful and
+interesting adventures. There are also characters of humour
+amongst them who, by buffoonery, mimicry, punning, repartee, and
+satire (rather of the sardonic kind) are able to keep the company
+in laughter at intervals during the course of a night's
+entertainment. The assembly seldom breaks up before daylight, and
+these bimbangs are often continued for several days and nights
+together till their stock of provisions is exhausted. The young
+men frequent them in order to look out for wives, and the lasses
+of course set themselves off to the best advantage.</p>
+
+<p>DRESSES.</p>
+
+<p>They wear their best silken dresses, of their own weaving; as
+many ornaments of filigree as they possess; silver rings upon
+their arms and legs; and earrings of a particular construction.
+Their hair is variously adorned with flowers and perfumed with
+oil of benzoin. Civet is also in repute, but more used by the
+men.</p>
+
+<p>COSMETIC USED, AND MODE OF PREPARING IT.</p>
+
+<p>To render their skin fine, smooth, and soft they make use of a
+white cosmetic called pupur. The mode of preparing it is as
+follows. The basis is fine rice, which is a long time steeped in
+water and let to ferment, during which process the water becomes
+of a deep red colour and highly putrid, when it is drained off,
+and fresh added successively until the water remains clear, and
+the rice subsides in the form of a fine white paste. It is then
+exposed to the sun to dry, and, being reduced to a powder, they
+mix with it ginger, the leaves of a plant called by them dilam,
+and by Europeans patch-leaf (Melissa lotoria, R.), which gives to
+it a peculiar smell, and also, as is supposed, a cooling quality.
+They add likewise the flowers of the jagong (maize); kayu
+chendana (sandalwood); and the seeds of a plant called there
+kapas antu (fairy-cotton), which is the Hibiscus abelmoschus, or
+musk seed. All these ingredients, after being moistened and well
+mixed together, are made up into little balls, and when they
+would apply the cosmetic these are diluted with a drop of water,
+rubbed between the hands, and then on the face, neck, and
+shoulders. They have an apprehension, probably well founded, that
+a too abundant or frequent application will, by stopping the
+pores of the skin, bring on a fever. It is used with good effect
+to remove that troublesome complaint, so well known to Europeans
+in India, by the name of the prickly heat; but it is not always
+safe for strangers thus to check the operations of nature in a
+warm climate. The Sumatran girls, as well as our English maidens,
+entertain a favourable opinion of the virtues of morning dew as a
+beautifier, and believe that by rubbing it to the roots of the
+hair it will strengthen and thicken it. With this view they take
+pains to catch it before sunrise in vessels as it falls.</p>
+
+<p>CONSUMMATION OF MARRIAGES.</p>
+
+<p>If a wedding is the occasion of the bimbang the couple are
+married, perhaps, the second or third day; but it may be two or
+three more ere the husband can get possession of his bride; the
+old matrons making it a rule to prevent him, as long as possible,
+and the bride herself holding it a point of honour to defend to
+extremity that jewel which she would yet be disappointed in
+preserving.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. It is recorded that the jealousy between
+the English and Dutch at Bantam arose from a preference shown to
+the former by the king at a festival which he gave upon obtaining
+a victory of this nature, which his bride had long disputed with
+him. For a description of a Malayan wedding, with an excellent
+plate representing the conclusion of the ceremony and the
+sleeping apartment, I beg to refer the reader to Captain
+Forrest's Voyage to New Guinea page 286 quarto edition. The
+bed-place is described at page 232 and the processional car
+(per&shy;arakan) at page 241. His whole account of the domestic
+manners of the people of Mindanao, at the court of which he lived
+on terms of familiarity, will be found highly
+amusing.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>They sit up in state at night on raised cushions, in their
+best clothes and trinkets. They are sometimes loaded on the
+occasion with all the finery of their relations, or even the
+whole dusun, and carefully eased of it when the ceremony is over.
+But this is not the case with the children of persons of rank. I
+remember being present at the marriage of a young woman, whose
+beauty would not have disgraced any country, with a son of
+Raddin, prince of Madura, to whom the English gave protection
+from the power of the Dutch after his father had fallen a
+sacrifice.* She was decked in unborrowed plumes. Her dress was
+eminently calculated to do justice to a fine person; her hair, in
+which consists their chief pride, was disposed with extreme
+grace; and an uncommon elegance and taste were displayed in the
+workmanship and adjustment of her ornaments. It must be confessed
+however that this taste is by no means general, especially
+amongst the country people. Simplicity, so essential to the idea,
+is the characteristic of a rude and quite uncivilized people, and
+is again adopted by men in their highest state of refinement. The
+Sumatrans stand removed from both these extremes. Rich and
+splendid articles of dress and furniture, though not often
+procured, are the objects of their vanity and ambition.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The circumstances of this disgraceful
+affair are preserved in a book entitled A Voyage to the East
+Indies in 1747 and 1748. This Raddin Tamanggung, a most
+intelligent and respectable man, died at Bencoolen in the year
+1790. His sons possess the good qualities of their father, and
+are employed in the Company's service.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>The bimbangs are conducted with great decorum and regularity.
+The old women are very attentive to the conduct of the girls, and
+the male relations are highly jealous of any insults that may be
+shown them. A lad at one of these entertainments asked another
+his opinion of a gadis who was then dancing. "If she was plated
+with gold," replied he, "I would not take her for my concubine,
+much less for my wife." A brother of the girl happened to be
+within hearing, and called him to account for the reflection
+thrown on his sister. Krises were drawn but the bystanders
+prevented mischief. The brother appeared the next day to take the
+law of the defamer, but the gentleman, being of the risau
+description, had absconded, and was not to be found.</p>
+
+<p>NUMBER OF WIVES.</p>
+
+<p>The customs of the Sumatrans permit their having as many wives
+by jujur as they can compass the purchase of or afford to
+maintain; but it is extremely rare that an instance occurs of
+their having more than one, and that only among a few of the
+chiefs. This continence they in some measure owe to their
+poverty. The dictates of frugality are more powerful with them
+than the irregular calls of appetite, and make them decline an
+indulgence that their law does not restrain them from. In talking
+of polygamy they allow it to be the privilege of the rich, but
+regard it as a refinement which the poor Rejangs cannot pretend
+to. Some young risaus have been known to take wives in different
+places, but the father of the first, as soon as he hears of the
+second marriage, procures a divorce. A man married by semando
+cannot take a second wife without repudiating the first for this
+obvious reason that two or more persons could not be equally
+entitled to the half of his effects.</p>
+
+<p>QUESTION OF POLYGAMY.</p>
+
+<p>Montesquieu infers that the law which permits polygamy is
+physically conformable to the climate of Asia. The season of
+female beauty precedes that of their reason, and from its
+prematurity soon decays. The empire of their charms is short. It
+is therefore natural, the president observes, that a man should
+leave one wife to take another: that he should seek a renovation
+of those charms which had withered in his possession. But are
+these the real circumstances of polygamy? Surely not. It implies
+the contemporary enjoyment of women in the same predicament; and
+I should consider it as a vice that has its source in the
+influence of a warm atmosphere upon the passions of men, which,
+like the cravings of other disordered appetites, make them
+miscalculate their wants. It is probably the same influence, on
+less rigid nerves, that renders their thirst of revenge so much
+more violent than among northern nations; but we are not
+therefore to pronounce murder to be physically conformable to a
+southern climate. Far be it from my intention however to put
+these passions on a level; I only mean to show that the
+president's reasoning proves too much. It must further be
+considered that the genial warmth which expands the desires of
+the men, and prompts a more unlimited exertion of their
+faculties, does not inspire their constitutions with
+proportionate vigour; but on the contrary renders them in this
+respect inferior to the inhabitants of the temperate zone; whilst
+it equally influences the desires of the opposite sex without
+being found to diminish from their capacity of enjoyment. From
+which I would draw this conclusion, that if nature intended that
+one woman only should be the companion of one man, in the colder
+regions of the earth it appears also intended a fortiori that the
+same law should be observed in the hotter; inferring nature's
+design, not from the desires, but from the abilities with which
+she has endowed mankind.</p>
+
+<p>Montesquieu has further suggested that the inequality in the
+comparative numbers of each sex born in Asia, which is
+represented to be greatly superior on the female side, may have a
+relation to the law that allows polygamy. But there is strong
+reason to deny the reality of this supposed excess. The Japanese
+account, taken from Kaempfer, which makes them to be in the
+proportion of twenty-two to eighteen, is very inconclusive, as
+the numbering of the inhabitants of a great city can furnish no
+proper test; and the account of births at Bantam, which states
+the number of girls to be ten to one boy, is not only manifestly
+absurd, but positively false. I can take upon me to assert that
+the proportion of the sexes throughout Sumatra does not sensibly
+differ from that ascertained in Europe; nor could I ever learn
+from the inhabitants of the many eastern islands whom I have
+conversed with that they were conscious of any disproportion in
+this respect.</p>
+
+<p>CONNEXION BETWEEN POLYGAMY AND PURCHASE OF WIVES.</p>
+
+<p>But from whatever source we derive polygamy its prevalence
+seems to be universally attended with the practice of giving a
+valuable consideration for the woman, instead of receiving a
+dowry with her. This is a natural consequence. Where each man
+endeavours to engross several, the demand for the commodity, as a
+merchant would express it, is increased, and the price of course
+enhanced. In Europe on the contrary, where the demand is small;
+whether owing to the paucity of males from continual diminution;
+their coldness of constitution, which suffers them rather to play
+with the sentimental than act from the animal passion; their
+corruption of manners leading them to promiscuous concubinage;
+or, in fine, the extravagant luxury of the times, which too often
+renders a family an insupportable burden--whatever may be the
+cause it becomes necessary, in order to counteract it and produce
+an additional incitement to the marriage state, that a premium be
+given with the females. We find in the history of the earliest
+ages of the world that, where a plurality of women was allowed
+of, by law or custom, they were obtained by money or service. The
+form of marriage by semando among the Malays, which admits but of
+one partner, requires no sum to be paid by the husband to the
+relations of the wife except a trifle, by way of token, or to
+defray the expenses of the wedding-feast. The circumstance of the
+rejangs confining themselves to one, and at the same time giving
+a price for their wives, would seem an exception to the general
+rule laid down; but this is an accidental and perhaps temporary
+restraint, arising, it may be, from the European influence, which
+tends to make them regular and industrious, but keeps them poor:
+affords the means of subsistence to all, but the opportunity of
+acquiring riches to few or none. In their genuine state war and
+plunder caused a rapid fluctuation of property; the little wealth
+now among them, derived mostly from the India Company's
+expenditure, circulates through the country in an equal stream,
+returning chiefly, like the water exhaled in vapours from the
+sea, to its original source. The custom of giving jujurs had most
+probably its foundation in polygamy; and the superstructure
+subsists, though its basis is partly mouldered away; but, being
+scarcely tenantable, the inhabitants are inclined to quit, and
+suffer it to fall to the ground. Moderation in point of women
+destroying their principle, the jujurs appear to be devoid of
+policy. Open a new spring of luxury, and polygamy, now confined
+to a few individuals amongst the chiefs, will spread throughout
+the people. Beauty will be in high request; each fair one will be
+sought for by many competitors; and the payment of the jujur be
+again esteemed a reasonable equivalent for possession. Their
+acknowledging the custom under the present circumstances to be a
+prejudicial one, so contrary to the spirit of eastern manners,
+which is ever marked with a blind veneration for the
+establishments of antiquity, contributes to strengthen
+considerably the opinion I have advanced.</p>
+
+<p>GAMING.</p>
+
+<p>Through every rank of the people there prevails a strong
+spirit of gaming, which is a vice that readily insinuates itself
+into minds naturally indisposed to the avocations of industry;
+and, being in general a sedentary occupation, is more adapted to
+a warm climate, where bodily exertion is in few instances
+considered as an amusement.</p>
+
+<p>DICE. OTHER MODES.</p>
+
+<p>Beside the common species of gambling with dice, which, from
+the term dadu applied to it, was evidently introduced by the
+Portuguese, they have several others; as the judi, a mode of
+playing with small shells, which are taken up by handfuls, and,
+being counted out by a given number at a time (generally that of
+the party engaged), the success is determined by the fractional
+number remaining, the amount of which is previously guessed at by
+each of the party.</p>
+
+<p>CHESS.</p>
+
+<p>They have also various games on chequered boards or other
+delineations, and persons of superior rank are in general versed
+in the game of chess, which they term main gajah, or the game of
+the elephant, naming the pieces as follows: king, raja; queen or
+vizir, mantri; bishop or elephant, gajah; knight or horse, kuda;
+castle, rook, or chariot, ter; and pawn or foot-soldier, bidak.
+For check they use the word sah; and for checkmate, mat or mati.
+Among these names the only one that appears to require
+observation as being peculiar is that for the castle or rook,
+which they have borrowed from the Tamul language of the peninsula
+of India, wherein the word ter (answering to the Sanskrit rat'ha)
+signifies a chariot (particularly such as are drawn in the
+processions of certain divinities), and not unaptly transferred
+to this military game to complete the constituent parts of an
+army. Gambling, especially with dice, is rigorously forbidden
+throughout the pepper districts, because it is not only the
+child, but the parent of idleness, and by the events of play
+often throws whole villages into confusion. Debts contracted on
+this account are declared to be void.</p>
+
+<p>COCK-FIGHTING.</p>
+
+<p>To cock-fighting they are still more passionately addicted,
+and it is indulged to them under certain regulations. Where they
+are perfectly independent their propensity to it is so great that
+it resembles rather a serious occupation than a sport. You seldom
+meet a man travelling in the country without a cock under his
+arm, and sometimes fifty persons in a company when there is a
+bimbang in one of the neighbouring villages. A country-man coming
+down, on any occasion, to the bazaar or settlement at the mouth
+of the river, if he boasts the least degree of spirit must not be
+unprovided with this token of it. They often game high at their
+meetings; particularly when a superstitious faith in the
+invincibility of their bird has been strengthened by past
+success. A hundred Spanish dollars is no very uncommon risk, and
+instances have occurred of a father's staking his children or
+wife, and a son his mother or sisters, on the issue of a battle,
+when a run of ill luck has stripped them of property and rendered
+them desperate. Quarrels, attended with dreadful consequences,
+have often arisen on these occasions.</p>
+
+<p>RULES OF COCKING.</p>
+
+<p>By their customs there are four umpires appointed to determine
+on all disputed points in the course of the battles; and from
+their decision there lies no appeal except the Gothic appeal to
+the sword. A person who loses and has not the ability to pay is
+immediately proscribed, departs with disgrace, and is never again
+suffered to appear at the galan&shy;gang. This cannot with
+propriety be translated a cockpit, as it is generally a spot on
+the level ground, or a stage erected, and covered in. It is
+inclosed with a railing which keeps off the spectators; none but
+the handlers and heelers being admitted withinside. A man who has
+a high opinion of and regard for his cock will not fight him
+under a certain number of dollars, which he places in order on
+the floor: his poorer adversary is perhaps unable to deposit
+above one half: the standers-by make up the sum, and receive
+their dividends in proportion if successful. A father at his
+deathbed has been known to desire his son to take the first
+opportunity of matching a certain cock for a sum equal to his
+whole property, under a blind conviction of its being betuah, or
+invulnerable.</p>
+
+<p>MATCHES.</p>
+
+<p>Cocks of the same colour are never matched but a grey against
+a pile, a yellow against a red, or the like. This might have been
+originally designed to prevent disputes or knavish impositions.
+The Malay breed of cocks is much esteemed by connoisseurs who
+have had an opportunity of trying them. Great pains is taken in
+the rearing and feeding; they are frequently handled and
+accustomed to spar in public, in order to prevent any shyness.
+Contrary to our laws, the owner is allowed to take up and handle
+his cock during the battle to clear his eye of a feather or his
+mouth of blood. When a cock is killed, or runs, the other must
+have sufficient spirit and vigour left to peck at him three
+times, on his being held to him for that purpose, or it becomes a
+drawn battle; and sometimes an experienced cocker will place the
+head of his vanquished bird in such an uncouth posture as to
+terrify the other and render him unable to give this proof of
+victory. The cocks are never trimmed, but matched in full
+feather. The artificial spur used in Sumatra resembles in shape
+the blade of a scimitar, and proves a more destructive weapon
+than the European spur. It has no socket but is tied to the leg,
+and in the position of it the nicety of the match is regulated.
+As in horse-racing weight is proportioned to inches, so in
+cocking a bird of superior weight and size is brought to an
+equality with his adversary by fixing the steel spur so many
+scales of the leg above the natural spur, and thus obliging him
+to fight with a degree of disadvantage. It rarely happens that
+both cocks survive the combat.</p>
+
+<p>In the northern parts of the island, where gold-dust is the
+common medium of gambling, as well as of trade, so much is
+accidentally dropped in weighing and delivering that at some
+cock-pits, where the resort of people is great, the sweepings are
+said, probably with exaggeration, to be worth upwards of a
+thousand dollars per annum to the owner of the ground; beside his
+profit of two fanams (five pence) for each battle.</p>
+
+<p>QUAIL-FIGHTING.</p>
+
+<p>In some places they match quails, in the manner of cocks.
+These fight with great inveteracy, and endeavour to seize each
+other by the tongue. The Achinese bring also into combat the
+dial-bird (murei) which resembles a small magpie, but has an
+agreeable though imperfect note. They sometimes engage one
+another on the wing, and drop to the ground in the struggle.</p>
+
+<p>FENCING.</p>
+
+<p>They have other diversions of a more innocent nature. Matches
+of fencing, or a species of tournament, are exhibited on
+particular days; as at the breaking up of their annual fast, or
+month of ramadan, called there the puasa. On these occasions they
+practise strange attitudes, with violent contortions of the body,
+and often work themselves up to a degree of frenzy, when the old
+men step in and carry them off. These exercises in some
+circumstances resemble the idea which the ancients have given us
+of the pyrrhic or war dance; the combatants moving at a distance
+from each other in cadence, and making many turns and springs
+unnecessary in the representation of a real combat. This
+entertainment is more common among the Malays than in the
+country. The chief weapons of offence used by these people are
+the kujur or lance and the kris. This last is properly Malayan,
+but in all parts of the island they have a weapon equivalent,
+though in general less curious in its structure, wanting that
+waving in the blade for which the kris is remarkable, and
+approaching nearer to daggers or knives.</p>
+
+<p>Among their exercises we never observe jumping or running.
+They smile at the Europeans, who in their excursions take so many
+unnecessary leaps. The custom of going barefoot may be a
+principal impediment to this practice in a country overrun with
+thorny shrubs, and where no fences occur to render it a matter of
+expediency.</p>
+
+<p>DIVERSION OF TOSSING A BALL.</p>
+
+<p>They have a diversion similar to that described by Homer as
+practised among the Phaeacians, which consists in tossing an
+elastic wicker ball or round basket of split rattans into the
+air, and from one player to another, in a peculiar manner. This
+game is called by the Malays sipak raga, or, in the dialect of
+Bencoolen, chipak rago, and is played by a large party standing
+in an extended circle, who endeavour to keep up the ball by
+striking it either perpendicularly, in order to receive it again,
+or obliquely to some other person of the company, with the foot
+or the hand, the heel or the toe, the knee, the shoulder, the
+head, or with any other part of the body; the merit appearing to
+consist in producing the effect in the least obvious or most
+whimsical manner; and in this sport many of them attain an
+extraordinary degree of expertness. Among the plates of Lord
+Macartney's Embassy will be found the representation of a similar
+game, as practised by the natives of Cochin&shy;china.</p>
+
+<p>SMOKING OF OPIUM.</p>
+
+<p>The Sumatrans, and more particularly the Malays, are much
+attached, in common with many other eastern people, to the custom
+of smoking opium. The poppy which produces it not growing on the
+island, it is annually imported from Bengal in considerable
+quantities, in chests containing a hundred and forty pounds each.
+It is made up in cakes of five or six pounds weight, and packed
+with dried leaves; in which situation it will continue good and
+vendible for two years, but after that period grows hard and
+diminishes considerably in value. It is of a darker colour, and
+is supposed to have less strength than the Turkey opium. About a
+hundred and fifty chests are consumed annually on the west coast
+of Sumatra, where it is purchased, on an average, at three
+hundred dollars the chest, and sold again in smaller quantities
+at five or six. But on occasions of extraordinary scarcity I have
+known it to sell for its weight in silver, and a single chest to
+fetch upwards of three thousand dollars.</p>
+
+<p>PREPARATION.</p>
+
+<p>The method of preparing it for use is as follows. The raw
+opium is first boiled or seethed in a copper vessel; then
+strained through a cloth to free it from impurities; and then a
+second time boiled. The leaf of the tambaku, shred fine, is mixed
+with it, in a quantity sufficient to absorb the whole; and it is
+afterwards made up into small pills, about the size of a pea, for
+smoking. One of these being put into the small tube that projects
+from the side of the opium pipe, that tube is applied to a lamp,
+and the pill being lighted is consumed at one whiff or inflation
+of the lungs, attended with a whistling noise. The smoke is never
+emitted by the mouth, but usually receives vent through the
+nostrils, and sometimes, by adepts, through the passage of the
+ears and eyes. This preparation of the opium is called maddat,
+and is often adulterated in the process by mixing jaggri, or pine
+sugar, with it; as is the raw opium, by incorporating with it the
+fruit of the pisang or plantain.</p>
+
+<p>EFFECTS OF OPIUM.</p>
+
+<p>The use of opium among these people, as that of intoxicating
+liquors among other nations, is a species of luxury which all
+ranks adopt according to their ability, and which, when once
+become habitual, it is almost impossible to shake off. Being
+however like other luxuries expensive, few only among the lower
+or middling class of people can compass the regular enjoyment of
+it, even where its use is not restrained, as it is among the
+pepper-planters, to the times of their festivals. That the
+practice of smoking opium must be in some degree prejudicial to
+the health is highly probable; yet I am inclined to think that
+effects have been attributed to it much more pernicious to the
+constitution than it in reality causes. The bugis soldiers and
+others in the Malay bazaars whom we see most attached to it, and
+who use it to excess, commonly appear emaciated; but they are in
+other respects abandoned and debauched. The Limun and Batang
+Assei gold-traders, on the contrary, who are an active, laborious
+class of men but yet indulge as freely in opium as any others
+whatever, are notwithstanding the most healthy and vigorous
+people to be met with on the island. It has been usual also to
+attribute to the practice destructive consequences of another
+nature from the frenzy it has been supposed to excite in those
+who take it in quantities. But this should probably rank with the
+many errors that mankind have been led into by travellers
+addicted to the marvellous; and there is every reason to believe
+that the furious quarrels, desperate assassinations, and
+sanguinary attacks, which the use of opium is said to give birth
+to, are idle notions, originally adopted through ignorance and
+since maintained from the mere want of investigation, without
+having any solid foundation. It is not to be controverted, that
+those desperate acts of indiscriminate murder, called by us
+mucks, and by the natives mengamok, do actually take place, and
+frequently too in some parts of the East (in Java in particular)
+but it is not equally evident that they proceed from any
+intoxication except that of their unruly passions. Too often they
+are occasioned by excess of cruelty and injustice in their
+oppressors. On the west coast of Sumatra about twenty thousand
+pounds weight of this drug are consumed annually, yet instances
+of this crime do not happen (at least within the scope of our
+knowledge) above once in two or three years. During my residence
+there I had an opportunity of being an eyewitness but to one
+muck. The slave of a Portuguese woman, a man of the island of
+Nias, who in all probability had never handled an opium pipe in
+his life, being treated by his mistress with extreme severity for
+a trifling offence, vowed he would have revenge if she attempted
+to strike him again, and ran down the steps of the house with a
+knife in each hand, as it is said. She cried out, mengamok! The
+civil guard was called, who, having the power in these cases of
+exercising summary justice, fired half a dozen rounds into an
+outhouse where the unfortunate wretch had sheltered himself on
+their approach, and from whence he was at length dragged, covered
+with wounds. Many other mucks might perhaps be found, upon
+scrutiny, of the nature of the foregoing, where a man of strong
+feelings was driven by excess of injury to domestic
+rebellion.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that the Malays, when in a state of war they are
+bent on any daring enterprise, fortify themselves with a few
+whiffs of opium to render them insensible to danger, as the
+people of another nation are said to take a dram for the same
+purpose; but it must be observed that the resolution for the act
+precedes, and is not the effect of, the intoxication. They take
+the same precaution previous to being led to public execution;
+but on these occasions show greater signs of stupidity than
+frenzy. Upon the whole it may be reasonably concluded that the
+sanguinary achievements, for which the Malays have been famous,
+or infamous rather, in history, are more justly to be attributed
+to the natural ferocity of their disposition, or to the influence
+upon their manners of a particular state of society, than to the
+qualities of any drug whatever. The pretext of the soldiers of
+the country-guard for using opium is that it may render them
+watchful on their nightly posts: we on the contrary administer it
+to procure sleep, and according to the quantity it has either
+effect. The delirium it produces is known to be so very pleasing
+that Pope has supposed this to have been designed by Homer when
+he describes the delicious draught prepared by Helen, called
+nepenthe, which exhilarated the spirits and banished from the
+mind the recollection of woe.</p>
+
+<p>It is remarkable that at Batavia, where the assassins just now
+described, when taken alive, are broken on the wheel, with every
+aggravation of punishment that the most rigorous justice can
+inflict, the mucks yet happen in great frequency, whilst at
+Bencoolen, where they are executed in the most simple and
+expeditious manner, the offence is extremely rare. Excesses of
+severity in punishment may deter men from deliberate and
+interested acts of villainy, but they add fuel to the atrocious
+enthusiasm of desperadoes.</p>
+
+<p>PIRATICAL ADVENTURES.</p>
+
+<p>A further proof of the influence that mild government has upon
+the manners of people is that the piratical adventures so common
+on the eastern coast of the island are unknown on the western.
+Far from our having apprehensions of the Malays, the guards at
+the smaller English settlements are almost entirely composed of
+them, with a mixture of Bugis or Makasar people. Europeans,
+attended by Malays only, are continually travelling through the
+country. They are the only persons employed in carrying treasure
+to distant places; in the capacity of secretaries for the country
+correspondence; as civil officers in seizing delinquents among
+the planters and elsewhere; and as masters and supercargoes of
+the tambangans, praws, and other small coasting vessels. So great
+is the effect of moral causes and habit upon a physical character
+esteemed the most treacherous and sanguinary.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-15"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 15.</h3>
+
+<p><b>CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.<br>
+EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.<br>
+ORATORY.<br>
+CHILDREN.<br>
+NAMES.<br>
+CIRCUMCISION.<br>
+FUNERALS.<br>
+RELIGION.</b></p>
+
+<p>CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.</p>
+
+<p>Whether to blunt the edge of painful reflection, or owing to
+an aversion our natures have to total inaction, most nations have
+been addicted to the practice of enjoying by mastication or
+otherwise the flavour of substances possessing an inebriating
+quality. The South Americans chew the cocoa and mambee, and the
+eastern people the betel and areca, or, as they are called in the
+Malay language, sirih and pinang. This custom has been accurately
+described by various writers, and therefore it is almost
+superfluous to say more on the subject than that the Sumatrans
+universally use it, carry the ingredients constantly about them,
+and serve it to their guests on all occasions--the prince in a
+gold stand, and the poor man in a brass box or mat bag. The
+betel-stands of the better rank of people are usually of silver
+embossed with rude figures. The Sultan of Moco-moco was presented
+with one by the India Company, with their arms on it; and he
+possesses beside another of gold filigree. The form of the stand
+is the frustum of a hexagonal pyramid reversed, about six or
+eight inches in diameter. It contains many smaller vessels fitted
+to the angles, for holding the nut, leaf, and chunam, which is
+quicklime made from calcined shells; with places for the
+instruments (kachip) employed in cutting the first, and spatulas
+for spreading the last.</p>
+
+<p>When the first salutation is over, which consists in bending
+the body, and the inferior's putting his joined hands between
+those of the superior, and then lifting them to his forehead, the
+betel is presented as a token of hospitality and an act of
+politeness. To omit it on the one hand or to reject it on the
+other would be an affront; as it would be likewise in a person of
+subordinate rank to address a great man without the precaution of
+chewing it before he spoke. All the preparation consists in
+spreading on the sirih leaf a small quantity of the chunam and
+folding it up with a slice of the pinang nut. Some mix with these
+gambir, which is a substance prepared from the leaves of a tree
+of that name by boiling their juices to a consistence, and made
+up into little balls or squares, as before spoken of: tobacco is
+likewise added, which is shred fine for the purpose, and carried
+between the lip and upper row of teeth. From the mastication of
+the first three proceeds a juice which tinges the saliva of a
+bright red, and which the leaf and nut, without the chunam, will
+not yield. This hue being communicated to the mouth and lips is
+esteemed ornamental; and an agreeable flavour is imparted to the
+breath. The juice is usually (after the first fermentation
+produced by the lime) though not always swallowed by the chewers
+of betel. We might reasonably suppose that its active qualities
+would injure the coats of the stomach, but experience seems to
+disprove such a consequence. It is common to see the teeth of
+elderly persons stand loose in the gums, which is probably the
+effect of this custom, but I do not think that it affects the
+soundness of the teeth themselves. Children begin to chew betel
+very young, and yet their teeth are always beautifully white till
+pains are taken to disfigure them by filing and staining them
+black. To persons who are not habituated to the composition it
+causes a strong giddiness, astringes and excoriates the tongue
+and fauces, and deadens for a time the faculty of taste. During
+the puasa, or fast of ramadan, the Mahometans among them abstain
+from the use of betel whilst the sun continues above the horizon;
+but excepting at this season it is the constant luxury of both
+sexes from an early period of childhood, till, becoming
+toothless, they are reduced to the necessity of having the
+ingredients previously reduced to a paste for them, that without
+further effort the betel may dissolve in the mouth. Along with
+the betel, and generally in the chunam, is the mode of conveying
+philtres, or love charms. How far they prove effectual I cannot
+take upon me to say, but suppose that they are of the nature of
+our stimulant medicines, and that the direction of the passion is
+of course indiscriminate. The practice of administering poison in
+this manner is not followed in latter times; but that the idea is
+not so far eradicated as entirely to prevent suspicion appears
+from this circumstance, that the guest, though taking a leaf from
+the betel-service of his entertainer, not unfrequently applies to
+it his own chunam, and never omits to pass the former between his
+thumb and forefinger in order to wipe off any extraneous matter.
+This mistrustful procedure is so common as not to give
+offence.</p>
+
+<p>TOBACCO.</p>
+
+<p>Beside the mode before-mentioned of enjoying the flavour of
+tobacco it is also smoked by the natives and for this use--after
+shredding it fine whilst green and drying it well it is rolled up
+in the thin leaves of a tree, and is in that form called roko, a
+word they appear to have borrowed from the Dutch. The rokos are
+carried in the betel-box, or more commonly under the destar or
+handkerchief which, in imitation of a turband, surrounds the
+head. Much tobacco is likewise imported from China and sells at a
+high price. It seems to possess a greater pungency than the
+Sumatran plant, which the people cultivate for their own use in
+the interior parts of the island.</p>
+
+<p>EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of sending emblematical presents in order to make
+known, in a covert manner, the birth, progress, or change of
+certain affections of the mind, prevails here, as in some other
+parts of the East; and not only flowers of various kinds have
+their appropriate meaning, but also cayenne-pepper, betel-leaf,
+salt, and other articles are understood by adepts to denote love,
+jealousy, resentment, hatred, and other strong feelings.</p>
+
+<p>ORATORY.</p>
+
+<p>The Sumatrans in general are good speakers. The gift of
+oratory seems natural to them. I knew many among them whose
+harangues I have listened to with pleasure and admiration. This
+may be accounted for perhaps from the constitution of their
+government, which being far removed from despotism seems to
+admit, in some degree, every member of the society to a share in
+the public deliberations. Where personal endowments, as has been
+observed, will often raise a private man to a share of importance
+in the community,superior to that of a nominal chief, there is
+abundant inducement for the acquisition of these valuable
+talents. The forms of their judicial proceedings likewise, where
+there are no established advocates and each man depends upon his
+own or his friend's abilities for the management of his cause,
+must doubtless contribute to this habitual eloquence. We may add
+to these conjectures the nature of their domestic manners, which
+introduce the sons at an early period of life into the business
+of the family, and the counsels of their elders. There is little
+to be perceived among them of that passion for childish sports
+which marks the character of our boys from the seventh to the
+fourteenth year. In Sumatra you may observe infants, not
+exceeding the former age, full dressed and armed with a kris,
+seated in the circle of the old men of the dusun, and attending
+to their debates with a gravity of countenance not surpassed by
+their grandfathers. Thus initiated they are qualified to deliver
+an opinion in public at a time of life when an English schoolboy
+could scarcely return an answer to a question beyond the limits
+of his grammar or syntax, which he has learned by rote. It is not
+a little unaccountable that this people, who hold the art of
+speaking in such high esteem, and evidently pique themselves on
+the attainment of it, should yet take so much pains to destroy
+the organs of speech in filing down and otherwise disfiguring
+their teeth; and likewise adopt the uncouth practice of filling
+their mouths with betel whenever they prepare to hold forth. We
+must conclude that it is not upon the graces of elocution they
+value an orator, but his artful and judicious management of the
+subject matter; together with a copiousness of phrase, a
+perspicuity of thought, an advantageous arrangement, and a
+readiness, especially, at unravelling the difficulties and
+intricacies of their suits.</p>
+
+<p>CHILD-BEARING.</p>
+
+<p>The curse entailed on women in the article of child-bearing
+does not fall so heavy in this as in the northern countries.
+Their pregnancy scarcely at any period prevents their attendance
+on the ordinary domestic duties; and usually within a few hours
+after their delivery they walk to the bathing-place, at a small
+distance from the house. The presence of a sage femme is often
+esteemed superfluous. The facility of parturition may probably be
+owing to the relaxation of the frame from the warmth of the
+climate; to which cause also may be attributed the paucity of
+children borne by the Sumatran women and the early decay of their
+beauty and strength. They have the tokens of old age at a season
+of life when European women have not passed their prime. They are
+like the fruits of the country, soon ripe and soon decayed. They
+bear children before fifteen, are generally past it at thirty,
+and grey-headed and shrivelled at forty. I do not recollect
+hearing of any woman who had six children except the wife of
+Raddin of Madura, who had more; and she, contrary to the
+universal custom, did not give suck to hers.</p>
+
+<p>TREATMENT OF CHILDREN.</p>
+
+<p>Mothers carry the children not on the arm, as our nurses do,
+but straddling on the hip, and usually supported by a cloth which
+ties in a knot on the opposite shoulder. This practice I have
+been told is common in some parts of Wales. It is much safer than
+the other method, less tiresome to the nurse, and the child has
+the advantage of sitting in a less constrained posture: but the
+defensive armour of stays, and offensive weapons called pins,
+might be some objection to the general introduction of the
+fashion in England. The children are nursed but little, not
+confined by any swathing or bandages, and, being suffered to roll
+about the floor, soon learn to walk and shift for themselves.
+When cradles are used they are swung suspended from the ceiling
+of the rooms.</p>
+
+<p>AGE OF THE PEOPLE.</p>
+
+<p>The country people can very seldom give an account of their
+age, being entirely without any species of chronology. Among
+those country people who profess themselves Mahometans to very
+few is the date of the Hejra known; and even of those who in
+their writings make use of it not one in ten can pronounce in
+what year of it he was born. After a few taun padi (harvests) are
+elapsed they are bewildered in regard to the date of an event,
+and only guess at it from some contemporary circumstance of
+notoriety, as the appointment of a particular dupati, the
+incursion of a certain enemy, or the like. As far as can be
+judged from observation it would seem that not a great proportion
+of the men attain to the age of fifty, and sixty years is
+accounted a long life.</p>
+
+<p>NAMES.</p>
+
+<p>The children among the Rejangs have generally a name given to
+them by their parents soon after their birth, which is called
+namo daging. The galar (cognomen), another species of name, or
+title, as we improperly translate it, is bestowed at a
+subsequent, but not at any determinate, period: sometimes as the
+lads rise to manhood, at an entertainment given by the parent, on
+some particular occasion; and often at their marriage. It is
+generally conferred by the old men of the neighbouring villages,
+when assembled; but instances occur of its being irregularly
+assumed by the persons themselves; and some never obtain any
+galar. It is also not unusual, at a convention held on business
+of importance, to change the galar of one or two of the principal
+personages to others of superior estimation; though it is not
+easy to discover in what this pre-eminence consists, the
+appellations being entirely arbitrary, at the fancy of those who
+confer them: perhaps in the loftier sound, or more pompous
+allusion in the sense, which latter is sometimes carried to an
+extraordinary pitch of bombast, as in the instance of Pengunchang
+bumi, or Shaker of the World, the title of a pangeran of Manna.
+But a climax is not always perceptible in the change.</p>
+
+<p>FATHER NAMED FROM HIS CHILD.</p>
+
+<p>The father, in many parts of the country, particularly in
+Passummah, is distinguished by the name of his first child, as
+Pa-Ladin, or Pa-Rindu (Pa for bapa, signifying the father of),
+and loses in this acquired his own proper name. This is a
+singular custom, and surely less conformable to the order of
+nature than that which names the son from the father. There it is
+not usual to give them a galar on their marriage, as with the
+Rejangs, among whom the filionymic is not so common, though
+sometimes adopted, and occasionally joined with the galar; as
+Radin-pa-Chirano. The women never change the name given them at
+the time of their birth; yet frequently they are called, through
+courtesy, from their eldest child, Ma-si-ano, the mother of such
+a one; but rather as a polite description than a name. The word
+or particle Si is prefixed to the birth-names of persons, which
+almost ever consist of but a single word, as Si Bintang, Si
+Tolong; and we find from Captain Forrest's voyage that in the
+island of Mindanao the infant son of the Raja Muda was named Se
+Mama.</p>
+
+<p>HESITATE TO PRONOUNCE THEIR OWN NAME.</p>
+
+<p>A Sumatran ever scrupulously abstains from pronouncing his own
+name; not as I understand from any motive of superstition, but
+merely as a punctilio in manners. It occasions him infinite
+embarrassment when a stranger, unacquainted with their customs,
+requires it of him. As soon as he recovers from his confusion he
+solicits the interposition of his neighbour.</p>
+
+<p>ADDRESS IN THE THIRD PERSON.</p>
+
+<p>He is never addressed, except in the case of a superior
+dictating to his dependant, in the second person, but always in
+the third; using his name or title instead of the pronoun; and
+when these are unknown a general title of respect is substituted,
+and they say, for instance, apa orang kaya punia suka, what is
+his honour's pleasure for what is your, or your honour's
+pleasure? When criminals or other ignominious persons are spoken
+to use is made of the pronoun personal kau (a contraction of
+angkau) particularly expressive of contempt. The idea of
+disrespect annexed to the use of the second person in discourse,
+though difficult to be accounted for, seems pretty general in the
+world. The Europeans, to avoid the supposed indecorum, exchange
+the singular number for the plural; but I think with less
+propriety of effect than the Asiatic mode; if to take off from
+the bluntness of address be the object aimed at.</p>
+
+<p>CIRCUMCISION.</p>
+
+<p>The boys are circumcised, where Mahometanism prevails, between
+the sixth and tenth year. The ceremony is called krat kulop and
+buang or lepas malu (casting away their shame), and a bimbang is
+usually given on the occasion; as well as at the ceremony of
+boring the ears and filing the teeth of their daughters (before
+described), which takes place at about the age of ten or twelve;
+and until this is performed they cannot with propriety be
+married.</p>
+
+<p>FUNERALS.</p>
+
+<p>At their funerals the corpse is carried to the place of
+interment on a broad plank, which is kept for the public service
+of the dusun, and lasts for many generations. It is constantly
+rubbed with lime, either to preserve it from decay or to keep it
+pure. No coffin is made use of; the body being simply wrapped in
+white cloth, particularly of the sort called hummums. In forming
+the grave (kubur), after digging to a convenient depth they make
+a cavity in the side, at bottom, of sufficient dimensions to
+contain the body, which is there deposited on its right side. By
+this mode the earth literally lies light upon it; and the cavity,
+after strewing flowers in it, they stop up by two boards fastened
+angularly to each other, so that the one is on the top of the
+corpse, whilst the other defends it on the open side, the edge
+resting on the bottom of the grave. The outer excavation is then
+filled up with earth, and little white flags or streamers are
+stuck in order around. They likewise plant a shrub, bearing a
+white flower, called kumbang&shy;kamboja (Plumeria obtusa), and
+in some places wild marjoram. The women who attend the funeral
+make a hideous noise, not much unlike the Irish howl. On the
+third and seventh day the relations perform a ceremony at the
+grave, and at the end of twelve months that of tegga batu, or
+setting up a few long elliptical stones at the head and foot,
+which, being scarce in some parts of the country, bear a
+considerable price. On this occasion they kill and feast on a
+buffalo, and leave the head to decay on the spot as a token of
+the honour they have done to the deceased, in eating to his
+memory.* The ancient burying-places are called krammat, and are
+supposed to have been those of the holy men by whom their
+ancestors were converted to the faith. They are held in
+extraordinary reverence, and the least disturbance or violation
+of the ground, though all traces of the graves be obliterated, is
+regarded as an unpardonable sacrilege.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The above ceremonies (with the exception
+of the last) are briefly described in the following lines,
+extracted from a Malayan poem.
+
+<p>Setelah sudah de tangisi, nia Lalu de kubur de tanamkan 'nia
+De ambel koran de ajikan 'nia Sopaya lepas deri sangsara 'nia
+Mengaji de kubur tujuh ari Setelah de khatam tiga kali Sudah de
+tegga batu sakali Membayer utang pada si-mati.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>RELIGION.</p>
+
+<p>In works descriptive of the manners of people little known to
+the world the account of their religion usually constitutes an
+article of the first importance. Mine will labour under the
+contrary disadvantage. The ancient and genuine religion of the
+Rejangs, if in fact they ever had any, is scarcely now to be
+traced; and what principally adds to its obscurity, and the
+difficulty of getting information on the subject, is that even
+those among them who have not been initiated in the principles of
+Mahometanism yet regard those who have as persons advanced a step
+in knowledge beyond them, and therefore hesitate to own
+circumstantially that they remain still unenlightened. Ceremonies
+are fascinating to mankind, and without comprehending with what
+views they were instituted the profanum vulgus naturally give
+them credit for something mysterious and above their capacities,
+and accordingly pay them a tribute of respect. With Mahometanism
+a more extensive field of knowledge (I speak in comparison) is
+open to its converts, and some additional notions of science are
+conveyed. These help to give it importance, though it must be
+confessed they are not the most pure tenets of that religion
+which have found their way to Sumatra; nor are even the
+ceremonial parts very scrupulously adhered to. Many who profess
+to follow it give themselves not the least concern about its
+injunctions, or even know what they require. A Malay at Manna
+upbraided a countryman with the total ignorance of religion his
+nation laboured under. "You pay a veneration to the tombs of your
+ancestors: what foundation have you for supposing that your dead
+ancestors can lend you assistance?" "It may be true," answered
+the other, "but what foundation have you for expecting assistance
+from Allah and Mahomet?" "Are you not aware, replied the Malay,
+that it is written in a Book? Have you not heard of the Koran?"
+The native of Passummah, with conscious inferiority, submitted to
+the force of this argument.</p>
+
+<p>If by religion is meant a public or private form of worship of
+any kind, and if prayers, processions, meetings, offerings,
+images, or priests are any of them necessary to constitute it, I
+can pronounce that the Rejangs are totally without religion and
+cannot with propriety be even termed pagans, if that, as I
+apprehend, conveys the idea of mistaken worship. They neither
+worship God, devil, nor idols. They are not however without
+superstitious beliefs of many kinds, and have certainly a
+confused notion, though perhaps derived from their intercourse
+with other people, of some species of superior beings who have
+the power of rendering themselves visible or invisible at
+pleasure. These they call orang alus, fine, or impalpable beings,
+and regard them as possessing the faculty of doing them good or
+evil, deprecating their wrath as the sense of present misfortunes
+or apprehension of future prevails in their minds. But when they
+speak particularly of them they call them by the appellations of
+maleikat and jin, which are the angels and evil spirits of the
+Arabians, and the idea may probably have been borrowed at the
+same time with the names. These are the powers they also refer to
+in an oath. I have heard a dupati say, "My grandfather took an
+oath that he would not demand the jujur of that woman, and
+imprecated a curse on any of his descendants that should do it: I
+never have, nor could I without salah kapada maleikat--an offence
+against the angels." Thus they say also, de talong nabi,
+maleikat, the prophet and angels assisting. This is pure
+Mahometanism.</p>
+
+<p>NO NAME FOR THE DEITY.</p>
+
+<p>The clearest proof that they never entertained an idea of
+Theism or the belief of one supreme power is that they have no
+word in their language to express the person of God, except the
+Allah tala of the Malays, corrupted by them to Ulah tallo. Yet
+when questioned on the subject they assert their ancestors'
+knowledge of a deity, though their thoughts were never employed
+about him; but this evidently means no more than that their
+forefathers as well as themselves had heard of the Allah of the
+Mahometans (Allah orang islam).</p>
+
+<p>IDEA OF INVISIBLE BEINGS.</p>
+
+<p>They use, both in Rejang and Passummah, the word dewa to
+express a superior invisible class of beings; but each country
+acknowledges it to be of foreign derivation, and they suppose it
+Javanese. Radin, of Madura, an island close to Java, who was well
+conversant with the religious opinions of most nations, asserted
+to me that dewa was an original word of that country for a
+superior being, which the Javans of the interior believed in, but
+with regard to whom they used no ceremonies or forms of worship:*
+that they had some idea of a future life, but not as a state of
+retribution, conceiving immortality to be the lot of rich rather
+than of good men. I recollect that an inhabitant of one of the
+islands farther eastward observed to me, with great simplicity,
+that only great men went to the skies; how should poor men find
+admittance there? The Sumatrans, where untinctured with
+Mahometanism, do not appear to have any notion of a future state.
+Their conception of virtue or vice extends no farther than to the
+immediate effect of actions to the benefit or prejudice of
+society, and all such as tend not to either of these ends are in
+their estimation perfectly indifferent.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. In the Transactions of the Batavian
+Society Volumes 1 and 3 is to be found a History of these Dewas
+of the Javans, translated from an original manuscript. The
+mythology is childish and incoherent. The Dutch commentator
+supposes them to have been a race of men held sacred, forming a
+species of Hierarchy, like the government of the Lamas in
+Tartary.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding what is asserted of the originality of the
+word dewa, I cannot help remarking its extreme affinity to the
+Persian word div or diw, which signifies an evil spirit or bad
+genius. Perhaps, long antecedent to the introduction of the faith
+of the khalifs among the eastern people, this word might have
+found its way and been naturalized in the islands; or perhaps its
+progress was in a contrary direction. It has likewise a connexion
+in sound with the names used to express a deity or some degree of
+superior being by many other people of this region of the earth.
+The Battas, inhabitants of the northern end of Sumatra, whom I
+shall describe hereafter, use the word daibattah or daivattah;
+the Chingalese of Ceylon dewiju, the Telingas of India dai-wundu,
+the Biajus of Borneo dewattah, the Papuas of New Guinea 'wat, and
+the Pampangos of the Philippines diuata. It bears likewise an
+affinity (perhaps accidental) to the deus and deitas of the
+Romans.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. At the period when the above was written
+I was little aware of the intimate connexion now well understood
+to have anciently subsisted between the Hindus and the various
+nations beyond the Ganges. The most evident proofs appear of the
+extensive dissemination both of their language and mythology
+throughout Sumatra, Java, Balli (where at this day they are best
+preserved), and the other eastern islands. To the Sanskrit words
+dewa and dewata, signifying divinities in that great
+mother-tongue, we are therefore to look for the source of the
+terms, more or less corrupted, that have been mentioned in the
+text. See Asiatic Researches Volume 4 page 223.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>VENERATION FOR THE MANES AND TOMBS OF THEIR ANCESTORS.</p>
+
+<p>The superstition which has the strongest influence on the
+minds of the Sumatrans, and which approaches the nearest to a
+species of religion, is that which leads them to venerate, almost
+to the point of worshipping, the tombs and manes of their
+deceased ancestors (nenek puyang). These they are attached to as
+strongly as to life itself, and to oblige them to remove from the
+neighbourhood of their krammat is like tearing up a tree by the
+roots; these the more genuine country people regard chiefly, when
+they take a solemn oath, and to these they apostrophise in
+instances of sudden calamity. Had they the art of making images
+or other representations of them they would be perfect lares,
+penates, or household gods. It has been asserted to me by the
+natives (conformably to what we are told by some of the early
+travellers) that in very ancient times the Sumatrans made a
+practice of burning the bodies of their dead, but I could never
+find any traces of the custom, or any circumstances that
+corroborated it.</p>
+
+<p>METEMPSYCHOSIS.</p>
+
+<p>They have an imperfect notion of a metempsychosis, but not in
+any degree systematic, nor considered as an article of religious
+faith. Popular stories prevail amongst them of such a particular
+man being changed into a tiger or other beast. They seem to think
+indeed that tigers in general are actuated with the spirits of
+departed men, and no consideration will prevail on a countryman
+to catch or to wound one but in self-defence, or immediately
+after the act of destroying a friend or relation. They speak of
+them with a degree of awe, and hesitate to call them by their
+common name (rimau or machang), terming them respectfully satwa
+(the wild animals), or even nenek (ancestors), as really
+believing them such, or by way of soothing and coaxing them; as
+our ignorant country folk call the fairies the good people. When
+a European procures traps to be set, by the means of persons less
+superstitious, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood have been
+known to go at night to the place and practise some forms in
+order to persuade the animal, when caught, or when he shall
+perceive the bait, that it was not laid by them, or with their
+consent. They talk of a place in the country where the tigers
+have a court and maintain a regular form of government, in towns,
+the houses of which are thatched with women's hair. It happened
+that in one month seven or eight people were killed by these
+prowling beasts in Manna district; upon which a report became
+current that fifteen hundred of them were come down from
+Passummah, of which number four were without understanding
+(gila), and having separated from the rest ran about the country
+occasioning all the mischief that was felt. The alligators also
+are highly destructive, owing to the constant practice of bathing
+in the rivers, and are regarded with nearly the same degree of
+religious terror. Fear is the parent of superstition, by
+ignorance. Those two animals prove the Sumatran's greatest
+scourge. The mischief the former commit is incredible, whole
+villages being often depopulated by them, and the suffering
+people learn to reverence as supernatural effects the furious
+ravages of an enemy they have not resolution to oppose.</p>
+
+<p>The Sumatrans are firmly persuaded that various particular
+persons are what they term betuah (sacred, impassive,
+invulnerable, not liable to accident), and this quality they
+sometimes extend to things inanimate, as ships and boats. Such an
+opinion, which we should suppose every man might have an
+opportunity of bringing to the test of truth, affords a
+humiliating proof of the weakness and credulity of human nature,
+and the fallibility of testimony, when a film of prejudice
+obscures the light of the understanding. I have known two men,
+whose honesty, good faith, and reasonableness in the general
+concerns of life were well established, and whose assertions
+would have weight in transactions of consequence: these men I
+have heard maintain, with the most deliberate confidence and an
+appearance of inward conviction of their own sincerity, that they
+had more than once in the course of their wars attempted to run
+their weapons into the naked body of their adversary, which they
+found impenetrable, their points being continually and
+miraculously turned without any effort on the part of the orang
+betuah: and that hundreds of instances of the like nature, where
+the invulnerable man did not possess the smallest natural means
+of opposition, had come within their observation. An English
+officer, with more courage and humour than discretion, exposed
+one imposture of this kind. A man having boasted in his presence
+that he was endowed with this supernatural privilege, the officer
+took an opportunity of applying to his arm the point of a sword
+and drew the blood, to the no little diversion of the spectators,
+and mortification of the pretender to superior gifts, who vowed
+revenge, and would have taken it had not means been used to keep
+him at a distance. But a single detection of charlatanerie is not
+effectual to destroy a prevalent superstition. These impostors
+are usually found among the Malays and not the more simple
+country people.</p>
+
+<p>NO MISSIONARIES.</p>
+
+<p>No attempts, I have reason to think, have ever been made by
+missionaries or others to convert the inhabitants of the island
+to Christianity, and I have much doubt whether the most zealous
+and able would meet with any permanent success in this pious
+work. Of the many thousands baptized in the eastern islands by
+the celebrated Francis Xavier in the sixteenth century not one of
+their descendants are now found to retain a ray of the light
+imparted to them; and probably, as it was novelty only and not
+conviction that induced the original converts to embrace a new
+faith, the impression lasted no longer than the sentiment which
+recommended it, and disappeared as rapidly as the itinerant
+apostle. Under the influence however of the Spanish government at
+Manila and of the Dutch at Batavia there are many native
+Christians, educated as such from children. In the Malayan
+language Portuguese and Christians are confounded under the same
+general name; the former being called orang Zerani, by corruption
+for Nazerani. This neglect of missions to Sumatra is one cause
+that the interior of the country has been so little known to the
+civilized world.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-16"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 16.</h3>
+
+<p><b>THE COUNTRY OF LAMPONG AND ITS INHABITANTS.<br>
+LANGUAGE.<br>
+GOVERNMENT.<br>
+WARS.<br>
+PECULIAR CUSTOMS.<br>
+RELIGION.</b></p>
+
+<p>Having thus far spoken of the manners and customs of the
+Rejangs more especially, and adverted, as occasion served, to
+those of the Passummah people, who nearly resemble them, I shall
+now present a cursory view of those circumstances in which their
+southern neighbours, the inhabitants of the Lampong country,
+differ from them, though this dissimilitude is not very
+considerable; and shall add such information as I have been
+enabled to obtain respecting the people of Korinchi and other
+tribes dwelling beyond the ranges of hills which bound the
+pepper-districts.</p>
+
+<p>LIMITS OF THE LAMPONG COUNTRY.</p>
+
+<p>By the Lampong country is understood a portion of the southern
+extreme of the island, beginning, on the west coast, at the river
+of Padang-guchi, which divides it from Passummah, and extending
+across as far as Palembang, on the north-east side, at which last
+place the settlers are mostly Javans. On the south and east sides
+it is washed by the sea, having several ports in the Straits of
+Sunda, particularly Keysers and Lampong Bays; and the great river
+Tulang-bawang runs through the heart of it, rising from a
+considerable lake between the ranges of mountains. That division
+which is included by Padang-guchi, and a place called Nassal, is
+distinguished by the name of Briuran, and from thence southward
+to Flat Point, by that of Laut-Kawur; although Kawur, properly so
+called, lies in the northern division.</p>
+
+<p>TULANG BAWANG RIVER.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the Tulang-bawang, at a place called Mangala, thirty-six
+leagues from its mouth, the Dutch have a fortified post. There
+also the representative of the king of Bantam, who claims the
+dominion of the whole country of Lampong, has his residence, the
+river Masusi, which runs into the former, being the boundary of
+his territories and those of the sultan of Palembang. In the
+neighbourhood of these rivers the land is so low as to be
+overflowed in the rainy season, or months of January and
+February, when the waters have been known to rise many feet in
+the course of a few hours, the villages, situated on the higher
+spots, appearing as islands. The houses of those immediately on
+the banks are built on piles of ironwood timber, and each has
+before it a floating raft for the convenience of washing. In the
+western parts, towards Samangka, on the contrary, the land is
+mountainous, and Keyser's Peak, as well as Pugong, are visible to
+a great distance at sea.</p>
+
+<p>INHABITANTS.</p>
+
+<p>The country is best inhabited in the central and mountainous
+parts, where the people live independent, and in some measure
+secure from the inroads of their eastern neighbours, the Javans,
+who, from about Palembang and the Straits, frequently attempt to
+molest them. It is probably within but a very few centuries that
+the south-west coast of this country has been the habitation of
+any considerable number of people; and it has been still less
+visited by strangers, owing to the unsheltered nature of the sea
+thereabouts, and want of soundings in general, which renders the
+navigation wild and dangerous for country vessels; and to the
+rivers being small and rapid, with shallow bars and almost ever a
+high surf. If you ask the people of these parts from whence they
+originally came they answer, from the hills, and point out an
+inland place near the great lake from whence they say their
+forefathers emigrated: and further than this it is impossible to
+trace. They of all the Sumatrans have the strongest resemblance
+to the Chinese, particularly in the roundness of face and
+constructure of the eyes. They are also the fairest people of the
+island, and the women are the tallest and esteemed the most
+handsome.</p>
+
+<p>LANGUAGE.</p>
+
+<p>Their language differs considerably, though not essentially,
+from that of the Rejangs, and the characters they use are
+peculiar to themselves, as may be observed in the specimens
+exhibited.</p>
+
+<p>GOVERNMENT.</p>
+
+<p>The titles of government are pangeran (from the Javans),
+kariyer, and kiddimong or nebihi; the latter nearly answering to
+dupati among the Rejangs. The district of Kroi, near Mount
+Pugong, is governed by five magistrates called Panggau-limo, and
+a sixth, superior, called by way of eminence Panggau; but their
+authority is said to be usurped and is often disputed. The word
+in common signifies a gladiator or prizefighter. The pangeran of
+Suko, in the hills, is computed to have four or five thousand
+dependants, and sometimes, on going a journey, he levies a tali,
+or eighth part of a dollar, on each family, which shows his
+authority to be more arbitrary and probably more strictly feudal
+than among the Rejangs, where the government is rather
+patriarchal. This difference has doubtless its source in the wars
+and invasions to which the former people are exposed.</p>
+
+<p>WARS.</p>
+
+<p>The Javanese banditti, as has been observed, often advance
+into the country, and commit depredations on the inhabitants, who
+are not, in general, a match for them. They do not make use of
+firearms. Beside the common weapons of the island they fight with
+a long lance which is carried by three men, the foremost guiding
+the point and covering himself and his companions with a large
+shield. A compact body thus armed would have been a counterpart
+of the Macedonian phalanx, but can prove, I should apprehend, of
+but little use among a people with whom war is carried on in a
+desultory manner, and more in the way of ambuscade than of
+general engagement, in which alone troops so armed could act with
+effect.</p>
+
+<p>Inland of Samangka, in the Straits of Sunda, there is a
+district, say the Lampongs, inhabited by a ferocious people
+called orang Abung, who were a terror to the neighbouring country
+until their villages were destroyed some years ago by an
+expedition from the former place. Their mode of atoning for
+offences against their own community, or, according to a Malayan
+narrative in my possession, of entitling themselves to wives, was
+by bringing to their dusuns the heads of strangers. The account
+may be true, but without further authentication such stories are
+not to be too implicitly credited on the faith of a people who
+are fond of the marvellous and addicted to exaggeration. Thus
+they believed the inhabitants of the island Engano to be all
+females, who were impregnated by the wind, like the mares in
+Virgil's Georgics.</p>
+
+<p>MANNERS.</p>
+
+<p>The manners of the Lampongs are more free, or rather
+licentious, than those of any other native Sumatrans. An
+extraordinary liberty of intercourse is allowed between the young
+people of different sexes, and the loss of female chastity is not
+a very uncommon consequence. The offence is there however thought
+more lightly of, and instead of punishing the parties, as in
+Passummah and elsewhere, they prudently endeavour to conclude a
+legal match between them. But if this is not effected the lady
+still continues to wear the insignia of virginity, the fillet and
+arm-rings, and takes her place as such at festivals. It is not
+only on these public occasions that the young men and women have
+opportunities of forming arrangements, as in most other parts of
+the island. They frequently associate together at other times;
+and the former are seen gallantly reclining in the maiden's lap,
+whispering soft nonsense, whilst she adjusts and perfumes his
+hair, or does a friendly office of less delicacy to a European
+apprehension. At bimbangs the women often put on their dancing
+dress in the public hall, letting that garment which they mean to
+lay aside dexterously drop from under, as the other passes over
+the head, but sometimes, with an air of coquetry, displaying as
+if by chance enough to warm youthful imaginations. Both men and
+women anoint themselves before company when they prepare to
+dance; the women their necks and arms, and the men their breasts.
+They also paint each others faces; not, seemingly, with a view of
+heightening or imitating the natural charms, but merely as matter
+of fashion; making fantastic spots with the finger on the
+forehead, temples, and cheeks, of white, red, yellow, and other
+hues. A brass salver (tallam) covered with little china cups,
+containing a variety of paints, is served up for this
+purpose.</p>
+
+<p>Instances have happened here, though rarely, of very
+disagreeable conclusions to their feasts. A party of risaus among
+the young fellows have been known suddenly to extinguish the
+lights for the purpose of robbing the girls, not of their
+chastity, as might be apprehended, but of the gold and silver
+ornaments of their persons. An outrage of this nature I imagine
+could only happen in Lampong, where their vicinity to Java
+affords the culprits easier and surer means of escape, than in
+the central parts of the island; and here too their companies
+appear to be more mixed, collected from greater distances, and
+not composed, as with the Rejang people, of a neighbourly
+assemblage of the old men and women of a few contiguous villages
+with their sons and daughters, for the sake of convivial mirth,
+of celebrating a particular domestic event, and promoting
+attachments and courtship amongst the young people.</p>
+
+<p>PARTICULAR CUSTOMS.</p>
+
+<p>In every dusun there is appointed a youth, well fitted by
+nature and education for the office, who acts as master of
+ceremonies at their public meetings, arranges the young men and
+women in their proper places, makes choice of their partners, and
+regulates all other circumstances of the assembly except the
+important economy of the festival part or cheer, which comes
+under the cognizance of one of the elders. Both parts of the
+entertainment are preceded by long complimentary speeches,
+delivered by the respective stewards, who in return are answered
+and complimented on their skill, liberality, and other qualities,
+by some of the best bred amongst the guests. Though the manner of
+conducting, and the appendages of these feasts, are superior in
+style to the rustic hospitality of some of the northern
+countries, yet they are esteemed to be much behind those in the
+goodness and mode of dressing their food. The Lampongs eat almost
+all kinds of flesh indiscriminately, and their guleis (curries or
+made dishes) are said, by connoisseurs, to have no flavour. They
+serve up the rice divided into portions for each person, contrary
+to the practice in the other countries; the tallam being covered
+with a handsome crimson napkin manufactured for that use. They
+are wont to entertain strangers with much more profusion than is
+met with in the rest of the island. If the guest is of any
+consequence they do not hesitate to kill, beside goats and fowls,
+a buffalo, or several, according to the period of his stay, and
+the number of his attendants. One man has been known to entertain
+a person of rank and his suite for sixteen days, during which
+time there were not less than a hundred dishes of rice spread
+each day, containing some one, some two bamboos. They have dishes
+here, of a species of china or earthenware, called batu benauang,
+brought from the eastward, remarkably heavy, and very dear, some
+of them being valued at forty dollars a piece. The breaking one
+of them is a family loss of no small importance.</p>
+
+<p>RECEPTION OF STRANGERS.</p>
+
+<p>Abundantly more ceremony is used among these people at
+interviews with strangers than takes place in the countries
+adjacent to them. Not only the chief person of a party
+travelling, but every one of his attendants, is obliged, upon
+arriving at a town, to give a formal account of their business,
+or occasion of coming that way. When the principal man of the
+dusun is acquainted by the stranger with the motives of his
+journey he repeats his speech at full length before he gives an
+answer; and if it is a person of great consequence, the words
+must pass through two or three mouths before they are supposed to
+come with sufficient ceremony to his ears. This in fact has more
+the air of adding to his own importance and dignity than to that
+of the guest; but it is not in Sumatra alone that respect is
+manifested by this seeming contradiction.</p>
+
+<p>The terms of the jujur, or equivalent for wives, is the same
+here, nearly, as with the Rejangs. The kris-head is not essential
+to the bargain, as among the people of Passummah. The father of
+the girl never admits of the putus tali kulo, or whole sum being
+paid, and thereby withholds from the husband, in any case, the
+right of selling his wife, who, in the event of a divorce,
+returns to her relations. Where the putus tali is allowed to take
+place, he has a property in her, little differing from that of a
+slave, as formerly observed. The particular sums which constitute
+the jujur are less complex here than at other places. The value
+of the maiden's golden trinkets is nicely estimated, and her
+jujur regulated according to that and the rank of her parents.
+The semando marriage scarcely ever takes place but among poor
+people, where there is no property on either side, or in the case
+of a slip in the conduct of the female, when the friends are glad
+to make up a match in this way instead of demanding a price for
+her. Instances have occurred however of countrymen of rank
+affecting a semando marriage in order to imitate the Malayan
+manners; but it has been looked upon as improper and liable to
+create confusion.</p>
+
+<p>The fines and compensation for murder are in every respect the
+same as in the countries already described.</p>
+
+<p>RELIGION.</p>
+
+<p>The Mahometan religion has made considerable progress amongst
+the Lampongs, and most of their villages have mosques in them:
+yet an attachment to the original superstitions of the country
+induces them to regard with particular veneration the ancient
+burying-places of their fathers, which they piously adorn and
+cover in from the weather.</p>
+
+<p>SUPERSTITIOUS OPINIONS.</p>
+
+<p>In some parts, likewise, they superstitiously believe that
+certain trees, particularly those of a venerable appearance (as
+an old jawi-jawi or banyan tree) are the residence, or rather the
+material frame of spirits of the woods; an opinion which exactly
+answers to the idea entertained by the ancients of the dryads and
+hamadryads. At Benkunat in the Lampong country there is a long
+stone, standing on a flat one, supposed by the people to possess
+extraordinary power or virtue. It is reported to have been once
+thrown down into the water and to have raised itself again to its
+original position, agitating the elements at the same time with a
+prodigious storm. To approach it without respect they believe to
+be the source of misfortune to the offender.</p>
+
+<p>The inland people of that country are said to pay a kind of
+adoration to the sea, and to make to it an offering of cakes and
+sweetmeats on their beholding it for the first time, deprecating
+its power of doing them mischief. This is by no means surprising
+when we consider the natural proneness of unenlightened mankind
+to regard with superstitious awe whatever has the power of
+injuring them without control, and particularly when it is
+attended with any circumstances mysterious and inexplicable to
+their understandings. The sea possesses all these qualities. Its
+destructive and irresistible power is often felt, and especially
+on the coasts of India where tremendous surfs are constantly
+breaking on the shore, rising often to their greatest degree of
+violence without any apparent external cause. Add to this the
+flux and reflux and perpetual ordinary motion of that element,
+wonderful even to philosophers who are acquainted with the cause,
+unaccountable to ignorant men, though long accustomed to the
+effects; but to those who only once or twice in their lives have
+been eyewitnesses to the phenomena, supernatural and divine. It
+must not however be understood that anything like a regular
+worship is paid to the sea by these people, any more than we
+should conclude that people in England worship witches when they
+nail a horseshoe on the threshold to prevent their approach, or
+break the bottoms of eggshells to hinder them from sailing in
+them. It is with the inhabitants of Lampong no more than a
+temporary sentiment of fear and respect, which a little
+familiarity soon effaces. Many of them indeed imagine it endowed
+with a principle of voluntary motion. They tell a story of an
+ignorant fellow who, observing with astonishment its continual
+agitation, carried a vessel of sea water with him, on his return
+to the country, and poured it into a lake, in full expectation of
+seeing it perform the same fanciful motions he had admired it for
+in its native bed.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The manners of the natives of the
+Philippine or Luzon Islands correspond in so many striking
+particulars with those of the inland Sumatrans, and especially
+where they differ most from the Malays, that I think no doubt can
+be entertained, if not of a sameness of origin, at least of an
+intercourse and connection in former times which now no longer
+exists. The following instances are taken from an essay preserved
+by Thevenot, entitled Relation des Philippines par un religieux;
+traduite d'un manuscrit Espagnol du cabinet de Monsieur Dom.
+Carlo del Pezzo (without date), and from a manuscript
+communicated to me by Alex Dalrymple, Esquire. "The chief Deity
+of the Tagalas is called Bathala mei Capal, and also Diuata; and
+their principal idolatry consists in adoring those of their
+ancestors who signalised themselves for courage or abilities,
+calling them Humalagar, i.e. manes: They make slaves of the
+people who do not keep silence at the tombs of their ancestors.
+They have great veneration for the crocodile, which they call
+nono, signifying grandfather, and make offerings to it. Every old
+tree they look upon as a superior being, and think it a crime to
+cut it down. They worship also stones, rocks, and points of land,
+shooting arrows at these last as they pass them. They have
+priests who, at their sacrifices, make many contortions and
+grimaces, as if possessed with a devil. The first man and woman,
+they say, were produced from a bamboo, which burst in the island
+of Sumatra; and they quarrelled about their marriage. The people
+mark their bodies in various figures, and render them of the
+colour of ashes, have large holes in their ears, blacken and file
+their teeth, and make an opening which they fill up with gold,
+they used to write from top to bottom till the Spaniards taught
+them to write from left to right, bamboos and palm leaves serve
+them for paper. They cover their houses with straw, leaves of
+trees, or bamboos split in two which serve for tiles. They hire
+people to sing and weep at their funerals, burn benzoin, bury
+their dead on the third day in strong coffins, and sometimes kill
+slaves to accompany their deceased masters.")</blockquote>
+
+<p>The latter account is more particular, and appears of modern
+date.</p>
+
+<p>They held the caiman, or alligator, in great reverence, and
+when they saw him they called him nono, or grandfather, praying
+with great tenderness that he would do them no harm, and to this
+end, offered him of whatever they had in their boats, throwing it
+into the water. There was not an old tree to which they did not
+offer divine worship, especially that called balete; and even at
+this time they have some respect for them. Beside these they had
+certain idols inherited from their ancestors, which the Tagalas
+called Anita, and the Bisayans, Divata. Some of these were for
+the mountains and plains, and they asked their leave when they
+would pass them: others for the corn fields, and to these they
+recommend them, that they might be fertile, placing meat and
+drink in the fields for the use of the Anitos. There was one, of
+the sea, who had care of their fishing and navigation; another of
+the house, whose favour they implored at the birth of a child,
+and under whose protection they placed it. They made Anitos also
+of their deceased ancestors, and to these were their first
+invocations in all difficulties and dangers. They reckoned
+amongst these beings, all those who were killed by lightning or
+alligators, or had any disastrous death, and believed that they
+were carried up to the happy state, by the rainbow, which they
+call Balan-gao. In general they endeavoured to attribute this
+kind of divinity to their fathers, when they died in years, and
+the old men, vain with this barbarous notion, affected in their
+sickness a gravity and composure of mind, as they conceived, more
+than human, because they thought themselves commencing Anitos.
+They were to be interred at places marked out by themselves, that
+they might be discovered at a distance and worshipped. The
+missionaries have had great trouble in demolishing their tombs
+and idols; but the Indians, inland, still continue the custom of
+pasing tabi sa nano, or asking permission of their dead
+ancestors, when they enter any wood, mountain, or corn field, for
+hunting or sowing; and if they omit this ceremony imagine their
+nonos will punish them with bad fortune.</p>
+
+<p>Their notions of the creation of the world, and formation of
+mankind, had something ridiculously extravagant. They believed
+that the world at first consisted only of sky and water, and
+between these two, a glede; which, weary with flying about, and
+finding no place to rest, set the water at variance with the sky,
+which, in order to keep it in bounds, and that it should not get
+uppermost, loaded the water with a number of islands, in which
+the glede might settle and leave them at peace. Mankind, they
+said, sprang out of a large cane with two joints, that, floating
+about in the water, was at length thrown by the waves against the
+feet of the glede, as it stood on shore, which opened it with its
+bill, and the man came out of one joint, and the woman out of the
+other. These were soon after married by consent of their God,
+Batkala Meycapal, which caused the first trembling of the earth;
+and from thence are descended the different nations of the
+world."</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-17"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 17.</h3>
+
+<p><b>ACCOUNT OF THE INLAND COUNTRY OF KORINCHI.<br>
+EXPEDITION TO THE SERAMPEI AND SUNGEI-TENANG COUNTRIES.</b></p>
+
+<p>COUNTRY OF KORINCHI.</p>
+
+<p>At the back of the range of high mountains by which the
+countries of Indrapura and Anak-sungei are bounded lies the
+district or valley of Korinchi, which, from its secluded
+situation, has hitherto been little known to Europeans. In the
+year 1800 Mr. Charles Campbell, whose name I have had frequent
+occasion to mention, was led to visit this spot, in the laudable
+pursuit of objects for the improvement of natural history, and
+from his correspondence I shall extract such parts as I have
+reason to hope will be gratifying to the reader.</p>
+
+<p>MR. CAMPBELL'S JOURNEY.</p>
+
+<p>Says this indefatigable traveller:</p>
+
+<p>The country of Korinchi first occupied my attention. From the
+sea-coast at Moco-moco to the foot of the mountains cost us three
+days' weary journey, and although our path was devious I cannot
+estimate the distance at less than thirty miles, for it was late
+on the fourth day when we began to ascend. Your conjecture that
+the ridge is broader betwixt the plains of Anak-sungei and valley
+of Korinchi than that which we see from Bencoolen is just. Our
+route in general lay north-east until we attained the summit of
+the first high range, from which elevated situation, through an
+opening in the wood, the Pagi or Nassau Islands were clearly
+visible. During the next day our course along the ridge of hills
+was a little to the northward of north&shy;west, and for the two
+following days almost due north, through as noble a forest as was
+ever penetrated by man. On the evening of the last we descended
+by a steep and seemingly short path from the summit of the second
+range (for there are obviously two) into the Korinchi
+country.</p>
+
+<p>SITUATION OF LAKE.</p>
+
+<p>This descent did not occupy us more than twenty minutes, so
+that the valley must lie at a great height above the level of the
+sea; but it was yet a few days march to the inhabited and
+cultivated land on the border of the great lake, which I
+conjecture to be situated directly behind Indrapura, or
+north-east from the mouth of that river. There are two lakes, but
+one of them is inconsiderable. I sailed for some time on the
+former, which may be nearly as broad as the strait between
+Bencoolen and Rat Island. My companions estimated it at seven
+miles; but the eye is liable to much deception, and, having seen
+nothing for many days but rivulets, the grandeur of the sheet of
+water, when it first burst upon our sight, perhaps induced us to
+form too high a notion of its extent. Its banks were studded with
+villages; it abounds with fish, particularly the summah, a
+species of cyprinus; its waters are clear and beautiful from the
+reflection of the black and shining sand which covers the bottom
+in many places to the depth of eight or ten inches.</p>
+
+<p>INHABITANTS.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants are below the common stature of the Malays,
+with harder visages and higher cheekbones, well knit in their
+limbs, and active; not deficient in hospitality, but jealous of
+strangers. The women, excepting a few of the daughters of the
+chiefs, were in general ill&shy;favoured, and even savage in
+their aspect. At the village of In-juan on the borders of the
+lake I saw some of them with rings of copper and shells among
+their hair; they wore destars round their heads like the men, and
+almost all of them had siwars or small daggers at their sides.
+They were not shut up or concealed from us, but mixed with our
+party, on the contrary, with much frankness.</p>
+
+<p>BUILDINGS.</p>
+
+<p>The people dwell in hordes, many families being crowded
+together in one long building. That in which I lived gave shelter
+to twenty-five families. The front was one long undivided
+verandah, where the unmarried men slept; the back part was
+partitioned into small cabins, each of which had a round hole
+with a door to fit it, and through this the female inmates crept
+backwards and forwards in the most awkward manner and ridiculous
+posture. This house was in length two hundred and thirty feet,
+and elevated from the ground. Those belonging to the chiefs were
+smaller, well constructed of timber and plank, and covered with
+shingles or thin plates of board bound on with rattans, about the
+size and having much the appearance of our slates.</p>
+
+<p>DRESSES.</p>
+
+<p>The dresses of the young women of rank were pretty enough. A
+large blue turband, woven with silver chains, which, meeting
+behind and crossing, were fastened to the earrings in festoons,
+decorated their heads. In this was placed a large plume of cock's
+feathers, bending forward over the face. The jacket was blue, of
+a silky texture, their own work, and bordered with small gold
+chain. The body-dress, likewise of their own weaving, was of
+cotton mingled with silk, richly striped and mixed with gold
+thread; but they wear it no lower than the knees. The youths of
+fashion were in a kind of harlequin habit, the forepart of the
+trousers white, the back-part blue; their jacket after the same
+fashion. They delighted much in an instrument made from some part
+of the iju palm-tree, which resembled and produced a sound like
+the jews-harp.</p>
+
+<p>COOKERY.</p>
+
+<p>Their domestic economy (I speak of the houses of the chiefs)
+seemed better regulated than it generally is in these countries;
+they seemed tolerably advanced in the art of cookery, and had
+much variety of food; such as the flesh of deer, which they take
+in rattan snares, wild ducks, abounding on the lake; green
+pigeons, quails innumerable; and a variety of fish beside the
+summah already mentioned, and the ikan gadis, a species of carp
+which attains to a greater size here than in the rivers.</p>
+
+<p>ESCULENT VEGETABLES.</p>
+
+<p>The potato, which was introduced there many years ago, is now
+a common article of food, and cultivated with some attention.
+Their plantations supply many esculent herbs, fruits, and roots;
+but the coconut, although reared as a curiosity, is abortive in
+these inland regions, and its place is supplied by the buah kras
+(Juglans camirium), of which they also make their torches.
+Excellent tobacco is grown there, also cotton and indigo, the
+small leafed kind. They get some silk from Palembang, and rear a
+little themselves. The communication is more frequent with the
+north-west shore than with the eastern, and of late, since the
+English have been settled at Pulo Chinco, they prefer going there
+for opium to the more tedious (though less distant) journey by
+which they formerly sought it at Moco-moco.</p>
+
+<p>GOLD.</p>
+
+<p>In their cockpits the gold-scales are frequent, and I have
+seen considerable quantities weighed out by the losers. This
+metal, I am informed, they get in their own country, although
+they studiously evaded all inquiries on the subject.</p>
+
+<p>GUNPOWDER.</p>
+
+<p>They make gunpowder, and it is a common sport among the young
+boys to fire it out of bamboos. In order to increase its
+strength, in their opinion, they mingle it with pepper-dust.</p>
+
+<p>LEPERS.</p>
+
+<p>In a small recess on the margin of the lake, overhung with
+very rugged cliffs and accessible only by water, I saw one of
+those receptacles of misery to which the leprous and others
+afflicted with diseases supposed to be contagious are banished. I
+landed much against the remonstrances of my conductors, who would
+not quit the boat. There were in all seven of these unfortunate
+people basking on the beach and warming the wretched remains of
+their bodies in the sun. They were fed at stated periods by the
+joint contribution of the neighbouring villages, and I was given
+to understand that any attempt to quit this horrid exile was
+punished with death.</p>
+
+<p>PECULIAR PLANTS.</p>
+
+<p>I had little time for botanizing; but I found there many
+plants unknown to the lowlands. Among them were a species of
+prune, the water-hemlock, and the strawberry. This last was like
+that species which grows in our woods; but it was insipid. I
+brought the roots with me to Fort Marlborough, where it lingered
+a year or two after fruiting and gradually died.* I found there
+also a beautiful kind of the Hedychium coronarium, now ranked
+among the kaempferias. It was of a pale orange, and had a most
+grateful odour. The girls wear it in their hair, and its
+beautiful head of lily flowers is used in the silent language of
+love, to the practice of which, during your stay here, I suppose
+you were no stranger, and which indicates a delicacy of sentiment
+one would scarcely expect to find in the character of so rude a
+people.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. This plant has fruited also in England,
+but doubts are entertained of its being really a fragaria, By Dr.
+Smith it is termed a potentilla.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>CHARACTER OF PEOPLE.</p>
+
+<p>Although the chiefs received us with hospitality yet the mass
+of people considered our intentions as hostile, and seemed
+jealous of our intrusion. Of their women however they were not at
+all jealous, and the familiarity of these was unrestrained. They
+entertained us with dances after their fashion, and made some
+rude attempts at performing a sort of pantomime. I may now close
+this detail with observing that the natives of this mountainous
+region have stronger animal spirits than those of the plains, and
+pass their lives with more variety than the torpid inhabitants of
+the coast; that they breathe a spirit of independence, and being
+frequently engaged in warfare, village against village, they
+would be better prepared to resist any invasion of their
+liberties.</p>
+
+<p>SUSPICIONS.</p>
+
+<p>They took great offence at a large package carried by six men
+which contained our necessaries, insisting that within it we had
+concealed a priuk api, for so they call a mortar or howitzer, one
+of which had been used with success against a village on the
+borders of their country during the rebellion of the son of the
+sultan of Moco-moco; and even when satisfied respecting this they
+manifested so much suspicion that we found it necessary to be
+constantly on our guard, and were once nearly provoked by their
+petulance and treachery to proceed to violence. When they found
+our determination they seemed humble, but were not even then to
+be trusted; and when we were on our return a friendly chief sent
+us intelligence that an ambuscade had been laid for us in one of
+the narrow passes of the mountains. We pursued our journey
+however without meeting any obstruction.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+<p>On the subject of gold I have only to add to Mr. Campbell's
+information that, in the enumeration by the natives of places
+where there are gold-mines, Karinchi is always included.</p>
+
+<p>EXPEDITION TO INTERIOR COUNTRY.</p>
+
+<p>Opportunities of visiting the interior parts of the island
+have so seldom occurred, or are likely to occur, that I do not
+hesitate to present to the reader an abstract of the Journal kept
+by Lieutenant Hastings Dare (now a captain on the Bengal
+establishment) whilst commanding an expedition to the countries
+of Ipu, Serampei, and Sungei-tenang, which border to the
+south-east on that of Korinchi above described; making at the
+same time my acknowledgments to that gentleman for his obliging
+communication of the original, and my apologies for the brevity
+to which my subject renders it necessary to confine the
+narrative.</p>
+
+<p>ORIGIN OF DISTURBANCES.</p>
+
+<p>Sultan Asing, brother to the present sultan of Moco-moco, in
+conjunction with Pa Muncha and Sultan Sidi, two hill-chiefs his
+relations, residing at Pakalang-jambu and Jambi, raised a small
+force with which, in the latter part of the year 1804, they made
+a descent on Ipu, one of the Company's districts, burnt several
+villages and carried off a number of the inhabitants. The guard
+of native Malay troops not being sufficiently strong to check
+these depredations, a party was ordered from Fort Marlborough
+under the command of Lieutenant Hastings Dare, consisting of
+eighty-three sepoy officers and men, with five lascars,
+twenty&shy;two Bengal convicts, and eighteen of the Bugis-guard;
+in the whole one hundred and twenty-eight.</p>
+
+<p>November 22 1804. Marched from Fort Marlborough, and December
+3 arrived at Ipu. The roads extremely bad from the torrents of
+rain that fell. 4th. Mr. Hawthorne, the Resident, informed us
+that the enemy had fortified themselves at a place called
+Tabe-si-kuddi, but, on hearing of the approach of the detachment,
+had gone off to the hills in the Sungei&shy;tenang country and
+fortified themselves at Koto Tuggoh, a village that had been a
+receptacle for all the vagabonds from the districts near the
+coast. 13th. Having procured coolies and provisions, for which we
+have been hitherto detained, quitted Ipu in an east-north-east
+direction, and passed through several pepper and rice
+plantations. At dusun Baru one of our people caught a fine large
+fish, called ikan gadis. 14th. Marched in a south-east direction;
+crossed several rivulets, and reached again the banks of Ipu
+river, which we crossed. It was about four feet deep and very
+rapid. Passed the night at dusun Arah. The country rather hilly;
+thermometer 88 degrees at noon. 15th. Reached dusun Tanjong, the
+last place in the Ipu district where rice or any other provision
+is to be found, and these were sent on from Talang Puttei, this
+place being deserted by its inhabitants, several of whom the
+enemy had carried off with them as slaves. The country very
+hilly, and roads, in consequence of the heavy rains, bad and
+slippery. 16th. Marched in a north and east direction.</p>
+
+<p>HOT SPRINGS.</p>
+
+<p>After crossing the Ayer Ikan stream twice we arrived at some
+hot springs, about three or four miles in the winding course we
+were obliged to take from dusun Tanjong, situated in a low swampy
+spot, about sixty yards in circumference. This is very hot in
+every part of it, excepting (which is very extraordinary) one
+place on its eastern side, where, although a hot spring is
+bubbling up within one yard of it, the water running from it is
+as cold as common spring water. In consequence of the excessive
+heat of the place and softness of the ground none of us could get
+close to the springs; but upon putting the thermometer within
+three yards of them it immediately rose to 120 degrees of
+Fahrenheit. We could not bear our fingers any time in the water.
+It tasted copperish and bitter; there was a strong sulphurous
+smell at the place, and a green sediment at the bottom and sides
+of the spring, with a reddish or copper-coloured scum floating on
+the surface. After again crossing the Ikan stream we arrived at
+dusun Simpang. The enemy had been here, and had burned nearly
+half of the village and carried off the inhabitants. The road
+from Tanjong to Simpang was entirely through a succession of
+pepper-gardens and rice plantations. We are now among the hills.
+Country in a higher state of cultivation than near the coast, but
+nearly deserted, and must soon become a waste. Could not get
+intelligence of the enemy. Built huts on Ayer Ikan at Napah
+Kapah. 17th. Marched in a south direction and crossed Ayer Tubbu,
+passing a number of durian trees on its bank. Again crossed the
+stream several times. Arrived early at Tabe-si-kuddi, a small
+talang, where the enemy had built three batteries or
+entrenchments and left behind them a quantity of grain, but
+vegetating and unfit for use. Previously to our reaching these
+entrenchments some of the detachment got wounded in the feet with
+ranjaus, set very thickly in the ground in every direction, and
+which obliged us to be very cautious in our steps until we
+arrived at the banks of a small rivulet, called the Nibong, two
+or three miles beyond them.</p>
+
+<p>RANJAUS.</p>
+
+<p>Ranjaus are slips of bamboo sharpened at each end, the part
+that is stuck in the ground being thicker than the opposite end,
+which decreases to a fine thin point, and is hardened by dipping
+it in oil and applying it to the smoke of a lamp near the flame.
+They are planted in the footpaths, sometimes erect, sometimes
+sloping, in small holes, or in muddy and miry places, and when
+trodden upon (for they are so well concealed as not to be easily
+seen) they pierce through the foot and make a most disagreeable
+wound, the bamboo leaving in it a rough hairy stuff it has on its
+outside, which irritates, inflames, and prevents it from healing.
+The whole of the road this day lay over a succession of steep
+hills, and in the latter part covered with deep forests. The
+whole of the detachment did not reach our huts on the bank of the
+Nibong stream till evening, much time being consumed in bringing
+on the mortar and magazine. Picked up pouches, musket stocks,
+etc., and saw new huts, near one of which was a quantity of
+clotted blood and a fresh grave. 18th. Proceeded east-north-east
+and passed several rivulets. Regained the banks of the Ipu river,
+running north-east to south-west here tolerably broad and
+shallow, being a succession of rapids over a rough stony bed.
+Encamped both this night and the last where the enemy had built
+huts. 19th. Marched in a north direction. More of the detachment
+wounded by ranjaus planted in the pathways. Roads slippery and
+bad from rains, and the hills so steep it is with difficulty we
+get the mortar and heavy baggage forward. Killed a green snake
+with black spots along its back, about four feet long, four to
+five inches in girt, and with a thick stumpy tail. The natives
+say its bite is venomous. Our course today has been north along
+the banks of the Ipu river; the noise of the rapids so great that
+when near it we can with difficulty hear each other speak. 20th.
+Continued along the river, crossing it several times. Came to a
+hot spring in the water of which the thermometer rose to 100
+degrees at a considerable distance from its source. The road
+today tolerably level and good.</p>
+
+<p>LEECHES.</p>
+
+<p>We were much plagued by a small kind of leech, which dropped
+on us from the leaves of the trees, and got withinside our
+clothes. We were in consequence on our halting every day obliged
+to strip and bathe ourselves in order to detach them from our
+bodies, filled with the blood they had sucked from us. They were
+not above an inch in length, and before they fixed themselves as
+thin as a needle, so that they could penetrate our dress in any
+part. We encamped this evening at the conflux of the Simpang
+stream and Ipu river. Our huts were generally thatched with the
+puar or wild cardamum leaf, which grows in great abundance on the
+banks of the rivers in this part of the country. It bears a
+pleasant acid fruit, growing much in the same way as the maize.
+In long journeys through the woods, when other provisions fail,
+the natives live principally on this. The leaf is something like
+that of the plantain, but not nearly so large. 21st. Arrived at a
+spot called Dingau-benar, from whence we were obliged to return
+on account of the coolies not being able to descend a hill which
+was at least a hundred and fifty yards high, and nearly
+perpendicular. In effecting it we were obliged to cling to the
+trees and roots, without which assistance it would have been
+impracticable. It was nearly evening before one half of the
+detachment had reached the bottom, and it rained so excessively
+hard that we were obliged to remain divided for the night; the
+rear party on the top of the steep hill, and the advanced on the
+brow of another hill. One of the guides and a Malay coolie were
+drowned in attempting to find a ford across the Ipu river. I was
+a long time before we could get any fire, everything being
+completely soaked through, and the greater part of the poor
+fellows had not time to build huts for themselves. Military
+disposition for guarding baggage, preventing surprise, etc. 22nd.
+We had much difficulty in getting the mortar and its bed down,
+being obliged to make use of long thick rattans tied to them and
+successively to several trees. It was really admirable to observe
+the patience of the sepoys and Bengal convicts on this occasion.
+On mustering the coolies, found that nearly one half had run
+during the night, which obliged us to fling away twenty bags of
+rice, besides salt and other articles. Our course lay north,
+crossing the river several times. My poor faithful dog Gruff was
+carried away by the violence of the stream and lost. We were
+obliged to make bridges by cutting down tall trees, laying them
+across the stream, and interlacing them with rattans.</p>
+
+<p>We were now between two ranges of very high hills; on our
+right hand Bukit Pandang, seen from a great distance at sea; the
+road shockingly bad. Encamped on the western bank. 23rd. Marched
+in a north direction, the roads almost impassable. The river
+suddenly swelled so much that the rear party could not join the
+advanced, which was so fortunate as to occupy huts built by the
+enemy. There were fires in two of them. We were informed however
+that the Serampei and Sungei-tenang people often come this
+distance to catch fish, which they dry and carry back to their
+country. At certain times of the year great quantities of the
+ringkis and ikan-gadis are taken, besides a kind of large
+conger-eel. We frequently had fish when time would admit of the
+people catching them. It is impossible to describe the
+difficulties we had to encounter in consequence of the heavy
+rains, badness of the roads, and rapidity of the river. The sepoy
+officer and many men ill of fluxes and fevers, and lame with
+swelled and sore feet. 24th. Military precautions. Powder
+damaged. Thunder and lightning with torrents of rain. Almost the
+whole of the rice rotten or sour. 25th. Continued to march up the
+banks of the river. No inhabitants in this part of the
+country.</p>
+
+<p>IRREGULARITY OF COMPASS.</p>
+
+<p>The compass for these several days has been very irregular. We
+have two with us and they do not at all agree. The road less bad.
+At one place we saw bamboos of the thickness of a man's thigh.
+There were myriads of very small flies this evening, which teased
+us much. Occupied some huts we found on the eastern bank. This is
+Christmas evening; to us, God knows, a dull one. Our wines and
+liquors nearly expended, and we have but one miserable
+half-starved chicken left although we have been on short
+allowance the whole way. 26th. Roads tolerable. Passed a spot
+called Kappah, and soon after a waterfall named Ipu-machang,
+about sixty feet high. Picked up a sick man belonging to the
+enemy. He informed us that there were between two and three
+hundred men collected at Koto Tuggoh, under the command of Sutan
+Sidi, Sutan Asing, and Pa Muncha. These three chiefs made a
+festival, killing buffaloes, as is usual with the natives of
+Sumatra on such occasions, at this place, and received every
+assistance from the principal Dupati, who is also father-in-law
+to Pa Muncha. They possess sixty stand of muskets, beside
+blunderbusses and wall-pieces. They had quitted the Company's
+districts about twenty-three days ago, and are gone, some to Koto
+Tuggoh, and others to Pakalang-jambu. 27th. Marched in a
+north-north-east direction; passed over a steep hill which took
+us three hours hard walking. The river is now very narrow and
+rapid, not above twelve feet across; it is a succession of
+waterfalls every three or four yards. After this our road was
+intricate, winding, and bad. We had to ascend a high chasm formed
+in the rock, which was effected by ladders from one shelf to
+another. Arrived at the foot of Bukit Pandang, where we found
+huts, and occupied them for the night. We have been ascending the
+whole of this day. Very cold and rainy. At night we were glad to
+make large fires and use our blankets and woollen clothes. Having
+now but little rice left we were obliged to put ourselves to an
+allowance of one bamboo or gallon measure among ten men; and the
+greater part of that rotten.</p>
+
+<p>ASCEND A HIGH MOUNTAIN.</p>
+
+<p>28th. Ascended Bukit Pandang in an east-north-east direction.
+Reached a small spring of water called Pondo Kubang, the only one
+to be met with till the hill is descended. About two miles from
+the top, and from thence all the way up, the trees and ground
+were covered very thick with moss; the trees much stunted, and
+altogether the appearance was barren and gloomy; to us
+particularly so, for we could find little or nothing wherewith to
+build our huts, nor procure a bit of dry wood to light a fire. In
+order to make one for dressing the victuals, Lieutenant Dare was
+compelled to break up one of his boxes, otherwise he and Mr.
+Alexander, the surgeon, must have eaten them raw. It rained hard
+all night, and the coolies and most of the party were obliged to
+lie down on the wet ground in the midst of it.</p>
+
+<p>MEN DIE FROM SEVERITY OF THE WEATHER.</p>
+
+<p>It was exceedingly cold to our feelings; in the evening the
+thermometer was down to 50 degrees, and in the night to 45
+degrees. In consequence of the cold, inclemency, and fatigue to
+which the coolies were exposed, seven of them died that night.
+The lieutenant and surgeon made themselves a kind of shelter with
+four tarpaulins that were fortunately provided to cover the
+medicine chest and surgical instruments, but the place was so
+small that it scarcely held them both. In the evening when the
+former was sitting on his camp&shy;stool, whilst the people were
+putting up the tarpaulins, a very small bird, perfectly black,
+came hopping about the stool, picking up the worms from the moss.
+It was so tame and fearless that it frequently perched itself on
+his foot and on different parts of the stool; which shows that
+these parts of the country must be very little frequented by
+human beings. 29th. Descended Bukit Pandang. Another coolie died
+this morning. We are obliged to fling away shells. After walking
+some time many of the people recovered, as it was principally
+from cold and damps they suffered. Crossed a stream called Inum
+where we saw several huts. In half an hour more arrived at the
+banks of the greater Ayer Dikit River, which is here shallow,
+rapid, and about eighty yards broad. We marched westerly along
+its banks, and reached a hut opposite to a spot called Rantau
+Kramas, where we remained for the night, being prevented from
+crossing by a flood. 30th. Cut down a large tree and threw it
+across the river; it reached about halfway over. With this and
+the assistance of rattans tied to the opposite side we effected
+our passage and arrived at Rantau Kramas. Sent off people to
+Ranna Alli, one of the Serampei villages, about a day's march
+from hence, for provisions. Thermometer 59 degrees.</p>
+
+<p>The greater Ayer Dikit river, on the north side of which this
+place lies, runs nearly from east to west. There are four or five
+bamboo huts at it, for the temporary habitation of travellers
+passing and repassing this way, being in the direction from the
+Serampei to the Sungei-tenang country. These huts are covered
+with bamboos (in plenty here) split and placed like pantiles
+transversely over each other, forming, when the bamboos are
+well-grown, a capital and lasting roof (see above). 31st. A Malay
+man and woman taken by our people report that the enemy thirteen
+days ago had proceeded two days march beyond Koto Tuggoh.
+Received some provisions from Ranna Alli. The enemy, we are
+informed, have dug holes and put long stakes into them, set
+spring-spears, and planted the road very thickly with ranjaus,
+and were collecting their force at Koto Tuggoh (signifying the
+strong fortress) to receive us. 1805. January 1st and 2nd.
+Received some small supplies of provisions.</p>
+
+<p>COME UP WITH THE ENEMY.</p>
+
+<p>On the 3rd we were saluted by shouting and firing of the enemy
+from the heights around us. Parties were immediately sent off in
+different directions as the nature of the ground allowed.</p>
+
+<p>ATTACK.</p>
+
+<p>The advanced party had only time to fire two rounds when the
+enemy retired to a strong position on the top of a steep hill
+where they had thrown up a breastwork, which they disputed for a
+short time. On our getting possession of it they divided into
+three parties and fled. We had one sepoy killed and several of
+the detachment wounded by the ranjaus. Many of the enemy were
+killed and wounded and the paths they had taken covered with
+blood; but it is impossible to tell their numbers as they always
+carry them off the moment they drop, considering it a disgrace to
+leave them on the field of battle. If they get any of the bodies
+of their enemies they immediately strike off the head and fix it
+on a long pole, carrying it to their village as a trophy, and
+addressing to it every sort of abusive language. Those taken
+alive in battle are made slaves. After completely destroying
+everything in the battery we marched, and arrived at the top of a
+very high hill, where we built our huts for the evening. The road
+was thickly planted with ranjaus which, with the heavy rains,
+impeded our progress and prevented us from reaching a place
+called Danau-pau. Our course today has been north-east and
+easterly, the roads shockingly bad, and we were obliged to leave
+behind several coolies and two sepoys who were unable to
+accompany us. 4th. Obliged to fling away the bullets of the
+cartridges, three-fourths of which were damaged, and other
+articles. Most of the detachment sick with fluxes and fevers, or
+wounded in the feet. Marched in an eastern direction. Reached a
+spot very difficult to pass, being knee-deep in mud for a
+considerable way, with ranjaus concealed in the mud, and
+spring-spears set in many places. We were obliged to creep
+through a thicket of canes and bamboos. About noon the advanced
+party arrived at a lake and discovered that the enemy were on the
+opposite side of a small stream that ran from the lake, where
+they had entrenched themselves behind four small batteries in a
+most advantageous position, being on the top of a steep hill, of
+difficult access, with the stream on one side, the lake on the
+other, and the other parts surrounded by a swamp.</p>
+
+<p>ENTRENCHMENTS ATTACKED AND CARRIED.</p>
+
+<p>We immediately commenced the attack, but were unable, from the
+number of ranjaus in the only accessible part, to make a push on
+to the enemy. However about one o'clock we effected our purpose,
+and completely got possession of the entrenchments, which, had
+they been properly defended, must have cost us more than the half
+of our detachment. We had four sepoys severely wounded, and
+almost the whole of our feet dreadfully cut. Numbers of the enemy
+were killed and wounded. They defended each of the batteries with
+some obstinacy against our fire, but when once we came near them
+they could not stand our arms, and ran in every direction. At
+this place there are no houses nor inhabitants, but only
+temporary huts, built by the Sungei-tenang people, who come here
+occasionally to fish. The lake, which is named Danau-pau, has a
+most beautiful appearance, being like a great amphitheatre,
+surrounded by high and steep mountains covered with forests. It
+is about two miles in diameter. We occupied some huts built by
+the enemy. The place is thickly surrounded with bamboos.</p>
+
+<p>MOTIVES FOR RETURNING TO THE COAST.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence of the number of our sick and wounded, the
+small strength of coolies to carry their baggage, and the want of
+medicines and ammunition, as well as of provisions, we thought it
+advisable to return to Rantau Kramas; and to effect this we were
+obliged to fling away the mortar-bed, shells, and a number of
+other things. We marched at noon, and arrived in the evening at
+the top of the hill where we had before encamped, and remained
+for the night. 6th. Reached Rantau Kramas. 7th. Marching in
+torrents of rain. People exceedingly harassed, reduced, and
+emaciated. Relieved by the arrival of Serampei people with some
+provisions from Ranna Alli. 8th. After a most fatiguing march
+arrived at that place half-dead with damps and cold. The bearers
+of the litters for the sick were absolutely knocked up, and we
+were obliged to the sepoys for getting on as we did. Our route
+was north-west with little variation. 9th. Remained at Ranna
+Alli. This serampei village consists of about fifteen houses, and
+may contain a hundred and fifty or two hundred inhabitants. It is
+thickly planted all round with a tall hedge of live bamboos, on
+the outside of which ranjaus are planted to the distance of
+thirty or forty feet. Withinside of the hedge there is a bamboo
+pagar or paling. It is situated on a steep hill surrounded by
+others, which in many places are cleared to their tops, where the
+inhabitants have their ladangs or rice plantations. They appeared
+to be a quiet, inoffensive set of people; their language
+different from the Malayan, which most of them spoke, but very
+imperfectly and hardly to be understood by us. On our approach
+the women and children ran to their ladangs, being, as their
+husbands informed us, afraid of the sepoys.</p>
+
+<p>GOITRES.</p>
+
+<p>Of the women whom we saw almost every one had the goitres or
+swellings under the throat; and it seemed to be more prevalent
+with these than with the men. One woman in particular had two
+protuberances dangling at her neck as big as quart bottles.</p>
+
+<p>There are three dupatis and four mantris to this village, to
+whom we made presents, and afterwards to the wives and families
+of the inhabitants. 10th and 11th. Preparing for our march to
+Moco-moco, where we can recruit our force, and procure supplies
+of stores and ammunition. 12th. Marched in a north and north-west
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>HANGING BRIDGE.</p>
+
+<p>Passed over a bridge of curious construction across the Ayer
+Abu River. It was formed of bamboos tied together with iju ropes
+and suspended to the trees, whose branches stretched nearly over
+the stream.</p>
+
+<p>The Serampei women are the worst-favoured creatures we ever
+saw, and uncouth in their manners. Arrived at Tanjong Kasiri,
+another fortified village, more populous than Ranna Alli. 13th.
+The sick and heavy baggage were ordered to Tanjong Agung, another
+Serampei village.</p>
+
+<p>HOT SPRINGS.</p>
+
+<p>14th. Arrived at Ayer Grau or Abu, a small river, within a
+yard or two of which we saw columns of smoke issuing from the
+earth, where there were hot springs of water bubbling up in a
+number of places. The stream was quite warm for several yards,
+and the ground and stones were so hot that there was no standing
+on them for any length of time. The large pieces of quartz,
+pumice, and other stones apparently burnt, induce us to suppose
+there must have formerly been a volcano at this spot, which is a
+deep vale, surrounded by high hills. Arrived much fatigued at
+Tanjong Agung, where the head dupati received us in his best
+style.</p>
+
+<p>COCONUTS.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed to know more of European customs and manners than
+those whom we have hitherto met with, and here, for the first
+time since quitting the Ipu district, we got coconuts, which he
+presented to us.</p>
+
+<p>CASSIA.</p>
+
+<p>We saw numbers of cassia-trees in our march today. The bark,
+which the natives brought us in quantities, is sweet, but thick
+and coarse, and much inferior to cinnamon. This is the last and
+best fortified village in the Serampei country, bordering on the
+forests between that and Anak-Sungei.</p>
+
+<p>PECULIAR REGULATION.</p>
+
+<p>They have a custom here of never allowing any animal to be
+killed in any part of the village but the balei or town hall,
+unless the person wishing to do otherwise consents to pay a fine
+of one fathom of cotton cloth to the priest for his permission.
+The old dupati told us there had been formerly a great deal of
+sickness and bloodshed in the village, and it had been predicted
+that, unless this custom were complied with, the like would
+happen again. We paid the fine, had the prayers of the priest,
+and killed our goats where and as we pleased. 16th. Marched in a
+south-westerly direction, and, after passing many steep hills,
+reached the lesser Ayer Dikit River, which we crossed, and built
+our huts on its western bank. 17th. Marched in a west, and
+afterwards a south, direction; the roads, in consequence of the
+rain ceasing today, tolerably dry and good, but over high hills.
+Arrived at Ayer Prikan, and encamped on its western bank; its
+course north and south over a rough, stony bed; very rapid, and
+about thirty yards across, at the foot of Bukit Lintang. Saw
+today abundance of cassia&shy;trees. 18th. Proceeded to ascend
+Bukit Lintang, which in the first part was excessively steep and
+fatiguing; our route north and north-west when descending,
+south-south-west. Arrived at one of the sources of the
+Sungei-ipu. Descending still farther we reached a small spring
+where we built our huts. 19th. On our march this day we were
+gratified by the receipt of letters from our friends at
+Bencoolen, by the way of Moco-moco, from whence the Resident, Mr.
+Russell, sent us a supply of wine and other refreshments, which
+we had not tasted for fourteen days. Our course lay along the
+banks of the Sungei-ipu, and we arrived at huts prepared for us
+by Mr. Russell. 20th. At one time our guide lost the proper path
+by mistaking for it the track of a rhinoceros (which are in great
+numbers in these parts), and we got into a place where we were
+teased with myriads of leeches. Our road, excepting two or three
+small hills, was level and good. Reached the confluence of the
+Ipu and Si Luggan Rivers, the latter of which rises in the
+Korinchi country. Passed Gunong Payong, the last hill, as we
+approached Moco-moco, near to which had been a village formerly
+burnt and the inhabitants made slaves by Pa Muncha and the then
+tuanku mudo (son of the sultan). 21st. Arrived at talang Rantau
+Riang, the first Moco-moco or Anak-Sungei village, where we found
+provisions dressed for us. At dusun Si Ballowe, to which our road
+lay south-easterly, through pepper and rice plantations, sampans
+were in readiness to convey us down the river. This place is
+remarkable for an arau tree (casuarina), the only one met with at
+such a distance from the sea. The country is here level in
+comparison with what we have passed through, and the soil rather
+sandy, with a mixture of red clay. 22nd. The course of the river
+is south-west and west with many windings. Arrived at
+Moco-moco.</p>
+
+<p>DESCRIPTION OF MOCO-MOCO.</p>
+
+<p>Fort Ann lies on the southern and the settlement on the
+northern side of the Si Luggan River, which name belongs properly
+to the place also, and that of Moco-moco to a small village
+higher up. The bazaar consists of about one hundred houses, all
+full of children. At the northern end is the sultan's, which has
+nothing particular to distinguish it, but only its being larger
+than other Malay houses. Great quantities of fish are procured at
+this place, and sold cheap. The trade is principally with the
+hill-people, in salt, piece-goods, iron, steel, and opium; for
+which the returns are provisions, timber, and a little gold-dust.
+Formerly there was a trade carried on with the Padang and other
+ate angin people, but it is now dropped. The soil is sandy, low,
+and flat.</p>
+
+<p>EXPEDITION RESUMED.</p>
+
+<p>It being still necessary to make an example of the
+Sungei-tenang people for assisting the three hostile chiefs in
+their depredations, in order thereby to deter others from doing
+the same in future, and the men being now recovered from their
+fatigue and furnished with the requisite supplies, the detachment
+began to march on the 9th of February for Ayer Dikit. It now
+consists of Lieutenant Dare, Mr. Alexander, surgeon, seventy
+sepoys, including officers, twenty-seven lascars and Bengal
+convicts, and eleven of the bugis-guard. Left the old mortar and
+took with us one of smaller calibre.</p>
+
+<p>ACCOUNT OF SERAMPEI COUNTRY AND PEOPLE.</p>
+
+<p>From the 10th to the 22nd occupied in our march to the
+Serampei village of Ranna Alli. The people of this country
+acknowledge themselves the subjects of the sultan of Jambi, who
+sometimes but rarely exacts a tribute from them of a buffalo, a
+tail of gold, and a hundred bamboos of rice from each village.
+They are accustomed to carry burdens of from sixty to ninety
+pounds weight on journeys that take them twenty or thirty days;
+and it astonishes a lowlander to see with what ease they walk
+over these hills, generally going a shuffling or ambling pace.
+Their loads are placed in a long triangular basket, supported by
+a fillet across the forehead, resting upon the back and back part
+of the head, the broadest end of the triangle being uppermost,
+considerably above the head, and the small end coming down as low
+as the loins. The Serampei country, comprehending fifteen
+fortified and independent dusuns, beside talangs or small open
+villages, is bounded on the north and north-west by Korinchi, on
+the east, south-east, and south by Pakalang-jambu and
+Sungei-tenang, and on the west and south-west by the greater Ayer
+Dikit River and chain of high mountains bordering on the
+Sungei-ipu country. 23rd. Reached Rantau Kramas. Took possession
+of the batteries, which the enemy had considerably improved in
+our absence, collecting large quantities of stones; but they were
+not manned, probably from not expecting our return so soon. 24th.
+Arrived at those of Danau-pau, which had also been strengthened.
+The roads being dry and weather fine we are enabled to make
+tolerably long marches. Our advanced party nearly caught one of
+the enemy planting ranjaus, and in retreating he wounded himself
+with them. 25th. Passed many small rivulets discharging
+themselves into the lake at this place.</p>
+
+<p>COME UP WITH THE ENEMY.</p>
+
+<p>26th. The officer commanding the advanced party sent word that
+the enemy were at a short distance ahead; that they had felled a
+number of trees to obstruct the road, and had thrown an
+entrenchment across it, extending from one swamp and precipice to
+another, where they waited to receive us. When the whole of the
+detachment had come up we marched on to the attack, scrambled
+over the trees, and with great difficulty got the mortar
+over.</p>
+
+<p>FIRST ATTACK FAILS.</p>
+
+<p>The first onset was not attended with success, and our men
+were dropping fast, not being able to advance on account of the
+ranjaus, which almost pinned their feet to the ground. Seeing
+that the entrenchments were not to be carried in front, a subedar
+with thirty sepoys and the bugis-guard were ordered to endeavour
+to pass the swamp on the right, find out a pathway, and attack
+the enemy on the flank and rear, while the remainder should, on a
+preconcerted signal, make an attack on the front at the same
+time. To prevent the enemy from discovering our intentions the
+drums were kept beating, and a few random shots fired. Upon the
+signal being given a general attack commenced, and our success
+was complete.</p>
+
+<p>ENTRENCHMENTS CARRIED.</p>
+
+<p>The enemy, of whom there were, as we reckon, three or four
+hundred within the entrenchments, were soon put to the rout, and,
+after losing great numbers, among whom was the head dupati, a
+principal instigator of the disturbances, fled in all directions.
+We lost two sepoys killed and seven wounded, beside several much
+hurt by the ranjaus. The mortar played during the time, but is
+not supposed to have done much execution on account of the
+surrounding trees.</p>
+
+<p>THEIR CONSTRUCTION.</p>
+
+<p>The entrenchments were constructed of large trees laid
+horizontally between stakes driven into the ground, about seven
+feet high, with loopholes for firing. Being laid about six feet
+thick, a cannonball could not have penetrated. They extended
+eighty or ninety yards. The headman's quarters were a large tree
+hollowed at the root.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as litters could be made for the wounded, and the
+killed were buried, we continued our march in an eastern
+direction, and in about an hour arrived at another battery, which
+however was not defended. In front of this the enemy had tied a
+number of long sharp stakes to a stone, which was suspended to
+the bough of a tree, and by swinging it their plan was to wound
+us.</p>
+
+<p>ARRIVE AT A STREAM RUNNING INTO THE JAMBI RIVER.</p>
+
+<p>Crossed the Tambesi rivulet, flowing from south to north, and
+one of the contributary streams to the Jambi River, which
+discharges itself into the sea on the eastern side of the Island.
+Built our huts near a field of maize and padi.</p>
+
+<p>KOTO TUGGOH.</p>
+
+<p>27th. Marched to Koto Tuggoh, from whence the inhabitants fled
+on our throwing one shell and firing a few muskets, and we took
+possession of the place. It is situated on a high hill, nearly
+perpendicular on three sides, the easiest entrance being on the
+west, but it is there defended by a ditch seven fathoms deep and
+five wide. The place contains the ballei and about twenty houses,
+built in general of plank very neatly put together, and carved;
+and some of them were also roofed with planks or shingles about
+two feet long and one broad. The others with the leaves of the
+puar or cardamum, which are again very thinly covered with iju.
+This is said to last long, but harbours vermin, as we
+experienced. When we entered the village we met with only one
+person, who was deformed, dumb, and had more the appearance of a
+monkey than a human creature.</p>
+
+<p>DESTROYED. ENTER KOTO BHARU.</p>
+
+<p>March 1st. After completely destroying Koto Tuggoh we marched
+in a north and afterwards an east direction, and arrived at Koto
+Bharu. The head dupati requesting a parley, it was granted, and,
+on our promising not to injure his village, he allowed us to take
+possession of it. We found in the place a number of Batang Asei
+and other people, armed with muskets, blunderbusses, and spears.
+At our desire, he sent off people to the other Sungei-tenang
+villages to summon their chiefs to meet us if they chose to show
+themselves friends, or otherwise we should proceed against them
+as we had done against Koto Tuggoh.</p>
+
+<p>PEACE CONCLUDED.</p>
+
+<p>This dupati was a respectable-looking old man, and tears
+trickled down his cheeks when matters were amicably settled
+between us: indeed for some time he could hardly be convinced of
+it, and repeatedly asked, "Are we friends?" 2nd. The chiefs met
+as desired, and after a short conversation agreed to all that we
+proposed. Papers were thereupon drawn up and signed and sworn to
+under the British colours. After this a shell was thrown into the
+air at the request of the chiefs, who were desirous of witnessing
+the sight.</p>
+
+<p>MODE OF TAKING AN OATH.</p>
+
+<p>Their method of swearing was as follows: The young shoots of
+the anau-tree were made into a kind of rope, with the leaves
+hanging, and this was attached to four stakes stuck in the
+ground, forming an area of five or six feet square, within which
+a mat was spread, where those about to take the oath seated
+themselves. A small branch of the prickly bamboo was planted in
+the area also, and benzoin was kept burning during the ceremony.
+The chiefs then laid their hands on the koran, held to them by a
+priest, and one of them repeated to the rest the substance of the
+oath, who, at the pauses he made, gave a nod of assent; after
+which they severally said, "may the earth become barren, the air
+and water poisonous, and may dreadful calamities fall on us and
+our posterity, if we do not fulfil what we now agree to and
+promise."</p>
+
+<p>ACCOUNT OF SUNGEI-TENANG COUNTRY.</p>
+
+<p>We met here with little or no fruit excepting plantains and
+pineapples, and these of an indifferent sort. The general produce
+of the country was maize, padi, potatoes, sweet-potatoes,
+tobacco, and sugar-cane. The principal part of their clothing was
+procured from the eastern side of the island. They appear to have
+no regular season for sowing the grain, and we saw plantations
+where in one part they had taken in the crop, in another part it
+was nearly ripe, in a third not above five inches high, and in a
+fourth they had but just prepared the ground for sowing. Upon the
+whole, there appeared more cultivation than near the coast.</p>
+
+<p>MANNERS OF PEOPLE.</p>
+
+<p>It is a practice with many individuals among these people (as
+with mountaineers in some parts of Europe) to leave their country
+in order to seek employment where they can find it, and at the
+end of three or four years revisit their native soil, bringing
+with them the produce of their labours. If they happen to be
+successful they become itinerant merchants, and travel to almost
+all parts of the island, particularly where fairs are held, or
+else purchase a matchlock gun and become soldiers of fortune,
+hiring themselves to whoever will pay them, but always ready to
+come forward in defence of their country and families. They are a
+thick stout dark race of people, something resembling the
+Achinese; and in general they are addicted to smoking opium. We
+had no opportunity of seeing the Sungei-tenang women. The men are
+very fantastical in their dress. Their bajus have the sleeves
+blue perhaps whilst the body is white, with stripes of red or any
+other colour over the shoulders, and their short breeches are
+generally one half blue and the other white, just as fancy leads
+them. Others again are dressed entirely in blue cotton cloth, the
+same as the inhabitants of the west coast. The bag containing
+their sirih or betel hangs over the shoulder by a string, if it
+may be so termed, of brass wire. Many of them have also twisted
+brass wire round the waist, in which they stick their krises.</p>
+
+<p>CHARMS.</p>
+
+<p>They commonly carry charms about their persons to preserve
+them from accidents; one of which was shown to us, printed (at
+Batavia or Samarang in Java) in Dutch, Portuguese, and French. It
+purported that the writer was acquainted with the occult
+sciences, and that whoever possessed one of the papers impressed
+with his mark (which was the figure of a hand with the thumb and
+fingers extended) was invulnerable and free from all kinds of
+harm. It desired the people to be very cautious of taking any
+such printed in London (where certainly none were ever printed),
+as the English would endeavour to counterfeit them and to impose
+on the purchasers, being all cheats. (Whether we consider this as
+a political or a mercantile speculation it is not a little
+extraordinary and ridiculous). The houses here, as well as in the
+Serampei country, are all built on posts of what they call paku
+gajah (elephant-fern, Chamaerops palma, Lour.), a tree something
+resembling a fern, and when full-grown a palm-tree. It is of a
+fibrous nature, black, and lasts for a great length of time.
+Every dusun has a ballei or town hall, about a hundred and twenty
+feet long and proportionably broad, the woodwork of which is
+neatly carved. The dwelling-houses contain five, six, or seven
+families each, and the country is populous. The inhabitants both
+of Sungei-tenang and Serampei are Mahometans, and acknowledge
+themselves subjects of Jambi. The former country, so well as we
+were able to ascertain, is bounded on the north and north-west by
+Korinchi and Serampei, on the west and south-west by the
+Anak-sungei or Moco-moco and Ipu districts, on the south by
+Labun, and on the east by Batang Asei and Pakalang-jambu. 3rd.
+Marched on our return to the coast, many of the principal people
+attending us as far as the last of their plantations. It rained
+hard almost the whole of this day.</p>
+
+<p>RETURN TO THE COAST.</p>
+
+<p>On the 14th arrived at Moco-moco; on the 22nd proceeded for
+Bencoolen, and arrived there on the 30th March 1805, after one of
+the most fatiguing and harassing expeditions any detachment of
+troops ever served upon; attended with the sickness of the whole
+of the party, and the death of many, particularly of Mr.
+Alexander, the surgeon.</p>
+
+<p>End of Lieutenant Dare's narrative.</p>
+
+<p>It is almost unnecessary to observe that these were the
+consequences of the extreme impolicy of sending an expedition up
+the country in the heart of the rainy season. The public orders
+issued on the occasion were highly creditable to Lieutenant
+Dare.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-18"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 18.</h3>
+
+<p><b>MALAYAN STATES.<br>
+ANCIENT EMPIRE OF MENANGKABAU.<br>
+ORIGIN OF THE MALAYS AND GENERAL ACCEPTATION OF NAME.<br>
+EVIDENCES OF THEIR MIGRATION FROM SUMATRA.<br>
+SUCCESSION OF MALAYAN PRINCES.<br>
+PRESENT STATE OF THE EMPIRE.<br>
+TITLES OF THE SULTAN.<br>
+CEREMONIES.<br>
+CONVERSION TO MAHOMETAN RELIGION.<br>
+LITERATURE.<br>
+ARTS.<br>
+WARFARE.<br>
+GOVERNMENT.</b></p>
+
+<p>MALAYAN STATES.</p>
+
+<p>I shall now take a more particular view of the Malayan states,
+as distinguished from those of the people termed orang ulu or
+countrymen, and orang dusun or villagers, who, not being
+generally converted to the Mahometan religion, have thereby
+preserved a more original character.</p>
+
+<p>EMPIRE OF MENANGKABAU.</p>
+
+<p>The principal government, and whose jurisdiction in ancient
+times is understood to have comprehended the whole of Sumatra, is
+Menangkabau,* situated under the equinoctial line, beyond the
+western range of high mountains, and nearly in the centre of the
+island; in which respect it differs from Malayan establishments
+in other parts, which are almost universally near the mouths of
+large rivers. The appellations however of orang menangkabau and
+orang malayo are so much identified that, previously to entering
+upon an account of the former, it will be useful to throw as much
+light as possible upon the latter, and to ascertain to what
+description of people the name of Malays, bestowed by Europeans
+upon all who resemble them in features and complexion, properly
+belongs.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The name is said to be derived from the
+words menang, signifying to win, and karbau, a buffalo; from a
+story, carrying a very fabulous air, of a famous engagement on
+that spot between the buffaloes and tigers, in which the former
+are stated to have acquired a complete victory. Such is the
+account the natives give; but they are fond of dealing in
+fiction, and the etymology has probably no better foundation than
+a fanciful resemblance of sound.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>ORIGIN OF MALAYS.</p>
+
+<p>It has hitherto been considered as an obvious truth, and
+admitted without examination that, wherever they are found upon
+the numerous islands forming this archipelago, they or their
+ancestors must have migrated from the country named by Europeans
+(and by them alone) the Malayan peninsula or peninsula of
+Malacca, of which the indigenous and proper inhabitants were
+understood to be Malays; and accordingly in the former editions
+of this work I spoke of the natives of Menangkabau as having
+acquired their religion, language, manners, and other national
+characteristics from the settling among them of genuine Malays
+from the neighbouring continent. It will however appear from the
+authorities I shall produce, amounting as nearly to positive
+evidence as the nature of the subject will admit, that the
+present possessors of the coasts of the peninsula were on the
+contrary in the first instance adventurers from Sumatra, who in
+the twelfth century formed an establishment there, and that the
+indigenous inhabitants, gradually driven by them to the woods and
+mountains, so far from being the stock from whence the Malays
+were propagated, are an entirely different race of men, nearly
+approaching in their physical character to the negroes of
+Africa.</p>
+
+<p>MIGRATION FROM SUMATRA.</p>
+
+<p>The evidences of this migration from Sumatra are chiefly found
+in two Malayan books well known, by character at least, to those
+who are conversant with the written language, the one named Taju
+assalatin or Makuta segala raja-raja, The Crown of all Kings, and
+the other, more immediately to the purpose, Sulalat assalatin or
+Penurun-an segala raja&shy;raja, The Descent of all (Malayan)
+Kings. Of these it has not been my good fortune to obtain copies,
+but the contents, so far as they apply to the present subject,
+have been fully detailed by two eminent Dutch writers to whom the
+literature of this part of the East was familiar. Petrus van der
+Worm first communicated the knowledge of these historical
+treatises in his learned Introduction to the Malayan Vocabulary
+of Gueynier, printed at Batavia in the year 1677; and extracts to
+the same effect were afterwards given by Valentyn in Volume 5
+pages 316 to 320 of his elaborate work, published at Amsterdam in
+1726. The books are likewise mentioned in a list of Malayan
+Authors by G.H. Werndly, at the end of his Maleische
+Spraak-kunst, and by the ingenious Dr. Leyden in his Paper on the
+Languages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese Nations, recently
+published in Volume 10 of the Asiatic Researches. The substance
+of the information conveyed by them is as follows; and I trust it
+will not be thought that the mixture of a portion of mythological
+fable in accounts of this nature invalidates what might otherwise
+have credit as historical fact. The utmost indeed we can pretend
+to ascertain is what the natives themselves believe to have been
+their ancient history; and it is proper to remark that in the
+present question there can be no suspicion of bias from national
+vanity, as we have reason to presume that the authors of these
+books were not Sumatrans.</p>
+
+<p>The original country inhabited by the Malayan race (according
+to these authorities) was the kingdom of Palembang in the island
+of Indalus, now Sumatra, on the river Malayo, which flows by the
+mountain named Maha-meru, and discharges itself into the river
+Tatang (on which Palembang stands) before it joins the sea.
+Having chosen for their king or leader a prince named Sri Turi
+Buwana, who boasted his descent from Iskander the Great, and to
+whom, on that account, their natural chief Demang Lebar Daun
+submitted his authority, they emigrated, under his command (about
+the year 1160), to the south-eastern extremity of the opposite
+peninsula, named Ujong Tanah, where they were at first
+distinguished by the appellation of orang de-bawah angin or the
+Leeward people, but in time the coast became generally known by
+that of Tanah malayo or the Malayan land.</p>
+
+<p>SINGAPURA BUILT.</p>
+
+<p>In this situation they built their first city, which they
+called Singapura (vulgarly Sincapore), and their rising
+consequence excited the jealousy of the kings of Maja-pahit, a
+powerful state in the island of Java. To Sri Turi Buwana, who
+died in 1208, succeeded Paduka Pikaram Wira, who reigned fifteen
+years; to him Sri Rama Vikaram, who reigned thirteen, and to him
+Sri Maharaja, who reigned twelve.</p>
+
+<p>MALAKA BUILT.</p>
+
+<p>His successor, Sri Iskander Shah, was the last king of
+Singapura. During three years he withstood the forces of the king
+of Maja-pahit, but in 1252, being hard pressed, he retired first
+to the northward, and afterwards to the western, coast of the
+peninsula, where in the following year he founded a new city,
+which under his wise government became of considerable
+importance. To this he gave the name of Malaka, from a
+fruit-bearing tree so called (myrabolanum) found in abundance on
+the hill which gives natural strength to the situation. Having
+reigned here twenty-two years, beloved by his subjects and feared
+by his neighbours, Iskander Shah died in 1274, and was succeeded
+by Sultan Magat, who reigned only two years. Up to this period
+the Malayan princes were pagans. Sultan Muhammed Shah, who
+ascended the throne in 1276, was the first Mahometan prince, and
+by the propagation of this faith acquired great celebrity during
+a long reign of fifty-seven years. His influence appears to have
+extended over the neighbouring islands of Lingga and Bintan,
+together with Johor, Patani, Kedah, and Perak, on the coasts of
+the peninsula, and Campar and Aru in Sumatra; all of which
+acquired the appellative of Malayo, although it was now more
+especially applied to the people of Malaka, or, as it is commonly
+written, Malacca. He left the peaceful possession of his
+dominions to his son Sultan Abu Shahid, who had reigned only one
+year and five months when he was murdered in 1334 by the king of
+Arrakan, with whose family his father had contracted a marriage.
+His successor was Sultan Modafar or Mozafar Shah, who was
+distinguished for the wisdom of his government, of which he left
+a memorial in a Book of Institutes or Laws of Malaka, held to
+this day in high estimation. This city was now regarded as the
+third in rank (after Maja-pahit on Java, and Pase on Sumatra) in
+that part of the East.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The account given by Juan de Barros of
+the abandonment of the Malayan city of Singapura and foundation
+of Malacca differs materially from the above; and although the
+authority of a writer, who collected his materials in Lisbon,
+cannot be put in competition with that of Valentyn, who passed a
+long and laborious life amongst the people, and quotes the native
+historians, I shall give an abstract of his relation, from the
+sixth book of the second Decade. "At the period when Cingapura
+flourished its king was named Sangesinga; and in the neighbouring
+island of Java reigned Pararisa, upon whose death the latter
+country became subject to the tyranny of his brother, who put one
+of his nephews to death, and forced many of the nobles, who took
+part against him, to seek refuge abroad. Among these was one
+named Paramisora, whom Sangesinga received with hospitality that
+was badly requited, for the stranger soon found means to put him
+to death, and, by the assistance of the Javans who accompanied
+him in his flight, to take possession of the city. The king of
+Siam, whose son-in-law and vassal the deceased was, assembled a
+large force by sea and land, and compelled the usurper to
+evacuate Cingapura with two thousand followers, a part of whom
+were Cellates (orang sellat men of the Straits) accustomed to
+live by fishing and piracy, who had assisted him in seizing and
+keeping the throne during five years. They disembarked at a place
+called Muar, a hundred and fifty leagues from thence, where
+Paramisora and his own people fortified themselves. The Cellates,
+whom he did not choose to trust, proceeded five leagues farther,
+and occupied a bank of the river where the fortress of Malacca
+now stands. Here they united with the half-savage natives, who
+like themselves spoke the Malayan language, and, the spot they
+had chosen becoming too confined for their increasing numbers,
+they moved a league higher up, to one more convenient, and were
+at length joined by their former chief and his companions. During
+the government of his son, named Xaquen Darxa (a strange
+Portuguese corruption of Iskander or Sekander Shah) they again
+descended the river, in order to enjoy the advantages of a
+sea-port, and built a town, which, from the fortunes of his
+father, was named Malacca, signifying an exile." Every person
+conversant with the language must know that the word does not
+bear that nor any similar meaning, and an error so palpable
+throws discredit on the whole narrative.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>About the year 1340 the king of Siam, being jealous of the
+growing power of Malaka, invaded the country, and in a second
+expedition laid siege to the capital; but his armies were
+defeated by the general of Modafar, named Sri Nara Dirija. After
+these events Modafar reigned some years with much reputation, and
+died in 1374. His son, originally named Sultan Abdul, took the
+title of Sultan Mansur Shah upon his accession. At the time that
+the king of Maja-pahit drove the Malays from Singapura, as above
+related, he likewise subdued the country of Indragiri in Sumatra;
+but upon the occasion of Mansur Shah's marriage (about the year
+1380) with the daughter of the then reigning king, a princess of
+great celebrity, named Radin Gala Chendra Kiran, it was assigned
+to him as her portion, and has since continued (according to
+Valentyn) under the dominion of the princes of Malaka. Mansur
+appears to have been engaged in continual wars, and to have
+obtained successes against Pahang, Pase, and Makasar. His reign
+extended to the almost incredible period of seventy-three years,
+being succeeded in 1447 by his son Sultan Ala-wa-eddin. During
+his reign of thirty years nothing particular is recorded; but
+there is reason to believe that his country during some part of
+that time was under the power of the Siamese. Sultan Mahmud Shah,
+who succeeded him, was the twelfth Malayan king, and the seventh
+and last king of Malaka.</p>
+
+<p>JOHOR FOUNDED.</p>
+
+<p>In 1509 he repelled the aggression of the king of Siam; but in
+1511 was conquered by the Portuguese under Alfonso d'Alboquerque,
+and forced, with the principal inhabitants, to fly to the
+neighbourhood of the first Malayan establishment at the extremity
+of the peninsula, where he founded the city of Johor, which still
+subsists, but has never attained to any considerable importance,
+owing as it may be presumed to the European influence that has
+ever since, under the Portuguese, Hollanders, and English,
+predominated in that quarter.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. It was subdued by the Portuguese in 1608.
+In 1641 Malacca was taken from them by the Hollanders, who held
+it till the present war, which has thrown it into the possession
+of the English. The interior boundaries of its territory,
+according to the Transactions of the Batavian Society, are the
+mountains of Rombou, inhabited by a Malayan people named Maning
+Cabou, and Mount Ophir, called by the natives Gunong-Ledang.
+These limits, say they, it is impracticable for a European to
+pass, the whole coast, for some leagues from the sea, being
+either a morass or impenetrable forest; and these natural
+difficulties are aggravated by the treacherous and bloodthirsty
+character of the natives. The description, which will be found in
+Volume 4 pages 333 to 334, is evidently overcharged. In speaking
+of Johor the original emigration of a Malayan colony from Sumatra
+to the mouth of that river, which gave its name to the whole
+coast, is briefly mentioned.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>ANCIENT RELIGION.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to the religion professed by the Malayan princes
+at the time of their migration from Sumatra, and for about 116
+years after, little can be known, because the writers, whose
+works have reached us, lived since the period of conversion, and
+as good Mahometans would have thought it profane to enter into
+the detail of superstitions which they regard with abhorrence;
+but from the internal evidence we can entertain little doubt of
+its having been the religion of Brahma, much corrupted however
+and blended with the antecedent rude idolatry of the country,
+such as we now find it amongst the Battas. Their proper names or
+titles are obviously Hindu, with occasional mixture of Persian,
+and their mountain of Maha-meru, elsewhere so well known as the
+seat of Indra and the dewas, sufficiently points out the
+mythology adopted in the country. I am not aware that at the
+present day there is any mountain in Sumatra called by that name;
+but it is reasonable to presume that appellations decidedly
+connected with Paganism may have been changed by the zealous
+propagators of the new faith, and I am much inclined to believe
+that by the Maha-meru of the Malays is to be understood the
+mountain of Sungei-pagu in the Menangkabau country, from whence
+issue rivers that flow to both sides of the island. In the
+neighbourhood of this reside the chiefs of the four great tribes,
+called ampat suku or four quarters, one of which is named Malayo
+(the others, Kampi, Pani, and Tiga-lara); and it is probable that
+to it belonged the adventurers who undertook the expedition to
+Ujong Tanah, and perpetuated the name of their particular race in
+the rising fortunes of the new colony. From what circumstances
+they were led to collect their vessels for embarkation at
+Palembang rather than at Indragiri or Siak, so much more
+convenient in point of local position, cannot now be
+ascertained.</p>
+
+<p>Having proposed some queries upon this subject to the late Mr.
+Francis Light, who first settled the island of Pinang or Prince
+of Wales island, in the Straits of Malacca, granted to him by the
+king of Kedah as the marriage portion of his daughter, he
+furnished me in answer with the following notices. "The origin of
+the Malays, like that of other people, is involved in fable;
+every raja is descended from some demigod, and the people sprung
+from the ocean. According to their traditions however their first
+city of Singapura, near the present Johor, was peopled from
+Palembang, from whence they proceeded to settle at Malacca
+(naming their city from the fruit so called), and spread along
+the coast. The peninsula is at present inhabited by distinct
+races of people. The Siamese possess the northern part to
+latitude 7 degrees, extending from the east to the west side. The
+Malays possess the whole of the sea-coast on both sides, from
+that latitude to Point Romania; being mixed in some places with
+the Bugis from Celebes, who have still a small settlement at
+Salmigor. The inland parts to the northward are inhabited by the
+Patani people, who appear to be a mixture of Siamese and Malays,
+and occupy independent dusuns or villages. Among the forests and
+in the mountains are a race of Caffres, in every respect
+resembling those of Africa excepting in stature, which does not
+exceed four feet eight inches. The Menangkabau people of the
+peninsula are so named from an inland country in Pulo Percha
+(Sumatra). A distinction is made between them and the Malays of
+Johor, but none is perceptible."</p>
+
+<p>To these authorities I shall add that of Mr. Thomas Raffles,
+at this time Secretary to the government of Pulo Pinang, a
+gentleman whose intelligence and zeal in the pursuit of knowledge
+give the strongest hope of his becoming an ornament to oriental
+literature. To his correspondence I am indebted for much useful
+information in the line of my researches, and the following
+passages corroborate the opinions I had formed. "With respect to
+the Menangkabaus, after a good deal of inquiry, I have not yet
+been able decidedly to ascertain the relation between those of
+that name in the peninsula and the Menangkabaus of Pulo Percha.
+The Malays affirm without hesitation that they all came
+originally from the latter island." In a recent communication he
+adds, "I am more confident than ever that the Menangkabaus of the
+peninsula derive their origin from the country of that name in
+Sumatra. Inland of Malacca about sixty miles is situated the
+Malay kingdom of Rumbo, whose sultan and all the principal
+officers of state hold their authority immediately from
+Menangkabau, and have written commissions for their respective
+offices. This shows the extent of that ancient power even now,
+reduced as it must be, in common with that of the Malay people in
+general. I had many opportunities of communicating with the
+natives of Rumbo, and they have clearly a peculiar dialect,
+resembling exactly what you mention of substituting the final o
+for a, as in the word ambo for amba. In fact, the dialect is
+called by the Malacca people the language of Menangkabau."</p>
+
+<p>HISTORY OF MENANGKABAU IMPERFECTLY KNOWN.</p>
+
+<p>Returning from this discussion I shall resume the
+consideration of what is termed the Sumatran empire of
+Menangkabau, believed by the natives of all descriptions to have
+subsisted from the remotest times. With its annals, either
+ancient or modern, we are little acquainted, and the existence of
+any historical records in the country has generally been doubted;
+yet, as those of Malacca and of Achin have been preserved, it is
+not hastily to be concluded that these people, who are the equals
+of the former, and much superior to the latter in point of
+literature, are destitute of theirs, although they have not
+reached our hands. It is known that they deduce their origin from
+two brothers, named Pera&shy;pati-si-batang and Kei Tamanggungan,
+who are described as being among the forty companions of Noah in
+the ark, and whose landing at Palembang, or at a small island
+near it, named Langkapura, is attended with the circumstance of
+the dry land being first discovered by the resting upon it of a
+bird that flew from the vessel. From thence they proceeded to the
+mountain named Siguntang-guntang, and afterwards to Priangan in
+the neighbourhood of the great volcano, which at this day is
+spoken of as the ancient capital of Menangkabau. Unfortunately I
+possess only an imperfect abstract of this narrative, obviously
+intended for an introduction to the genealogy of its kings, but,
+even as a fable, extremely confused and unsatisfactory; and when
+the writer brings it down to what may be considered as the
+historical period he abruptly leaves off, with a declaration that
+the offer of a sum of money (which was unquestionably his object)
+should not tempt him to proceed.</p>
+
+<p>LIMITS.</p>
+
+<p>At a period not very remote its limits were included between
+the river of Palembang and that of Siak, on the eastern side of
+the island, and on the western side between those of Manjuta
+(near Indrapura) and Singkel, where (as well as at Siak) it
+borders on the independent country of the Battas. The present
+seat, or more properly seats, of the divided government lie at
+the back of a mountainous district named the Tiga-blas koto
+(signifying the thirteen fortified and confederated towns) inland
+of the settlement of Padang. The country is described as a large
+plain surrounded by hills producing much gold, clear of woods,
+and comparatively well cultivated. Although nearer to the western
+coast its communications with the eastern side are much
+facilitated by water-carriage.</p>
+
+<p>LAKE.</p>
+
+<p>Advantage is taken in the first place of a large lake, called
+Laut-danau, situated at the foot of the range of high mountains
+named gunong Besi, inland of the country of Priaman, the length
+of which is described by some as being equal to a day's sailing,
+and by others as no more than twenty-five or thirty miles,
+abounding with fish (especially of two species, known by the
+names of sasau and bili), and free from alligators.</p>
+
+<p>RIVERS.</p>
+
+<p>From this, according to the authority of a map drawn by a
+native, issues a river called Ayer Ambelan, which afterwards
+takes the name of Indragiri, along which, as well as the two
+other great rivers of Siak to the northward, and Jambi to the
+southward, the navigation is frequent, the banks of all of them
+being peopled with Malayan colonies. Between Menangkabau and
+Palembang the intercourse must, on account of the distance, be
+very rare, and the assertion that in the intermediate country
+there exists another great lake, which sends its streams to both
+sides of the island, appears not only to be without foundation in
+fact, but also at variance with the usual operations of nature;
+as I believe it may be safely maintained that, however numerous
+the streams which furnish the water of a lake, it can have only
+one outlet; excepting, perhaps, in flat countries, where the
+course of the waters has scarcely any determination, or under
+such a nice balance of physical circumstances as is not likely to
+occur.</p>
+
+<p>POLITICAL DECLINE.</p>
+
+<p>When the island was first visited by European navigators this
+state must have been in its decline, as appears from the
+political importance at that period of the kings of Achin, Pedir,
+and Pase, who, whilst they acknowledged their authority to be
+derived from him as their lord paramount, and some of them paid
+him a trifling complimentary tribute, acted as independent
+sovereigns. Subsequently to this an Achinese monarch, under the
+sanction of a real or pretended grant, obtained from one of the
+sultans, who, having married his daughter, treated her with
+nuptial slight, and occasioned her to implore her father's
+interference, extended his dominion along the western coast, and
+established his panglimas or governors in many places within the
+territory of Menangkabau, particularly at Priaman, near the great
+volcano-mountain. This grant is said to have been extorted not by
+the force of arms but by an appeal to the decision of some high
+court of justice similar to that of the imperial chamber in
+Germany, and to have included all the low or strand-countries
+(pasisir barat) as far southward as Bengkaulu or Silebar. About
+the year 1613 however he claimed no farther than Padang, and his
+actual possessions reached only to Barus.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The following instances occur of mention
+made by writers at different periods of the kingdom of
+Menangkabau. ODOARDUS BARBOSA, 1519. "Sumatra, a most large and
+beautiful island; Pedir, the principal city on the northern side,
+where are also Pacem and Achem. Campar is opposite to Malacca.
+Monancabo, to the southward, is the principal source of gold, as
+well from mines as collected in the banks of the rivers." DE
+BARROS, 1553. "Malacca had the epithet of aurea given to it on
+account of the abundance of gold brought from Monancabo and
+Barros, countries in the island of Camatra, where it is
+procured." DIOGO de COUTO, 1600. "He gives an account of a
+Portuguese ship wrecked on the coast of Sumatra, near to the
+country of Manancabo, in 1560. Six hundred persons got on shore,
+among whom were some women, one of them, Dona Francisca Sardinha,
+was of such remarkable beauty that the people of the country
+resolved to carry her off for their king; and they effected it,
+after a struggle in which sixty of the Europeans lost their
+lives. At this period there was a great intercourse between
+Manancabo and Malacca, many vessels going yearly with gold to
+purchase cotton goods and other merchandise. In ancient times the
+country was so rich in this metal that several hundredweight
+(seis, sete, e mais candiz, de que trez fazem hum moyo) were
+exported in one season. Volume 3 page 178. LINSCHOTEN, 1601. "At
+Menancabo excellent poniards made, called creeses; best weapons
+of all the orient. Islands along the coast of Sumatra, called
+islands of Menancabo." ARGENSOLA, 1609. "A vessel loaded with
+creeses manufactured at Menancabo and a great quantity of
+artillery; a species of warlike machine known and fabricated in
+Sumatra many years before they were introduced by Europeans."
+LANCASTER, 1602. "Menangcabo lies eight or ten leagues inland of
+Priaman." BEST, 1613. " A man arrived from Menangcaboo at Ticoo,
+and brought news from Jambee." BEAULIEU, 1622. "Du cote du ponant
+apres Padang suit le royaume de Manimcabo; puis celuy
+d'Andripoura-Il y a (a Jambi) grand trafic d'or, qu'ils ont avec
+ceux de Manimcabo." Vies des Gouverneurs Gen. Hollandois, 1763.
+Il est bon de remarquer ici que presque toute la cote occidentale
+avoit ete reduite par la flotte du Sieur Pierre de Bitter en
+1664. L'annee suivante, les habitans de Pauw massacrerent le
+Commissaire Gruis, etc.; mais apres avoir venge ce meurtre, et
+dissipe les revoltes en 1666, les Hollandois etoient restes les
+maitres de toute cette etendue de cotes entre Sillebar et Baros,
+ou ils etablirent divers comptoirs, dont celui de Padang est le
+principal depuis 1667. Le commandant, qui y reside, est en meme
+temps Stadhouder (Lieutenant) de l'Empereur de Maningcabo, a qui
+la Compagnie a cede, sous diverses restrictions &amp;
+limitations, la souverainete sur tous les peuples qui babitent le
+long du rivage" etc.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>DIVISION OF THE GOVERNMENT.</p>
+
+<p>In consequence of disturbances that ensued upon the death of a
+sultan Alif in the year 1680, without direct heirs, the
+government became divided amongst three chiefs, presumed to have
+been of the royal family and at the same time great officers of
+state, who resided at places named Suruwasa, Pagar-ruyong, and
+Sungei-trap; and in that state it continues to the present time.
+Upon the capture of Padang by the English in 1781 deputations
+arrived from two of these chiefs with congratulations upon the
+success of our arms; which will be repeated with equal sincerity
+to those who may chance to succeed us. The influence of the Dutch
+(and it would have been the same with any other European power)
+has certainly contributed to undermine the political consequence
+of Menangkabau by giving countenance and support to its
+disobedient vassals, who in their turn have often experienced the
+dangerous effects of receiving favours from too powerful an ally.
+Pasaman, a populous country, and rich in gold, cassia, and
+camphor, one of its nearest provinces, and governed by a panglima
+from thence, now disclaims all manner of dependence. Its
+sovereignty is divided between the two rajas of Sabluan and
+Kanali, who, in imitation of their former masters, boast an
+origin of high antiquity. One of them preserves as his sacred
+relic the bark of a tree in which his ancestor was nursed in the
+woods before the Pasaman people had reached their present
+polished state. The other, to be on a level with him, possesses
+the beard of a reverend predecessor (perhaps an anchorite), which
+was so bushy that a large bird had built its nest in it. Raja
+Kanali supported a long war with the Hollanders, attended with
+many reverses of fortune.</p>
+
+<p>Whether the three sultans maintain a struggle of hostile
+rivalship, or act with an appearance of concert, as holding the
+nominal sovereignty under a species of joint-regency, I am not
+informed, but each of them in the preamble of his letters assumes
+all the royal titles, without any allusion to competitors; and
+although their power and resources are not much beyond those of a
+common raja they do not fail to assert all the ancient rights and
+prerogatives of the empire, which are not disputed so long as
+they are not attempted to be carried into force. Pompous
+dictatorial edicts are issued and received by the neighbouring
+states (including the European chiefs of Padang), with
+demonstration of profound respect, but no farther obeyed than may
+happen to consist with the political interests of the parties to
+whom they are addressed. Their authority in short resembles not a
+little that of the sovereign pontiffs of Rome during the latter
+centuries, founded as it is in the superstition of remote ages;
+holding terrors over the weak, and contemned by the stronger
+powers. The district of Suruwasa, containing the site of the old
+capital, or Menangkabau proper, seems to have been considered by
+the Dutch as entitled to a degree of pre-eminence; but I have not
+been able to discover any marks of superiority or inferiority
+amongst them. In distant parts the schism is either unknown, or
+the three who exercise the royal functions are regarded as
+co-existing members of the same family, and their government, in
+the abstract, however insignificant in itself, is there an object
+of veneration. Indeed to such an unaccountable excess is this
+carried that every relative of the sacred family, and many who
+have no pretensions to it assume that character, are treated
+wherever they appear, not only with the most profound respect by
+the chiefs who go out to meet them, fire salutes on their
+entering the dusuns, and allow them to level contributions for
+their maintenance; but by the country people with such a degree
+of superstitious awe that they submit to be insulted, plundered,
+and even wounded by them, without making resistance, which they
+would esteem a dangerous profanation. Their appropriate title
+(not uncommon in other Malayan countries) is Iang de per-tuan,
+literally signifying he who ruleth.</p>
+
+<p>A person of this description, who called himself Sri Ahmed
+Shah, heir to the empire of Menangkabau, in consequence of some
+differences with the Dutch, came and settled amongst the English
+at Bencoolen in the year 1687, on his return from a journey to
+the southward as far as Lampong, and being much respected by the
+people of the country gained the entire confidence of Mr. Bloom,
+the governor. He subdued some of the neighbouring chiefs who were
+disaffected to the English, particularly Raja mudo of
+Sungei-lamo, and also a Jennang or deputy from the king of
+Bantam; he coined money, established a market, and wrote a letter
+to the East India Company promising to put them in possession of
+the trade of the whole island. But shortly afterwards a discovery
+was made of his having formed a design to cut off the settlement,
+and he was in consequence driven from the place. The records
+mention at a subsequent period that the sultan of Indrapura was
+raising troops to oppose him.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The following anecdote of one of these
+personages was communicated to me by my friend, the late Mr.
+Crisp. "Some years ago, when I was resident of Manna, there was a
+man who had long worked in the place as a coolie when someone
+arrived from the northward, who happened to discover that he was
+an Iang de per-tuan or relation of the imperial family.
+Immediately all the bazaar united to raise him to honour and
+independence; he was never suffered to walk without a high
+umbrella carried over him, was followed by numerous attendants,
+and addressed by the title of tuanku, equivalent to your
+highness. After this he became an intriguing, troublesome fellow
+in the Residency, and occasioned much annoyance. The prejudice in
+favour of these people is said to extend over all the islands to
+the eastward where the Malay tongue is spoken.")</blockquote>
+
+<p>HIS TITLES.</p>
+
+<p>The titles and epithets assumed by the sultans are the most
+extravagantly absurd that it is possible to imagine. Many of them
+descend to mere childishness; and it is difficult to conceive how
+any people, so far advanced in civilization as to be able to
+write, could display such evidences of barbarism. A specimen of a
+warrant of recent date, addressed to Tuanku Sungei-Pagu, a
+high-priest residing near Bencoolen, is as follows:</p>
+
+<p>Three circular Seals with inscriptions in Arabic
+characters.</p>
+
+<p>(Eldest brother) Sultan of Rum. Key Dummul Alum. Maharaja
+Alif.</p>
+
+<p>(Second brother) Sultan of China. Nour Alum. Maharaja Dempang
+or Dipang.</p>
+
+<p>(Youngest brother) Sultan of Menangkabau. Aour Alum. Maharaja
+Dirja or Durja.</p>
+
+<p>TRANSLATION OF A WARRANT.</p>
+
+<p>The sultan of Menangkabau, whose residence is at Pagar-ruyong,
+who is king of kings; a descendant of raja Iskander zu'lkarnaini;
+possessed of the crown brought from heaven by the prophet Adam;
+of a third part of the wood kamat, one extremity of which is in
+the kingdom of Rum and another in that of China; of the lance
+named lambing lambura ornamented with the beard of janggi; of the
+palace in the city of Rum, whose entertainments and diversions
+are exhibited in the month of zul'hijah, and where all alims,
+fakiahs, and mulanakaris praise and supplicate Allah; possessor
+of the gold-mine named kudarat-kudarati, which yields pure gold
+of twelve carats, and of the gold named jati-jati which snaps the
+dalik wood; of the sword named churak-simandang-giri, which
+received one hundred and ninety gaps in conflict with the fiend
+Si Kati&shy;muno, whom it slew; of the kris formed of the soul of
+steel, which expresses an unwillingness at being sheathed and
+shows itself pleased when drawn; of a date coeval with the
+creation; master of fresh water in the ocean, to the extent of a
+day's sailing; of a lance formed of a twig of iju ; the sultan
+who receives his taxes in gold by the lessong measure; whose
+betel-stand is of gold set with diamonds; who is possessor of the
+web named sangsista kala, which weaves itself and adds one thread
+yearly, adorned with pearls, and when that web shall be completed
+the world will be no more; of horses of the race of sorimborani,
+superior to all others; of the mountain Si guntang-guntang, which
+divides Palembang and Jambi, and of the burning mountain; of the
+elephant named Hasti Dewah; who is vicegerent of heaven; sultan
+of the golden river; lord of the air and clouds; master of a
+ballei whose pillars are of the shrub jalatang; of gandarangs
+(drums) made of the hollow stems of the diminutive plants pulut
+and silosuri; of the anchor named paduka jati employed to recover
+the crown which fell into the deep sea of Kulzum; of the gong
+that resounds to the skies; of the buffalo named Si Binuwang
+Sati, whose horns are ten feet asunder; of the unconquered cock,
+Sen&shy;gunani; of the coconut-tree which, from its amazing
+height and being infested with serpents and other noxious
+reptiles, it is impossible to climb; of the blue champaka flower,
+not to be found in any other country than his (being yellow
+elsewhere); of the flowering shrub named Sri&shy;menjeri, of
+ambrosial scent; of the mountain on which the celestial spirits
+dwell; who when he goes to rest wakes not until the gandarang
+nobat sounds; He the sultan Sri Maharaja Durja furthermore
+declares, etc.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The following Letter from the sultan of
+Menangkabau to the father of the present sultan of Moco-moco, and
+apparently written about fifty years ago, was communicated to me
+by Mr. Alexander Dalrymple, and though it is in part a repetition
+I esteem it too curious to hesitate about inserting it. The style
+is much more rational than that of the foregoing. "Praised be
+Almighty God! Sultan Gagar Alum the great and noble King, whose
+extensive power reacheth unto the limits of the wide ocean; unto
+whom God grants whatever he desires, and over whom no evil
+spirit, nor even Satan himself has any influence; who is invested
+with an authority to punish evil-doers; and has the most tender
+heart in the support of the innocent; has no malice in his mind,
+but preserveth the righteous with the greatest reverence, and
+nourisheth the poor and needy, feeding them daily from his own
+table. His authority reacheth over the whole universe, and his
+candour and goodness is known to all men. (Mention made of the
+three brothers.) The ambassador of God and his prophet Mahomet;
+the beloved of mankind; and ruler of the island called Percho. At
+the time God made the heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon, and
+even before evil spirits were created, this sultan Gagar Alum had
+his residence in the clouds; but when the world was habitable God
+gave him a bird called Hocinet, that had the gift of speech; this
+he sent down on earth to look out for a spot where he might
+establish an inheritance, and the first place he alighted upon
+was the fertile island of Lankapura, situated between Palembang
+and Jambi, and from thence sprang the famous kingdom of
+Manancabow, which will be renowned and mighty until the Judgment
+Day.
+
+<p>"This Maha Raja Durja is blessed with a long life and an
+uninterrupted course of prosperity, which he will maintain in the
+name, and through the grace of the holy prophet, to the end that
+God's divine Will may be fulfilled upon earth. He is endowed with
+the highest abilities, and the most profound wisdom and
+circumspection in governing the many tributary kings and
+subjects. He is righteous and charitable, and preserveth the
+honour and glory of his ancestors. His justice and clemency are
+felt in distant regions, and his name will be revered until the
+last day. When he openeth his mouth he is full of goodness, and
+his words are as grateful as rosewater to the thirsty. His breath
+is like the soft winds of the heavens, and his lips are the
+instruments of truth; sending forth perfumes more delightful than
+benjamin or myrrh. His nostrils breathe ambergris and musk; and
+his countenance has the lustre of diamonds. He is dreadful in
+battle, and not to be conquered, his courage and valour being
+matchless. He, the sultan Maha Raja Durja, was crowned with a
+sacred crown from God; and possesses the wood called Kamat, in
+conjunction with the emperors of Rome and China. (Here follows an
+account of his possessions nearly corresponding to those above
+recited.)</p>
+
+<p>"After this salutation, and the information I have given of my
+greatness and power, which I attribute to the good and holy
+prophet Mahomet, I am to acquaint you with the commands of the
+sultan whose presence bringeth death to all who attempt to
+approach him without permission; and also those of the sultan of
+Indrapura who has four breasts. This friendly sheet of paper is
+brought from the two sultans above named, by their bird anggas,
+unto their son, sultan Gandam Shah, to acquaint him with their
+intention under this great seal, which is that they order their
+son sultan Gandam Shah to oblige the English Company to settle in
+the district called Biangnur, at a place called the field of
+sheep, that they may not have occasion to be ashamed at their
+frequent refusal of our goodness in permitting them to trade with
+us and with our subjects; and that in case he cannot succeed in
+this affair we hereby advise him that the ties of friendship
+subsisting between us and our son is broken; and we direct that
+he send us an answer immediately, that we may know the
+result--for all this island is our own." It is difficult to
+determine whether the preamble, or the purport of the letter be
+the more extraordinary.)</p>
+</blockquote>
+
+<p>Probably no records upon earth can furnish an example of more
+unintelligible jargon; yet these attributes are believed to be
+indisputably true by the Malays and others residing at a distance
+from his immediate dominions, who possess a greater degree of
+faith than wit; and with this addition, that he dwells in a
+palace without covering, free from inconvenience. It is at the
+same time but justice to these people to observe that, in the
+ordinary concerns of life, their writings are as sober,
+consistent, and rational as those of their neighbours.</p>
+
+<p>REMARKS ON WARRANT.</p>
+
+<p>The seals prefixed to the warrant are, beside his own and that
+of the emperor of China, whose consequence is well known to the
+inhabitants of the eastern islands, that of the sultan of Rum, by
+which is understood in modern times, Constantinople, the seat of
+the emperor of the Turks, who is looked up to by Mahometans,
+since the ruin of the khalifat, as the head of their religion;
+but I have reason to think that the appellation of Rumi was at an
+earlier period given by oriental writers to the subjects of the
+great Turkoman empire of the Seljuks, whose capital was Iconium
+or Kuniyah in Asia minor, of which the Ottoman was a branch. This
+personage he honours with the title of his eldest brother, the
+descendant of Iskander the two-horned, by which epithet the
+Macedonian hero is always distinguished in eastern story, in
+consequence, as may be presumed, of the horned figure on his
+coins,* which must long have circulated in Persia and Arabia.
+Upon the obscure history of these supposed brothers some light is
+thrown by the following legend communicated to me as the belief
+of the people of Johor. "It is related that Iskander dived into
+the sea, and there married a daughter of the king of the ocean,
+by whom he had three sons, who, when they arrived at manhood,
+were sent by their mother to the residence of their father. He
+gave them a makuta or crown, and ordered them to find kingdoms
+where they should establish themselves. Arriving in the straits
+of Singapura they determined to try whose head the crown fitted.
+The eldest trying first could not lift it to his head. The second
+the same. The third had nearly effected it when it fell from his
+hand into the sea. After this the eldest turned to the west and
+became king of Rome, the second to the east and became king of
+China. The third remained at Johor. At this time Pulo Percha
+(Sumatra) had not risen from the waters. When it began to appear,
+this king of Johor, being on a fishing party, and observing it
+oppressed by a huge snake named Si Kati-muno, attacked the
+monster with his sword called Simandang-giri, and killed it, but
+not till the sword had received one hundred and ninety notches in
+the encounter. The island being thus allowed to rise, he went and
+settled by the burning mountain, and his descendants became kings
+of Menangkabau." This has much the air of a tale invented by the
+people of the peninsula to exalt the idea of their own antiquity
+at the expense of their Sumatran neighbours. The blue
+champaka-flower of which the sultan boasts possession I conceive
+to be an imaginary and not an existent plant. The late respected
+Sir W. Jones, in his Botanical Observations printed in the
+Asiatic Researches Volume 4 suspects that by it must be meant the
+Kaempferia bhuchampac, a plant entirely different from the
+michelia; but as this supposition is built on a mere resemblance
+of sounds it is necessary to state that the Malayan term is
+champaka biru, and that nothing can be inferred from the
+accidental coincidence of the Sanskrit word bhu, signifying
+ground, with the English term for the blue colour.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. See a beautiful engraving of one of these
+coins preserved in the Bodleian collection, Oxford, prefixed to
+Dr. Vincent's Translation of the Voyage of Nearchus printed in
+1809.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>CEREMONIES.</p>
+
+<p>With the ceremonies of the court we are very imperfectly
+acquainted. The royal salute is one gun; which may be considered
+as a refinement in ceremony; for as no additional number could be
+supposed to convey an adequate idea of respect, but must on the
+contrary establish a definite proportion between his dignity and
+that of his nobles, or of other princes, the sultan chooses to
+leave the measure of his importance indefinite by this policy and
+save his gunpowder. It must be observed that the Malays are in
+general extremely fond of the parade of firing guns, which they
+never neglect on high days, and on the appearance of the new
+moon, particularly that which marks the commencement and the
+conclusion of their puasa or annual fast. Yellow being esteemed,
+as in China, the royal colour, is said to be constantly and
+exclusively worn by the sultan and his household. His usual
+present on sending an embassy (for no Sumatran or other oriental
+has an idea of making a formal address on any occasion without a
+present in hand, be it never so trifling), is a pair of white
+horses; being emblematic of the purity of his character and
+intentions.</p>
+
+<p>CONVERSION TO MAHOMETAN RELIGION.</p>
+
+<p>The immediate subjects of this empire, properly denominated
+Malays, are all of the Mahometan religion, and in that respect
+distinguished from the generality of inland inhabitants. How it
+has happened that the most central people of the island should
+have become the most perfectly converted is difficult to account
+for unless we suppose that its political importance and the
+richness of its gold trade might have drawn thither its pious
+instructors, from temporal as well as spiritual motives. Be this
+as it may, the country of Menangkabau is regarded as the supreme
+seat of civil and religious authority in this part of the East,
+and next to a voyage to Mecca to have visited its metropolis
+stamps a man learned, and confers the character of superior
+sanctity. Accordingly the most eminent of those who bear the
+titles of imam, mulana, khatib, and pandita either proceed from
+thence or repair thither for their degree, and bring away with
+them a certificate or diploma from the sultan or his
+minister.</p>
+
+<p>In attempting to ascertain the period of this conversion much
+accuracy is not to be expected; the natives are either ignorant
+on the subject or have not communicated their knowledge, and we
+can only approximate the truth by comparing the authorities of
+different old writers. Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller who
+visited Sumatra under the name of Java minor (see above) says
+that the inhabitants of the seashore were addicted to the
+Mahometan law, which they had learned from Saracon merchants.
+This must have been about the year 1290, when, in his voyage from
+China, he was detained for several months at a port in the
+Straits, waiting the change of the monsoon; and though I am
+scrupulous of insisting upon his authority (questioned as it is),
+yet in a fact of this nature he could scarcely be mistaken, and
+the assertion corresponds with the annals of the princes of
+Malacca, which state, as we have seen above, that sultan Muhammed
+Shah, who reigned from 1276 to 1333, was the first royal convert.
+Juan De Barros, a Portuguese historian of great industry, says
+that, according to the tradition of the inhabitants, the city of
+Malacca was founded about the year 1260, and that about 1400 the
+Mahometan faith had spread considerably there and extended itself
+to the neighbouring islands. Diogo do Couto, another celebrated
+historian, who prosecuted his inquiries in India, mentions the
+arrival at Malacca of an Arabian priest who converted its monarch
+to the faith of the khalifs, and gave him the name of Shah
+Muhammed in the year 1384. This date however is evidently
+incorrect, as that king's reign was earlier by fifty years.
+Corneille le Brun was informed by the king of Bantam in 1706 that
+the people of Java were made converts to that sect about three
+hundred years before. Valentyn states that Sheik Mulana, by whom
+this conversion was effected in 1406, had already disseminated
+his doctrine at Ache, Pase (places in Sumatra), and Johor. From
+these several sources of information, which are sufficiently
+distinct from each other, we may draw this conclusion, that the
+religion, which sprang up in Arabia in the seventh century, had
+not made any considerable progress in the interior of Sumatra
+earlier than the fourteenth, and that the period of its
+introduction, considering the vicinity to Malacca, could not be
+much later. I have been told indeed, but cannot vouch for its
+authenticity, that in 1782 these people counted 670 years from
+the first preaching of their religion, which would carry the
+period back to 1112. It may be added that in the island of
+Ternate the first Mahometan prince reigned from 1466 to 1486;
+that Francis Xavier, a celebrated Jesuit missionary, when he was
+at Amboina in 1546 observed the people then beginning to learn to
+write from the Arabians; that the Malays were allowed to build a
+mosque at Goak in Makasar subsequently to the arrival of the
+Portuguese in 1512; and that in 1603 the whole kingdom had become
+Mahometan. These islands, lying far to the eastward, and being of
+less considerable account in that age than subsequent
+transactions have rendered them, the zeal of religious
+adventurers did not happen to be directed thither so soon as to
+the countries bordering on the sea of India.</p>
+
+<p>By some it has been asserted that the first sultan of
+Menangkabau was a Xerif from Mecca, or descendant of the khalifs,
+named Paduka Sri Sultan Ibrahim, who, settling in Sumatra, was
+received with honour by the princes of the country,
+Perapati-si-batang and his brother, and acquired sovereign
+authority. They add that the sultans who now reside at
+Pagar-ruyong and at Suruwasa are lineally descended from that
+Xerif, whilst he who resides at Sungei Trap, styled Datu Bandhara
+putih, derives his origin from Perapati. But to this supposition
+there are strong objections. The idea so generally entertained by
+the natives, and strengthened by the glimmering lights that the
+old writers afford us, bespeaks an antiquity to this empire that
+stretches far beyond the probable era of the establishment of the
+Mahometan religion in the island. Radin Tamanggung, son of a king
+of Madura, a very intelligent person, and who as a prince himself
+was conversant with these topics, positively asserted to me that
+it was an original Sumatran empire, antecedent to the
+introduction of the Arabian faith; instructed, but by no means
+conquered, as some had imagined, by people from the peninsula. So
+memorable an event as the elevation of a Xerif to the throne
+would have been long preserved by annals or tradition, and the
+sultan in the list of his titles would not fail to boast of this
+sacred extraction from the prophet, to which however he does not
+at all allude; and to this we may add that the superstitious
+veneration attached to the family extends itself not only where
+Mahometanism has made a progress, but also among the Battas and
+other people still unconverted to that faith, with whom it would
+not be the case if the claim to such respect was grounded on the
+introduction of a foreign religion which they have refused to
+accept.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it is less surprising that this one kingdom should
+have been completely converted than that so many districts of the
+island should remain to this day without any religion whatever.
+It is observable that a person of this latter description, coming
+to reside among the Malays, soon assimilates to them in manners,
+and conforms to their religious practices. The love of novelty,
+the vanity of learning, the fascination of ceremony, the
+contagion of example, veneration for what appears above his
+immediate comprehension, and the innate activity of man's
+intellectual faculties, which, spurred by curiosity, prompts him
+to the acquisition of knowledge, whether true or false--all
+conspire to make him embrace a system of belief and scheme of
+instruction in which there is nothing that militates against
+prejudices already imbibed. He relinquishes no favourite ancient
+worship to adopt a new, and is manifestly a gainer by the
+exchange, when he barters, for a paradise and eternal pleasures,
+so small a consideration as the flesh of his foreskin.</p>
+
+<p>TOLERANT PRINCIPLES.</p>
+
+<p>The Malays, as far as my observation went, did not appear to
+possess much of the bigotry so commonly found amongst the western
+Mahometans, or to show antipathy to or contempt for unbelievers.
+To this indifference is to be attributed my not having positively
+ascertained whether they are followers of the sunni or the shiah
+sect, although from their tolerant principles and frequent
+passages in their writings in praise of Ali I conclude them to be
+the latter. Even in regard to the practice of ceremonies they do
+not imitate the punctuality of the Arabs and others of the
+mussulman faith. Excepting such as were in the orders of the
+priesthood I rarely noticed persons in the act of making their
+prostrations. Men of rank I am told have their religious periods,
+during which they scrupulously attend to their duties and refrain
+from gratifications of the appetite, together with gambling and
+cockfighting; but these are not long nor very frequent. Even
+their great Fast or puasa (the ramadan of the Turks) is only
+partially observed. All those who have a regard for character
+fast more or less according to the degree of their zeal or
+strength of their constitutions; some for a week, others for a
+fortnight; but to abstain from food and betel whilst the sun is
+above the horizon during the whole of a lunar month is a very
+rare instance of devotion.</p>
+
+<p>LITERATURE.</p>
+
+<p>Malayan literature consists chiefly of transcripts and
+versions of the koran, commentaries on the mussulman law, and
+historic tales both in prose and verse, resembling in some
+respect our old romances. Many of these are original
+compositions, and others are translations of the popular tales
+current in Arabia, Persia, India, and the neighbouring island of
+Java, where the Hindu languages and mythology appear to have made
+at a remote period considerable progress. Among several works of
+this description I possess their translation (but much
+compressed) of the Ramayan, a celebrated Sanskrit poem, and also
+of some of the Arabian stories lately published in France as a
+Continuation of the Thousand and one Nights, first made known to
+the European world by M. Galland. If doubts have been entertained
+of the authenticity of these additions to his immortal collection
+the circumstance of their being (however partially) discovered in
+the Malayan language will serve to remove them. Beside these they
+have a variety of poetic works, abounding rather with moral
+reflections and complaints of the frowns of fortune or of
+ill-requited love than with flights of fancy. The pantun or short
+proverbial stanza has been already described. They are composed
+in all parts of the island, and often extempore; but such as
+proceed from Menangkabau, the most favoured seat of the Muses,
+are held in the first esteem. Their writing is entirely in the
+modified Arabic character, and upon paper previously ruled by
+means of threads drawn tight and arranged in a peculiar
+manner.</p>
+
+<p>ARTS.</p>
+
+<p>The arts in general are carried among these people to a
+greater degree of perfection than by the other natives of
+Sumatra. The Malays are the sole fabricators of the exquisite
+gold and silver filigree, the manufacture of which has been
+particularly described.</p>
+
+<p>FIREARMS.</p>
+
+<p>In the country of Menangkabau they have from the earliest
+times manufactured arms for their own use and to supply the
+northern inhabitants of the island, who are the most warlike, and
+which trade they continue to this day, smelting, forging, and
+preparing, by a process of their own, the iron and steel for this
+purpose, although much is at the same time purchased from
+Europeans.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The principal iron mines are at a place
+called Padang Luar, where the ore is sold at the rate of half a
+fanam or forty-eighth part of a dollar for a man's load, and
+carried to another place in the Menangkabau country called
+Selimpuwong, where it is smelted and manufactured.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>CANNON.</p>
+
+<p>The use of cannon in this and other parts of India is
+mentioned by the oldest Portuguese historians, and it must
+consequently have been known there before the discovery of the
+passage by the Cape of Good Hope. Their guns are those pieces
+called matchlocks, the improvement of springs and flints not
+being yet adopted by them; the barrels are well tempered and of
+the justest bore, as is evident from the excellence of their aim,
+which they always take by lowering, instead of raising the muzzle
+of the piece to the object. They are wrought by rolling a flatted
+bar of iron of proportionate dimensions spirally round a circular
+rod, and beating it till the parts of the former unite; which
+method seems preferable in point of strength to that of folding
+and soldering the bar longitudinally. The art of boring may well
+be supposed unknown to these people. Firelocks are called by them
+snapang, from the Dutch name. Gunpowder they make in great
+quantities, but either from the injudicious proportion of the
+ingredients in the composition, or the imperfect granulation, it
+is very defective in strength.</p>
+
+<p>SIDE-ARMS.</p>
+
+<p>The tombak, lambing, and kujur or kunjur are names for weapons
+of the lance or spear kind; the pedang, rudus, pamandap, and
+kalewang are of the sword kind, and slung at the side, the siwar
+is a small instrument of the nature of a stiletto, chiefly used
+for assassination; and the kris is a species of dagger of a
+particular construction, very generally worn, being stuck in
+front through the folds of a belt that goes several times round
+the body.</p>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-17"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-17.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 17. SUMATRAN WEAPONS. A. A Malay Gadoobang. B. A Batta
+Weapon. C. A Malay Creese.<br>One-third of the size of the
+Originals.<br>W. Williams del. and sculpt.<br>Published by W. Marsden,
+1810.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<center>
+<p><a name="sumatra-17a"></a><img alt="" src="images/sumatra-17a.jpg"></p>
+<p><b>PLATE 17a. SUMATRAN WEAPONS. D. A Malay Creese. E. An Achenese
+Creese. F. A Malay Sewar.<br>One-third of the size of the Originals.<br>
+W. Williams del. and sculpt.</b></p>
+</center>
+
+<p>KRIS-BLADE.</p>
+
+<p>The blade is about fourteen inches in length, not straight nor
+uniformly curved, but waving in and out, as we see depicted the
+flaming swords that guarded the gates of paradise; which probably
+may render a wound given with it the more fatal. It is not smooth
+or polished like those of our weapons, but by a peculiar process
+made to resemble a composition, in which veins of a different
+metal are apparent. This damasking (as I was informed by the late
+Mr. Boulton) is produced by beating together steel and iron wire
+whilst in a state of half fusion, and eating them with acids, by
+which the softest part is the most corroded; the edges being of
+pure steel. Their temper is uncommonly hard. The head or haft is
+either of ivory, the tooth of the duyong (sea-cow), that of the
+hippopotamus, the snout of the ikan layer (voilier), of black
+coral, or of fine-grained wood. This is ornamented with gold or a
+mixture of that and copper, which they call swasa, highly
+polished and carved into curious figures, some of which have the
+beak of a bird with the arms of a human creature, and bear a
+resemblance to the Egyptian Isis. The sheath also is formed of
+some beautiful species of wood, hollowed out, with a neat lacing
+of split rattan, stained red round the lower parts; or sometimes
+it is plated with gold. The value of a kris is supposed to be
+enhanced in proportion to the number of persons it has slain. One
+that has been the instrument of much bloodshed is regarded with a
+degree of veneration as something sacred. The horror or
+enthusiasm inspired by the contemplation of such actions is
+transferred to the weapon, which accordingly acquires sanctity
+from the principle that leads ignorant men to reverence whatever
+possesses the power of effecting mischief. Other circumstances
+also contribute to give them celebrity, and they are
+distinguished by pompous names. Some have a cushion by their
+bedside on which is placed their favourite weapon. I have a
+manuscript treatise on krises, accompanied with drawings,
+describing their imaginary properties and value, estimated at the
+price of one or more slaves. The abominable custom of poisoning
+them, though much talked of, is rarely practised I believe in
+modern times. They are frequently seen rubbing the blades with
+lime-juice, which has been considered as a precaution against
+danger of this kind, but it is rather for the purpose of removing
+common stains or of improving the damasked appearance.</p>
+
+<p>MODES OF WARFARE.</p>
+
+<p>Although much parade attends their preparations for war and
+their marches, displaying colours of scarlet cloth, and beating
+drums, gongs, and chennangs, yet their operations are carried on
+rather in the way of ambuscade and surprise of straggling parties
+than open combat, firing irregularly from behind entrenchments,
+which the enemy takes care not to approach too near.</p>
+
+<p>HORSES.</p>
+
+<p>They are said to go frequently to war on horseback, but I
+shall not venture to give their force the name of cavalry. The
+chiefs may probably avail themselves of the service of this
+useful animal from motives of personal indulgence or state, but
+on account of the ranjaus or sharp-pointed stakes so commonly
+planted in the passes (see the preceding journal of Lieutenant
+Dare's march, where they are particularly described), it is
+scarcely possible that horse could be employed as an effective
+part of an army. It is also to be observed that neither the
+natives nor even Europeans ever shoe them, the nature of the
+roads in general not rendering it necessary. The breed of them is
+small but well made, hardy, and vigorous. The soldiers serve
+without pay, but the plunder they obtain is thrown into a common
+stock, and divided amongst them. Whatever might formerly have
+been the degree of their prowess they are not now much celebrated
+for it; yet the Dutch at Padang have often found them troublesome
+enemies from their numbers, and been obliged to secure themselves
+within their walls. Between the Menangkabau people, those of Rau
+or Aru, and the Achinese, settled at Natal, wars used to be
+incessant until they were checked by the influence of our
+authority at that place. The factory itself was raised upon one
+of the breast-works thrown up by them for defence, of which
+several are to be met with in walking a few miles into the
+country, and some of them very substantial. Their campaigns in
+this petty warfare were carried on very deliberately. They made a
+regular practice of commencing a truce at sunset, when they
+remained in mutual security, and sometimes agreed that
+hostilities should take place only between certain hours of the
+day. The English resident, Mr. Carter, was frequently chosen
+their umpire, and upon these occasions used to fix in the ground
+his golden-headed cane, on the spot where the deputies should
+meet and concert terms of accommodation; until at length the
+parties, grown weary of their fruitless contests, resolved to
+place themselves respectively under the dependence and protection
+of the company. The fortified villages, in some parts of the
+country named dusun, and in others kampong, are here, as on the
+continent of India, denominated kota or forts, and the districts
+are distinguished from each other by the number of confederated
+villages they contain.</p>
+
+<p>GOVERNMENT.</p>
+
+<p>The government, like that of all Malayan states, is founded on
+principles entirely feudal. The prince is styled raja, maha-raja,
+iang de pertuan, or sultan; the nobles have the appellation of
+orang kaya or datu, which properly belongs to the chiefs of
+tribes, and implies their being at the head of a numerous train
+of immediate dependants or vassals, whose service they command.
+The heir-apparent has the title of raja muda.</p>
+
+<p>OFFICERS OF STATE.</p>
+
+<p>From amongst the orang kayas the sultan appoints the officers
+of state, who as members of his council are called mantri, and
+differ in number and authority according to the situation and
+importance of the kingdom. Of these the first in rank, or prime
+minister, has the appellation of perdana mantri, mangko bumi, and
+not seldom, however anomalously, maharaja. Next to him generally
+is the bandhara, treasurer or high steward; then the laksamana
+and tamanggung, commanders-in-chief by sea and land, and lastly
+the shahbandara, whose office it is to superintend the business
+of the customs (in sea-port towns) and to manage the trade for
+the king. The governors of provinces are named panglima, the
+heads of departments pangulu. The ulubalang are military officers
+forming the bodyguard of the sovereign, and prepared on all
+occasions to execute his orders. From their fighting singly, when
+required, in the cause of the prince or noble who maintains them,
+the name is commonly translated champion; but when employed by a
+weak but arbitrary and cruel prince to remove by stealth
+obnoxious persons whom he dares not to attack openly they may be
+compared more properly to the Ismaelians or Assassins, so
+celebrated in the history of the Crusades, as the devoted
+subjects of the Sheikh al-jabal, or Old Man of the Mountain, as
+this chief of Persian Irak is vulgarly termed. I have not reason
+however to believe that such assassinations are by any means
+frequent. The immediate vassals of the king are called amba raja;
+and for the subjects in general the word rayet has been adopted.
+Beside those above named there is a great variety of officers of
+government of an inferior class; and even among the superior
+there is not at every period, nor in every Malayan state, a
+consistent uniformity of rank and title.</p>
+
+<p>GOVERNMENT BY FOUR DATUS.</p>
+
+<p>The smaller Malayan establishments are governed by their datus
+or heads of tribes, of whom there are generally four; as at
+Bencoolen (properly Bengkaulu) near to which the English
+settlement of Fort Marlborough is situated, and where Fort York
+formerly stood. These are under the protection or dominion of two
+native chiefs or princes, the pangerans of Sungei-lamo and
+Sungei-etam, the origin of whose authority has been already
+explained. Each of these has possessions on different parts of
+the river, the principal sway being in the hands of him of the
+two who has most personal ability. They are constant rivals,
+though living upon familiar terms, and are only restrained from
+open war by the authority of the English. Limun likewise, and the
+neighbouring places of Batang-asei and Pakalang-jambu, near the
+sources of Jambi River, where gold is collected and carried
+chiefly to Bencoolen and the settlement of Laye, where I had
+opportunities of seeing the traders, are each governed by four
+datus, who, though not immediately nominated by the sultan, are
+confirmed by, and pay tribute to, him. The first of these, whose
+situation is most southerly, receive also an investiture (baju,
+garment, and destar, turband) from the sultan of Palembang, being
+a politic measure adopted by these merchants for the convenience
+attending it in their occasional trading concerns with that
+place.</p>
+
+<p>HOT SPRINGS.</p>
+
+<p>At Priangan, near Gunong-berapi, are several hot mineral
+springs, called in the Malayan map already mentioned, panchuran
+tujuh or the seven conduits, where the natives from time
+immemorial have been in the practice of bathing; some being
+appropriated to the men, and others to the women; with two of
+cold water, styled the king's. It will be recollected that in
+ancient times this place was the seat of government.</p>
+
+<p>ANCIENT SCULPTURE.</p>
+
+<p>Near to these springs is a large stone or rock of very hard
+substance, one part of which is smoothed to a perpendicular face
+of about ten or twelve feet long and four high, on which are
+engraved characters supposed to be European, the space being
+entirely filled with them and certain chaps or marks at the
+corners. The natives presume them to be Dutch, but say that the
+latter do not resemble the present mark of the Company. There is
+some appearance of the date 1100. The informant (named Raja
+Intan), who had repeatedly seen and examined it, added that M.
+Palm, governor of Padang, once sent Malays with paper and paint
+to endeavour to take off the inscription, but they did not
+succeed; and the Dutch, whose arms never penetrated to that part
+of the country, are ignorant of its meaning. It is noticed in the
+Malayan map. Should it prove to be a Hindu monument it will be
+thought curious.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-19"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 19.</h3>
+
+<p><b>KINGDOMS OF INDRAPURA, ANAK-SUNGEI, PASSAMMAN, SIAK.</b></p>
+
+<p>INDRAPURA.</p>
+
+<p>Among the earliest dismemberments of the Menangkabau empire
+was the establishment of Indrapura as an independent kingdom.
+Though now in its turn reduced to a state of little importance,
+it was formerly powerful in comparison with its neighbours, and
+of considerable magnitude, including Anak-Sungei and extending as
+far as Kattaun. Some idea of its antiquity may be formed from a
+historical account given by the Sultan of Bantam to the
+intelligent traveller Corneille le Brun, in which it is related
+that the son of the Arabian prince who first converted the Javans
+to the religion of the Prophet, about the year 1400, having
+obtained for himself the sovereignty of Bantam, under the title
+of pangeran, married the daughter of the raja of Indrapura, and
+received as her portion the country of the Sillabares, a people
+of Banca-houlou.</p>
+
+<p>CLAIMS OF THE SULTAN OF BANTAM.</p>
+
+<p>Upon this cession appears to be grounded the modern claim of
+the sultan to this part of the coast, which, previously to the
+treaty of Paris in 1763, was often urged by his sovereigns, the
+Dutch East India Company. His dominion is said indeed to have
+extended from the southward as far as Urei river, and at an early
+period to Betta or Ayer Etam, between Ipu and Moco-moco, but that
+the intermediate space was ceded by him to the raja of Indrapura,
+in satisfaction for the murder of a prince, and that a small
+annual tax was laid by the latter on the Anak&shy;sungei people
+on account of the same murder (being the fourth part of a dollar,
+a bamboo of rice, and a fowl, from each village), which is now
+paid to the sultan of Moco-moco. In the year 1682 the district of
+Ayer Aji threw off its dependence on Indrapura. In 1696 Raja
+Pasisir Barat, under the influence of the Dutch, was placed on
+the throne, at the age of six years, and his grandfather
+appointed guardian; but in 1701, in consequence of a quarrel with
+his protectors, the European settlers were massacred.</p>
+
+<p>WAR WITH THE DUTCH.</p>
+
+<p>This was the occasion of a destructive war, in the event of
+which the raja and his mantris were obliged to fly, and the
+country was nearly depopulated. In 1705 he was reinstated, and
+reigned till about 1732.</p>
+
+<p>DECLINE OF THE KINGDOM.</p>
+
+<p>But the kingdom never recovered the shock it had received, and
+dwindled into obscurity. Its river, which descends from the
+mountains of Korinchi, is considered as one of the largest in the
+southern part of the west coast, and is capable of admitting
+sloops. The country formerly produced a large quantity of pepper,
+and some gold was brought down from the interior, which now finds
+another channel. An English factory was established there about
+the year 1684, but never became of any importance.</p>
+
+<p>KINGDOM OF ANAK-SUNGEI.</p>
+
+<p>From the ruins of Indrapura has sprung the kingdom of
+Anak-sungei, extending along the sea-coast from Manjuta River to
+that of Urei. Its chief bears the title of sultan, and his
+capital, if such places deserve the appellation, is Moco-moco. A
+description of it will be found above. Although the government is
+Malayan, and the ministers of the sultan are termed mantri (a
+title borrowed from the Hindus) the greatest part of the country
+dependent on it is inhabited by the original dusun people, and
+accordingly their proper chiefs are styled proattin, who are
+obliged to attend their prince at stated periods, and to carry to
+him their contribution or tax. His power over them however is
+very limited.</p>
+
+<p>The first monarch of this new kingdom was named sultan
+Gulemat, who in 1695 established himself at Manjuta, by the
+assistance of the English, in consequence of a revolution at
+Indrapura, by which the prince who had afforded them protection
+on their first settling was driven out through the intrigues, as
+they are termed, of the Dutch. It was a struggle, in short,
+between the rival Companies, whose assistance was courted by the
+different factions as it happened to suit their purpose, or who,
+becoming strong enough to consider themselves as principals, made
+the native chiefs the tools of their commercial ambition. In the
+year 1717 Gulemat was removed from the throne by an assembly of
+the chiefs styling themselves the mantris of Lima-kota and
+proattins of Anak-sungei, who set up a person named Raja
+Kechil-besar in his room, appointing at the same time, as his
+minister and successor, Raja Gandam Shah, by whom, upon his
+accession in 1728, the seat of government was removed from
+Manjuta to Moco-moco. He was father of sultan Pasisir Barat shah
+mualim shah, still reigning in the year 1780, but harassed by the
+frequent rebellions of his eldest son. The space of time occupied
+by the reigns of these two sovereigns is extraordinary when we
+consider that the former must have been at man's estate when he
+became minister or assessor in 1717. Nor is it less remarkable
+that the son of the deposed sultan Gulemat, called sultan Ala
+ed-din, was also living, at Tappanuli, about the year 1780, being
+then supposed ninety years of age. He was confined as a state
+prisoner at Madras during the government of Mr. Morse, and is
+mentioned by Captain Forrest (Voyage to the Mergui Archipelago,
+page 57) as uncle to the king of Achin, who reigned in 1784. The
+first English settlement at Moco-moco was formed in 1717.</p>
+
+<p>PASSAMMAN.</p>
+
+<p>Passamman was the most northern of the provinces immediately
+dependant on Menangkabau, and afterwards, together with Priaman
+and many other places on the coast, fell under the dominion of
+the kings of Achin. It is now divided into two petty kingdoms,
+each of which is governed by a raja and fourteen pangulus.
+Formerly it was a place of considerable trade, and, beside a
+great export of pepper, received much fine gold from the
+mountains of the Rau country, lying about three days' journey
+inland. The inhabitants of these are said to be Battas converted
+to Mahometanism and mixed with Malays. They are governed by
+datus. The peculiarity of dress remarked of the Korinchi people
+is also observable here, the men wearing drawers that reach just
+below the calf, having one leg of red and the other of white or
+blue cloth, and the baju or garment also party-coloured. The
+greater part of the gold they collect finds its way to Patapahan
+on the river of Siak, and from thence to the eastern side of the
+island and straits of Malacca. The Agam tribe adjoining to the
+Rau, and connecting to the southward with Menangkabau, differs
+little from Malays, and is likewise governed by datus.</p>
+
+<p>SIAK.</p>
+
+<p>The great river of Siak has its source in the mountains of the
+Menangkabau country, and empties itself nearly opposite to
+Malacca, with which place it formerly carried on a considerable
+trade. From the Dutch charts we had a general knowledge of its
+course as far as a place called Mandau or Mandol, as they write
+the name, and where they had a small establishment on account of
+its abounding with valuable ship&shy;timber.</p>
+
+<p>SURVEY.</p>
+
+<p>A recent survey executed by Mr. Francis Lynch, under the
+orders of the government of Pulo Pinang, has made us more
+particularly acquainted with its size, its advantages, and
+defects. From the place where it discharges itself into the
+straits of Kampar or Bencalis, to the town of Siak is, according
+to the scale of his chart, about sixty-five geographical miles,
+and from thence to a place called Pakan bharu or Newmarket, where
+the survey discontinues, is about one hundred more. The width of
+the river is in general from about three-quarters to half a mile,
+and its depth from fifteen to seven fathoms; but on the bar at
+low-water spring-tides there are only fifteen feet, and several
+shoals near its mouth. The tides rise about eleven feet at the
+town, where at full and change it is high-water at nine A.M. Not
+far within the river is a small island on which the Dutch had
+formerly a factory. The shores are flat on both sides to a
+considerable distance up the country, and the whole of the soil
+is probably alluvial; but about a hundred and twenty-five or
+thirty miles up Mr. Lynch marks the appearance of high land,
+giving it the name of Princess Augusta Sophia hill, and points it
+out as a commanding situation for a settlement.</p>
+
+<p>SHIP-TIMBER.</p>
+
+<p>He speaks in favourable terms of the facility with which
+ship-timber of any dimensions or shape may be procured and
+loaded. Respecting the size or population of the town no
+information is given.</p>
+
+<p>GOVERNMENT.</p>
+
+<p>The government of it was (in October 1808) in the hands of the
+Tuanku Pangeran, brother to the Raja, who in consequence of some
+civil disturbance had withdrawn to the entrance of the river. His
+name is not mentioned, but from the Transactions of the Batavian
+Society we learn that the prince who reigned about the year 1780
+was Raja Ismael, "one of the greatest pirates in those seas." The
+maritime power of the kingdom of Siak has always been
+considerable, and in the history of the Malayan states we
+repeatedly read of expeditions fitted out from thence making
+attacks upon Johor, Malacca, and various other places on the two
+coasts of the peninsula. Most of the neighbouring states (or
+rivers) on the eastern coast of Sumatra, from Langat to Jambi,
+are said to have been brought in modern times under its
+subjection.</p>
+
+<p>TRADE.</p>
+
+<p>The trade is chiefly carried on by Kling vessels, as they are
+called, from the coast of Coromandel, which supply cargoes of
+piece-goods, and also raw silk, opium, and other articles, which
+they provide at Pinang or Malacca; in return for which they
+receive gold, wax, sago, salted fish, and fish-roes, elephants'
+teeth, gambir, camphor, rattans, and other canes. According to
+the information of the natives the river is navigable for sloops
+to a place called Panti Chermin, being eight days' sail with the
+assistance of the tide, and within half a day's journey by land
+of another named Patapahan, which boats also, of ten to twenty
+tons, reach in two days. This is a great mart of trade with the
+Menangkabau country, whither its merchants resort with their
+gold. Pakan-bharu, the limit of Mr. Lynch's voyage, is much lower
+down, and the above&shy;mentioned places are consequently not
+noticed by him. The Dutch Company procured annually from Siak,
+for the use of Batavia, several rafts of spars for masts, and if
+the plan of building ships at Pinang should be encouraged large
+supplies of frame-timber for the purpose may be obtained from
+this river, provided a sense of interest shall be found
+sufficiently strong to correct or restrain the habits of
+treachery and desperate enterprise for which these people have in
+all ages been notorious.</p>
+
+<p>RAKAN.</p>
+
+<p>The river Rakan, to the northward of Siak, by much the largest
+in the island, if it should not rather be considered as an inlet
+of the sea, takes its rise in the Rau country, and is navigable
+for sloops to a great distance from the sea; but vessels are
+deterred from entering it by the rapidity of the current, or more
+probably the reflux of the tide, and that peculiar swell known in
+the Ganges and elsewhere by the appellation of the bore.</p>
+
+<p>KAMPAR.</p>
+
+<p>That of Kampar, to the southward, is said by the natives to
+labour under the same inconvenience, and Mr. Lynch was informed
+that the tides there rise from eighteen to twenty-four feet. If
+these circumstances render the navigation dangerous it appears
+difficult to account for its having been a place of considerable
+note at the period of the Portuguese conquest of Malacca, and
+repeatedly the scene of naval actions with the fleets of Achin,
+whilst Siak, which possesses many natural advantages, is rarely
+mentioned. In modern times it has been scarcely at all known to
+Europeans, and even its situation is doubtful.</p>
+
+<p>INDRAGIRI.</p>
+
+<p>The river of Indragiri is said by the natives to have its
+source in a lake of the Menangkabau country, from whence it
+issues by the name of Ayer Ambelan. Sloops tide it up for five or
+six weeks (as they assert), anchoring as the ebb begins to make.
+From a place called Lubok ramo-ramo they use boats of from five
+to twenty tons, and the smaller sort can proceed until they are
+stopped by a fall or cascade at Seluka, on the borders of
+Menangkabau. This extraordinary distance to which the influence
+of the tides extends is a proof of the absolute flatness of the
+country through which these rivers take the greater part of their
+course.</p>
+
+<p>JAMBI.</p>
+
+<p>Jambi River has its principal source in the Limun country.
+Although of considerable size it is inferior to Siak and
+Indragiri. At an early stage of European commerce in these parts
+it was of some importance, and both the English and Dutch had
+factories there; the former on a small island near the mouth, and
+the latter at some distance up the river. The town of Jambi is
+situated at the distance of about sixty miles from the sea, and
+we find in the work of the historian, Faria y Sousa, that in the
+year 1629 a Portuguese squadron was employed twenty-two days in
+ascending the river, in order to destroy some Dutch ships which
+had taken shelter near the town. Lionel Wafer, who was there in
+1678 (at which time the river was blockaded by a fleet of praws
+from Johor), makes the distance a hundred miles. The trade
+consists chiefly in gold-dust, pepper, and canes, but the most of
+what is collected of the first article proceeds across the
+country to the western coast, and the quality of the second is
+not held in esteem. The port is therefore but little frequented
+by any other than native merchants. Sometimes, but rarely, a
+private trading ship from Bengal endeavours to dispose of a few
+chests of opium in this or one of the other rivers; but the
+masters scarcely ever venture on shore, and deal with such of the
+Malays as come off to them at the sword point, so strong is the
+idea of their treacherous character.</p>
+
+<p>PALEMBANG.</p>
+
+<p>The kingdom of Palembang is one of considerable importance,
+and its river ranks amongst the largest in the island. It takes
+its rise in the district of Musi, immediately at the back of the
+range of hills visible from Bencoolen, and on that account has
+the name of Ayer Musi in the early part of its course, but in the
+lower is more properly named the Tatong.</p>
+
+<p>SIZE OF RIVER.</p>
+
+<p>Opposite to the city of Palembang and the Dutch Company's
+factory it is upwards of a mile in breadth, and is conveniently
+navigated by vessels whose draft of water does not exceed
+fourteen feet. Those of a larger description have been carried
+thither for military purposes (as in 1660, when the place was
+attacked and destroyed by the Hollanders) but the operation is
+attended with difficulty on account of numerous shoals.</p>
+
+<p>FOREIGN TRADE.</p>
+
+<p>The port is much frequented by trading vessels, chiefly from
+Java, Madura, Balli, and Celebes, which bring rice, salt, and
+cloths, the manufacture of those islands. With opium, the
+piece-goods of the west of India, and European commodities it is
+supplied by the Dutch from Batavia, or by those who are termed
+interlopers. These in return receive pepper and tin, which, by an
+old agreement made with the sultan, and formally renewed in 1777,
+are to be exclusively delivered to the Company at stipulated
+prices, and no other Europeans are to be allowed to trade or
+navigate within his jurisdiction.</p>
+
+<p>DUTCH FACTORY.</p>
+
+<p>In order to enforce these conditions the Dutch are permitted
+to maintain a fort on the river with a garrison of fifty or sixty
+men (which cannot be exceeded without giving umbrage), and to
+keep its own cruisers to prevent smuggling. The quantity of
+pepper thus furnished was from one to two millions of pounds per
+annum. Of tin the quantity was about two millions of pounds, one
+third of which was shipped (at Batavia) for Holland, and the
+remainder sent to China. It has already been stated that this tin
+is the produce of the island of Bangka, situated near the mouth
+of the river, which may be considered as an entire hill of
+tin-sand. The works, of which a particular account is given in
+Volume 3 of the Batavian Transactions, are entirely in the hands
+of Chinese settlers. In the year 1778 the Company likewise
+received thirty-seven thousand bundles of rattans.</p>
+
+<p>LOW COUNTRY.</p>
+
+<p>The lower parts of the country of Palembang towards the
+sea-coast are described as being flat marshy land, and with the
+exception of some few tracts entirely unfit for the purposes of
+cultivation. It is generally understood to have been all covered
+by the sea in former ages, not only from its being observed that
+the strand yearly gains an accession, but also that, upon digging
+the earth at some distance inland, sea-shells, and even pieces of
+boat-timber, are discovered.</p>
+
+<p>INTERIOR COUNTRY. ITS TRADE.</p>
+
+<p>The interior or upland districts on the contrary are very
+productive, and there the pepper is cultivated, which the king's
+agent (for trade in these parts is usually monopolized by the
+sovereign power) purchases at a cheap rate. In return he supplies
+the country people with opium, salt, and piece-goods, forming the
+cargoes of large boats (some of them sixty-six feet in length and
+seven in breadth, from a single tree) which are towed against the
+stream. The goods intended for Passummah are conveyed to a place
+called Muara Mulang, which is performed in fourteen days, and
+from thence by land to the borders of that country is only one
+day's journey. This being situated beyond the district where the
+pepper flourishes their returns are chiefly made in pulas twine,
+raw silk in its roughest state, and elephants' teeth. From Musi
+they send likewise sulphur, alum, arsenic, and tobacco.
+Dragons-blood and gambir are also the produce of the country.</p>
+
+<p>ITS GOVERNMENT.</p>
+
+<p>These interior parts are divided into provinces, each of which
+is assigned as a fief or government to one of the royal family or
+of the nobles, who commit the management to deputies and give
+themselves little concern about the treatment of their subjects.
+The pangerans, who are the descendants of the ancient princes of
+the country, experience much oppression, and when compelled to
+make their appearance at court are denied every mark of
+ceremonious distinction.</p>
+
+<p>SETTLERS FROM JAVA.</p>
+
+<p>The present rulers of the kingdom of Palembang and a great
+portion of the inhabitants of the city originally came from the
+island of Java, in consequence, as some suppose, of an early
+conquest by the sovereigns of Majapahit; or, according to others,
+by those of Bantam, in more modern times; and in proof of its
+subjection, either real or nominal, to the latter, we find in the
+account of the first Dutch voyages, that "in 1596 a king of
+Bantam fell before Palembang, a rebel town of Sumatra, which he
+was besieging."</p>
+
+<p>ROYAL FAMILY.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch claim the honour of having placed on the throne the
+family of the reigning sultan (1780), named Ratu Akhmet Bahar
+ed-din, whose eldest son bears the title of Pangeran Ratu,
+answering to the RaJa muda of the Malays. The power of the
+monarch is unlimited by any legal restriction, but not keeping a
+regular body of troops in pay his orders are often disregarded by
+the nobles. Although without any established revenue from taxes
+or contributions, the profit arising from the trade of pepper and
+tin (especially the latter) is so great, and the consequent
+influx of silver, without any apparent outlet, so considerable,
+that he must necessarily be possessed of treasure to a large
+amount. The customs on merchandize imported remain in the hands
+of the shabhandaras, who are required to furnish the king's
+household with provisions and other necessaries. The domestic
+attendants on the prince are for the most part females.</p>
+
+<p>CURRENCY.</p>
+
+<p>The currency of the country and the only money allowed to be
+received at the king's treasury is Spanish dollars; but there is
+also in general circulation a species of small base coin, issued
+by royal authority, and named pitis. These are cut out of plates
+composed of lead and tin, and, having a square hole in the middle
+(like the Chinese cash), are strung in parcels of five hundred
+each, sixteen of which (according to the Batavian Transactions)
+are equivalent to the dollar. In weighing gold the tail is
+considered as the tenth part of the katti (of a pound and a
+third), or equal to the weight of two Spanish dollars and a
+quarter.</p>
+
+<p>CITY.</p>
+
+<p>The city is situated in a flat marshy tract, a few miles above
+the delta of the river, about sixty miles from the sea, and yet
+so far from the mountains of the interior that they are not
+visible. It extends about eight miles along both banks, and is
+mostly confined to them and to the creeks which open into the
+river. The buildings, with the exception of the king's palace and
+mosque, being all of wood or bamboos standing on posts and mostly
+covered with thatch of palm-leaves, the appearance of the place
+has nothing to recommend it. There are also a great number of
+floating habitations, mostly shops, upon bamboo-rafts moored to
+piles, and when the owners of these are no longer pleased with
+their situation they remove upwards or downwards, with the tide,
+to one more convenient. Indeed, as the nature of the surrounding
+country, being overflowed in high tides, scarcely admits of
+roads, almost all communication is carried on by means of boats,
+which accordingly are seen moving by hundreds in every direction,
+without intermission. The dalam or palace being surrounded by a
+high wall, nothing is known to Europeans of the interior, but it
+appears to be large, lofty, and much ornamented on the outside.
+Immediately adjoining to this wall, on the lower side, is a
+strong, square, roofed battery, commanding the river, and below
+it another; on both of which many heavy cannon are mounted, and
+fired on particular occasions. In the interval between the two
+batteries is seen the meidan or plain, at the extremity of which
+appears the balerong or hall where the sultan gives audience in
+public. This is an ordinary building, and serving occasionally
+for a warehouse, but ornamented with weapons arranged along the
+walls. The royal mosque stands behind the palace, and from the
+style of architecture seems to have been constructed by a
+European. It is an oblong building with glazed windows,
+pilasters, and a cupola. The burial place of these sovereigns is
+at old Palembang, about a league lower down the river, where the
+ground appears to be somewhat raised from having long been the
+site of habitations.</p>
+
+<p>ENCOURAGEMENT TO FOREIGNERS.</p>
+
+<p>The policy of these princes, who were themselves strangers,
+having always been to encourage foreign settlers, the city an
+lower parts of the river are in a great measure peopled with
+natives of China, Cochin&shy;china, Camboja, Siam, Patani on the
+coast of the peninsula, Java, Celebes, and other eastern places.
+In addition to these the Arabian priests are described by the
+Dutch as constituting a very numerous and pernicious tribe, who,
+although in the constant practice of imposing upon and plundering
+the credulous inhabitants, are held by them in the utmost
+reverence.</p>
+
+<p>RELIGION.</p>
+
+<p>The Mahometan religion prevails throughout all the dominions
+of the sultan, with the exception of a district near the
+sea&shy;coast, called Salang, where the natives, termed orang
+kubu, live in the woods like wild animals. The literature of the
+country is said to be confined to the study of the koran, but
+opinions of this kind I have found in other instances to be too
+hastily formed, or by persons not competent to obtain the
+necessary information.</p>
+
+<p>LANGUAGE.</p>
+
+<p>The language of the king and his court is the high dialect of
+the Javan, mixed with some foreign idioms. In the general
+intercourse with strangers the conversation is always in Malayan,
+with the pronunciation (already noticed) of the final o for
+a.</p>
+
+<p>CHARACTER OF INHABITANTS.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the people of Palembang themselves this language (the
+character of which they employ) is mixed with the common Javan.
+The Dutch, on whom we must rely for an account of the manners and
+disposition of these people, and which will be found in Volume 3
+page 122 of the Batavian Transactions, describe those of the low
+country as devoid of every good quality and imbued with every bad
+one; whilst those of the interior are spoken of as a dull, simple
+people who show much forbearance under oppression*; but it is
+acknowledged that of these last they have little knowledge, owing
+to the extreme suspicion and jealousy of the government, which
+takes alarm at any attempt to penetrate into the country.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. A ridiculous story is told of a custom
+amongst the inhabitants of a province named Blida, which I should
+not repeat but for its whimsical coincidence with a jeu d'esprit
+of our celebrated Swift. When a child is born there (say the
+Palembangers), and the father has any doubts about the honesty of
+his wife, he puts it to the proof by tossing the infant into the
+air and catching it on the point of a spear. If no wound is
+thereby inflicted he is satisfied of its legitimacy, but if
+otherwise he considers it as spurious.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>INTERIOR VISITED BY ENGLISH.</p>
+
+<p>This inland district having been visited only by two servants
+of the English East India Company who have left any record of
+their journeys, I shall extract from their narratives such parts
+as serve to throw a light upon its geography. The first of these
+was Mr. Charles Miller, who, on the 19th of September 1770,
+proceeded from Fort Marlborough to Bentiring on the Bencoolen
+river, thence to Pagar-raddin, Kadras, Gunong Raja, Gunong Ayu,
+Kalindang, and Jambu, where he ascended the hills forming the
+boundary of the Company's district, which he found covered with
+lofty trees. The first dusun on the other side is named Kalubar,
+and situated on the banks of the river Musi. From thence his
+route lay to places called Kapiyong and Parahmu, from all of
+which the natives carry the produce of their country to Palembang
+by water. The setting in of the rains and difficulties raised by
+the guides prevented him from proceeding to the country where the
+cassia is cut, and occasioned his return towards the hills on the
+10th of October, stopping at Tabat Bubut. The land in the
+neighbourhood of the Musi he describes as being level, the soil
+black and good, and the air temperate. It was his intention to
+have crossed the hills to Ranne-lebar, on the 11th, but missing
+the road in the woods reached next day Beyol Bagus, a dusun in
+the Company's district, and thence proceeded to Gunong Raja, his
+way lying partly down a branch of the Bencoolen river, called
+Ayer Bagus, whose bed is formed of large pebble-stones, and
+partly through a level country, entirely covered with lofty
+bamboos. From Gunong Raja he returned down Bencoolen River on a
+bamboo raft to Bentiring, and reached Fort Marlborough on the
+18th of October. The other traveller, Mr. Charles Campbell, in a
+private letter dated March 1802 (referring me, for more detailed
+information, to journals which have not reached my hand), says,
+"We crossed the hills nearly behind the Sugar-loaf, and entered
+the valley of Musi. Words cannot do justice to the picturesque
+scenery of that romantic and delightful country, locked in on all
+sides by lofty mountains, and watered by the noble river here
+navigable for very large canoes, which, after receiving the
+Lamatang and several other streams, forms the Palembang.
+Directing our course behind the great hill of Sungei-lamo we in
+three days discovered Labun, and crossed some considerable
+streams discharging themselves into the river of Kattaun. Our
+object there being completed we returned along the banks of the
+Musi nearly to the dusun of Kalubat, at which place we struck
+into the woods, and, ascending the mountain, reached towards
+evening a village high up on the Bencoolen River. There is but a
+single range, and it is a fact that from the navigable part of
+the Musi river to a place on that of Bencoolen where rafts and
+sampans may be used is to the natives a walk of no more than
+eight hours. Musi is populous, well cultivated, and the soil
+exceedingly rich. The people are stout, healthy looking, and
+independent in their carriage and manners, and were to us
+courteous and hospitable. They acknowledge no superior authority,
+but are often insulted by predatory parties from Palembang."
+These freebooters would perhaps call themselves collectors of
+tribute. It is much to be regretted that little political
+jealousies and animosities between the European powers whose
+influence prevails on each side of the island prevent further
+discoveries of the course of this considerable river.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-20"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 20.</h3>
+
+<p><b>THE COUNTRY OF THE BATTAS.<br>
+TAPPANULI-BAY.<br>
+JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.<br>
+CASSIA-TREES.<br>
+GOVERNMENTS.<br>
+ARMS.<br>
+WARFARE.<br>
+TRADE.<br>
+FAIRS.<br>
+FOOD.<br>
+MANNERS.<br>
+LANGUAGE.<br>
+WRITING.<br>
+RELIGION.<br>
+FUNERALS.<br>
+CRIMES.<br>
+EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.</b></p>
+
+<p>BATTAS.</p>
+
+<p>One of the most considerable distinctions of people in the
+island, and by many regarded as having the strongest claims to
+originality, is the nation of the Battas (properly Batak), whose
+remarkable dissimilitude to the other inhabitants, in the genius
+of their customs and manners, and especially in some
+extraordinary usages, renders it necessary that a particular
+degree of attention should be paid to their description.</p>
+
+<p>SITUATION OF THE COUNTRY.</p>
+
+<p>This country is bounded on the north by that of Achin, from
+which it is separated by the mountains of Papa and Deira, and on
+the south by the independent district of Rau or Rawa; extending
+along the sea-coast on the western side from the river of Singkel
+to that of Tabuyong, but inland, to the back of Ayer Bangis, and
+generally across the island, which is narrow in that part, to the
+eastern coast; but more or less encroached upon by the Malayan
+and Achinese establishments in the most convenient maritime
+situations, for the purposes of their commerce. It is very
+populous, and chiefly in the central parts, where are extensive
+open or naked plains, on the borders (as it is said) of a great
+lake; the soil fertile, and cultivation so much more prevalent
+than in the southern countries, which are mostly covered with
+woods, that there is scarcely a tree to be seen excepting those
+planted by the natives about their villages, which are not, as
+elsewhere, on the banks of rivers, but wherever a strong
+situation presents itself. Water indeed is not so abundant as to
+the southward, which may be attributed to the comparatively level
+surface, the chain of high mountains which extends northwards
+from the straits of Sunda through the interior of the island, in
+a great measure terminating with gunong Passummah or Mount Ophir.
+About the bay of Tappanuli however the land is high and wooded
+near the coast.</p>
+
+<p>ITS DIVISIONS.</p>
+
+<p>The Batta territory is divided (according to the information
+obtained by the English Residents) into the following principal
+districts; Ankola, Padambola, Mandiling, Toba, Selindong, and
+Singkel, of which the first has five, the third three, and the
+fourth five subordinate tribes. According to the Dutch account
+published in the Transactions of the Batavian Society, which is
+very circumstantial, it is divided into three small kingdoms. One
+of these named Simamora is situated far inland and contains a
+number of villages, and among others those named Batong, Ria,
+Allas, Batadera, Kapkap (where the district producing benzoin
+commences), Batahol, Kotta-tinggi (the place of the king's
+residence), with two places lying on the eastern coast called
+Suitara-male and Jambu-ayer. This kingdom is said to yield much
+fine gold from the mines of Batong and Sunayang. Bata-salindong
+also contains many districts, in some of which benzoin, and in
+others fine gold, is collected. The residence of the king is at
+Salindong. Bata-gopit lies at the foot of a volcano-mountain of
+that name, from whence, at the time of an eruption, the natives
+procure sulphur, to be afterwards employed in the manufacture of
+gunpowder. The little kingdom of Butar lies north&shy;eastward of
+the preceding and reaches to the eastern coast, where are the
+places named Pulo Serony and Batu Bara; the latter enjoying a
+considerable trade; also Longtong and Sirigar, at the mouth of a
+great river named Assahan. Butar yields neither camphor, benzoin,
+nor gold, and the inhabitants support themselves by cultivation.
+The residence of the king is at a town of the same name.</p>
+
+<p>ANCIENT BUILDING.</p>
+
+<p>High up on the river of Batu Bara, which empties itself into
+the straits of Malacca, is found a large brick building,
+concerning the erection of which no tradition is preserved
+amongst the people. It is described as a square, or several
+squares, and at one corner is an extremely high pillar, supposed
+by them to have been designed for carrying a flag. Images or
+reliefs of human figures are carved in the walls, which they
+conceive to be Chinese (perhaps Hindu) idols. The bricks, of
+which some were brought to Tappanuli, are of a smaller size than
+those used by the English.</p>
+
+<p>SINGKEL.</p>
+
+<p>Singkel River, by much the largest on the western coast of the
+island, has its rise in the distant mountains of Daholi, in the
+territory of Achin, and at the distance of about thirty miles
+from the sea receives the waters of the Sikere, at a place called
+Pomoko, running through a great extent of the Batta country.
+After this junction it is very broad, and deep enough for vessels
+of considerable burden, but the bar is shallow and dangerous,
+having no more than six feet at low-water spring-tides, and the
+rise is also six feet. The breadth here is about three-quarters
+of a mile. Much of the lower parts of the country through which
+it has its course is overflowed during the rainy season, but not
+at two places, called by Captain Forrest Rambong and Jambong,
+near the mouth. The principal town lies forty miles up the river
+on the northern branch. On the southern is a town named Kiking,
+where more trade is carried on by the Malays and Achinese than at
+the former, the Samponan or Papa mountains producing more benzoin
+than those of Daholi. It is said in a Dutch manuscript that in
+three days' navigation above the town of Singkel you come to a
+great lake, the extent of which is not known.</p>
+
+<p>Barus, the next place of any consequence to the southward, is
+chiefly remarkable for having given name throughout the East to
+the Kapur&shy;barus or native camphor, as it is often termed to
+distinguish it from that which is imported from Japan and China,
+as already explained. This was the situation of the most remote
+of the Dutch factories, long since withdrawn. It is properly a
+Malayan establishment, governed by a raja, a bandhara, and eight
+pangulus, and with this peculiarity, that the rajas and bandharas
+must be alternately and reciprocally of two great families, named
+Dulu and D'ilhir. The assumed jurisdiction is said to have
+extended formerly to Natal. The town is situated about a league
+from the coast, and two leagues farther inland are eight small
+villages inhabited by Battas, the inhabitants of which purchase
+the camphor and benzoin from the people of the Diri mountains,
+extending from the southward of Singkel to the hill of Lasa,
+behind Barus, where the Tobat district commences.</p>
+
+<p>TAPPANULI.</p>
+
+<p>The celebrated bay of Tappanuli stretches into the heart of
+the Batta country, and its shores are everywhere inhabited by
+that people, who barter the produce of their land for the
+articles they stand in need of from abroad, but do not themselves
+make voyages by sea. Navigators assert that the natural
+advantages of this bay are scarcely surpassed in any other part
+of the globe; that all the navies of the world might ride there
+with perfect security in every weather; and that such is the
+complication of anchoring-places within each other that a large
+ship could be so hid in them as not to be found without a tedious
+search. At the island of Punchong kechil, on which our settlement
+stands, it is a common practice to moor the vessels by a hawser
+to a tree on shore. Timber for masts and yards is to be procured
+in the various creeks with great facility. Not being favourably
+situated with respect to the general track of outward and
+homeward-bound shipping, and its distance from the principal seat
+of our important Indian concerns being considerable, it has not
+hitherto been much used for any great naval purposes; but at the
+same time our government should be aware of the danger that might
+arise from suffering any other maritime power to get footing in a
+place of this description. The natives are in general
+inoffensive, and have given little disturbance to our
+establishments; but parties of Achinese traders (without the
+concurrence or knowledge, as there is reason to believe, of their
+own government), jealous of our commercial influence, long strove
+to drive us from the bay by force of arms, and we were under the
+necessity of carrying on a petty warfare for many years in order
+to secure our tranquillity. In the year 1760 Tappanuli was taken
+by a squadron of French ships under the command of the Comte
+d'Estaing; and in October 1809, being nearly defenceless, it was
+again taken by the Creole French frigate, Captain Ripaud, joined
+afterwards by the Venus and La Manche; under the orders of
+Commodore Hamelin. By the terms of the surrender private property
+was to be secured, but in a few days, after the most friendly
+assurances had been given to the acting resident, with whom the
+French officers were living, this engagement was violated under
+the ill-founded pretence that some gold had been secreted, and
+everything belonging to the English gentlemen and ladies, as well
+as to the native settlers, was plundered or destroyed by fire,
+with circumstances of atrocity and brutality that would have
+disgraced savages. The garden-house of the chief (Mr. Prince, who
+happened to be then absent from Tappanuli) at Batu-buru on the
+main was likewise burned, together with his horses, and his
+cattle were shot at and maimed. Even the books of accounts,
+containing the statement of outstanding debts due to the
+trading-concern of the place were, in spite of every entreaty,
+maliciously destroyed or carried off, by which an irreparable
+loss, from which the enemy could not derive a benefit, is
+sustained by the unfortunate sufferers. It cannot be supposed
+that the government of a great and proud empire can give its
+sanction to this disgraceful mode of carrying on war.</p>
+
+<p>In the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1778 is a brief
+account of the Batta country and the manners of its inhabitants,
+extracted from the private letters of Mr. Charles Miller, the
+Company's botanist, whose observations I have had repeated
+occasion to quote. I shall now communicate to the reader the
+substance of a report made by him of a journey performed in
+company with Mr. Giles Holloway, then resident of Tappanuli,
+through the interior of the country of which we are now speaking,
+with a view to explore its productions, particularly the cassia,
+which at that time was thought likely to prove an object of
+commerce worthy of attention.</p>
+
+<p>MR. MILLER'S JOURNEY INTO THE COUNTRY.</p>
+
+<p>Says Mr. Miller:</p>
+
+<p>Previously to our setting out on this journey we consulted
+people who had formerly been engaged in the cassia-trade with
+regard to the most proper places to visit. They informed us that
+the trees were to be found in two different districts; namely in
+the inland parts to the northward of the old settlement at
+Tappanuli; and also in the country of Padambola, which lies
+between fifty and sixty miles more to the southward. They advised
+us to prefer going into the Padambola country, although the more
+distant, on account of the inhabitants of the Tappanuli country
+(as they represented) being frequently troublesome to strangers.
+They also told me there were two kinds of the kulit manis, the
+one of which, from their account of it, I was in hopes might
+prove to be the true cinnamon-tree.</p>
+
+<p>June 21st, 1772. We set out from Pulo Punchong and went in
+boats to the quallo (mouth or entrance) of Pinang Suri river,
+which is in the bay, about ten or twelve miles south-east of
+Punchong. Next morning we went up the river in sampans, and in
+about six hours arrived at a place called quallo Lumut. The whole
+of the land on both sides of the river is low, covered with wood,
+and uninhabited. In these woods I observed camphor trees, two
+species of oak, maranti, rangi, and several other timber-trees.
+About a quarter of a mile from that place, on the opposite side
+of the river, is a Batta kampong, situated on the summit of a
+regular and very beautiful little hill, which rises in a
+pyramidical form, in the middle of a small meadow. The raja of
+this kampong, being informed by the Malays that we were at their
+houses, came over to see us, and invited us to his house, where
+we were received with great ceremony, and saluted with about
+thirty guns. This kampong consists of about eight or ten houses,
+with their respective padi-houses. It is strongly fortified with
+a double fence of strong rough camphor planks, driven deep into
+the earth, and about eight or nine feet high, so placed that
+their points project considerably outward. These fences are about
+twelve feet asunder, and in the space between them the buffaloes
+are kept at night. Without-side these fences they plant a row of
+a prickly kind of bamboo, which forms an almost impenetrable
+hedge from twelve to twenty feet thick. In the sapiyau or
+building in which the raja receives strangers we saw a man's
+skull hanging up, which he told us was hung there as a trophy, it
+being the skull of an enemy they had taken prisoner, whose body
+(according to the custom of the Battas) they had eaten about two
+months before. June 23rd. We walked through a level woody country
+to the kampong of Lumut, and next day to Sa&shy;tarong, where I
+observed several plantations of benzoin-trees, some cotton,
+indigo, turmeric, tobacco, and a few pepper-vines. We next
+proceeded to Tappolen, to Sikia, and to Sa-pisang. This last is
+situated on the banks of Batang-tara river, three or four days'
+journey from the sea; so that our course had hitherto been nearly
+parallel to the coast.</p>
+
+<p>July 1st. We left Sa-pisang and took a direction towards the
+hills, following nearly the course of the Batang-tara. We
+travelled all this day through a low, woody, and entirely
+uncultivated country, which afforded nothing worthy of
+observation. Our guide had proposed to reach a kampong, called
+Lumbu; but missing the road we were obliged to wade up the river
+between four and five miles, and at length arrived at a ladang
+extremely fatigued; where the badness of the weather obliged us
+to stop and take up our quarters in an open padi-shed. The next
+day the river was so swelled by the heavy rain which had fallen
+the preceding day that we could not prosecute our journey, and
+were obliged to pass it and the remaining night in the same
+uncomfortable situation. (This is the middle of the dry season in
+the southern parts of the island.) July 3rd. We left the ladang
+and walked through a very irregular and uninhabited tract, full
+of rocks and covered with woods. We this day crossed a ridge of
+very steep and high hills, and in the afternoon came to an
+inhabited and well-cultivated country on the edge of the plains
+of Ancola. We slept this night in a small open shed, and next day
+proceeded to a kampong called Koto Lambong. July 5th. Went
+through a more open and very pleasant country to Terimbaru, a
+large kampong on the southern edge of the plains of Ancola. The
+land hereabout is entirely clear of wood, and either ploughed and
+sown with padi or jagong (maize), or used as pasture for their
+numerous herds of buffaloes, kine, and horses. The raja being
+informed of our intentions to come there sent his son and between
+thirty and forty men, armed with lances and matchlock guns, to
+meet us, who escorted us to their kampong, beating gongs and
+firing their guns all the way. The raja received us in great
+form, and with civility ordered a buffalo to be killed, detained
+us a day, and when we proceeded on our journey sent his son with
+a party to escort us. I observed that all the unmarried women
+wore a great number of tin rings in their ears (some having fifty
+in each ear), which circumstance, together with the appearance of
+the country, seemed to indicate its abounding with minerals; but
+on making inquiry I found that the tin was brought from the
+straits of Malacca. Having made the accustomed presents to the
+raja we left Terimbaru, July 7th, and proceeded to Sa-masam, the
+raja of which place, attended by sixty or seventy men, well
+armed, met us and conducted us to his kampong, where he had
+prepared a house for our reception, treating us with much
+hospitality and respect. The country round Sa-masam is full of
+small hills but clear of wood, and mostly pasture ground for
+their cattle, of which they have great abundance. I met with
+nothing remarkable here excepting a prickly shrub called by the
+natives Andalimon, the seed-vessels and leaves of which have a
+very agreeable spicy taste, and are used by them in their
+curries.</p>
+
+<p>July 10th. Proceeded on our journey to Batang Onan, the
+kampong where the Malays used to purchase the cassia from the
+Battas. After about three hours walk over an open hilly country
+we again came into thick woods, in which we were obliged to pass
+the night. The next morning we crossed another ridge of very high
+hills, covered entirely with woods. In these we saw the wild
+benzoin-tree. It grows to a much larger size than the cultivated
+kind, and yields a different sort of resin called kaminian dulong
+or sweet-scented benzoin. It differs in being commonly in more
+detached pieces, and having a smell resembling that of almonds
+when bruised. Arrived at Batang Onan in the afternoon. This
+kampong is situated in a very extensive plain on the banks of a
+large river which empties itself into the straits of Malacca, and
+is said to be navigable for sloops to within a day's journey of
+Batang Onan.</p>
+
+<p>CASSIA-TREES.</p>
+
+<p>July 11th. Went to Panka-dulut, the raja of which place claims
+the property of the cassia-trees, and his people used to cut and
+cure the bark and transport it to the former place. The nearest
+trees are about two hours walk from Panka-dulut on a high ridge
+of mountains. They grow from forty to sixty feet high, and have
+large spreading heads. They are not cultivated, but grow in the
+woods. The bark is commonly taken from the bodies of the trees of
+a foot or foot and half diameter; the bark being so thin, when
+the trees are younger, as to lose all its qualities very soon. I
+here inquired for the different sorts of cassia-tree of which I
+had been told, but was now informed that there was only one sort,
+and that the difference they mentioned was occasioned entirely by
+the soil and situation in which the trees grow; that those which
+grow in a rocky dry soil have red shoots, and their bark is of
+superior quality to that of trees which grow in moist clay, whose
+shoots are green. I also endeavoured to get some information with
+regard to their method of curing and quilling the cassia, and
+told them my intentions of trying some experiments towards
+improving its quality and rendering it more valuable. They told
+me that none had been cut for two years past, on account of a
+stop being put to the purchases at Tappanuli; and that if I was
+come with authority to open the trade I should call together the
+people of the neighbouring kampongs, kill a buffalo for them, and
+assure them publicly that the cassia would be again received; in
+which case they would immediately begin to cut and cure it, and
+would willingly follow any instructions I should give them; but
+that otherwise they would take no trouble about it. I must
+observe that I was prevented from getting so satisfactory an
+account of the cassia as I could have wished by the ill-behaviour
+of the person who accompanied us as guide, from whom, by his
+thorough knowledge of the country, and of the cassia-trade, of
+which he had formerly been the chief manager, we thought we had
+reason to expect all requisite assistance and information, but
+who not only refused to give it, but prevented as much as
+possible our receiving any from the country people. July 14th. We
+left Batang Onan in order to return, stopped that night at a
+kampong called Koto Moran, and the next evening reached Sa-masam;
+from whence we proceeded by a different road from what we had
+travelled before to Sa&shy;pisang, where we procured sampans, and
+went down the Batang-tara river to the sea. July 22nd we returned
+to Pulo Punchong.</p>
+
+<p>End of Mr. Miller's Narrative.</p>
+
+<p>It has since been understood that they were intentionally
+misled, and taken by a circuitous route to prevent their seeing a
+particular kampong of some consideration at the back of
+Tappanuli, or for some other interested object. Near the latter
+place, on the main, Mr. John Marsden, who went thither to be
+present at the funeral of one of their chiefs, observed two old
+monuments in stone, one the figure of a man, the other of a man
+on an elephant, tolerably well executed, but they know not by
+whom, nor is there any among them who could do the same work now.
+The features were strongly Batta.</p>
+
+<p>NATAL.</p>
+
+<p>Our settlement at Natal (properly Natar), some miles to the
+south of the large river of Tabuyong, and on the confines of the
+Batta country, which extends at the back of it, is a place of
+much commerce, but not from its natural or political
+circumstances of importance in other respects. It is inhabited by
+settlers there, for the convenience of trade, from the countries
+of Achin, Rau, and Menangkabau, who render it populous and rich.
+Gold of very fine quality is procured from the country (some of
+the mines being said to lie within ten miles of the factory), and
+there is a considerable vent for imported goods, the returns for
+which are chiefly made in that article and camphor. Like other
+Malayan towns it is governed by datus, the chief of whom, styled
+datu besar or chief magistrate, has considerable sway; and
+although the influence of the Company is here predominant its
+authority is by no means so firmly established as in the
+pepper-districts to the southward, owing to the number of people,
+their wealth, and enterprising, independent spirit.* It may be
+said that they are rather managed and conciliated than ruled.
+They find the English useful as moderators between their own
+contending factions, which often have recourse to arms, even upon
+points of ceremonious precedence, and are reasoned into
+accommodation by our resident going among them unattended. At an
+earlier period our protection was convenient to them against the
+usurpation, as they termed it, of the Dutch, of whose attempts
+and claims they were particularly jealous. By an article of the
+treaty of Paris in 1763 these pretensions were ascertained as
+they respected the two European powers, and the settlements of
+Natal and Tappanuli were expressly restored to the English. They
+had however already been re-occupied. Neither in fact have any
+right but what proceeds from the will and consent of the native
+princes.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Upon the re-establishment of the factory
+in 1762 the resident pointed out to the Datu besar, with a degree
+of indignation, the number of dead bodies which were frequently
+seen floating down the river, and proposed his cooperating to
+prevent assassinations in the country, occasioned by the anarchy
+the place fell into during the temporary interruption of the
+Company's influence. "I cannot assent to any measures for that
+purpose," replied the datu: "I reap from these murders an
+advantage of twenty dollars a head when the families prosecute."
+A compensation of thirty dollars per month was offered him, and
+to this he scarcely submitted, observing that he should be a
+considerable loser, as there fell in this manner at least three
+men in the month. At another time, when the resident attempted to
+carry some regulation into execution, he said, "kami tradah suka
+begito, orang kaya!" "We do not choose to allow it, sir;" and
+bared his right arm as a signal of attack to his dependants in
+case the point had been insisted on. Of late years habit and a
+sense of mutual interest have rendered them more
+accommodating.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>BATTA GOVERNMENTS.</p>
+
+<p>The government of the Batta country, although nominally in the
+hands of three or more sovereign rajas, is effectively (so far as
+our intercourse with the people enables us to ascertain) divided
+into numberless petty chiefships, the heads of which, also styled
+rajas, have no appearance of being dependant upon any superior
+power, but enter into associations with each other, particularly
+with those belonging to the same tribe, for mutual defence and
+security against any distant enemy. They are at the same time
+extremely jealous of any increase of their relative power, and on
+the slightest pretext a war breaks out between them. The force of
+different kampongs is notwithstanding this very unequal, and some
+rajas possess a much more extensive sway than others; and it must
+needs be so, where every man who can get a dozen followers and
+two or three muskets sets up for independence. Inland of a place
+called Sokum great respect was paid to a female chief or uti
+(which word I conceive to be a liquid pronunciation of putri, a
+princess), whose jurisdiction comprehended many tribes. Her
+grandson, who was the reigning prince, had lately been murdered
+by an invader, and she had assembled an army of two or three
+thousand men to take revenge. An agent of the Company went up the
+river about fifteen miles in hopes of being able to accommodate a
+matter that threatened materially the peace of the country; but
+he was told by the uti that, unless he would land his men, and
+take a decided part in her favour, he had no business there, and
+he was obliged to reembark without effecting anything. The
+aggressor followed him the same night and made his escape. It
+does not appear likely, from the manners and dispositions of the
+people, that the whole of the country was ever united under one
+supreme head.</p>
+
+<p>AUTHORITY OF RAJAS.</p>
+
+<p>The more powerful rajas assume authority over the lives of
+their subjects. The dependants are bound to attend their chief in
+his journeys and in his wars, and when an individual refuses he
+is expelled from the society without permission to take his
+property along with him. They are supplied with food for their
+expeditions, and allowed a reward for each person they kill. The
+revenues of the chief arise principally from fines of cattle
+adjudged in criminal proceedings, which he always appropriates to
+himself; and from the produce of the camphor and benzoin trees
+throughout his district; but this is not rigorously insisted
+upon. When he pays his gaming debts he imposes what arbitrary
+value he thinks proper on the horses and buffaloes (no coin being
+used in the country), which he delivers, and his subjects are
+obliged to accept them at that rate. They are forced to work in
+their turns, for a certain number of days, in his rice
+plantations. There is, in like manner, a lesser kind of service
+for land held of any other person, the tenant being bound to pay
+his landlord respect wherever he meets him, and to provide him
+with entertainment whenever he comes to his house. The people
+seem to have a permanent property in their possessions, selling
+them to each other as they think fit. If a man plants trees and
+leaves them, no future occupier can sell them, though he may eat
+the fruit. Disputes and litigations of any kind that happen
+between people belonging to the same kampong are settled by a
+magistrate appointed for that purpose, and from him it is said
+there is no appeal to the raja: when they arise between persons
+of different kampongs they are adjusted at a meeting of the
+respective rajas. When a party is sent down to the Bay to
+purchase salt or on other business it is accompanied by an
+officer who takes cognizance of their behaviour, and sometimes
+punishes on the spot such as are criminal or refractory. This is
+productive of much order and decency.</p>
+
+<p>SUCCESSION.</p>
+
+<p>It is asserted that the succession to the chiefships does not
+go in the first instance to the son of the deceased, but to the
+nephew by a sister; and that the same extraordinary rule, with
+respect to property in general, prevails also amongst the Malays
+of that part of the island, and even in the neighbourhood of
+Padang. The authorities for this are various and unconnected with
+each other, but not sufficiently circumstantial to induce me to
+admit it as a generally established practice.</p>
+
+<p>RESPECT FOR THE SULTAN OF MENANGKABAU.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the independent spirit of the Battas, and
+their contempt of all power that would affect a superiority over
+their little societies, they have a superstitious veneration for
+the sultan of Menangkabau, and show blind submission to his
+relations and emissaries, real or pretended, when such appear
+among them for the purpose of levying contributions: even when
+insulted and put in fear of their lives they make no attempt at
+resistance: they think that their affairs would never prosper;
+that their padi would be blighted, and their buffaloes die; that
+they would remain under a kind of spell for offending those
+sacred messengers.</p>
+
+<p>PERSONS.</p>
+
+<p>The Battas are in their persons rather below the stature of
+the Malays, and their complexions are fairer; which may perhaps
+be owing to their distance, for the most part, from the sea, an
+element they do not at all frequent.</p>
+
+<p>DRESS.</p>
+
+<p>Their dress is commonly of a sort of cotton cloth manufactured
+by themselves, thick, harsh, and wiry, about four astas or cubits
+long, and two in breadth, worn round the middle, with a scarf
+over the shoulder. These are of mixed colours, the prevalent
+being a brownish red and a blue approaching to black. They are
+fond of adorning them, particularly the scarf, with strings and
+tassels of beads. The covering of the head is usually the bark of
+a tree, but the superior class wear a strip of foreign blue cloth
+in imitation of the Malayan destars, and a few have bajus (outer
+garments) of chintz. The young women, beside the cloth round the
+middle, have one over the breasts, and (as noticed in Mr.
+Miller's journal) wear in their ears numerous rings of tin, as
+well as several large rings of thick brass wire round their
+necks. On festival days however they ornament themselves with
+earrings of gold, hair-pins, of which the heads are fashioned
+like birds or dragons, a kind of three-cornered breastplate, and
+hollow rings upon the upper arm, all, in like manner, of gold.
+The kima shell, which abounds in the bay, is likewise worked into
+arm-rings, whiter, and taking a better polish than ivory.</p>
+
+<p>ARMS.</p>
+
+<p>Their arms are matchlock guns, with which they are expert
+marksmen, bamboo lances or spears with long iron heads, and a
+side-weapon called jono, which resembles and is worn as a sword
+rather than a kris. The cartridge-boxes are provided with a
+number of little wooden cases, each containing a charge for the
+piece. In these are carried likewise the match, and the smaller
+ranjaus, the longer being in a joint of bamboo, slung like a
+quiver over the shoulder. They have machines curiously carved and
+formed like the beak of a large bird for holding bullets, and
+others of peculiar construction for a reserve of powder. These
+hang in front. On the right side hang the flint and steel, and
+also the tobacco-pipe. Their guns, the locks of which {for
+holding the match) are of copper, they are supplied with by
+traders from Menangkabau; the swords are of their own
+workmanship, and they also manufacture their own gunpowder,
+extracting the saltpetre, as it is said, from the soil taken from
+under houses that have been long inhabited (which in consequence
+of an uncleanly practice is strongly impregnated with animal
+salts), together with that collected in places where goats are
+kept. Through this earth water is filtered, and being afterwards
+suffered to evaporate the saltpetre is found at the bottom of the
+vessel. Their proper standard in war is a horse's head, from
+whence flows a long mane or tail; beside which they have colours
+of red or white cloth. For drums they use gongs, and in action
+set up a kind of war&shy;whoop.</p>
+
+<p>WARFARE.</p>
+
+<p>The spirit of war is excited among these people by small
+provocation, and their resolutions for carrying it into effect
+are soon taken. Their life appears in fact to be a perpetual
+state of hostility, and they are always prepared for attack and
+defence. When they proceed to put their designs into execution
+the first act of defiance is firing, without ball, into the
+kampong of their enemies. Three days are then allowed for the
+party fired upon to propose terms of accommodation, and if this
+is not done, or the terms are such as cannot be agreed to, war is
+then fully declared. This ceremony of firing with powder only is
+styled carrying smoke to the adversary. During the course of
+their wars, which sometimes last for two or three years, they
+seldom meet openly in the field or attempt to decide their
+contest by a general engagement, as the mutual loss of a dozen
+men might go near to ruin both parties, nor do they ever engage
+hand to hand, but keep at a pretty safe distance, seldom nearer
+than random-shot, excepting in case of sudden surprise. They
+march in single files, and usually fire kneeling. It is not often
+that they venture a direct attack upon each other's works, but
+watch opportunities of picking off stragglers passing through the
+woods. A party of three or four will conceal themselves near the
+footways, and if they see any of their foes they fire and run
+away immediately; planting ranjaus after them to prevent pursuit.
+On these occasions a man will subsist upon a potato a day, in
+which they have much the advantage of the Malays (against whom
+they are often engaged in warfare), who require to be better
+fed.</p>
+
+<p>FORTIFICATIONS.</p>
+
+<p>They fortify their kampongs with large ramparts of earth,
+halfway up which they plant brushwood. There is a ditch without
+the rampart, and on each side of that a tall palisade of camphor
+timber. Beyond this is an impenetrable hedge of prickly bamboo,
+which when of sufficient growth acquires an extraordinary
+density, and perfectly conceals all appearance of a town.
+Ranjaus, of a length both for the body and the feet, are disposed
+without all these, and render the approaches hazardous to
+assailants who are almost naked. At each corner of the fortress,
+instead of a tower or watch-house, they contrive to have a tall
+tree, which they ascend to reconnoitre or fire from. But they are
+not fond of remaining on the defensive in these fortified
+villages, and therefore, leaving a few to guard them, usually
+advance into the plains, and throw up temporary breast-works and
+entrenchments.</p>
+
+<p>TRADE.</p>
+
+<p>The natives of the sea-coast exchange their benzoin, camphor,
+and cassia (the quantity of gold-dust is very inconsiderable) for
+iron, steel, brass-wire, and salt, of which last article a
+hundred thousand bamboo measures are annually taken off in the
+bay of Tappanuli. These they barter again with the more inland
+inhabitants, in the mode that shall presently be described, for
+the products and manufactures of the country, particularly the
+home-made cloth; a very small quantity of cotton piece-goods
+being imported from the coast and disposed of to the natives.
+What they do take off is chiefly blue-cloth for the head, and
+chintz.</p>
+
+<p>FAIRS HELD.</p>
+
+<p>For the convenience of carrying on the inland-trade there are
+established at the back of Tappanuli, which is their great mart,
+four stages, at which successively they hold public fairs or
+markets on every fourth day throughout the year; each fair, of
+course, lasting one day. The people in the district of the fourth
+stage assemble with their goods at the appointed place, to which
+those of the third resort in order to purchase them. The people
+of the third, in like manner, supply the wants of the second, and
+the second of the first, who dispose, on the day the market is
+held, of the merchandise for which they have trafficked with the
+Europeans and Malays. On these occasions all hostilities are
+suspended. Each man who possesses a musket carries it with a
+green bough in the muzzle, as a token of peace, and afterwards,
+when he comes to the spot, following the example of the director
+or manager of the party, discharges the loading into a mound of
+earth, in which, before his departure, he searches for his ball.
+There is but one house at the place where the market is held, and
+that is for the purpose of gaming. The want of booths is supplied
+by the shade of regular rows of fruit-trees, mostly durian, of
+which one avenue is reserved for the women. The dealings are
+conducted with order and fairness; the chief remaining at a
+little distance, to be referred to in case of dispute, and a
+guard is at hand, armed with lances, to keep the peace; yet with
+all this police, which bespeaks civilization, I have been assured
+by those who have had an opportunity of attending their meetings
+that in the whole of their appearance and deportment there is
+more of savage life than is observed in the manners of the
+Rejangs, or inhabitants of Lampong. Traders from the remoter
+Batta districts, lying north and south, assemble at these
+periodical markets, where all their traffic is carried on, and
+commodities bartered. They are not however peculiar to this
+country, being held, among other places, at Batang-kapas and Ipu.
+By the Malays they are termed onan.</p>
+
+<p>ESTIMATE BY COMMODITIES INSTEAD OF COIN.</p>
+
+<p>Having no coin all value is estimated among them by certain
+commodities. In trade they calculate by tampangs (cakes) of
+benzoin; in transactions among themselves more commonly by
+buffaloes: sometimes brass wire and sometimes beads are used as a
+medium. A galang, or ring of brass wire, represents about the
+value of a dollar. But for small payments salt is the most in
+use. A measure called a salup, weighing about two pounds, is
+equal to a fanam or twopence-halfpenny: a balli, another small
+measure, goes for four keppeng, or three-fifths of a penny.</p>
+
+<p>FOOD.</p>
+
+<p>The ordinary food of the lower class of people is maize and
+sweet-potatoes, the rajas and great men alone indulging
+themselves with rice. Some mix them together. It is only on
+public occasions that they kill cattle for food; but not being
+delicate in their appetites they do not scruple to eat part of a
+dead buffalo, hog, rat, alligator, or any wild animal with which
+they happen to meet. Their rivers are said not to abound with
+fish. Horse-flesh they esteem their most exquisite meat, and for
+this purpose feed them upon grain and pay great attention to
+their keep. They are numerous in the country, and the Europeans
+at Bencoolen are supplied with many good ones from thence, but
+not with the finest, as these are reserved for their festivals.
+They have also, says Mr. Miller, great quantities of small black
+dogs, with erect pointed ears, which they fatten and eat. Toddy
+or palm-wine they drink copiously at their feasts.</p>
+
+<p>BUILDINGS.</p>
+
+<p>The houses are built with frames of wood, with the sides of
+boards, and roof covered with iju. They usually consist of a
+single large room, which is entered by a trap-door in the middle.
+The number seldom exceeds twenty in one kampong; but opposite to
+each is a kind of open building that serves for sitting in during
+the day, and as a sleeping&shy;place for the unmarried men at
+night. These together form a sort of street. To each kampong
+there is also a balei, where the inhabitants assemble for
+transacting public business, celebrating feasts, and the
+reception of strangers, whom they entertain with frankness and
+hospitality. At the end of this building is a place divided off,
+from whence the women see the spectacles of fencing and dancing;
+and below that is a kind of orchestra for music.</p>
+
+<p>DOMESTIC MANNERS.</p>
+
+<p>The men are allowed to marry as many wives as they please, or
+can afford, and to have half a dozen is not uncommon. Each of
+these sits in a different part of the large room, and sleeps
+exposed to the others; not being separated by any partition or
+distinction of apartments. Yet the husband finds it necessary to
+allot to each of them their several fireplaces and cooking
+utensils, where they dress their own victuals separately, and
+prepare his in turns. How is this domestic state and the
+flimsiness of such an imaginary barrier to be reconciled with our
+ideas of the furious, ungovernable passions of love and jealousy
+supposed to prevail in an eastern harem? or must custom be
+allowed to supersede all other influence, both moral and
+physical? In other respects they differ little in their customs
+relating to marriage from the rest of the island. The parents of
+the girl always receive a valuable consideration (in buffaloes or
+horses) from the person to whom she is given in marriage; which
+is returned when a divorce takes place against the man's
+inclination. The daughters as elsewhere are looked upon as the
+riches of the fathers.</p>
+
+<p>CONDITION OF WOMEN.</p>
+
+<p>The condition of the women appears to be no other than that of
+slaves, the husbands having the power of selling their wives and
+children. They alone, beside the domestic duties, work in the
+rice plantations. These are prepared in the same mode as in the
+rest of the island; except that in the central parts, the country
+being clearer, the plough and harrow, drawn by buffaloes, are
+more used. The men, when not engaged in war, their favourite
+occupation, commonly lead an idle, inactive life, passing the day
+in playing on a kind of flute, crowned with garlands of flowers;
+among which the globe-amaranthus, a native of the country, mostly
+prevails.</p>
+
+<p>HORSERACING.</p>
+
+<p>They are said however to hunt deer on horseback, and to be
+attached to the diversion of horseracing. They ride boldly
+without a saddle or stirrups, frequently throwing their hands
+upwards whilst pushing their horse to full speed. The bit of the
+bridle is of iron, and has several joints; the head-stall and
+reins of rattan: in some parts the reins, or halter rather, is of
+iju, and the bit of wood. They are, like the rest of the
+Sumatrans, much addicted to gaming, and the practice is under no
+kind of restraint, until it destroys itself by the ruin of one of
+the parties. When a man loses more money than he is able to pay
+he is confined and sold as a slave; being the most usual mode by
+which they become such. A generous winner will sometimes release
+his unfortunate adversary upon condition of his killing a horse
+and making a public entertainment.</p>
+
+<p>LANGUAGE.</p>
+
+<p>They have, as was before observed, a language and written
+character peculiar to themselves, and which may be considered, in
+point of originality, as equal at least to any other in the
+island, and although, like the languages of Java, Celebes, and
+the Philippines, it has many terms in common with the Malayan
+(being all, in my judgment, from one common stock), yet, in the
+way of encroachment, from the influence, both political and
+religious, acquired by its immediate neighbours, the Batta tongue
+appears to have experienced less change than any other. For a
+specimen of its words, its alphabet, and the rules by which the
+sound of its letters is modified and governed, the reader is
+referred to the Table and Plate above. It is remarkable that the
+proportion of the people who are able to read and write is much
+greater than of those who do not; a qualification seldom observed
+in such uncivilized parts of the world, and not always found in
+the more polished.</p>
+
+<p>WRITING.</p>
+
+<p>Their writing for common purposes is, like that already
+described in speaking of the Rejangs, upon pieces of bamboo.</p>
+
+<p>BOOKS.</p>
+
+<p>Their books (and such they may with propriety be termed) are
+composed of the inner bark of a certain tree cut into long slips
+and folded in squares, leaving part of the wood at each extremity
+to serve for the outer covering. The bark for this purpose is
+shaved smooth and thin, and afterwards rubbed over with
+rice-water. The pen they use is a twig or the fibre of a leaf,
+and their ink is made of the soot of dammar mixed with the juice
+of the sugar-cane. The contents of their books are little known
+to us. The writing of most of those in my possession is mixed
+with uncouth representations of scolopendra and other noxious
+animals, and frequent diagrams, which imply their being works of
+astrology and divination. These they are known to consult in all
+the transactions of life, and the event is predicted by the
+application of certain characters marked on a slip of bamboo, to
+the lines of the sacred book, with which a comparison is made.
+But this is not their only mode of divining. Before going to war
+they kill a buffalo or a fowl that is perfectly white, and by
+observing the motion of the intestines judge of the good or ill
+fortune likely to attend them; and the priest who performs this
+ceremony had need to be infallible, for if he predicts contrary
+to the event it is said that he is sometimes punished with death
+for his want of skill. Exclusively however of these books of
+necromancy there are others containing legendary and mythological
+tales, of which latter a sample will be given under the article
+of religion.</p>
+
+<p>REMARK BY DR. LEYDEN.</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Leyden, in his Dissertation on the Languages and
+Literature of the Indo-Chinese nations, says that the Batta
+character is written neither from right to left, nor from left to
+right, nor from top to bottom, but in a manner directly opposite
+to that of the Chinese, from the bottom to the top of the line,
+and that I have conveyed an erroneous idea of their natural form
+by arranging the characters horizontally instead of placing them
+in a perpendicular line. Not having now the opportunity of
+verifying by ocular proof what I understood to be the practical
+order of their writing, namely, from left to right (in the manner
+of the Hindus, who, there is reason to believe, were the original
+instructors of all these people), I shall only observe that I
+have among my papers three distinct specimens of the Batta
+alphabet, written by different natives at different periods, and
+all of them are horizontal. But I am at the same time aware that
+as this was performed in the presence of Europeans, and upon our
+paper, they might have deviated from their ordinary practice, and
+that the evidence is therefore not conclusive. It might be
+presumed indeed that the books themselves would be sufficient
+criterion; but according to the position in which they are held
+they may be made to sanction either mode, although it is easy to
+determine by simple inspection the commencement of the lines. In
+the Batavian Transactions (Volume 3 page 23) already so often
+quoted, it is expressly said that these people write like
+Europeans from the left hand towards the right: and in truth it
+is not easy to conceive how persons making use of ink can conduct
+the hand from the bottom to the top of a page without marring
+their own performance. But still a matter of fact, if such it be,
+cannot give way to argument, and I have no object but to
+ascertain the truth.</p>
+
+<p>RELIGION.</p>
+
+<p>Their religion, like that of all other inhabitants of the
+island who are not Mahometans, is so obscure in its principles as
+scarcely to afford room to say that any exists among them. Yet
+they have rather more of ceremony and observance than those of
+Rejang or Passummah, and there is an order of persons by them
+called guru (a well-known Hindu term), who may be denominated
+priests, as they are employed in administering oaths, foretelling
+lucky and unlucky days, making sacrifices, and the performance of
+funeral rites. For a knowledge of their theogony we are indebted
+to M. Siberg, governor of the Dutch settlements on the coast of
+Sumatra, by whom the following account was communicated to the
+late M. Radermacher, a distinguished member of the Batavian
+Society, and by him published in its Transactions.</p>
+
+<p>MYTHOLOGY.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants of this country have many fabulous stories,
+which shall be briefly mentioned. They acknowledge three deities
+as rulers of the world, who are respectively named Batara-guru,
+Sori-pada, and Mangalla-bulang. The first, say they, bears rule
+in heaven, is the father of all mankind, and partly, under the
+following circumstances, creator of the earth, which from the
+beginning of time had been supported on the head of Naga-padoha,
+but, growing weary at length, he shook his head, which occasioned
+the earth to sink, and nothing remained in the world excepting
+water. They do not pretend to a knowledge of the creation of this
+original earth and water, but say that at the period when the
+latter covered everything, the chief deity, Batara&shy;guru, had
+a daughter named Puti-orla-bulan, who requested permission to
+descend to these lower regions, and accordingly came down on a
+white owl, accompanied by a dog; but not being able, by reason of
+the waters, to continue there, her father let fall from heaven a
+lofty mountain, named Bakarra, now situated in the Batta country,
+as a dwelling for his child; and from this mountain all other
+land gradually proceeded. The earth was once more supported on
+the three horns of Naga-padoha, and that he might never again
+suffer it to fall off Batara-guru sent his son, named
+Layang-layang-mandi (literally the dipping swallow) to bind him
+hand and foot. But to his occasionally shaking his head they
+ascribe the effect of earthquakes. Puti-orla-bulan had
+afterwards, during her residence on earth, three sons and three
+daughters, from whom sprang the whole human race.</p>
+
+<p>The second of their deities has the rule of the air betwixt
+earth and heaven, and the third that of the earth; but these two
+are considered as subordinate to the first. Besides these they
+have as many inferior deities as there are sensible objects on
+earth, or circumstances in human society; of which some preside
+over the sea, others over rivers, over woods, over war, and the
+like. They believe likewise in four evil spirits, dwelling in
+four separate mountains, and whatever ill befalls them they
+attribute to the agency of one of these demons. On such occasions
+they apply to one of their cunning men, who has recourse to his
+art, and by cutting a lemon ascertains which of these has been
+the author of the mischief, and by what means the evil spirit may
+be propitiated; which always proves to be the sacrificing a
+buffalo, hog, goat, or whatever animal the wizard happens on that
+day to be most inclined to eat. When the address is made to any
+of the superior and beneficent deities for assistance, and the
+priest directs an offering of a horse, cow, dog, hog, or fowl,
+care must be taken that the animal to be sacrificed is entirely
+white.</p>
+
+<p>They have also a vague and confused idea of the immortality of
+the human soul, and of a future state of happiness or misery.
+They say that the soul of a dying person makes its escape through
+the nostrils, and is borne away by the wind, to heaven, if of a
+person who has led a good life, but if of an evil-doer, to a
+great cauldron, where it shall be exposed to fire until such time
+as Batara-guru shall judge it to have suffered punishment
+proportioned to its sins, and feeling compassion shall take it to
+himself in heaven: that finally the time shall come when the
+chains and bands of Naga-padoha shall be worn away, and he shall
+once more allow the earth to sink, that the sun will be then no
+more than a cubit's distance from it, and that the souls of those
+who, having lived well, shall remain alive at the last day, shall
+in like manner go to heaven, and those of the wicked, be
+consigned to the before-mentioned cauldron, intensely heated by
+the near approach of the sun's rays, to be there tormented by a
+minister of Batara-guru, named Suraya-guru, until, having
+expiated their offences, they shall be thought worthy of
+reception into the heavenly regions.</p>
+
+<hr align="center" width="25%">
+<p>To the Sanskrit scholar who shall make allowances for corrupt
+orthography many of these names will be familiar. For Batara he
+will read avatara; and in Naga-padoha he will recognise the
+serpent on whom Vishnu reposes.</p>
+
+<p>OATHS.</p>
+
+<p>Their ceremonies that wear most the appearance of religion are
+those practised on taking an oath, and at their funeral
+obsequies. A person accused of a crime and who asserts his
+innocence is in some cases acquitted upon solemnly swearing to
+it, but in others is obliged to undergo a kind of ordeal. A
+cock's throat is usually cut on the occasion by the guru. The
+accused then puts a little rice into his mouth (probably dry),
+and wishes it may become a stone if he be guilty of the crime
+with which he stands charged, or, holding up a musket bullet,
+prays it may be his fate in that case to fall in battle. In more
+important instances they put a small leaden or tin image into the
+middle of a dish of rice, garnished with those bullets; when the
+man, kneeling down, prays that his crop of rice may fail, his
+cattle die, and that he himself may never take salt (a luxury as
+well as necessary of life), if he does not declare the truth.
+These tin images may be looked upon as objects of idolatrous
+worship; but I could not learn that any species of adoration was
+paid to them on other occasions any more than to certain stone
+images which have been mentioned. Like the relics of saints, they
+are merely employed to render the form of the oath more
+mysterious, and thereby increase the awe with which it should be
+regarded.</p>
+
+<p>FUNERAL CEREMONIES.</p>
+
+<p>When a raja or person of consequence dies the funeral usually
+occupies several months; that is, the corpse is kept unburied
+until the neighbouring and distant chiefs, or, in common cases,
+the relations and creditors of the deceased, can be convened in
+order to celebrate the rites with becoming dignity and respect.
+Perhaps the season of planting or of harvest intervenes, and
+these necessary avocations must be attended to before the funeral
+ceremonies can be concluded. The body however is in the meantime
+deposited in a kind of coffin. To provide this they fell a large
+tree (the anau in preference, because of the softness of the
+central part, whilst the outer coat is hard), and, having cut a
+portion of the stem of sufficient length, they split it in two
+parts, hollow each part so as to form a receptacle for the body,
+and then fit them exactly together. The workmen take care to
+sprinkle the wood with the blood of a young hog, whose flesh is
+given to them as a treat. The coffin being thus prepared and
+brought into the house the body is placed in it, with a mat
+beneath, and a cloth laid over it. Where the family can afford
+the expense it is strewed over with camphor. Having now placed
+the two parts in close contact they bind them together with
+rattans, and cover the whole with a thick coating of dammar or
+resin. In some instances they take the precaution of inserting a
+bamboo-tube into the lower part, which, passing thence through
+the raised floor into the ground, serves to carry off the
+offensive matter; so that in fact little more than the bones
+remain.</p>
+
+<p>When the relations and friends are assembled, each of whom
+brings with him a buffalo, hog, goat, dog, fowl, or other article
+of provision, according to his ability, and the women baskets of
+rice, which are presented and placed in order, the feasting
+begins and continues for nine days and nights, or so long as the
+provisions hold out. On the last of these days the coffin is
+carried out and set in an open space, where it is surrounded by
+the female mourners, on their knees, with their heads covered,
+and howling (ululantes) in dismal concert, whilst the younger
+persons of the family are dancing near it, in solemn movement, to
+the sound of gongs, kalintangs, and a kind of flageolet; at night
+it is returned to the house, where the dancing and music
+continues, with frequent firing of guns, and on the tenth day the
+body is carried to the grave, preceded by the guru or priest,
+whose limbs are tattooed in the shape of birds and beasts, and
+painted of different colours,* with a large wooden mask on his
+face.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. It is remarkable that in the Bisayan
+language of the Philippines the term for people so marked, whom
+the Spaniards call pintados, is batuc. This practice is common in
+the islands near the coast of Sumatra, as will hereafter be
+noticed. It seems to have prevailed in many parts of the farther
+East, as Siam, Laos, and several of the islands.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>He takes a piece of buffalo-flesh, swings it about, throwing
+himself into violent attitudes and strange contortions, and then
+eats the morsel in a voracious manner. He then kills a fowl over
+the corpse, letting the blood run down upon the coffin, and just
+before it is moved both he and the female mourners, having each a
+broom in their hands, sweep violently about it, as if to chase
+away the evil spirits and prevent their joining in the
+procession, when suddenly four men, stationed for the purpose,
+lift up the coffin, and march quickly off with it, as if escaping
+from the fiend, the priest continuing to sweep after it for some
+distance. It is then deposited in the ground, without any
+peculiar ceremony, at the depth of three or four feet; the earth
+about the grave is raised, a shed built over it, further feasting
+takes place on the spot for an indefinite time, and the horns and
+jaw-bones of the buffaloes and other cattle devoured on the
+occasion are fastened to the posts. Mr. John and Mr. Frederick
+Marsden were spectators of the funeral of a raja at Tappanuli on
+the main. Mr. Charles Miller mentions his having been present at
+killing the hundred and sixth buffalo at the grave of a raja, in
+a part of the country where the ceremony was sometimes continued
+even a year after the interment; and that they seem to regard
+their ancestors as a kind of superior beings, attendant always
+upon them.</p>
+
+<p>CRIMES.</p>
+
+<p>The crimes committed here against the order and peace of
+society are said not to be numerous. Theft amongst themselves is
+almost unknown, being strictly honest in their dealings with each
+other; but when discovered the offender is made answerable for
+double the value of the goods stolen. Pilfering indeed from
+strangers, when not restrained by the laws of hospitality, they
+are expert at, and think no moral offence; because they do not
+perceive that any ill results from it. Open robbery and murder
+are punishable with death if the parties are unable to redeem
+their lives by a sum of money. A person guilty of manslaughter is
+obliged to bear the expense attending the interment of the
+deceased and the funeral-feast given to his friends, or, if too
+poor to accomplish this it is required of his nearest relation,
+who is empowered to reimburse himself by selling the offender as
+a slave. In cases of double adultery the man, upon detection, is
+punished with death, in the manner that shall presently be
+described; but the woman is only disgraced, by having her head
+shaven and being sold for a slave, which in fact she was before.
+This distribution of justice must proceed upon the supposition of
+the females being merely passive subjects, and of the men alone
+possessing the faculties of free agents. A single man concerned
+in adultery with a married woman is banished or outlawed by his
+own family. The lives of culprits are in almost all cases
+redeemable if they or their connections possess property
+sufficient, the quantum being in some measure at the discretion
+of the injured party. At the same time it must be observed that,
+Europeans not being settled amongst these people upon the same
+footing as in the pepper-districts, we are not so well acquainted
+either with the principle or the practice of their laws.</p>
+
+<p>EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.</p>
+
+<p>The most extraordinary of the Batta customs, though certainly
+not peculiar to these people, remains now to be described. Many
+of the old travellers had furnished the world with accounts of
+anthropophagi or maneaters, whom they met with in all parts of
+the old and new world, and their relations, true or false, were
+in those days, when people were addicted to the marvellous,
+universally credited. In the succeeding ages, when a more
+skeptical and scrutinizing spirit prevailed, several of these
+asserted facts were found upon examination to be false; and men,
+from a bias inherent in our nature, ran into the opposite
+extreme. It then became established as a philosophical truth,
+capable almost of demonstration, that no such race of people ever
+did or could exist. But the varieties, inconsistencies, and
+contradictions of human manners are so numerous and glaring that
+it is scarcely possible to fix any general principle that will
+apply to all the incongruous races of mankind, or even to
+conceive an irregularity to which some or other of them have not
+been accustomed.</p>
+
+<p>EAT HUMAN FLESH.</p>
+
+<p>The voyages of our late famous circumnavigators, the veracity
+of whose assertions is unimpeachable, have already proved to the
+world that human flesh is eaten by the savages of New Zealand;
+and I can with equal confidence, from conviction of the truth,
+though not with equal weight of authority, assert that it is
+also, in these days, eaten in the island of Sumatra by the Batta
+people, and by them only. Whether or not the horrible custom
+prevailed more extensively in ancient times I cannot take upon me
+to ascertain, but the same historians who mention it as practised
+in this island, and whose accounts were undeservedly looked upon
+as fabulous, relate it also of many others of the eastern people,
+and those of the island of Java in particular, who since that
+period may have become more humanized.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Mention is made of the Battas and their
+peculiar customs by the following early writers: NICOLO DI CONTI,
+1449. "In a certain part of this island (Sumatra) called Batech,
+the people eat human flesh. They are continually at war with
+their neighbours, preserve the skulls of their enemies as
+treasure, dispose of them as money, and he is accounted the
+richest man who has most of them in his house." ODOARDUS BARBOSA,
+1516. "There is another kingdom to the southward, which is the
+principal source of gold; and another inland, called Aaru
+(contiguous to the Batta country) where the inhabitants are
+pagans, who eat human flesh, and chiefly of those they have slain
+in war." DE BARROS, 1563. "The natives of that part of the island
+which is opposite to Malacca, who are called Batas, eat human
+flesh, and are the most savage and warlike of all the land."
+BEAULIEU, 1622. "The inland people are independent, and speak a
+language different from the Malayan. Are idolaters, and eat human
+flesh; never ransom prisoners, but eat them with pepper and salt.
+Have no religion, but some polity." LUDOVICO BARTHEMA, in 1505,
+asserts that the people of Java were cannibals previously to
+their traffic with the Chinese.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>They do not eat human flesh as the means of satisfying the
+cravings of nature, for there can be no want of sustenance to the
+inhabitants of such a country and climate, who reject no animal
+food of any kind; nor is it sought after as a gluttonous
+delicacy.</p>
+
+<p>MOTIVES FOR THIS CUSTOM.</p>
+
+<p>The Battas eat it as a species of ceremony; as a mode of
+showing their detestation of certain crimes by an ignominious
+punishment; and as a savage display of revenge and insult to
+their unfortunate enemies. The objects of this barbarous repast
+are prisoners taken in war, especially if badly wounded, the
+bodies of the slain, and offenders condemned for certain capital
+crimes, especially for adultery. Prisoners unwounded (but they
+are not much disposed to give quarter) may be ransomed or sold as
+slaves where the quarrel is not too inveterate; and the convicts,
+there is reason to believe, rarely suffer when their friends are
+in circumstances to redeem them by the customary equivalent of
+twenty binchangs or eighty dollars. These are tried by the people
+of the tribe where the offence was committed, but cannot be
+executed until their own particular raja has been made acquainted
+with the sentence, who, when he acknowledges the justice of the
+intended punishment, sends a cloth to cover the head of the
+delinquent, together with a large dish of salt and lemons. The
+unhappy victim is then delivered into the hands of the injured
+party (if it be a private wrong, or in the case of a prisoner to
+the warriors) by whom he is tied to a stake; lances are thrown at
+him from a certain distance by this person, his relations, and
+friends; and when mortally wounded they run up to him, as if in a
+transport of passion, cut pieces from the body with their knives,
+dip them in the dish of salt, lemon-juice, and red pepper,
+slightly broil them over a fire prepared for the purpose, and
+swallow the morsels with a degree of savage enthusiasm. Sometimes
+(I presume, according to the degree of their animosity and
+resentment) the whole is devoured by the bystanders; and
+instances have been known where, with barbarity still aggravated,
+they tear the flesh from the carcase with their teeth. To such a
+depth of depravity may man be plunged when neither religion nor
+philosophy enlighten his steps! All that can be said in
+extenuation of the horror of this diabolical ceremony is that no
+view appears to be entertained of torturing the sufferers, of
+increasing or lengthening out the pangs of death; the whole fury
+is directed against the corpse, warm indeed with the remains of
+life, but past the sensation of pain. A difference of opinion has
+existed with respect to the practice of eating the bodies of
+their enemies actually slain in war; but subsequent inquiry has
+satisfied me of its being done, especially in the case of
+distinguished persons, or those who have been accessories to the
+quarrel. It should be observed that their campaigns (which may be
+aptly compared to the predatory excursions of our Borderers)
+often terminate with the loss of not more than half a dozen men
+on both sides. The skulls of the victims are hung up as trophies
+in the open buildings in front of their houses, and are
+occasionally ransomed by their surviving relations for a sum of
+money.</p>
+
+<p>DOUBTS OBVIATED.</p>
+
+<p>I have found that some persons (and among them my friend, the
+late Mr. Alexander Dalrymple) have entertained doubts of the
+reality of the fact that human flesh is anywhere eaten by mankind
+as a national practice, and considered the proofs hitherto
+adduced as insufficient to establish a point of so much moment in
+the history of the species. It is objected to me that I never was
+an eyewitness of a Batta feast of this nature, and that my
+authority for it is considerably weakened by coming through a
+second, or perhaps a third hand. I am sensible of the weight of
+this reasoning, and am not anxious to force any man's belief,
+much less to deceive him by pretences to the highest degree of
+certainty, when my relation can only lay claim to the next
+degree; but I must at the same time observe that, according to my
+apprehension, the refusing assent to fair, circumstantial
+evidence, because it clashes with a systematic opinion, is
+equally injurious to the cause of truth with asserting that as
+positive which is only doubtful. My conviction of the truth of
+what I have not personally seen (and we must all be convinced of
+facts to which neither ourselves nor those with whom we are
+immediately connected could ever have been witnesses) has arisen
+from the following circumstances, some of less, and some of
+greater authority. It is in the first place a matter of general
+and uncontroverted notoriety throughout the island, and I have
+conversed with many natives of the Batta country (some of them in
+my own service), who acknowledged the practice, and became
+ashamed of it after residing amongst more humanized people. It
+has been my chance to have had no fewer than three brothers and
+brothers-in-law, beside several intimate friends (of whom some
+are now in England), chiefs of our settlements of Natal and
+Tappanuli, of whose information I availed myself, and all their
+accounts I have found to agree in every material point. The
+testimony of Mr. Charles Miller, whose name, as well as that of
+his father, is advantageously known to the literary world, should
+alone be sufficient for my purpose. In addition to what he has
+related in his journal he has told me that at one village where
+he halted the suspended head of a man, whose body had been eaten
+a few days before, was extremely offensive; and that in
+conversation with some people of the Ankola district, speaking of
+their neighbours and occasional enemies of the Pa&shy;dambola
+district, they described them as an unprincipled race, saying,
+"We, indeed, eat men as a punishment for their crimes and
+injuries to us; but they waylay and seize travellers in order to
+ber-bantei or cut them up like cattle." It is here obviously the
+admission and not the scandal that should have weight. When Mr.
+Giles Holloway was leaving Tappanuli and settling his accounts
+with the natives he expostulated with a Batta man who had been
+dilatory in his payment. "I would," says the man, "have been here
+sooner, but my pangulu (superior officer) was detected in
+familiarity with my wife. He was condemned, and I stayed to eat
+share of him; the ceremony took us up three days, and it was only
+last night that we finished him." Mr. Miller was present at this
+conversation, and the man spoke with perfect seriousness. A
+native of the island of Nias, who had stabbed a Batta man in a
+fit of frenzy at Batang-tara river, near Tappanuli bay, and
+endeavoured to make his escape, was, upon the alarm being given,
+seized at six in the morning, and before eleven, without any
+judicial process, was tied to a stake, cut in pieces with the
+utmost eagerness while yet alive, and eaten upon the spot, partly
+broiled, but mostly raw. His head was buried under that of the
+man whom he had murdered. This happened in December 1780, when
+Mr. William Smith had charge of the settlement. A raja was fined
+by Mr. Bradley for having caused a prisoner to be eaten at a
+place too close to the Company's settlement, and it should have
+been remarked that these feasts are never suffered to take place
+withinside their own kampongs. Mr. Alexander Hall made a charge
+in his public accounts of a sum paid to a raja as an inducement
+to him to spare a man whom he had seen preparing for a victim:
+and it is in fact this commendable discouragement of the practice
+by our government that occasions its being so rare a sight to
+Europeans, in a country where there are no travellers from
+curiosity, and where the servants of the Company, having
+appearances to maintain, cannot by their presence as idle
+spectators give a sanction to proceedings which it is their duty
+to discourage, although their influence is not sufficient to
+prevent them.</p>
+
+<p>A Batta chief, named raja Niabin, in the year 1775 surprised a
+neighbouring kampong with which he was at enmity, killed the raja
+by stealth, carried off the body, and ate it. The injured family
+complained to Mr. Nairne, the English chief of Natal, and prayed
+for redress. He sent a message on the subject to Niabin, who
+returned an insolent and threatening answer. Mr. Nairne,
+influenced by his feelings rather than his judgment (for these
+people were quite removed from the Company's control, and our
+interference in their quarrels was not necessary) marched with a
+party of fifty or sixty men, of whom twelve were Europeans, to
+chastise him; but on approaching the village they found it so
+perfectly enclosed with growing bamboos, within which was a
+strong paling, that they could not even see the place or an
+enemy.</p>
+
+<p>DEATH OF MR. NAIRNE.</p>
+
+<p>As they advanced however to examine the defences a shot from
+an unseen person struck Mr. Nairne in the breast, and he expired
+immediately. In him was lost a respectable gentleman of great
+scientific acquirements, and a valuable servant of the Company.
+It was with much difficulty that the party was enabled to save
+the body. A caffree and a Malay who fell in the struggle were
+afterwards eaten. Thus the experience of later days is found to
+agree with the uniform testimony of old writers; and although I
+am aware that each and every of these proofs taken singly may
+admit of some cavil, yet in the aggregate they will be thought to
+amount to satisfactory evidence that human flesh is habitually
+eaten by a certain class of the inhabitants of Sumatra.</p>
+
+<p>That this extraordinary nation has preserved the rude
+genuineness of its character and manners may be attributed to
+various causes; as the want of the precious metals in its country
+to excite the rapacity of invaders or avarice of colonists, the
+vegetable riches of the soil being more advantageously obtained
+in trade from the unmolested labours of the natives; their total
+unacquaintance with navigation; the divided nature of their
+government and independence of the petty chieftains. which are
+circumstances unfavourable to the propagation of new opinions and
+customs, as the contrary state of society may account for the
+complete conversion of the subjects of Menangkabau to the faith
+of Mahomet; and lastly the ideas entertained of the ferociousness
+of the people from the practices above described, which may well
+be supposed to have damped the ardour and restrained the zealous
+attempts of religious innovators.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-21"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 21.</h3>
+
+<p><b>KINGDOM OF ACHIN.<br>
+ITS CAPITAL.<br>
+AIR.<br>
+INHABITANTS.<br>
+COMMERCE.<br>
+MANUFACTURES.<br>
+NAVIGATION.<br>
+COIN.<br>
+GOVERNMENT.<br>
+REVENUES.<br>
+PUNISHMENTS.</b></p>
+
+<p>Achin (properly Acheh) is the only kingdom of Sumatra that
+ever arrived to such a degree of political consequence in the
+eyes of the western people as to occasion its transactions
+becoming the subject of general history. But its present
+condition is widely different from what it was when by its power
+the Portuguese were prevented from gaining a footing in the
+island, and its princes received embassies from all the great
+potentates of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>SITUATION.</p>
+
+<p>Its situation occupies the north-western extreme of the
+island, bordering generally on the country of the Battas; but,
+strictly speaking, its extent, inland, reaches no farther than
+about fifty miles to the south&shy;east. Along the north and
+eastern coast its territory was considered in 1778 as reaching to
+a place called Karti, not far distant from Batu&shy;bara river,
+including Pidir, Samerlonga, and Pase. On the western coast,
+where it formerly boasted a dominion as far down as Indrapura,
+and possessed complete jurisdiction at Tiku, it now extends no
+farther than Barus; and even there, or at the intermediate ports,
+although the Achinese influence is predominant and its merchants
+enjoy the trade, the royal power seems to be little more than
+nominal. The interior inhabitants from Achin to Singkel are
+distinguished into those of Allas, Riah, and Karrau. The Achinese
+manners prevail among the two former; but the last resemble the
+Battas, from whom they are divided by a range of mountains.</p>
+
+<p>CAPITAL.</p>
+
+<p>The capital stands on a river which empties itself by several
+channels near the north-west point of the island, or Achin Head,
+about a league from the sea, where the shipping lies in a road
+rendered secure by the shelter of several islands. The depth of
+water on the bar being no more than four feet at low-water
+spring-tides, only the vessels of the country can venture to pass
+it; and in the dry monsoon not even those of the larger class.
+The town is situated on a plain, in a wide valley formed like an
+amphitheatre by lofty ranges of hills. It is said to be extremely
+populous, containing eight thousand houses, built of bamboos and
+rough timbers, standing distinct from each other and mostly
+raised on piles some feet above the ground in order to guard
+against the effects of inundation. The appearance of the place
+and nature of the buildings differ little from those of the
+generality of Malayan bazaars, excepting that its superior wealth
+has occasioned the erection of a greater number of public
+edifices, chiefly mosques, but without the smallest pretension to
+magnificence. The country above the town is highly cultivated,
+and abounds with small villages and groups of three or four
+houses, with white mosques interspersed.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The following description of the
+appearance of Achin, by a Jesuit missionary who touched there in
+his way to China in 1698, is so picturesque, and at the same time
+so just, that I shall make no apology for introducing it.
+Imaginez vous une foret de cocotiers, de bambous, d'ananas, de
+bagnaniers, au milieu de laquelle passe une assez belle riviere
+toute couverte de bateaux; mettez dans cette foret une nombre
+incroyable de maisons faites avec de cannes, de roseaux, des
+ecorces, et disposez les de telle maniere qu'elles forment tantot
+des rues, et tantot des quartiers separes: coupez ces divers
+quartiers de prairies et de bois: repandez par tout dans cette
+grande foret, autant d'hommes qu'on en voit dans nos villes,
+lorsqu'elles sont bien peuplees; vous vous formerez une idee
+assez juste d'Achen; et vous conviendrez qu'une ville de ce gout
+nouveau peut faire plaisir a des etrangers qui passent. Elle me
+parut d'abord comme ces paysages sortis de l'imagination d'un
+peintre ou d'un poete, qui rassemble sous un coup d'oeil, tout ce
+que la campagne a de plus riant. Tout est neglige et naturel,
+champetre et meme un peu sauvage. Quand on est dans la rade, on
+n'appercoit aucun vestige, ni aucune apparence de ville, parceque
+des grands arbres qui bordent le rivage en cachent toutes les
+maisons; mais outre le paysage qui est tres beau, rien n'est plus
+agreable que de voir de matin un infinite de petits bateaux de
+pecheurs qui sortent de la riviere avec le jour, et qui ne
+rentrent que le soir, lorsque le soleil se couche. Vous diriez un
+essaim d'abeilles qui reviennent a la cruche chargees du fruit de
+leur travail. Lettres Edifiantes Tome 1. For a more modern
+account of this city I beg leave to refer the reader to Captain
+Thomas Forrest's Voyage to the Mergui Archipelago pages 38 to 60,
+where he will find a lively and natural description of everything
+worthy of observation in the place, with a detail of the
+circumstances attending his own reception at the court,
+illustrated with an excellent plate.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>The king's palace, if it deserves the appellation, is a very
+rude and uncouth piece of architecture, designed to resist the
+attacks of internal enemies, and surrounded for that purpose with
+a moat and strong walls, but without any regular plan, or view to
+the modern system of military defence.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Near the gate of the palace are several
+pieces of brass ordnance of an extraordinary size, of which some
+are Portuguese; but two in particular, of English make, attract
+curiosity. They were sent by king James the first to the reigning
+monarch of Acheen, and have still the founder's name and the date
+legible upon them. The diameter of the bore of one is eighteen
+inches; of the other twenty-two or twenty-four. Their strength
+however does not appear to be in proportion to the calibre, nor
+do they seem in other respects to be of adequate dimensions.
+James, who abhorred bloodshed himself, was resolved that his
+present should not be the instrument of it to
+others.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>AIR.</p>
+
+<p>The air is esteemed comparatively healthy, the country being
+more free from woods and stagnant water than most other parts;
+and fevers and dysenteries, to which these local circumstances
+are supposed to give occasion, are there said to be uncommon. But
+this must not be too readily credited; for the degree of
+insalubrity attending situations in that climate is known so
+frequently to alter, from inscrutable causes, that a person who
+has resided only two or three years on a spot cannot pretend to
+form a judgment; and the natives, from a natural partiality, are
+always ready to extol the healthiness, as well as other imputed
+advantages, of their native places.</p>
+
+<p>INHABITANTS.</p>
+
+<p>The Achinese differ much in their persons from the other
+Sumatrans, being in general taller, stouter, and of darker
+complexions. They are by no means in their present state a
+genuine people, but thought, with great appearance of reason, to
+be a mixture of Battas and Malays, with chulias, as they term the
+natives of the west of India, by whom their ports have in all
+ages been frequented. In their dispositions they are more active
+and industrious than some of their neighbours; they possess more
+sagacity, have more knowledge of other countries, and as
+merchants they deal upon a more extensive and liberal footing.
+But this last observation applies rather to the traders at a
+distance from the capital and to their transactions than to the
+conduct observed at Achin, which, according to the temper and
+example of the reigning monarch, is often narrow, extortionary,
+and oppressive. Their language is one of the general dialects of
+the eastern islands, and its affinity to the Batta may be
+observed in the comparative table; but they make use of the
+Malayan character. In religion they are Mahometans, and having
+many priests, and much intercourse with foreigners of the same
+faith, its forms and ceremonies are observed with some
+strictness.</p>
+
+<p>COMMERCE.</p>
+
+<p>Although no longer the great mart of eastern commodities,
+Achin still carries on a considerable trade, as well with private
+European merchants as with the natives of that part of the coast
+of India called Telinga, which is properly the country lying
+between the Kistna and Godavery rivers; but the name, corrupted
+by the Malays to Kling, is commonly applied to the whole coast of
+Coromandel. These supply it with salt, cotton piece-goods,
+principally those called long-cloth white and blue, and chintz
+with dark grounds; receiving in return gold-dust, raw silk of
+inferior quality, betel-nut, patch-leaf (Melissa lotoria, called
+dilam by the Malays) pepper, sulphur, camphor, and benzoin. The
+two latter are carried thither from the river of Sungkel, where
+they are procured from the country of the Battas, and the pepper
+from Pidir; but this article is also exported from Susu to the
+amount of about two thousand tons annually, where it sells at the
+rate of twelve dollars the pikul, chiefly for gold and silver.
+The quality is not esteemed good, being gathered before it is
+sufficiently ripe, and it is not cleaned like the Company's
+pepper. The Americans have been of late years the chief
+purchasers. The gold collected at Achin comes partly from the
+mountains in the neighbourhood but chiefly from Nalabu and Susu.
+Its commerce, independently of that of the out-ports, gives
+employment to from eight to ten Kling vessels, of a hundred and
+fifty or two hundred tons burden, which arrive annually from
+Porto Novo and Coringa about the month of August, and sail again
+in February and March. These are not permitted to touch at any
+places under the king's jurisdiction, on the eastern or western
+coast, as it would be injurious to the profits of his trade, as
+well as to his revenue from the customs and from the presents
+exacted on the arrival of vessels, and for which his officers at
+those distant places would not account with him. It must be
+understood that the king of Achin, as is usual with the princes
+of this part of the world, is the chief merchant of his capital,
+and endeavours to be, to the utmost of his power, the monopolizer
+of its trade; but this he cannot at all times effect, and the
+attempt has been the cause of frequent rebellions. There is
+likewise a ship or two from Surat every year, the property of
+native merchants there. The country is supplied with opium,
+taffetas, and muslins from Bengal, and also with iron and many
+other articles of merchandise, by the European traders.</p>
+
+<p>PRODUCTIONS OF THE SOIL.</p>
+
+<p>The soil being light and fertile produces abundance of rice,
+esculent vegetables, much cotton, and the finest tropical fruits.
+Both the mango and mangustin are said to be of excellent quality.
+Cattle and other articles of provision are in plenty, and
+reasonable in price. The plough is there drawn by oxen, and the
+general style of cultivation shows a skill in agriculture
+superior to what is seen in other parts of the island.</p>
+
+<p>MANUFACTURES.</p>
+
+<p>Those few arts and manufactures which are known in other parts
+of the island prevail likewise here, and some of them are carried
+to more perfection. A considerable fabric of a thick species of
+cotton cloth, and of striped or chequered stuff for the short
+drawers worn both by Malays and Achinese, is established here,
+and supplies an extensive foreign demand, particularly in the Rau
+country, where they form part of the dress of the women as well
+as men. They weave also very handsome and rich silk pieces, of a
+particular form, for that part of the body&shy;dress which the
+Malays call kain-sarong; but this manufacture had much decreased
+at the period when my inquiries were made, owing, as the people
+said, to an unavoidable failure in the breed of silkworms, but
+more probably to the decay of industry amongst themselves,
+proceeding from their continual civil disturbances.</p>
+
+<p>NAVIGATION.</p>
+
+<p>They are expert and bold navigators, and employ a variety of
+vessels according to the voyages they have occasion to undertake,
+and the purposes either of commerce or war for which they design
+them. The river is covered with a number of small fishing vessels
+which go to sea with the morning breeze and return in the
+afternoon with the sea-wind, full laden. These are named koleh,
+are raised about two streaks on a sampan bottom, have one mast
+and an upright or square sail, but long in proportion to its
+breadth, which rolls up. These sometimes make their appearance so
+far to the southward as Bencoolen. The banting is a trading
+vessel, of a larger class, having two masts, with upright sails
+like the former, rising at the stem and stern, and somewhat
+resembling a Chinese junk, excepting in its size. They have also
+very long narrow boats, with two masts, and double or single
+outriggers, called balabang and jalor. These are chiefly used as
+war-boats, mount guns of the size of swivels, and carry a number
+of men. For representations of various kinds of vessels employed
+by these eastern people the reader is referred to the plates in
+Captain Forrest's two voyages.</p>
+
+<p>COIN.</p>
+
+<p>They have a small thin adulterated gold coin, rudely stamped
+with Arabic characters, called mas or massiah. Its current value
+is said to be about fifteen, and its intrinsic about twelve
+pence, or five Madras fanams. Eighty of these are equal to the
+bangkal, of which twenty make a katti. The tail, here an
+imaginary valuation, is one-fifth of the bang&shy;kal, and equal
+to sixteen mas. The small leaden money, called pitis or cash, is
+likewise struck here for the service of the bazaar; but neither
+these nor the former afford any convenience to the foreign
+trader. Dollars and rupees pass current, and most other species
+of coin are taken at a valuation; but payments are commonly made
+in gold dust, and for that purpose everyone is provided with
+small scales or steelyards, called daching. They carry their gold
+about them, wrapped in small pieces of bladder (or rather the
+integument of the heart), and often make purchases to so small an
+amount as to employ grains of padi or other seeds for
+weights.</p>
+
+<p>GOVERNMENT.</p>
+
+<p>The monarchy is hereditary, and is more or less absolute in
+proportion to the talents of the reigning prince; no other bounds
+being set to his authority than the counterbalance or check it
+meets with from the power of the great vassals, and disaffection
+of the commonalty. But this resistance is exerted in so irregular
+a manner, and with so little view to the public good, that
+nothing like liberty results from it. They experience only an
+alternative of tyranny and anarchy, or the former under different
+shapes. Many of the other Sumatran people are in the possession
+of a very high degree of freedom, founded upon a rigid attachment
+to their old established customs and laws. The king usually
+maintains a guard of a hundred sepoys (from the Coromandel coast)
+about his palace, but pays them indifferently.</p>
+
+<p>The grand council of the nation consists of the king or
+Sultan, the maharaja, laksamana, paduka tuan, and bandhara.
+Inferior in rank to these are the ulubalangs or military
+champions, among whom are several gradations of rank, who sit on
+the king's right hand, and other officers named kajuran, who sit
+on his left. At his feet sits a woman, to whom he makes known his
+pleasure: by her it is communicated to a eunuch, who sits next to
+her, and by him to an officer, named Kajuran Gondang, who then
+proclaims it aloud to the assembly. There are also present two
+other officers, one of whom has the government of the Bazaar or
+market, and the other the superintending and carrying into
+execution the punishment of criminals. All matters relative to
+commerce and the customs of the port come under the jurisdiction
+of the Shabandar, who performs the ceremony of giving the chap or
+licence for trade; which is done by lifting a golden-hafted kris
+over the head of the merchant who arrives, and without which he
+dares not to land his goods. Presents, the value of which are
+become pretty regularly ascertained, are then sent to the king
+and his officers. If the stranger be in the style of an
+ambassador the royal elephants are sent down to carry him and his
+letters to the monarch's presence; these being first delivered
+into the hands of a eunuch, who places them in a silver dish,
+covered with rich silk, on the back of the largest elephant,
+which is provided with a machine (houdar) for that purpose.
+Within about a hundred yards of an open hall where the king sits
+the cavalcade stops, and the ambassador dismounts and makes his
+obeisance by bending his body and lifting his joined hands to his
+head. When he enters the palace, if a European, he is obliged to
+take off his shoes, and having made a second obeisance is seated
+upon a carpet on the floor, where betel is brought to him. The
+throne was some years ago of ivory and tortoiseshell; and when
+the place was governed by queens a curtain of gauze was hung
+before it, which did not obstruct the audience, but prevented any
+perfect view. The stranger, after some general discourse, is then
+conducted to a separate building, where he is entertained with
+the delicacies of the country by the officers of state, and in
+the evening returns in the manner he came, surrounded by a
+prodigious number of lights. On high days (ari raya) the king
+goes in great state, mounted on an elephant richly caparisoned,
+to the great mosque, preceded by his ulubalangs, who are armed
+nearly in the European manner.</p>
+
+<p>DIVISION OF THE COUNTRY.</p>
+
+<p>The whole kingdom is divided into certain small districts or
+communities, called mukim, which seem to be equivalent to our
+parishes, and their number is reckoned at one hundred and ninety,
+of which seventy&shy;three are situated in the valley of Achin.
+Of these last are formed three larger districts, named Duo-puluh
+duo (twenty-two), Duo-puluh-limo (twenty-five), and
+Duo-puluh-anam (twenty-six), from the number of mukims they
+respectively contain; each of which is governed by a panglima or
+provincial governor, with an imam and four pangichis for the
+service of each mosque. The country is extremely populous; but
+the computations with which I have been furnished exceed so far
+all probability that I do not venture to insert them.</p>
+
+<p>REVENUES.</p>
+
+<p>The regular tax or imposition to which the country is subject,
+for the use of the crown, is one koyan (about eight hundred
+gallons) of padi from each mukim, with a bag of rice, and about
+the value of one Spanish dollar and a half in money, from each
+proprietor of a house, to be delivered at the king's store in
+person, in return for which homage he never fails to receive
+nearly an equivalent in tobacco or some other article. On certain
+great festivals presents of cattle are made to the king by the
+orang-kayas or nobles; but it is from the import and export
+customs on merchandise that the revenue of the crown properly
+arises, and which of course fluctuates considerably. What
+Europeans pay is between five and six per cent, but the Kling
+merchants are understood to be charged with much higher duties;
+in the whole not less than fifteen, of which twelve in the
+hundred are taken out of the bales in the first instance, a
+disparity they are enabled to support by the provident and frugal
+manner in which they purchase their investments, the cheap rate
+at which they navigate their vessels, and the manner of retailing
+their goods to the natives. These sources of wealth are
+independent of the profit derived from the trade, which is
+managed for his master by a person who is styled the king's
+merchant. The revenues of the nobles accrue from taxes which they
+lay, as feudal lords, upon the produce of the land cultivated by
+their vassals. At Pidir a measure of rice is paid for every
+measure of padi sown, which amounts to about a twentieth part. At
+Nalabu there is a capitation tax of a dollar a year; and at
+various places on the inland roads there are tolls collected upon
+provisions and goods which pass to the capital.</p>
+
+<p>ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.</p>
+
+<p>The kings of Achin possess a grant of territory along the
+sea-coast as far down as Bencoolen from the sultan of
+Menangkabau, whose superiority has always been admitted by them,
+and will be perhaps so long as he claims no authority over them,
+and exacts neither tribute nor homage.</p>
+
+<p>PUNISHMENTS.</p>
+
+<p>Achin has ever been remarkable for the severity with which
+crimes are punished by their laws; the same rigour still
+subsists, and there is no commutation admitted, as is regularly
+established in the southern countries. There is great reason
+however to conclude that the poor alone experience the rod of
+justice; the nobles being secure from retribution in the number
+of their dependants. Petty theft is punished by suspending the
+criminal from a tree, with a gun or heavy weight tied to his
+feet; or by cutting off a finger, a hand, or leg, according to
+the nature of the theft. Many of these mutilated and wretched
+objects are daily to be seen in the streets. Robbery, on the
+highway and housebreaking, are punished by drowning, and
+afterwards exposing the body on a stake for a few days. If the
+robbery is committed upon an imam or priest the sacrilege is
+expiated by burning the criminal alive. A man who is convicted of
+adultery or rape is seldom attempted to be screened by his
+friends, but is delivered up to the friends and relations of the
+injured husband or father. These take him to some large plain
+and, forming themselves in a circle, place him in the middle. A
+large weapon, called a gadubong, is then delivered to him by one
+of his family, and if he can force his way through those who
+surround him and make his escape he is not liable to further
+prosecution; but it commonly happens that he is instantly cut to
+pieces. In this case his relations bury him as they would a dead
+buffalo, refusing to admit the corpse into their house, or to
+perform any funeral rites. Would it not be reasonable to conclude
+that the Achinese, with so much discouragement to vice both from
+law and prejudice, must prove a moral and virtuous people? yet
+all travellers agree in representing them as one of the most
+dishonest and flagitious nations of the East, which the history
+of their government will tend to corroborate.</p>
+
+<p><a name="ch-22"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 22.</h3>
+
+<p><b>HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF ACHIN, FROM THE PERIOD OF ITS BEING
+VISITED BY EUROPEANS.</b></p>
+
+<p>PROCEEDINGS OF THE PORTUGUESE.</p>
+
+<p>The Portuguese, under the conduct of Vasco de Gama, doubled
+the Cape of Good Hope in the year 1497, and arrived on the coast
+of Malabar in the following year. These people, whom the spirit
+of glory, commerce, and plunder led to the most magnanimous
+undertakings, were not so entirely engaged by their conquests on
+the continent of India as to prevent them from extending their
+views to the discovery of regions yet more distant. They learned
+from the merchants of Guzerat some account of the riches and
+importance of Malacca, a great trading city in the farther
+peninsula of India, supposed by them the Golden Chersonnese of
+Ptolemy. Intelligence of this was transmitted to their
+enterprising sovereign Emanuel, who became impressed with a
+strong desire to avail himself of the flattering advantages which
+this celebrated country held out to his ambition.</p>
+
+<p>1508.</p>
+
+<p>He equipped a fleet of four ships under the command of Diogo
+Lopez de Sequeira, which sailed from Lisbon on the eighth day of
+April 1508 with orders to explore and establish connexions in
+those eastern parts of Asia.</p>
+
+<p>1509.</p>
+
+<p>After touching at Madagascar Sequeira proceeded to Cochin,
+where a ship was added to his fleet, and, departing from thence
+on the eighth of September 1509, he made sail towards Malacca;
+but having doubled the extreme promontory of Sumatra (then
+supposed to be the Taprobane of the ancients) he anchored at
+Pidir, a principal port of that island, in which he found vessels
+from Pegu, Bengal, and other countries. The king of the place,
+who, like other Mahometan princes, was styled sultan, sent off a
+deputation to him, accompanied with refreshments, excusing
+himself, on account of illness, from paying his compliments in
+person, but assuring him at the same time that he should derive
+much pleasure from the friendship and alliance of the Portuguese,
+whose fame had reached his ears. Sequeira answered this message
+in such terms that, by consent of the sultan, a monument of their
+amity was erected on the shore; or, more properly, as the token
+of discovery and possession usually employed by the European
+nations. He was received in the same manner at a place called
+Pase, lying about twenty leagues farther to the eastward on the
+same coast, and there also erected a monument or cross. Having
+procured at each of these ports as much pepper as could be
+collected in a short time he hastened to Malacca, where the news
+of his appearance in these seas had anticipated his arrival. Here
+he was near falling a sacrifice to the insidious policy of
+Mahmud, the reigning king, to whom the Portuguese had been
+represented by the Arabian and Persian merchants (and not very
+unjustly) as lawless pirates, who, under the pretext of
+establishing commercial treaties, had, at first by encroachments,
+and afterwards with insolent rapacity, ruined and enslaved the
+princes who were weak enough to put a confidence in them, or to
+allow them a footing in their dominions. He escaped the snares
+that were laid for him but lost many of his people, and, leaving
+others in captivity, he returned to Europe, and gave an account
+of his proceedings to the king.</p>
+
+<p>1510.</p>
+
+<p>A fleet was sent out in the year 1510 under Diogo Mendez to
+establish the Portuguese interests at Malacca; but Affonso
+d'Alboquerque, the governor of their affairs in India, thought
+proper to detain this squadron on the coast of Malabar until he
+could proceed thither himself with a greater force.</p>
+
+<p>1511.</p>
+
+<p>And accordingly on the second of May 1511 he set sail from
+Cochin with nineteen ships and fourteen hundred men. He touched
+at Pidir, where he found some of his countrymen who had made
+their escape from Malacca in a boat and sought protection on the
+Sumatran shore. They represented that, arriving off Pase, they
+had been ill-treated by the natives, who killed one of their
+party and obliged them to fly to Pidir, where they met with
+hospitality and kindness from the prince, who seemed desirous to
+conciliate the regard of their nation. Alboquerque expressed
+himself sensible of this instance of friendship, and renewed with
+the sultan the alliance that had been formed by Sequeira. He then
+proceeded to Pase, whose monarch endeavoured to exculpate himself
+from the outrage committed against the Portuguese fugitives, and
+as he could not tarry to take redress he concealed his
+resentment. In crossing over to Malacca he fell in with a large
+junk, or country vessel, which he engaged and attempted to board,
+but the enemy, setting fire to a quantity of inflammable
+oleaginous matter, he was deterred from his design, with a narrow
+escape of the destruction of his own ship. The junk was then
+battered from a distance until forty of her men were killed, when
+Alboquerque, admiring the bravery of the crew, proposed to them
+that, if they would strike and acknowledge themselves vassals of
+Portugal, he would treat them as friends and take them under his
+protection. This offer was accepted, and the valiant defender of
+the vessel informed the governor that his name was Jeinal, the
+lawful heir of the kingdom of Pase; he by whom it was then ruled
+being a usurper, who, taking advantage of his minority and his
+own situation as regent, had seized the crown: that he had made
+attempts to assert his rights, but had been defeated in two
+battles, and was now proceeding with his adherents to Java, some
+of the princes of which were his relations, and would, he hoped,
+enable him to obtain possession of his throne.</p>
+
+<p>1511.</p>
+
+<p>Alboquerque promised to effect it for him, and desired the
+prince to accompany him to Malacca, where they arrived the first
+of July 1511. In order to save the lives of the Portuguese
+prisoners, and if possible to effect their recovery, he
+negotiated with the king of Malacca before he proceeded to an
+attack on the place; which conduct of his Jeinal construed into
+fear, and, forsaking his new friend, passed over in the night to
+the Malayan monarch, whose protection he thought of more
+consequence to him. When Alboquerque had subdued the place, which
+made a vigorous resistance, the prince of Pase, seeing the error
+of his policy, returned, and threw himself at the governor's
+feet, acknowledged his injurious mistrust, and implored his
+pardon, which was not denied him. He doubted however it seems of
+a sincere reconciliation and forgiveness, and, perceiving that no
+measures were taking for restoring him to his kingdom, but on the
+contrary that Alboquerque was preparing to leave Malacca with a
+small force, and talked of performing his promise when he should
+return from Goa, he took the resolution of again attaching
+himself to the fortunes of the conquered monarch, and secretly
+collecting his dependants fled once more from the protection of
+the Portuguese. He probably was not insensible that the reigning
+king of Pase, his adversary, had for some time taken abundant
+pains to procure the favour of Alboquerque, and found an occasion
+of demonstrating his zeal. The governor, on his return from
+Malacca, met with a violent storm on the coast of Sumatra near
+the point of Timiang, where his ship was wrecked. Part of the
+crew making a raft were driven to Pase, where the king treated
+them with kindness and sent them to the coast of Coromandel by a
+merchant ship. Some years after these events Jeinal was enabled
+by his friends to carry a force to Pase, and obtained the
+ascendency there, but did not long enjoy his power.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the reduction of Malacca the governor received messages
+from several of the Sumatran princes, and amongst the rest from
+the king of a place called Kampar, on the eastern coast, who had
+married a daughter of the king of Malacca, but was on ill terms
+with his father-in-law. He desired to become a vassal of the
+Portuguese crown, and to have leave to reside under their
+jurisdiction. His view was to obtain the important office of
+bandhara, or chief magistrate of the Malays, lately vacant by the
+execution of him who possessed it. He sent before him a present
+of lignum-aloes and gum-lac, the produce of his country, but
+Alboquerque, suspecting the honesty of his intentions, and
+fearing that he either aspired to the crown of Malacca or
+designed to entice the merchants to resort to his own kingdom,
+refused to permit his coming, and gave the superintendence of the
+natives to a person named Nina Chetuan.</p>
+
+<p>1514.</p>
+
+<p>After some years had elapsed, at the time when Jorge
+Alboquerque was governor of Malacca, this king (Abdallah by name)
+persisting in his views, paid him a visit, and was honourably
+received. At his departure he had assurances given him of liberty
+to establish himself at Malacca, if he should think proper, and
+Nina Chetuan was shortly afterwards removed from his office,
+though no fault was alleged against him. He took the disgrace so
+much to heart that, causing a pile to be erected before his door,
+and setting fire to it, he threw himself into the flames.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. This man was not a Mahometan but one of
+the unconverted natives of the peninsula who are always
+distinguished from the Moors by the Portuguese
+writers.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>The intention of appointing Abdallah to the office of bandhara
+was quickly rumoured abroad, and, coming to the knowledge of the
+king of Bintang, who was driven from Malacca and now carried on a
+vigorous war against the Portuguese, under the command of the
+famous Laksamana, he resolved to prevent his arrival there. For
+this purpose he leagued himself with the king of Lingga, a
+neighbouring island, and sent out a fleet of seventy armed boats
+to block up the port of Kampar. By the valour of a small
+Portuguese armament this force was overcome in the river of that
+name, and the king conducted in triumph to Malacca, where he was
+invested in form with the important post he aspired to. But this
+sacrifice of his independence proved an unfortunate measure to
+him; for although he conducted himself in such a manner as should
+have given the amplest satisfaction, and appears to have been
+irreproachable in the execution of his trust, yet in the
+following year the king of Bintang found means to inspire the
+governor with diffidence of his fidelity, and jealousy of his
+power.</p>
+
+<p>1515.</p>
+
+<p>He was cruelly sentenced to death without the simplest forms
+of justice and perished in the presence of an indignant
+multitude, whilst he called heaven to witness his innocence and
+direct its vengeance against his interested accusers. This
+iniquitous and impolitic proceeding had such an effect upon the
+minds of the people that all of any property or repute forsook
+the place, execrating the government of the Portuguese. The
+consequences of this general odium reduced them to extreme
+difficulties for provisions, which the neighbouring countries
+refused to supply them with, and but for some grain at length
+procured from Siak with much trouble the event had proved fatal
+to the garrison.</p>
+
+<p>1516.</p>
+
+<p>Fernando Perez d'Andrade, in his way to China, touched at Pase
+in order to take in pepper. He found the people of the place, as
+well as the merchants from Bengal, Cambay, and other parts of
+India, much discontented with the measures then pursuing by the
+government of Malacca, which had stationed an armed force to
+oblige all vessels to resort thither with their merchandise and
+take in at that place, as an emporium, the cargoes they were used
+to collect in the straits. The king notwithstanding received
+Andrade well, and consented that the Portuguese should have
+liberty to erect a fortress in his kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>1520.</p>
+
+<p>Extraordinary accounts having been related of certain islands
+abounding in gold, which were reported by the general fame of
+India to lie off the southern coast of Sumatra, a ship and small
+brigantine, under the command of Diogo Pacheco, an experienced
+seaman, were sent in order to make the discovery of them. Having
+proceeded as far as Daya the brigantine was lost in a gale of
+wind. Pacheco stood on to Barus, a place renowned for its gold
+trade, and for gum benzoin of a peculiar scent, which the country
+produced. It was much frequented by vessels, both from the
+neighbouring ports in the island, and from those in the West of
+India, whence it was supplied with cotton cloths. The merchants,
+terrified at the approach of the Portuguese, forsook their ships
+and fled precipitately to the shore. The chiefs of the country
+sent to inquire the motives of his visit, which he informed them
+were to establish friendly connexions and to give them assurances
+of unmolested freedom of trade at the city of Malacca.
+Refreshments were then ordered for his fleet, and upon landing he
+was treated with respect by the inhabitants, who brought the
+articles of their country to exchange with him for merchandise.
+His chief view was to obtain information respecting the situation
+and other circumstances of the ilhas d'Ouro, but they seemed
+jealous of imparting any. At length, after giving him a laboured
+detail of the dangers attending the navigation of the seas where
+they were said to lie, they represented their situation to be
+distant a hundred leagues to the south-east of Barus, amidst
+labyrinths of shoals and reefs through which it was impossible to
+steer with any but the smallest boats. If these islands, so
+celebrated about this time, existed anywhere but in the regions
+of fancy,* they were probably those of Tiku, to which it is
+possible that much gold might be brought from the neighbouring
+country of Menangkabau. Pacheco, leaving Barus, proceeded to the
+southward, but did not make the wished-for discovery. He reached
+the channel that divides Sumatra from Java, which he called the
+strait of Polimban, from a city he erroneously supposed to lie on
+the Javan shore, and passing through this returned to Malacca by
+the east; being the first European who sailed round the island of
+Sumatra. In the following year he sailed once more in search of
+these islands, which were afterwards the object of many fruitless
+voyages; but touching again at Barus he met with resistance there
+and perished with all his companions.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Linschoten makes particular mention of
+having seen them, and gives practical directions for the
+navigation, but the golden dreams of the Portuguese were never
+realized in them.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>A little before this time a ship under the command of Gaspar
+d'Acosta was lost on the island of Gamispola (Pulo Gomez) near
+Achin Head, when the people from Achin attacked and plundered the
+crew, killing many and taking the rest prisoners. A ship also
+which belonged to Joano de Lima was plundered in the road, and
+the Portuguese which belonged to her put to death. These insults
+and others committed at Pase induced the governor of Malacca,
+Garcia de Sa, to dispatch a vessel under Manuel Pacheco to take
+satisfaction; which he endeavoured to effect by blocking up the
+ports, and depriving the towns of all sources of provision,
+particularly their fisheries. As he cruised between Achin and
+Pase a boat with five men, going to take in fresh water at a
+river nigh to the latter, would have been cut off had not the
+people, by wonderful efforts of valour, overcome the numerous
+party which attacked them. The sultan, alarmed for the
+consequences of this affray, sent immediately to sue for
+reconciliation, offering to make atonement for the loss of
+property the merchants had sustained by the licentiousness of his
+people, from a participation in whose crimes he sought to
+vindicate himself. The advantage derived from the connexion with
+this place induced the government of Malacca to be satisfied with
+his apology, and cargoes of pepper and raw silk were shortly
+after procured there; the former being much wanted for the ships
+bound to China.</p>
+
+<p>Jeinal, who had fled to the king of Malacca, as before
+mentioned, followed that monarch to the island of Bintang, and
+received one of his daughters in marriage. Six or seven years
+elapsed before the situation of affairs enabled the king to lend
+him any effectual assistance, but at length some advantages
+gained over the Portuguese afforded a proper opportunity, and
+accordingly a fleet was fitted out, with which Jeinal sailed for
+Pase. In order to form a judgment of the transactions of this
+kingdom it must be understood that the people, having an idea of
+predestination, always conceived present possession to constitute
+right, however that possession might have been acquired; but yet
+they made no scruple of deposing and murdering their sovereigns,
+and justified their acts by this argument; that the fate of
+concerns so important as the lives of kings was in the hands of
+God, whose vicegerents they were, and that if it was not
+agreeable to him and the consequence of his will that they should
+perish by the daggers of their subjects it could not so happen.
+Thus it appears that their religious ideas were just strong
+enough to banish from their minds every moral sentiment. The
+natural consequence of these maxims was that their kings were
+merely the tyrants of the day; and it is said that whilst a
+certain ship remained in the port no less than two were murdered,
+and a third set up: but allowance should perhaps be made for the
+medium through which these accounts have been transmitted to
+us.</p>
+
+<p>The maternal uncle of Jeinal, who, on account of his father's
+infirmities, had been some time regent, and had deprived him of
+the succession to the throne, was also king of Aru or Rou, a
+country not far distant, and thus became monarch of both places.
+The caprices of the Pase people, who submitted quietly to his
+usurpation, rendered them ere long discontented with his
+government, and being a stranger they had the less compunction in
+putting him to death. Another king was set up in his room, who
+soon fell by the hands of some natives of Aru who resided at
+Pase, in revenge for the assassination of their countryman.</p>
+
+<p>1519.</p>
+
+<p>A fresh monarch was elected by the people, and in his reign it
+was that Jeinal appeared with a force from Bintang, who, carrying
+everything before him, put his rival to death, and took
+possession of the throne. The son of the deceased, a youth of
+about twelve years of age, made his escape, accompanied by the
+Mulana or chief priest of the city, and procured a conveyance to
+the west of India. There they threw themselves at the feet of the
+Portuguese governor, Lopez Sequeira, then engaged in an
+expedition to the Red Sea, imploring his aid to drive the invader
+from their country, and to establish the young prince in his
+rights, who would thenceforth consider himself as a vassal of the
+crown of Portugal. It was urged that Jeinal, as being nearly
+allied to the king of Bintang, was an avowed enemy to that
+nation, which he had manifested in some recent outrages committed
+against the merchants from Malacca who traded at Pase. Sequeira,
+partly from compassion, and partly from political motives,
+resolved to succour this prince, and by placing him on the throne
+establish a firm interest in the affairs of his kingdom. He
+accordingly gave orders to Jorge Alboquerque, who was then
+proceeding with a strong fleet towards Malacca, to take the youth
+with him, whose name was Orfacam,* and after having expelled
+Jeinal to put him in possession of the sovereignty.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Evidently corrupted, as are most of the
+country names and titles, which shows that the Portuguese were
+not at this period much conversant in the Malayan
+language.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>When Jeinal entered upon the administration of the political
+concerns of the kingdom, although he had promised his
+father-in-law to carry on the war in concert with him, yet, being
+apprehensive of the effects of the Portuguese power, he judged it
+more for his interest to seek a reconciliation with them than to
+provoke their resentment, and in pursuance of that system had so
+far recommended himself to Garcia de Sa, the governor of Malacca,
+that he formed a treaty of alliance with him. This was however
+soon interrupted, and chiefly by the imprudence of a man named
+Diogo Vaz, who made use of such insulting language to the king,
+because he delayed payment of a sum of money he owed him, that
+the courtiers, seized with indignation, immediately stabbed him
+with their krises, and, the alarm running through the city,
+others of the Portuguese were likewise murdered. The news of this
+affair, reaching Goa, was an additional motive for the resolution
+taken of dethroning him.</p>
+
+<p>1521.</p>
+
+<p>Jorge d'Alboquerque arrived at Pase in 1521 with Prince
+Orfacam, and the inhabitants came off in great numbers to welcome
+his return. The king of Aru had brought thither a considerable
+force the preceding day, designing to take satisfaction for the
+murder of his relation, the uncle of Jeinal, and now proposed to
+Alboquerque that they should make the attack in conjunction, who
+thought proper to decline it. Jeinal, although he well knew the
+intention of the enemy, yet sent a friendly message to
+Alboquerque, who in answer required him to relinquish his crown
+in favour of him whom he styled the lawful prince. He then
+represented to him the injustice of attempting to force him from
+the possession of what was his, not only by right of conquest but
+of hereditary descent, as was well known to the governor himself;
+that he was willing to consider himself as the vassal of the king
+of Portugal, and to grant every advantage in point of trade that
+they could expect from the administration of his rival; and that
+since his obtaining the crown he had manifested the utmost
+friendship to the Portuguese, for which he appealed to the treaty
+formed with him by the government of Malacca, which was not
+disturbed by any fault that could in justice be imputed to
+himself. These arguments, like all others that pass between
+states which harbour inimical designs, had no effect upon
+Alboquerque, who, after reconnoitring the ground, gave orders for
+the attack. The king was now sensible that there was nothing left
+for him but to conquer or die, and resolved to defend himself to
+extremity in an entrenchment he had formed at some distance from
+the town of Pase, where he had never yet ventured to reside as
+the people were in general incensed against him on account of the
+destruction of the late king of their choice; for though they
+were ever ready to demolish those whom they disliked, yet were
+they equally zealous to sacrifice their own lives in the cause of
+those to whom they were attached. The Portuguese force consisted
+but of three hundred men, yet such was the superiority they
+possessed in war over the inhabitants of these countries that
+they entirely routed Jeinal's army, which amounted to three
+thousand, with many elephants, although they fought bravely. When
+he fell they became dispirited, and, the people of Aru joining in
+the pursuit, a dreadful slaughter succeeded, and upwards of two
+thousand Sumatrans lay dead, with the loss of only five or six
+Europeans; but several were wounded, among whom was Alboquerque
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>The next measure was to place the young prince upon the
+throne, which was performed with much ceremony. The mulana was
+appointed his governor, and Nina Cunapan, who in several
+instances had shown a friendship for the Portuguese, was
+continued in the office of Shabandar. It was stipulated that the
+prince should do homage to the crown of Portugal, give a grant of
+the whole produce of pepper of his country at a certain price,
+and defray the charges of a fortress which they then prepared to
+erect in his kingdom, and of which Miranda d'Azeuedo was
+appointed captain, with a garrison of a hundred soldiers. The
+materials were mostly timber, with which the ruins of Jeinal's
+entrenchment supplied them. After Alboquerque's departure the
+works had nearly fallen into the hands of an enemy, named
+Melek-el-adil, who called himself sultan of Pase and made several
+desultory attacks upon them; but he was at length totally routed,
+and the fortifications were completed without further
+molestation.</p>
+
+<p>1521.</p>
+
+<p>A fleet which sailed from the west of India a short time after
+that of Alboquerque, under the command of Jorge de Brito,
+anchored in the road of Achin, in their way to the Molucca
+Islands. There was at this time at that place a man of the name
+of Joano Borba, who spoke the language of the country, having
+formerly fled thither from Pase when Diogo Vaz was assassinated.
+Being afterwards intrusted with the command of a trading vessel
+from Goa, which foundered at sea, he again reached Achin, with
+nine men in a small boat, and was hospitably received by the
+king, when he learned that the ship had been destined to his
+port. Borba came off to the fleet along with a messenger sent by
+the king to welcome the commander and offer him refreshments for
+his fleet, and, being a man of extraordinary loquacity, he gave a
+pompous description to Brito of a temple in the country in which
+was deposited a large quantity of gold: he mentioned likewise
+that the king was in possession of the artillery and merchandise
+of Gaspar d'Acosta's vessel, some time since wrecked there; and
+also of the goods saved from a brigantine driven on shore at
+Daya, in Pacheco's expedition; as well as of Joano de Lima's
+ship, which he had caused to be cut off. Brito, being tempted by
+the golden prize, which he conceived already in his power, and
+inflamed by Borba's representation of the king's iniquities, sent
+a message in return to demand the restitution of the artillery,
+ship, and goods, which had been unlawfully seized. The king
+replied that, if he wanted those articles to be refunded, he must
+make his demand to the sea which had swallowed them up. Brito and
+his captains now resolved to proceed to an attack upon the place,
+and so secure did they make themselves of their prey that they
+refused permission to a ship lately arrived, and which did not
+belong to their squadron, to join them or participate in the
+profits of their adventure. They prepared to land two hundred men
+in small boats; a larger, with a more considerable detachment and
+their artillery, being ordered to follow. About daybreak they had
+proceeded halfway up the river, and came near to a little fort
+designed to defend the passage, where Brito thought it advisable
+to stop till the remainder of their force should join them; but,
+being importuned by his people, he advanced to make himself
+master of the fort, which was readily effected. Here he again
+resolved to make his stand, but by the imprudence of his ensign,
+who had drawn some of the party into a skirmish with the
+Achinese, he was forced to quit that post in order to save his
+colours, which were in danger. At this juncture the king appeared
+at the head of eight hundred or a thousand men, and six
+elephants. A desperate conflict ensued, in which the Portuguese
+received considerable injury. Brito sent orders for the party he
+had left to come up, and endeavoured to retreat to the fort, but
+he found himself so situated that it could not be executed
+without much loss, and presently after he received a wound from
+an arrow through the cheeks. No assistance arriving, it was
+proposed that they should retire in the best manner they could to
+their boats; but this Brito would not consent to, preferring
+death to flight, and immediately a lance pierced his thighs, and
+he fell to the ground. The Portuguese, rendered desperate,
+renewed the combat with redoubled vigour, all crowding to the
+spot where their commander lay, but their exertions availed them
+nothing against such unequal force, and they only rushed on to
+sacrifice. Almost every man was killed, and among these were near
+fifty persons of family who had embarked as volunteers. Those who
+escaped belonged chiefly to the corps-de-reserve, who did not, or
+could not, come up in time to succour their unfortunate
+companions. Upon this merited defeat the squadron immediately
+weighed anchor, and, after falling in with two vessels bound on
+the discovery of the Ilhas d'Ouro, arrived at Pase, where they
+found Alboquerque employed in the construction of his fortress,
+and went with him to make an attack on Bintang.</p>
+
+<p>STATE OF ACHIN IN 1511.</p>
+
+<p>At the period when Malacca fell into the hands of the
+Portuguese Achin and Daya are said by the historians of that
+nation to have been provinces subject to Pidir, and governed by
+two slaves belonging to the sultan of that place, to each of whom
+he had given a niece in marriage. Slaves, it must be understood,
+are in that country on a different footing from those in most
+other parts of the world, and usually treated as children of the
+family. Some of them are natives of the continent of India, whom
+their masters employ to trade for them; allowing them a certain
+proportion of the profits and permission to reside in a separate
+quarter of the city. It frequently happened also that men of good
+birth, finding it necessary to obtain the protection of some
+person in power, became voluntary slaves for this purpose, and
+the nobles, being proud of such dependants, encouraged the
+practice by treating them with a degree of respect, and in many
+instances they made them their heirs. The slave of this
+description who held the government of Achin had two sons, the
+elder of whom was named Raja Ibrahim, and the younger Raja Lella,
+and were brought up in the house of their master. The father
+being old was recalled from his post; but on account of his
+faithful services the sultan gave the succession to his eldest
+son, who appears to have been a youth of an ambitious and very
+sanguinary temper. A jealousy had taken place between him and the
+chief of Daya whilst they were together at Pidir, and as soon as
+he came into power he resolved to seek revenge, and with that
+view entered in a hostile manner the district of his rival. When
+the sultan interposed it not only added fuel to his resentment
+but inspired him with hatred towards his master, and he showed
+his disrespect by refusing to deliver up, on the requisition of
+the sultan, certain Portuguese prisoners taken from a vessel lost
+at Pulo Gomez, and which he afterwards complied with at the
+intercession of the Shabandar of Pase. This conduct manifesting
+an intention of entirely throwing off his allegiance, his father
+endeavoured to recall him to a sense of his duty by representing
+the obligations in which the family were indebted to the sultan,
+and the relationship which so nearly connected them. But so far
+was this admonition from producing any good effect that he took
+offence at his father's presumption, and ordered him to be
+confined in a cage, where he died.</p>
+
+<p>1521.</p>
+
+<p>Irritated by these acts, the sultan resolved to proceed to
+extremities against him; but by means of the plunder of some
+Portuguese vessels, as before related, and the recent defeat of
+Brito's party, he became so strong in artillery and ammunition,
+and so much elated with success, that he set his master at
+defiance and prepared to defend himself. His force proved
+superior to that of Pidir, and in the end he obliged the sultan
+to fly for refuge and assistance to the European fortress at
+Pase, accompanied by his nephew, the chief of Daya, who was also
+forced from his possessions.</p>
+
+<p>1522.</p>
+
+<p>Ibrahim had for some time infested the Portuguese by sending
+out parties against them, both by sea and land; but these being
+always baffled in their attempts with much loss, he began to
+conceive a violent antipathy against that nation, which he ever
+after indulged to excess. He got possession of the city of Pidir
+by bribing the principal officers, a mode of warfare that he
+often found successful and seldom neglected to attempt. These he
+prevailed upon to write a letter to their master, couched in
+artful terms, in which they besought him to come to their
+assistance with a body of Portuguese, as the only chance of
+repelling the enemy by whom they pretended to be invested. The
+sultan showed this letter to Andre Henriquez, then governor of
+the fort, who, thinking it a good opportunity to chastise the
+Achinese, sent by sea a detachment of eighty Europeans and two
+hundred Malays under the command of his brother Manuel, whilst
+the sultan marched overland with a thousand men and fifteen
+elephants to the relief of the place. They arrived at Pidir in
+the night, but, being secretly informed that the king of Achin
+was master of the city, and that the demand for succour was a
+stratagem, they endeavoured to make their retreat; which the land
+troops effected, but before the tide could enable the Portuguese
+to get their boats afloat they were attacked by the Achinese, who
+killed Manuel and thirty-five of his men.</p>
+
+<p>Henriquez, perceiving his situation at Pase was becoming
+critical, not only from the force of the enemy but the sickly
+state of his garrison, and the want of provisions, which the
+country people now withheld from him, discontinuing the fairs
+that they were used to keep three times in the week, dispatched
+advices to the governor of India, demanding immediate succours,
+and also sent to request assistance of the king of Aru, who had
+always proved the steadfast friend of Malacca, and who, though
+not wealthy, because his country was not a place of trade, was
+yet one of the most powerful princes in those parts. The king
+expressed his joy in having an opportunity of serving his allies,
+and promised his utmost aid; not only from friendship to them,
+but indignation against Ibrahim, whom he regarded as a rebellious
+slave.</p>
+
+<p>1523.</p>
+
+<p>A supply of stores at length arrived from India under the
+charge of Lopo d'Azuedo, who had orders to relieve Henriquez in
+the command; but, disputes having arisen between them, and
+chiefly on the subject of certain works which the shabandar of
+Pase had been permitted to erect adjoining to the fortress,
+d'Azuedo, to avoid coming to an open rupture, departed for
+Malacca. Ibrahim, having found means to corrupt the honesty of
+this shabandar, who had received his office from Alboquerque,
+gained intelligence through him of all that passed. This treason,
+it is supposed, he would not have yielded to but for the
+desperate situation of affairs. The country of Pase was now
+entirely in subjection to the Achinese, and nothing remained
+unconquered but the capital, whilst the garrison was distracted
+with internal divisions.</p>
+
+<p>After the acquisition of Pidir the king thought it necessary
+to remain there some time in order to confirm his authority, and
+sent his brother Raja Lella with a large army to reduce the
+territories of Pase, which he effected in the course of three
+months, and with the more facility because all the principal
+nobility had fallen in the action with Jeinal. He fixed his camp
+within half a league of the city, and gave notice to Ibrahim of
+the state in which matters were, who speedily joined him, being
+anxious to render himself master of the place before the promised
+succours from the king of Aru could arrive. His first step was to
+issue a proclamation, giving notice to the people of the town
+that whoever should submit to his authority within six days
+should have their lives, families, and properties secured to
+them, but that all others must expect to feel the punishment due
+to their obstinacy. This had the effect he looked for, the
+greater part of the inhabitants coming over to his camp. He then
+commenced his military operations, and in the third attack got
+possession of the town after much slaughter; those who escaped
+his fury taking shelter in the neighbouring mountains and thick
+woods. He sent a message to the commander of the fortress,
+requiring him to abandon it and to deliver into his hands the
+kings of Pidir and Daya, to whom he had given protection.
+Henriquez returned a spirited answer to this summons, but, being
+sickly at the time, at best of an unsteady disposition, and too
+much attached to his trading concerns for a soldier, he resolved
+to relinquish the command to his relation Aires Coelho, and take
+passage for the West of India.</p>
+
+<p>1523.</p>
+
+<p>He had not advanced farther on his voyage than the point of
+Pidir, when he fell in with two Portuguese ships bound to the
+Moluccas, the captains of which he made acquainted with the
+situation of the garrison, and they immediately proceeded to its
+relief. Arriving in the night they heard great firing of cannon,
+and learned next morning that the Achinese had made a furious
+assault in hopes of carrying the fortress before the ships, which
+were descried at a distance, could throw succours into it. They
+had mastered some of the outworks, and the garrison represented
+that it was impossible for them to support such another shock
+without aid from the vessels. The captains, with as much force as
+could be spared, entered the fort, and a sally was shortly
+afterwards resolved on and executed, in which the besiegers
+sustained considerable damage. Every effort was likewise employed
+to repair the breaches and stop up the mines that had been made
+by the enemy in order to effect a passage into the place. Ibrahim
+now attempted to draw them into a snare by removing his camp to a
+distance and making a feint of abandoning his enterprise; but
+this stratagem proved ineffectual. Reflecting then with
+indignation that his own force consisted of fifteen thousand men
+whilst that of the Europeans did not exceed three hundred and
+fifty, many of whom were sick and wounded, and others worn out
+with the fatigue of continual duty (intelligence whereof was
+conveyed to him), he resolved once more to return to the siege,
+and make a general assault upon all parts of the fortification at
+once. Two hours before daybreak he caused the place to be
+surrounded with eight thousand men, who approached in perfect
+silence. The nighttime was preferred by these people for making
+their attacks as being then most secure from the effect of
+firearms, and they also generally chose a time of rain, when the
+powder would not burn. As soon as they found themselves perceived
+they set up a hideous shout, and, fixing their scaling ladders,
+made of bamboo and wonderfully light, to the number of six
+hundred, they attempted to force their way through the embrasures
+for the guns; but after a strenuous contest they were at length
+repulsed. Seven elephants were driven with violence against the
+paling of one of the bastions, which gave way before them like a
+hedge, and overset all the men who were on it. Javelins and pikes
+these enormous beasts made no account of, but upon setting fire
+to powder under their trunks they drew back with precipitation in
+spite of all the efforts of their drivers, overthrew their own
+people, and, flying to the distance of several miles, could not
+again be brought into the lines. The Achinese upon receiving this
+check thought to take revenge by setting fire to some vessels
+that were in the dockyard; but this proved an unfortunate measure
+to them, for by the light which it occasioned the garrison were
+enabled to point their guns, and did abundant execution.</p>
+
+<p>1524.</p>
+
+<p>Henriquez, after beating sometime against a contrary wind, put
+back to Pase, and, coming on shore the day after this conflict,
+resumed his command. A council was soon after held to determine
+what measures were fittest to be pursued in the present situation
+of affairs, and, taking into their consideration that no further
+assistance could be expected from the west of India in less than
+six months, that the garrison was sickly and provisions short, it
+was resolved by a majority of votes to abandon the place, and
+measures were taken accordingly. In order to conceal their
+intentions from the enemy they ordered such of the artillery and
+stores as could be removed conveniently to be packed up in the
+form of merchandise and then shipped off. A party was left to set
+fire to the buildings, and trains of powder were so disposed as
+to lead to the larger cannon, which they overcharged that they
+might burst as soon as heated. But this was not effectually
+executed, and the pieces mostly fell into the hands of the
+Achinese, who upon the first alarm of the evacuation rushed in,
+extinguished the flames, and turned upon the Portuguese their own
+artillery, many of whom were killed in the water as they hurried
+to get into their boats. They now lost as much credit by this ill
+conducted retreat as they had acquired by their gallant defence,
+and were insulted by the reproachful shouts of the enemy, whose
+power was greatly increased by this acquisition of military
+stores, and of which they often severely experienced the effects.
+To render their disgrace more striking it happened that as they
+sailed out of the harbour they met thirty boats laden with
+provisions for their use from the king of Aru, who was himself on
+his march overland with four thousand men: and when they arrived
+at Malacca they found troops and stores embarked there for their
+relief. The unfortunate princes who had sought an asylum with
+them now joined in their flight; the sultan of Pase proceeded to
+Malacca, and the sultan of Pidir and chief of Daya took refuge
+with the king of Aru.</p>
+
+<p>1525.</p>
+
+<p>Raja Nara, king of Indragiri, in conjunction with a force from
+Bintang, attacked the king of a neighbouring island called
+Lingga, who was in friendship with the Portuguese. A message
+which passed on this occasion gives a just idea of the style and
+manners of this people. Upon their acquainting the king of
+Lingga, in their summons of surrender, that they had lately
+overcome the fleet of Malacca, he replied that his intelligence
+informed him of the contrary; that he had just made a festival
+and killed fifty goats to celebrate one defeat which they had
+received, and hoped soon to kill a hundred in order to celebrate
+a second. His expectations were fulfilled, or rather anticipated,
+for the Portuguese, having a knowledge of the king of Indragiri's
+design, sent out a small fleet which routed the combined force
+before the king of Lingga was acquainted with their arrival, his
+capital being situated high up on the river.</p>
+
+<p>1526.</p>
+
+<p>In the next year, at the conquest of Bintang, this king
+unsolicited sent assistance to his European allies.</p>
+
+<p>1527.</p>
+
+<p>However well founded the accounts may have been which the
+Portuguese have given us of the cruelties committed against their
+people by the king of Achin, the barbarity does not appear to
+have been only on one side. Francisco de Mello, being sent in an
+armed vessel with dispatches to Goa, met near Achin Head with a
+ship of that nation just arrived from Mecca and supposed to be
+richly laden. As she had on board three hundred Achinese and
+forty Arabs he dared not venture to board her, but battered her
+at a distance, when suddenly she filled and sunk, to the extreme
+disappointment of the Portuguese, who thereby lost their prize;
+but they wreaked their vengeance on the unfortunate crew as they
+endeavoured to save themselves by swimming, and boast that they
+did not suffer a man to escape. Opportunities of retaliation soon
+offered.</p>
+
+<p>1528.</p>
+
+<p>Simano de Sousa, going with a reinforcement to the Moluccas
+from Cochin, was overtaken in the bay by a violent storm, which
+forced him to stow many of his guns in the hold; and, having lost
+several of his men through fatigue, he made for the nearest port
+he could take shelter in, which proved to be Achin. The king,
+having the destruction of the Portuguese at heart, and resolving
+if possible to seize their vessel, sent off a message to De Sousa
+recommending his standing in closer to the shore, where he would
+have more shelter from the gale which still continued, and lie
+more conveniently for getting off water and provisions, at the
+same time inviting him to land. This artifice not succeeding, he
+ordered out the next morning a thousand men in twenty boats, who
+at first pretended they were come to assist in mooring the ship;
+but the captain, aware of their hostile design, fired amongst
+them, when a fierce engagement took place in which the Achinese
+were repulsed with great slaughter, but not until they had
+destroyed forty of the Portuguese. The king, enraged at this
+disappointment, ordered a second attack, threatening to have his
+admiral trampled to death by elephants if he failed of success. A
+boat was sent ahead of this fleet with a signal of peace, and
+assurances to De Sousa that the king, as soon as he was made
+acquainted with the injury that had been committed, had caused
+the perpetrators of it to be punished, and now once more
+requested him to come on shore and trust to his honour. This
+proposal some of the crew were inclined that he should accept,
+but being animated by a speech that he made to them it was
+resolved that they should die with arms in their hands in
+preference to a disgraceful and hazardous submission. The combat
+was therefore renewed, with extreme fury on the one side, and
+uncommon efforts of courage on the other, and the assailants were
+a second time repulsed; but one of those who had boarded the
+vessel and afterwards made his escape represented to the Achinese
+the reduced and helpless situation of their enemy, and, fresh
+supplies coming off, they were encouraged to return to the
+attack. De Sousa and his people were at length almost all cut to
+pieces, and those who survived, being desperately wounded, were
+overpowered, and led prisoners to the king, who unexpectedly
+treated them with extraordinary kindness, in order to cover the
+designs he harboured, and pretended to lament the fate of their
+brave commander. He directed them to fix upon one of their
+companions, who should go in his name to the governor of Malacca,
+to desire he would immediately send to take possession of the
+ship, which he meant to restore, as well as to liberate them. He
+hoped by this artifice to draw more of the Portuguese into his
+power, and at the same time to effect a purpose of a political
+nature. A war had recently broken out between him and the king of
+Aru, the latter of whom had deputed ambassadors to Malacca, to
+solicit assistance, in return for his former services, and which
+was readily promised to him. It was highly the interest of the
+king of Achin to prevent this junction, and therefore, though
+determined to relax nothing in his plans of revenge, he hastened
+to dispatch Antonio Caldeira, one of the captives, with proposals
+of accommodation and alliance, offering to restore not only this
+vessel, but also the artillery which he had taken at Pase. These
+terms appeared to the governor too advantageous to be rejected.
+Conceiving a favourable idea of the king's intentions, from the
+confidence which Caldeira, who was deceived by the humanity shown
+to the wounded captives, appeared to place in his sincerity, he
+became deaf to the representations that were made to him by more
+experienced persons of his insidious character. A message was
+sent back, agreeing to accept his friendship on the proposed
+conditions, and engaging to withhold the promised succours from
+the king of Aru. Caldeira, in his way to Achin, touched at an
+island, where he was cut off with those who accompanied him. The
+ambassadors from Aru being acquainted with this breach of faith,
+retired in great disgust, and the king, incensed at the
+ingratitude shown him, concluded a peace with Achin; but not till
+after an engagement between their fleets had taken place, in
+which the victory remained undecided.</p>
+
+<p>In order that he might learn the causes of the obscurity in
+which his negotiations with Malacca rested, Ibrahim dispatched a
+secret messenger to Senaia Raja, bandhara of that city, with whom
+he held a correspondence; desiring also to be informed of the
+strength of the garrison. Hearing in answer that the governor
+newly arrived was inclined to think favourably of him, he
+immediately sent an ambassador to wait on him with assurances of
+his pacific and friendly disposition, who returned in company
+with persons empowered, on the governor's part, to negotiate a
+treaty of commerce. These, upon their arrival at Achin, were
+loaded with favours and costly presents, the news of which
+quickly flew to Malacca, and, the business they came on being
+adjusted, they were suffered to depart; but they had not sailed
+far before they were overtaken by boats sent after them, and were
+stripped and murdered. The governor, who had heard of their
+setting out, concluded they were lost by accident. Intelligence
+of this mistaken opinion was transmitted to the king, who
+thereupon had the audacity to request that he might be honoured
+with the presence of some Portuguese of rank and consequence in
+his capital, to ratify in a becoming manner the articles that had
+been drawn up; as he ardently wished to see that nation
+trafficking freely in his dominions.</p>
+
+<p>1529.</p>
+
+<p>The deluded governor, in compliance with this request, adopted
+the resolution of sending thither a large ship under the command
+of Manuel Pacheco, with a rich cargo, the property of himself and
+several merchants of Malacca, who themselves embarked with the
+idea of making extraordinary profits. Senaia conveyed notice of
+this preparation to Achin, informing the king at the same time
+that, if he could make himself master of this vessel, Malacca
+must fall an easy prey to him, as the place was weakened of half
+its force for the equipment. When Pacheco approached the harbour
+he was surrounded by a great number of boats, and some of the
+people began to suspect treachery, but so strongly did the spirit
+of delusion prevail in this business that they could not persuade
+the captain to put himself on his guard. He soon had reason to
+repent his credulity. Perceiving an arrow pass close by him, he
+hastened to put on his coat of mail, when a second pierced his
+neck, and he soon expired. The vessel then became an easy prey,
+and the people, being made prisoners, were shortly afterwards
+massacred by the king's order, along with the unfortunate remnant
+of De Sousa's crew, so long flattered with the hopes of release.
+By this capture the king was supposed to have remained in
+possession of more artillery than was left in Malacca, and he
+immediately fitted out a fleet to take advantage of its exposed
+state. The pride of success causing him to imagine it already in
+his power, he sent a taunting message to the governor in which he
+thanked him for the late instances of his liberality, and let him
+know he should trouble him for the remainder of his naval
+force.</p>
+
+<p>Senaia had promised to put the citadel into his hands, and
+this had certainly been executed but for an accident that
+discovered his treasonable designs. The crews of some vessels of
+the Achinese fleet landed on a part of the coast not far from the
+city, where they were well entertained by the natives, and in the
+openness of conviviality related the transactions which had
+lately passed at Achin, the correspondence of Senaia, and the
+scheme that was laid for rising on the Portuguese when they
+should be at church, murdering them, and seizing the fortress.
+Intelligence of this was reported with speed to the governor, who
+had Senaia instantly apprehended and executed. This punishment
+served to intimidate those among the inhabitants who were engaged
+in the conspiracy, and disconcerted the plans of the king of
+Achin.</p>
+
+<p>This appears to be the last transaction of Ibrahim's reign
+recorded by the Portuguese historians. His death is stated by De
+Barros to have taken place in the year 1528 in consequence of
+poison administered to him by one of his wives, to revenge the
+injuries her brother, the chief of Daya, had suffered at his
+hand. In a Malayan work (lately come into my possession)
+containing the annals of the kingdom of Achin, it is said that a
+king, whose title was sultan Saleh-eddin-shah, obtained the
+sovereignty in a year answering to 1511 of our era, and who,
+after reigning about eighteen years, was dethroned by a brother
+in 1529. Notwithstanding some apparent discordance between the
+two accounts there can be little doubt of the circumstances
+applying to the same individual, as it may well be presumed that,
+according to the usual practice in the East, he adopted upon
+ascending the throne a title different from the name which he had
+originally borne, although that might continue to be his more
+familiar appellation, especially in the mouths of his enemies.
+The want of precise coincidence in the dates cannot be thought an
+objection, as the event not falling under the immediate
+observation of the Portuguese they cannot pretend to accuracy
+within a few months, and even their account of the subsequent
+transactions renders it more probable that it happened in 1529;
+nor are the facts of his being dethroned by the brother, or put
+to death by the sister, materially at variance with each other;
+and the latter circumstance, whether true or false, might
+naturally enough be reported at Malacca.</p>
+
+<p>1529.</p>
+
+<p>His successor took the name of Ala-eddin-shah, and afterwards,
+from his great enterprises, acquired the additional epithet of
+keher or the powerful. By the Portuguese he is said to have
+styled himself king of Achin, Barus, Pidir, Pase, Daya, and
+Batta, prince of the land of the two seas, and of the mines of
+Menangkabau.</p>
+
+<p>1537.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing is recorded of his reign until the year 1537, in which
+he twice attacked Malacca. The first time he sent an army of
+three thousand men who landed near the city by night, unperceived
+by the garrison, and, having committed some ravages in the
+suburbs, were advancing to the bridge, when the governor,
+Estavano de Gama, sallied out with a party and obliged them to
+retreat for shelter to the woods. Here they defended themselves
+during the next day, but on the following night they re-embarked,
+with the loss of five hundred men. A few months afterwards the
+king had the place invested with a larger force; but in the
+interval the works had been repaired and strengthened, and after
+three days ineffectual attempt the Achinese were again
+constrained to retire.</p>
+
+<p>1547.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1547 he once more fitted out a fleet against
+Malacca, where a descent was made; but, contented with some
+trifling plunder, the army re-embarked, and the vessels proceeded
+to the river of Parles on the Malayan coast. Hither they were
+followed by a Portuguese squadron, which attacked and defeated a
+division of the fleet at the mouth of the river. This victory was
+rendered famous, not so much by the valour of the combatants, as
+by a revelation opportunely made from heaven to the celebrated
+missionary Francisco Xavier of the time and circumstances of it,
+and which he announced to the garrison at a moment when the
+approach of a powerful invader from another quarter had caused
+much alarm and apprehension among them.</p>
+
+<p>Many transactions of the reign of this prince, particularly
+with the neighbouring states of Batta and Aru (about the years
+1539 and 1541) are mentioned by Ferdinand Mendez Pinto; but his
+writings are too apocryphal to allow of the facts being recorded
+upon his authority. Yet there is the strongest internal evidence
+of his having been more intimately acquainted with the countries
+of which we are now speaking, the character of the inhabitants,
+and the political transactions of the period, than any of his
+contemporaries; and it appears highly probable that what he has
+related is substantially true: but there is also reason to
+believe that he composed his work from recollection after his
+return to Europe, and he may not have been scrupulous in
+supplying from a fertile imagination the unavoidable failures of
+a memory, however richly stored.</p>
+
+<p>1556.</p>
+
+<p>The death of Ala-eddin took place, according to the Annals, in
+1556, after a reign of twenty-eight years.</p>
+
+<p>1565.</p>
+
+<p>He was succeeded by sultan Hussein&shy;shah, who reigned about
+eight, and dying in 1565 was succeeded by his son, an infant.
+This child survived only seven months; and in the same year the
+throne was occupied by Raja Firman-shah, who was murdered soon
+after.</p>
+
+<p>1567.</p>
+
+<p>His successor, Raja Janil, experienced a similar fate when he
+had reigned ten months. This event is placed in 1567. Sultan
+Mansur-shah, from the kingdom of Perak in the peninsula, was the
+next who ascended the throne.</p>
+
+<p>1567.</p>
+
+<p>The western powers of India having formed a league for the
+purpose of extirpating the Portuguese, the king of Achin was
+invited to accede to it, and, in conformity with the engagements
+by which the respective parties were bound, he prepared to attack
+them in Malacca, and carried thither a numerous fleet, in which
+were fifteen thousand people of his own subjects, and four
+hundred Turks, with two hundred pieces of artillery of different
+sizes. In order to amuse the enemy he gave out that his force was
+destined against Java, and sent a letter, accompanied with a
+present of a kris, to the governor, professing strong sentiments
+of friendship. A person whom he turned on shore with marks of
+ignominy, being suspected for a spy, was taken up, and being put
+to the torture confessed that he was employed by the Ottoman
+emperor and king of Achin to poison the principal officers of the
+place, and to set fire to their magazine. He was put to death,
+and his mutilated carcase was sent off to the king. This was the
+signal for hostilities. He immediately landed with all his men
+and commenced a regular siege. Sallies were made with various
+success and very unequal numbers. In one of these the chief of
+Aru, the king's eldest son, was killed. In another the Portuguese
+were defeated and lost many officers. A variety of stratagems
+were employed to work upon the fears and shake the fidelity of
+the inhabitants of the town. A general assault was given in
+which, after prodigious efforts of courage, and imminent risk of
+destruction, the besieged remained victorious. The king, seeing
+all his attempts fruitless, at length departed, having lost three
+thousand men before the walls, beside about five hundred who were
+said to have died of their wounds on the passage. The king of
+Ujong-tanah or Johor, who arrived with a fleet to the assistance
+of the place, found the sea for a long distance covered with dead
+bodies. This was esteemed one of the most desperate and
+honourable sieges the Portuguese experienced in India, their
+whole force consisting of but fifteen hundred men, of whom no
+more than two hundred were Europeans.</p>
+
+<p>1568.</p>
+
+<p>In the following year a vessel from Achin bound to Java, with
+ambassadors on board to the queen of Japara, in whom the king
+wished to raise up a new enemy against the Portuguese, was met in
+the straits by a vessel from Malacca, who took her and put all
+the people to the sword. It appears to have been a maxim in these
+wars never to give quarter to an enemy, whether resisting or
+submitting.</p>
+
+<p>1569.</p>
+
+<p>In 1569 a single ship, commanded by Lopez Carrasco, passing
+near Achin, fell in with a fleet coming out of that port,
+consisting of twenty large galleys and a hundred and eighty other
+vessels, commanded by the king in person, and supposed to be
+designed against Malacca. The situation of the Portuguese was
+desperate. They could not expect to escape, and therefore
+resolved to die like men. During three days they sustained a
+continual attack, when, after having by incredible exertions
+destroyed forty of the enemy's vessels, and being themselves
+reduced to the state of a wreck, a second ship appeared in sight.
+The king perceiving this retired into the harbour with his
+shattered forces.</p>
+
+<p>It is difficult to determine which of the two is the more
+astonishing, the vigorous stand made by such a handful of men as
+the whole strength of Malacca consisted of, or the prodigious
+resources and perseverance of the Achinese monarch.</p>
+
+<p>1573.</p>
+
+<p>In 1573, after forming an alliance with the queen of Japara,
+the object of which was the destruction of the European power, he
+appeared again before Malacca with ninety vessels, twenty-five of
+them large galleys, with seven thousand men and great store of
+artillery. He began his operations by sending a party to set fire
+to the suburbs of the town, but a timely shower of rain prevented
+its taking effect. He then resolved on a different mode of
+warfare, and tried to starve the place to a surrender by blocking
+up the harbour and cutting off all supplies of provisions. The
+Portuguese, to prevent the fatal consequences of this measure,
+collected those few vessels which they were masters of, and, a
+merchant ship of some force arriving opportunely, they put to
+sea, attacked the enemy's fleet, killed the principal captain,
+and obtained a complete victory.</p>
+
+<p>1574.</p>
+
+<p>In the year following Malacca was invested by an armada from
+the queen of Japara, of three hundred sail, eighty of which were
+junks of four hundred tons burden. After besieging the place for
+three months, till the very air became corrupted by their stay,
+the fleet retired with little more than five thousand men, of
+fifteen that embarked on the expedition.</p>
+
+<p>1575.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely was the Javanese force departed when the king of
+Achin once more appeared with a fleet that is described as
+covering the straits. He ordered an attack upon three Portuguese
+frigates that were in the road protecting some provision vessels,
+which was executed with such a furious discharge of artillery
+that they were presently destroyed with all their crews. This was
+a dreadful blow to Malacca, and lamented, as the historian
+relates, with tears of blood by the little garrison, who were not
+now above a hundred and fifty men, and of those a great part
+non&shy;effective. The king, elated with his success, landed his
+troops, and laid siege to the fort, which he battered at
+intervals during seventeen days. The fire of the Portuguese
+became very slack, and after some time totally ceased, as the
+governor judged it prudent to reserve his small stock of
+ammunition for an effort at the last extremity. The king, alarmed
+at this silence, which he construed into a preparation for some
+dangerous stratagem, was seized with a panic, and, suddenly
+raising the siege, embarked with the utmost precipitation;
+unexpectedly relieving the garrison from the ruin that hung over
+it, and which seemed inevitable in the ordinary course of
+events.</p>
+
+<p>1582.</p>
+
+<p>In 1582 we find the king appearing again before Malacca with a
+hundred and fifty sail of vessels. After some skirmishes with the
+Portuguese ships, in which the success was nearly equal on both
+sides, the Achinese proceeded to attack Johor, the king of which
+was then in alliance with Malacca. Twelve ships followed them
+thither, and, having burned some of their galleys, defeated the
+rest and obliged them to fly to Achin. The operations of these
+campaigns, and particularly the valour of the commander, named
+Raja Makuta, are alluded to in Queen Elizabeth's letter to the
+king, delivered in 1602 by Sir James Lancaster.</p>
+
+<p>About three or four years after this misfortune Mansur-shah
+prepared a fleet of no less than three hundred sail of vessels,
+and was ready to embark once more upon his favourite enterprise,
+when he was murdered, together with his queen and many of the
+principal nobility, by the general of the forces, who had long
+formed designs upon the crown.</p>
+
+<p>1585.</p>
+
+<p>This was perpetrated in May 1585, when he had reigned nearly
+eighteen years. In his time the consequence of the kingdom of
+Achin is represented to have arrived at a considerable height,
+and its friendship to have been courted by the most powerful
+states. No city in India possessed a more flourishing trade, the
+port being crowded with merchant vessels which were encouraged to
+resort thither by the moderate rates of the customs levied; and
+although the Portuguese and their ships were continually
+plundered, those belonging to every Asiatic power, from Mecca in
+the West to Japan in the East, appear to have enjoyed protection
+and security. The despotic authority of the monarch was
+counterpoised by the influence of the orang-kayas or nobility,
+who are described as being possessed of great wealth, living in
+fortified houses, surrounded by numerous dependants, and feeling
+themselves above control, often giving a licentious range to
+their proud and impatient tempers.</p>
+
+<p>The late monarch's daughter and only child was married to the
+king of Johor,* by whom she had a son, who, being regarded as
+heir to the crown of Achin, had been brought to the latter place
+to be educated under the eye of his grandfather. When the general
+(whose name is corruptly written Moratiza) assumed the powers of
+government, he declared himself the protector of this child, and
+we find him mentioned in the Annals by the title of Sultan Buyong
+(or the Boy).</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The king of Achin sent on this occasion
+to Johor a piece of ordnance, such as for greatness, length, and
+workmanship (says Linschoten), could hardly be matched in all
+Christendom. It was afterwards taken by the Portuguese, who
+shipped it for Europe, but the vessel was lost in her
+passage.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>1588.</p>
+
+<p>But before he had completed the third year of his nominal
+reign he also was dispatched, and the usurper took formal
+possession of the throne in the year 1588, by the name of
+Ala-eddin Rayet-shah,* being then at an advanced period of
+life.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Valentyn, by an obvious corruption, names
+him Sulthan Alciden Ryetza, and this coincidence is strongly in
+favour of the authenticity and correctness of the Annals. John
+Davis, who will be hereafter mentioned, calls him, with
+sufficient accuracy, Sultan Aladin.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>The Annals say he was the grandson of Sultan Firman-shah; but
+the Europeans who visited Achin during his reign report him to
+have been originally a fisherman, who, having afterwards served
+in the wars against Malacca, showed so much courage, prudence,
+and skill in maritime affairs that the late king made him at
+length the chief commander of his forces, and gave him one of his
+nearest kinswomen to wife, in right of whom he is said to have
+laid claim to the throne.</p>
+
+<p>The French Commodore Beaulieu relates the circumstances of
+this revolution in a very different manner.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The commodore had great opportunity of
+information, was a man of very superior ability, and
+indefatigable in his inquiries upon all subjects, as appears by
+the excellent account of his voyage, and of Achin in particular,
+written by himself, and published in Thevenot's collection, of
+which there is an English translation in Harris; but it is
+possible he may, in this instance, have been amused by a
+plausible tale from the grandson of this monarch, with whom he
+had much intercourse. John Davis, an intelligent English
+navigator whose account I have followed, might have been more
+likely to hear the truth as he was at Achin (though not a
+frequenter of the court) during Ala-eddin's reign, whereas
+Beaulieu did not arrive till twenty' years after, and the report
+of his having been originally a fisherman is also mentioned by
+the Dutch writers.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>He says that, upon the extinction of the ancient royal line,
+which happened about forty years before the period at which he
+wrote, the orang-kayas met in order to choose a king, but, every
+one affecting the dignity for himself, they could not agree and
+resolved to decide it by force. In this ferment the cadi or chief
+judge by his authority and remonstrances persuaded them to offer
+the crown to a certain noble who in all these divisions had taken
+no part, but had lived in the reputation of a wise, experienced
+man, being then seventy years of age, and descended from one of
+the most respectable families of the country. After several
+excuses on his side, and entreaties and even threats on theirs,
+he at length consented to accept the dignity thus imposed upon
+him, provided they should regard him as a father, and receive
+correction from him as his children; but no sooner was he in
+possession of the sovereign power than (like Pope Sixtus the
+Fifth) he showed a different face, and the first step after his
+accession was to invite the orang-kayas to a feast, where, as
+they were separately introduced, he caused them to be seized and
+murdered in a court behind the palace. He then proceeded to
+demolish their fortified houses, and lodged their cannon, arms,
+and goods in the castle, taking measures to prevent in future the
+erection of any buildings of substantial materials that could
+afford him grounds of jealousy. He raised his own adherents from
+the lower class of people to the first dignities of the state,
+and of those who presumed to express any disapprobation of his
+conduct he made great slaughter, being supposed to have executed
+not less than twenty thousand persons in the first year of his
+reign.</p>
+
+<p>From the silence of the Portuguese writers with respect to the
+actions of this king we have reason to conclude that he did not
+make any attempts to disturb their settlement of Malacca; and it
+even appears that some persons in the character of ambassadors or
+agents from that power resided at Achin, the principal object of
+whose policy appears to have been that of inspiring him with
+jealousy and hatred of the Hollanders, who in their turn were
+actively exerting themselves to supplant the conquerors of
+India.</p>
+
+<p>1600.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the close of the sixteenth century they began to
+navigate these seas; and in June 1600 visited Achin with two
+ships, but had no cause to boast of the hospitality of their
+reception. An attempt was made to cut them off, and evidently by
+the orders or connivance of the king, who had prevailed upon the
+Dutch admiral to take on board troops and military stores for an
+expedition meditated, or pretended, against the city of Johor,
+which these ships were to bombard. Several of the crews were
+murdered, but after a desperate conflict in both ships the
+treacherous assailants were overcome and driven into the water,
+"and it was some pleasure (says John Davis, an Englishman, who
+was the principal pilot of the squadron) to see how the base
+Indians did fly, how they were killed, and how well they were
+drowned."* This barbarous and apparently unprovoked attack was
+attributed, but perhaps without any just grounds, to the
+instigation of the Portuguese.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. All the Dutchmen on shore at the time
+were made prisoners, and many of them continued in that state for
+several years. Among these was Captain Frederick Houtman, whose
+Vocabulary of the Malayan language was printed at Amsterdam in
+1604, being the first that was published in Europe. My copy has
+the writer's autograph.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>1600.</p>
+
+<p>In November 1600 Paulus van Caarden, having also the command
+of two Dutch ships, was received upon his landing with much
+ceremony; but at his first audience the king refused to read a
+letter from the Prince of Orange, upon its being suggested to him
+that instead of paper it was written on the skin of an unclean
+animal; and the subsequent treatment experienced by this officer
+was uniformly bad. It appears however that in December 1601 the
+king was so far reconciled to this new power as to send two
+ambassadors to Holland, one of whom died there in August 1602,
+and the other returned to Achin subsequently to the death of his
+master.</p>
+
+<p>1602.</p>
+
+<p>The first English fleet that made its appearance in this part
+of the world, and laid the foundation of a commerce which was in
+time to eclipse that of every other European state, arrived at
+Achin in June 1602. Sir James Lancaster, who commanded it, was
+received by the king with abundant ceremony and respect, which
+seem with these monarchs to have been usually proportioned to the
+number of vessels and apparent strength of their foreign guests.
+The queen of England's letter was conveyed to court with great
+pomp, and the general, after delivering a rich present, the most
+admired article of which was a fan of feathers, declared the
+purpose of his coming was to establish peace and amity between
+his royal mistress and her loving brother, the great and mighty
+king of Achin. He was invited to a banquet prepared for his
+entertainment, in which the service was of gold, and the king's
+damsels, who were richly attired and adorned with bracelets and
+jewels, were ordered to divert him with dancing and music. Before
+he retired he was arrayed by the king in a magnificent habit of
+the country, and armed with two krises. In the present sent as a
+return for the queen's there was, among other matters, a valuable
+ruby set in a ring. Two of the nobles, one of whom was the chief
+priest, were appointed to settle with Lancaster the terms of a
+commercial treaty, which was accordingly drawn up and executed in
+an explicit and regular manner. The Portuguese ambassador, or
+more properly the Spanish, as those kingdoms were now united,
+kept a watchful and jealous eye upon his proceedings; but by
+bribing the spies who surrounded him he foiled them at their own
+arts, and acquired intelligence that enabled him to take a rich
+prize in the straits of Malacca, with which he returned to Achin;
+and, having loaded what pepper he could procure there, took his
+departure in November of the same year. On this occasion it was
+requested by the king that he and his officers would favour him
+by singing one of the psalms of David, which was performed with
+much solemnity.</p>
+
+<p>Very little is known of the military transactions of this
+reign, and no conquest but that of Pase is recorded. He had two
+sons, the younger of whom he made king of Pidir, and the elder,
+styled Sultan Muda, he kept at Achin, in order to succeed him in
+the throne. In the year 1603 he resolved to divide the charge of
+government with his intended heir, as he found his extraordinary
+age began to render him unequal to the task, and accordingly
+invested him with royal dignity; but the effect which might have
+been foreseen quickly followed this measure. The son, who was
+already advanced in years, became impatient to enjoy more
+complete power, and, thinking his father had possessed the crown
+sufficiently long, he confined him in a prison, where his days
+were soon ended.</p>
+
+<p>1604.</p>
+
+<p>The exact period at which this event took place is not known,
+but, calculating from the duration of his reign as stated in the
+Annals, it must have been early in the year 1604.* He was then
+ninety-five years of age,** and described to be a hale man, but
+extremely gross and fat.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The Dutch commander Joris van Spilbergen
+took leave of him in April 1603, and his ambassador to Holland,
+who returned in December, 1604, found his son on the throne,
+according to Valentyn. Commodore Beaulieu says he died in
+1603.)</blockquote>
+
+<blockquote>(**Footnote. According to Beaulieu Davis says he was
+about a hundred; and the Dutch voyages mention that his great age
+prevented his ever appearing out of his palace.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>His constitution must have been uncommonly vigorous, and his
+muscular strength is indicated by this ludicrous circumstance,
+that when he once condescended to embrace a Dutch admiral,
+contrary to the usual manners of his country, the pressure of his
+arms was so violent as to cause excessive pain to the person so
+honoured. He was passionately addicted to women, gaming, and
+drink, his favourite beverage being arrack. By the severity of
+his punishments he kept his subjects in extreme awe of him; and
+the merchants were obliged to submit to more exactions and
+oppressions than were felt under the government of his
+predecessors. The seizure of certain vessels belonging to the
+people of Bantam and other arbitrary proceedings of that nature
+are said to have deterred the traders of India from entering into
+his ports.</p>
+
+<p>The new king, who took the name of Ali Maghayat-shah, proved
+himself, from indolence or want of capacity, unfit to reign. He
+was always surrounded by his women, who were not only his
+attendants but his guards, and carried arms for that purpose. His
+occupations were the bath and the chase, and the affairs of state
+were neglected insomuch that murders, robberies, oppression, and
+an infinity of disorders took place in the kingdom for want of a
+regular and strict administration of justice. A son of the
+daughter of Ala-eddin had been a favourite of his grandfather, at
+the time of whose death he was twenty-three years of age, and
+continued, with his mother, to reside at the court after that
+event. His uncle the king of Achin having given him a rebuke on
+some occasion, he left his palace abruptly and fled to the king
+of Pidir, who received him with affection, and refused to send
+him back at the desire of the elder brother, or to offer any
+violence to a young prince whom their father loved. This was the
+occasion of an inveterate war which cost the lives of many
+thousand people. The nephew commanded the forces of Pidir, and
+for some time maintained the advantage, but these, at length
+seeing themselves much inferior in numbers to the army of
+Ali-Maghayat, refused to march, and the king was obliged to give
+him up, when he was conveyed to Achin and put in close
+confinement.</p>
+
+<p>1606.</p>
+
+<p>Not long afterwards a Portuguese squadron under Martin
+Alfonso, going to the relief of Malacca, then besieged by the
+Dutch, anchored in Achin road with the resolution of taking
+revenge on the king for receiving these their rivals into his
+ports, contrary to the stipulations of a treaty that had been
+entered into between them. The viceroy landed his men, who were
+opposed by a strong force on the part of the Achinese; but after
+a stout resistance they gained the first turf fort with two
+pieces of cannon, and commenced an attack upon the second, of
+masonry. In this critical juncture the young prince sent a
+message to his uncle requesting he might be permitted to join the
+army and expose himself in the ranks, declaring himself more
+willing to die in battle against the Kafers (so they always
+affected to call the Portuguese) than to languish like a slave in
+chains. The fears which operated upon the king's mind induced him
+to consent to his release. The prince showed so much bravery on
+this occasion, and conducted two or three attacks with such
+success that Alfonso was obliged to order a retreat, after
+wasting two days and losing three hundred men in this fruitless
+attempt. The reputation of the prince was raised by this affair
+to a high pitch amongst the people of Achin. His mother, who was
+an active, ambitious woman, formed the design of placing him on
+the throne, and furnished him with large sums of money, to be
+distributed in gratuities amongst the principal orang cayas. At
+the same time he endeavoured to ingratiate himself by his manners
+with all classes of people. To the rich he was courteous; to the
+poor he was affable; and he was the constant companion of those
+who were in the profession of arms. When the king had reigned
+between three and four years he died suddenly, and at the hour of
+his death the prince got access to the castle. He bribed the
+guards, made liberal promises to the officers, advanced a large
+sum of money to the governor, and sending for the chief priest
+obliged him by threats to crown him. In fine he managed the
+revolution so happily that he was proclaimed king before night,
+to the great joy of the people, who conceived vast hopes from his
+liberality, courtesy, and valour. The king of Pidir was speedily
+acquainted with the news of his brother's death, but not of the
+subsequent transactions, and came the next day to take possession
+of his inheritance. As he approached the castle with a small
+retinue he was seized by orders from the reigning prince, who,
+forgetting the favours he had received, kept him prisoner for a
+month, and then, sending him into the country under the pretence
+of a commodious retreat, had him murdered on the way. Those who
+put the crown on his head were not better requited; particularly
+the Maharaja, or governor of the castle. In a short time his
+disappointed subjects found that instead of being humane he was
+cruel; instead of being liberal he displayed extreme avarice, and
+instead of being affable he manifested a temper austere and
+inexorable.</p>
+
+<p>This king, whom the Annals name Iskander Muda, was known to
+our travellers by the title of sultan Paduka Sri (words
+equivalent to most gracious), sovereign of Achin and of the
+countries of Aru, Dilli, Johor, Pahang, Kedah, and Perak on the
+one side, and of Barus, Pasaman, Tiku, Sileda, and Priaman on the
+other. Some of these places were conquered by him, and others he
+inherited.</p>
+
+<p>1613.</p>
+
+<p>He showed much friendship to the Hollanders in the early part
+of his reign; and in the year 1613 gave permission to the English
+to settle a factory, granting them many indulgences, in
+consequence of a letter and present from king James the first. He
+bestowed on Captain Best, who was the bearer of them, the title
+of orang kaya putih, and entertained him with the fighting of
+elephants, buffaloes, rams, and tigers. His answer to king James
+(a translation of which is to be found in Purchas) is couched in
+the most friendly terms, and he there styles himself king of all
+Sumatra. He expressed a strong desire that the king of England
+should send him one of his countrywomen to wife, and promised to
+make her eldest son king of all the pepper countries, that so the
+English might be supplied with that commodity by a monarch of
+their own nation. But notwithstanding his strong professions of
+attachment to us, and his natural connexion with the Hollanders,
+arising from their joint enmity to the Portuguese, it was not
+many years before he began to oppress both nations and use his
+endeavours to ruin their trade. He became jealous of their
+growing power, and particularly in consequence of intelligence
+that reached him concerning the encroachments made by the latter
+in the island of Java.</p>
+
+<p>The conquest of Aru seems never to have been thoroughly
+effected by the kings of Achin. Paduka Sri carried his arms
+thither and boasted of having obtained some victories.</p>
+
+<p>1613.</p>
+
+<p>In 1613 he subdued Siak in its neighbourhood. Early in the
+same year he sent an expedition against the kingdom of Johor
+(which had always maintained a political connexion with Aru) and,
+reducing the city after a siege of twenty-nine days, plundered it
+of everything moveable, and made slaves of the miserable
+inhabitants. The king fled to the island of Bintang, but his
+youngest brother and coadjutor was taken prisoner and carried to
+Achin. The old king of Johor, who had so often engaged the
+Portuguese, left three sons, the eldest of whom succeeded him by
+the title of Iang de per-tuan.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. This is not an individual title or proper
+name, but signifies the sovereign or reigning monarch. In like
+manner Rega Bongsu signifies the king's youngest brother, as Raja
+Muda does the heir apparent.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>The second was made king of Siak, and the third, called Raja
+Bongsu, reigned jointly with the first. He it was who assisted
+the Hollanders in the first siege of Malacca, and corresponded
+with Prince Maurice. The king of Achin was married to their
+sister, but this did not prevent a long and cruel war between
+them. A Dutch factory at Johor was involved in the consequences
+of this war, and several of that nation were among the prisoners.
+In the course of the same year however the king of Achin thought
+proper to establish Raja Bongsu on the throne of Johor, sending
+him back for that purpose with great honours, assisting him to
+rebuild the fort and city, and giving him one of his own sisters
+in marriage.</p>
+
+<p>1615.</p>
+
+<p>In 1615 the king of Achin sailed to the attack of Malacca in a
+fleet which he had been four years employed in preparing. It
+consisted of above five hundred sail, of which a hundred were
+large galleys, greater than any at that time built in Europe,
+carrying each from six to eight hundred men, with three large
+cannon and several smaller pieces. These galleys the orang kayas
+were obliged to furnish, repair, and man, at the peril of their
+lives. The soldiers served without pay, and carried three months
+provision at their own charge. In this great fleet there were
+computed to be sixty thousand men, whom the king commanded in
+person. His wives and household were taken to sea with him.
+Coming in sight of the Portuguese ships in the afternoon, they
+received many shot from them but avoided returning any, as if
+from contempt. The next day they got ready for battle, and drew
+up in form of a half moon. A desperate engagement took place and
+lasted without intermission till midnight, during which the
+Portuguese admiral was three times boarded, and repeatedly on
+fire. Many vessels on both sides were also in flames and afforded
+light to continue the combat. At length the Achinese gave way,
+after losing fifty sail of different sizes, and twenty thousand
+men. They retired to Bancalis, on the eastern coast of Sumatra,
+and shortly afterwards sailed for Achin, the Portuguese not
+daring to pursue their victory, both on account of the damage
+they had sustained and their apprehension of the Hollanders, who
+were expected at Malacca. The king proposed that the prisoners
+taken should be mutually given up, which was agreed to, and was
+the first instance of that act of humanity and civilisation
+between the two powers.</p>
+
+<p>1619.</p>
+
+<p>Three years afterwards the king made a conquest of the cities
+of Kedah and Perak on the Malayan coast, and also of a place
+called Dilli in Sumatra. This last had been strongly fortified by
+the assistance of the Portuguese, and gave an opportunity of
+displaying much skill in the attack. Trenches were regularly
+opened before it and a siege carried on for six weeks ere it
+fell. In the same year the king of Jorcan (a place unknown at
+present by that name) fled for refuge to Malacca with eighty sail
+of boats, having been expelled his dominions by the king of
+Achin. The Portuguese were not in a condition to afford him
+relief, being themselves surrounded with enemies and fearful of
+an attack from the Achinese more especially; but the king was
+then making preparations against an invasion he heard was
+meditated by the viceroy of Goa. Reciprocal apprehensions kept
+each party on the defensive.</p>
+
+<p>1621.</p>
+
+<p>The French being desirous of participating in the commerce of
+Achin, of which all the European nations had formed great ideas,
+and all found themselves disappointed in, sent out a squadron
+commanded by General Beaulieu, which arrived in January 1621, and
+finally left it in December of the same year. He brought
+magnificent presents to the king, but these did not content his
+insatiable avarice, and he employed a variety of mean arts to
+draw from him further gifts. Beaulieu met also with many
+difficulties, and was forced to submit to much extortion in his
+endeavours to procure a loading of pepper, of which Achin itself,
+as has been observed, produced but little. The king informed him
+that he had some time since ordered all the plants to be
+destroyed, not only because the cultivation of them proved an
+injury to more useful agriculture, but also lest their produce
+might tempt the Europeans to serve him, as they had served the
+kings of Jakatra and Bantam. From this apprehension he had lately
+been induced to expel the English and Dutch from their
+settlements at Priaman and Tiku, where the principal quantity of
+pepper was procured, and of which places he changed the governor
+every third year to prevent any connexions dangerous to his
+authority from being formed. He had likewise driven the Dutch
+from a factory they were attempting to settle at Padang; which
+place appears to be the most remote on the western coast of the
+island to which the Achinese conquests at any time extended.</p>
+
+<p>1628.</p>
+
+<p>Still retaining a strong desire to possess himself of Malacca,
+so many years the grand object of Achinese ambition, he
+imprisoned the ambassador then at his court, and made
+extraordinary preparations for the siege, which he designed to
+undertake in person. The laksamana or commander in chief (who had
+effected all the king's late conquests) attempted to oppose this
+resolution; but the maharaja, willing to flatter his master's
+propensity, undertook to put him in possession of the city and
+had the command of the fleet given to him, as the other had of
+the land forces. The king set out on the expedition with a fleet
+of two hundred and fifty sail (forty&shy;seven of them not less
+than a hundred feet in the keel), in which were twenty thousand
+men well appointed, and a great train of artillery. After being
+some time on board, with his family and retinue as usual, he
+determined, on account of an ill omen that was observed, to
+return to the shore. The generals, proceeding without him, soon
+arrived before Malacca. Having landed their men they made a
+judicious disposition, and began the attack with much courage and
+military skill. The Portuguese were obliged to abandon several of
+their posts, one of which, after a defence of fifty days, was
+levelled with the ground, and from its ruins strong works were
+raised by the laksamana. The maharaja had seized another post
+advantageously situated. From their several camps they had lines
+of communication, and the boats on the river were stationed in
+such a manner that the place was completely invested. Matters
+were in this posture when a force of two thousand men came to the
+assistance of the besieged from the king of Pahang, and likewise
+five sail of Portuguese vessels from the coast of Coromandel; but
+all was insufficient to remove so powerful an enemy, although by
+that time they had lost four thousand of their troops in the
+different attacks and skirmishes. In the latter end of the year a
+fleet of thirty sail of ships, large and small, under the command
+of Nunno Alvarez Botello, having on board nine hundred European
+soldiers, appeared off Malacca, and blocked up the fleet of Achin
+in a river about three miles from the town. This entirely altered
+the complexion of affairs. The besiegers retired from their
+advanced works and hastened to the defence of their galleys,
+erecting batteries by the side of the river. The maharaja being
+summoned to surrender returned a civil but resolute answer. In
+the night, endeavouring to make his escape with the smaller
+vessels through the midst of the Portuguese, he was repulsed and
+wounded. Next day the whole force of the Achinese dropped down
+the stream with a design to fight their way, but after an
+engagement of two hours their principal galley, named the Terror
+of the World, was boarded and taken, after losing five hundred
+men of seven which she carried. Many other vessels were
+afterwards captured or sunk. The laksamana hung out a white flag
+and sent to treat with Nunno, but, some difficulty arising about
+the terms, the engagement was renewed with great warmth. News was
+brought to the Portuguese that the maharaja was killed and that
+the king of Pahang was approaching with a hundred sail of vessels
+to reinforce them. Still the Achinese kept up a dreadful fire,
+which seemed to render the final success doubtful; but at length
+they sent proposals desiring only to be allowed three galleys of
+all their fleet to carry away four thousand men who remained of
+twenty that came before the town. It was answered that they must
+surrender at discretion; which the laksamana hesitating to do, a
+furious assault took place both by water and land upon his
+galleys and works, which were all effectually destroyed or
+captured, not a ship and scarcely a man escaping. He himself in
+the last extremity fled to the woods, but was seized ere long by
+the king of Pahang's scouts. Being brought before the governor he
+said to him, with an undaunted countenance, "Behold here the
+laksamana for the first time overcome!" He was treated with
+respect but kept a prisoner, and sent on his own famous ship to
+Goa in order to be from thence conveyed to Portugal: but death
+deprived his enemies of that distinguished ornament of their
+triumph.</p>
+
+<p>1635.</p>
+
+<p>This signal defeat proved so important a blow to the power of
+Achin that we read of no further attempts to renew the war until
+the year 1635, when the king, encouraged by the feuds which at
+this time prevailed in Malacca, again violated the law of
+nations, to him little known, by imprisoning their ambassador,
+and caused all the Portuguese about his court to be murdered. No
+military operations however immediately took place in consequence
+of this barbarous proceeding.</p>
+
+<p>1640. 1641.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1640 the Dutch with twelve men of war, and the
+king of Achin with twenty-five galleys, appeared before that
+harassed and devoted city; which at length, in the following year
+was wrested from the hands of the Portuguese, who had so long,
+through such difficulties, maintained possession of it. This year
+was also marked by the death of the sultan, whom the Dutch
+writers name Paduka Sri, at the age of sixty, after a reign of
+thirty-five years; having just lived to see his hereditary foe
+subdued; and as if the opposition of the Portuguese power, which
+seems first to have occasioned the rise of that of Achin, was
+also necessary to its existence, the splendour and consequence of
+the kingdom from that period rapidly declined.</p>
+
+<p>The prodigious wealth and resources of the monarchy during his
+reign are best evinced by the expeditions he was enabled to fit
+out; but being no less covetous than ambitious he contrived to
+make the expenses fall upon his subjects, and at the same time
+filled his treasury with gold by pressing the merchants and
+plundering the neighbouring states. An intelligent person
+(General Beaulieu), who was for some time at his court, and had
+opportunities of information on the subject, uses this strong
+expression--that he was infinitely rich. He constantly employed
+in his castle three hundred goldsmiths. This would seem an
+exaggeration, but that it is well known the Malayan princes have
+them always about them in great numbers at this day, working in
+the manufacture of filigree, for which the country is so famous.
+His naval strength has been already sufficiently described. He
+was possessed of two thousand brass guns and small arms in
+proportion. His trained elephants amounted to some hundreds. His
+armies were probably raised only upon the occasion which called
+for their acting, and that in a mode similar to what was
+established under the feudal system in Europe. The valley of
+Achin alone was said to be able to furnish forty thousand men
+upon an emergency. A certain number of warriors however were
+always kept on foot for the protection of the king and his
+capital. Of these the superior class were called ulubalang, and
+the inferior amba-raja, who were entirely devoted to his service
+and resembled the janizaries of Constantinople. Two hundred
+horsemen nightly patrolled the grounds about the castle, the
+inner courts and apartments of which were guarded by three
+thousand women. The king's eunuchs amounted to five hundred.</p>
+
+<p>The disposition of this monarch was cruel and sanguinary. A
+multitude of instances are recorded of the horrible barbarity of
+his punishments, and for the most trivial offences. He imprisoned
+his own mother and put her to the torture, suspecting her to have
+been engaged in a conspiracy against him with some of the
+principal nobles, whom he caused to be executed. He murdered his
+nephew, the king of Johor's son, of whose favour with his mother
+he was jealous. He also put to death a son of the king of Bantam,
+and another of the king of Pahang, who were both his near
+relations. None of the royal family survived in 1622 but his own
+son, a youth of eighteen, who had been thrice banished the court,
+and was thought to owe his continuance in life only to his
+surpassing his father, if possible, in cruelty, and being hated
+by all ranks of people. He was at one time made king of Pidir but
+recalled on account of his excesses, confined in prison and put
+to strange tortures by his father, whom he did not outlive. The
+whole territory of Achin was almost depopulated by wars,
+executions, and oppression. The king endeavoured to repeople the
+country by his conquests. Having ravaged the kingdoms of Johor,
+Pahang, Kedah, Perak, and Dilli, he transported the inhabitants
+from those places to Achin, to the number of twenty-two thousand
+persons. But this barbarous policy did not produce the effect he
+hoped; for the unhappy people, being brought naked to his
+dominions, and not allowed any kind of maintenance on their
+arrival, died of hunger in the streets. In the planning his
+military enterprises he was generally guided by the distresses of
+his neighbours, for whom, as for his prey, he unceasingly lay in
+wait; and his preparatory measures were taken with such secrecy
+that the execution alone unravelled them. Insidious political
+craft and wanton delight in blood united in him to complete the
+character of a tyrant.</p>
+
+<p>It must here be observed that, with respect to the period of
+this remarkable reign, the European and Malayan authorities are
+considerably at variance, the latter assigning to it something
+less than thirty solar years, and placing the death of Iskander
+Muda in December 1636. The Annals further state that he was
+succeeded by sultan Ala-eddin&shy;Mahayat-shah, who reigned only
+about four years and died in February 1641. That this is the more
+accurate account I have no hesitation in believing, although
+Valentyn, who gives a detail of the king's magnificent funeral,
+was persuaded that the reign which ended in 1641 was the same
+that began in 1607. But he collected his information eighty years
+after the event, and as it does not appear that any European
+whose journal has been given to the world was on the spot at that
+period, the death of an obscure monarch who died after a short
+reign may well have been confounded by persons at a distance with
+that of his more celebrated predecessor. Both authorities however
+are agreed in the important fact that the successor to the throne
+in 1641 was a female. This person is described by Valentyn as
+being the wife of the old king, and not his daughter, as by some
+had been asserted; but from the Annals it appears that she was
+his daughter, named Taju al-alum; and as it was in her right that
+Maghayat-shah (certainly her husband), obtained the crown, so
+upon his decease, there being no male heir, she peaceably
+succeeded him in the government, and became the first queen
+regent of Achin. The succession having thenceforward continued
+nearly sixty years in the female line, this may be regarded as a
+new era in the history of the country. The nobles finding their
+power less restrained, and their individual consequence more felt
+under an administration of this kind than when ruled by kings (as
+sometimes they were with a rod of iron) supported these pageants,
+whom they governed as they thought fit, and thereby virtually
+changed the constitution into an aristocracy or oligarchy. The
+business of the state was managed by twelve orang-kayas, four of
+whom were superior to the rest, and among these the maharaja, or
+governor of the kingdom, was considered as the chief. It does not
+appear, nor is it probable, that the queen had the power of
+appointing or removing any of these great officers. No
+applications were made to the throne but in their presence, nor
+any public resolution taken but as they determined in council.
+The great object of their political jealousy seems to have been
+the pretensions of the king of Johor to the crown, in virtue of
+repeated intermarriages between the royal families of the two
+countries, and it may be presumed that the alarms excited from
+that quarter materially contributed to reconcile them to the
+female domination. They are accordingly said to have formed an
+engagement amongst themselves never to pay obedience to a foreign
+prince, nor to allow their royal mistress to contract any
+marriage that might eventually lead to such a consequence.* At
+the same time, by a new treaty with Johor, its king was
+indirectly excused from the homage to the crown of Achin which
+had been insisted upon by her predecessors and was the occasion
+of frequent wars.</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. However fanciful it may be thought, I
+cannot doubt that the example of our Queen Elizabeth, whose
+character and government were highly popular with the Achinese on
+account of her triumphant contest with the united powers of Spain
+and Portugal, had a strong influence in the establishment of this
+new species of monarchy, and that the example of her sister's
+marriage with Philip may have contributed to the resolution taken
+by the nobles. The actions of our illustrious queen were a common
+topic of conversation between the old tyrant and Sir James
+Lancaster.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>In proportion as the political consequence of the kingdom
+declined, its history, as noticed by foreigners, becomes obscure.
+Little is recorded of the transactions of her reign, and it is
+likely that Achin took no active part in the concerns of
+neighbouring powers, but suffered the Hollanders, who maintained
+in general a friendly intercourse with her, to remain in quiet
+possession of Malacca.</p>
+
+<p>1643.</p>
+
+<p>In 1643 they sent an ambassador to compliment her upon her
+accession, and at the same time to solicit payment for a quantity
+of valuable jewels ordered by the deceased king, but for the
+amount of which she declined to make herself responsible.</p>
+
+<p>1660.</p>
+
+<p>It is said (but the fact will admit of much doubt) that in
+1660 she was inclined to marry one of their countrymen, and would
+have carried her design into execution had not the East India
+Company prevented by their authority a connexion that might, as
+they prudently judged, be productive of embarrassment to their
+affairs.</p>
+
+<p>1664.</p>
+
+<p>The Dutch however complain that she gave assistance to their
+enemies the people of Perak, and in 1664 it was found necessary
+to send a squadron under the command of Pieter de Bitter to bring
+her to reason. As it happened that she was at this time at war
+with some of her own dependants he made himself master of several
+places on the western coast that were nominally at least
+belonging to Achin.</p>
+
+<p>1666.</p>
+
+<p>About 1666 the English establishments at Achin and some ports
+to the southward appear to have given considerable umbrage to
+their rivals.</p>
+
+<p>1669.</p>
+
+<p>In 1669 the people of Dilli on the north-eastern coast threw
+off their allegiance, and the power of the kingdom became
+gradually more and more circumscribed.</p>
+
+<p>1675.</p>
+
+<p>This queen died in 1675, after reigning, with a degree of
+tranquillity little known in these countries, upwards of
+thirty-four years.</p>
+
+<p>The people being now accustomed and reconciled to female rule,
+which they found more lenient than that of their kings,
+acquiesced in general in the established mode of government.</p>
+
+<p>1677.</p>
+
+<p>And she was immediately succeeded by another female monarch,
+named Nur al-alum, who reigned little more than two years and
+died in 1677.</p>
+
+<p>The queen who succeeded her was named Anayet-shah.</p>
+
+<p>1684.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1684 she received an embassy from the English
+government of Madras, and appeared at that time to be about forty
+years. The persons who were on this occasion presented to her
+express their suspicions, which were suggested to them by a doubt
+prevailing amongst the inhabitants, that this sovereign was not a
+real queen, but a eunuch dressed up in female apparel, and
+imposed on the public by the artifices of the orang kayas. But as
+such a cheat, though managed with every semblance of reality
+(which they observe was the case) could not be carried on for any
+number of years without detection, and as the same idea does not
+appear to have been entertained at any other period, it is
+probable they were mistaken in their surmise. Her person they
+describe to have been large, and her voice surprisingly strong,
+but not manly.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The following curious passage is
+extracted from the journal of these gentlemen's proceedings. "We
+went to give our attendance at the palace this day as customary.
+Being arrived at the place of audience with the orang cayos, the
+queen was pleased to order us to come nearer, when her majesty
+was very inquisitive into the use of our wearing periwigs, and
+what was the convenience of them; to all which we returned
+satisfactory answers. After this her majesty desired of Mr. Ord,
+if it were no affront to him, that he would take off his periwig,
+that she might see how he appeared without it; which, according
+to her majesty's request, he did. She then told us she had heard
+of our business, and would give her answer by the orang cayos;
+and so we retired." I venture, with submission, to observe that
+this anecdote seems to put the question of the sex beyond
+controversy.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>The purport of the embassy was to obtain liberty to erect a
+fortification in her territory, which she peremptorily refused,
+being contrary to the established rules of the kingdom; adding
+that if the governor of Madras would fill her palace with gold
+she could not permit him to build with brick either fort or
+house. To have a factory of timber and plank was the utmost
+indulgence that could be allowed; and on that footing the return
+of the English, who had not traded there for many years, should
+be welcomed with great friendship. The queen herself, the orang
+kayas represented, was not allowed to fortify lest some foreign
+power might avail themselves of it to enslave the country. In the
+course of these negotiations it was mentioned that the
+agriculture of Achin had suffered considerably of late years by
+reason of a general licence given to all the inhabitants to
+search for gold in the mountains and rivers which afforded that
+article; whereas the business had formerly been restricted to
+certain authorized persons, and the rest obliged to till the
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>1684.</p>
+
+<p>The court feared to give a public sanction for the settlement
+of the English on any part of the southern coast lest it should
+embroil them with the other European powers.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. The design of settling a factory at this
+period in the dominions of Achin was occasioned by the recent
+loss of our establishment at Bantam, which had been originally
+fixed by Sir James Lancaster in 1603. The circumstances of this
+event were as follows. The old sultan had thought proper to share
+the regal power with his son in the year 1677, and this measure
+was attended with the obvious effect of a jealousy between the
+parent and child, which soon broke forth into open hostilities.
+The policy of the Dutch led them to take an active part in favour
+of the young sultan, who had inclined most to their interests and
+now solicited their aid. The English on the other hand
+discouraged what appeared to them an unnatural rebellion, but
+without interfering, as they said, in any other character than
+that of mediators, or affording military assistance to either
+party; and which their extreme weakness rather than their
+assertions renders probable. On the twenty-eighth of March 1682
+the Dutch landed a considerable force from Batavia, and soon
+terminated the war. They placed the young sultan on the throne,
+delivering the father into his custody, and obtained from him in
+return for these favours an exclusive privilege of trade in his
+territories; which was evidently the sole object they had in
+view. On the first day of April possession was taken of the
+English factory by a party of Dutch and country soldiers, and on
+the twelfth the agent and council were obliged to embark with
+their property on vessels provided for the purpose, which carried
+them to Batavia. From thence they proceeded to Surat on the
+twenty-second of August in the following year.</blockquote>
+
+<p>In order to retain a share in the pepper-trade the English
+turned their thoughts towards Achin, and a deputation, consisting
+of two gentlemen, of the names of Old and Cawley, was sent
+thither in 1684; the success of which is above related. It
+happened that at this time certain Rajas or chiefs of the country
+of Priaman and other places on the west coast of Sumatra were at
+Achin also to solicit aid of that court against the Dutch, who
+had made war upon and otherwise molested them. These immediately
+applied to Mr. Ord, expressing a strong desire that the English
+should settle in their respective districts, offering ground for
+a fort and the exclusive purchase of their pepper. They consented
+to embark for Madras, where an agreement was formed with them by
+the governor in the beginning of the year 1685 on the terms they
+had proposed. In consequence of this an expedition was fitted out
+with the design of establishing a settlement at Priaman; but a
+day or two before the ships sailed an invitation to the like
+purport was received from the chiefs of Bang&shy;kaulu (since
+corruptly called Bencoolen); and as it was known that a
+considerable proportion of the pepper that used to be exported
+from Bantam had been collected from the neighbourhood of
+Bencoolen (at a place called Silebar), it was judged advisable
+that Mr. Ord, who was the person entrusted with the management of
+this business, should first proceed thither; particularly as at
+that season of the year it was the windward port. He arrived
+there on the twenty-fifth day of June 1685, and, after taking
+possession of the country assigned to the English Company, and
+leaving Mr. Broome in charge of the place, he sailed for the
+purpose of establishing the other settlements. He stopped first
+at Indrapura, where he found three Englishmen who were left of a
+small factory that had been some time before settled there by a
+man of the name of Du Jardin. Here he learned that the Dutch,
+having obtained a knowledge of the original intention of our
+fixing at Priaman, had anticipated us therein and sent a party to
+occupy the situation. In the meantime it was understood in Europe
+that this place was the chief of our establishments on the coast,
+and ships were accordingly consigned thither. The same was
+supposed at Madras, and troops and stores were sent to reinforce
+it, which were afterwards landed at Indrapura. A settlement was
+then formed at Manjuta, and another attempted at Batang-kapas in
+1686; but here the Dutch, assisted by a party amongst the
+natives, assaulted and drove out our people. Every possible
+opposition, as it was natural to expect, was given by these our
+rivals to the success of our factories. They fixed themselves in
+the neighbourhood of them and endeavoured to obstruct the country
+people from carrying pepper to them or supplying them with
+provisions either by sea or land. Our interests however in the
+end prevailed, and Bencoolen in particular, to which the other
+places were rendered subordinate in 1686, began to acquire some
+degree of vigour and respectability. In 1689 encouragement was
+given to Chinese colonists to settle there, whose number has been
+continually increasing from that time. In 1691 the Dutch felt the
+loss of their influence at Silebar and other of the southern
+countries, where they attempted to exert authority in the name of
+the sultan of Bantam, and the produce of these places was
+delivered to the English. This revolution proceeded from the
+works with which about this time our factory was strengthened. In
+1695 a settlement was made at Triamang, and two years after at
+Kattaun and Sablat. The first, in the year 1700, was removed to
+Bantal. Various applications were made by the natives in
+different parts of the island for the establishment of factories,
+particularly from Ayer-Bangis to the northward, Palembang on the
+eastern side, and the people from the countries south of Tallo,
+near Manna. A person was sent to survey these last, as far as
+Pulo Pisang and Kroi, in 1715. In consequence of the
+inconvenience attending the shipping of goods from Bencoolen
+River, which is often impracticable from the surfs, a warehouse
+was built in 1701 at a place then called the cove; which gave the
+first idea of removing the settlement to the point of land which
+forms the bay of Bencoolen. The unhealthiness of the old
+situation was thought to render this an expedient step; and
+accordingly about 1714 it was in great measure relinquished, and
+the foundations of Fort Marlborough were laid on a spot two or
+three miles distant. Being a high plain it was judged to possess
+considerable advantages; many of which however are
+counterbalanced by its want of the vicinity of a river, so
+necessary for the ready and plentiful supply of provisions. Some
+progress had been made in the erection of this fort when an
+accident happened that had nearly destroyed the Company's views.
+The natives incensed at ill treatment received from the
+Europeans, who were then but little versed in the knowledge of
+their dispositions or the art of managing them by conciliating
+methods, rose in a body in the year 1719, and forced the
+garrison, whose ignorant fears rendered them precipitate, to seek
+refuge on board their ships. These people began now to feel
+alarms lest the Dutch, taking advantage of the absence of the
+English, should attempt an establishment, and soon permitted some
+persons from the northern factories to resettle the place; and,
+supplies arriving from Madras, things returned to their former
+course, and the fort was completed. The Company's affairs on this
+coast remained in tranquillity for a number of years. The
+important settlement of Natal was established in 1752, and that
+of Tappanuli a short time afterwards; which involved the English
+in fresh disputes with the Dutch, who set up a claim to the
+country in which they are situated. In the year 1760 the French
+under Comte d'Estaing destroyed all the English settlements on
+the coast of Sumatra; but they were soon reestablished and our
+possession secured by the treaty of Paris in 1763. Fort
+Marlborough, which had been hitherto a peculiar subordinate of
+Fort St. George, was now formed into an independent presidency,
+and was furnished with a charter for erecting a mayor's court,
+but which has never been enforced. In 1781 a detachment of
+military from thence embarked upon five East India ships and took
+possession of Padang and all other Dutch factories in consequence
+of the war with that nation. In 1782 the magazine of Fort
+Marlborough, in which were four hundred barrels of powder, was
+fired by lightning and blew up; but providentially few lives were
+lost. In 1802 an act of parliament was passed "to authorize the
+East India Company to make their settlement at Fort Marlborough
+in the East Indies, a factory subordinate to the presidency of
+Fort William in Bengal, and to transfer the servants who on the
+reduction of that establishment shall be supernumerary, to the
+presidency of Fort St. George." In 1798 plants of the nutmeg and
+clove had for the first time been procured from the Moluccas; and
+in 1803 a large importation of these valuable articles of
+cultivation took place. As the plantations were, by the last
+accounts from thence, in the most flourishing state, very
+important commercial advantages were expected to be derived from
+the culture.)</p>
+
+<p>A few years before these transactions she had invited the king
+of Siam to renew the ancient connexion between their respective
+states, and to unite in a league against the Dutch, by whose
+encroachments the commerce of her subjects and the extent of her
+dominions were much circumscribed. It does not appear however
+that this overture was attended with any effect, nor have the
+limits of the Achinese jurisdiction since that period extended
+beyond Pidir on the northern, and Barus on the western coast.</p>
+
+<p>1688.</p>
+
+<p>She died in 1688, having reigned something less than eleven
+years, and was succeeded by a young queen named Kamalat-shah; but
+this did not take place without a strong opposition from a
+faction amongst the orang kayas which wanted to set up a king,
+and a civil war actually commenced. The two parties drew up their
+forces on opposite sides of the river, and for two or three
+nights continued to fire at each other, but in the daytime
+followed their ordinary occupations. These opportunities of
+intercourse made them sensible of their mutual folly. They agreed
+to throw aside their arms and the crown remained in possession of
+the newly elected queen. It was said to have been esteemed
+essential that she should be a maiden, advanced in years, and
+connected by blood with the ancient royal line. In this reign an
+English factory, which had been long discontinued, was
+reestablished at Achin, but in the interval some private traders
+of this nation had always resided on the spot. These usually
+endeavoured to persuade the state that they represented the India
+Company, and sometimes acquired great influence, which they are
+accused of having employed in a manner not only detrimental to
+that body but to the interests of the merchants of India in
+general by monopolizing the trade of the port, throwing
+impediments in the way of all shipping not consigned to their
+management, and embezzling the cargoes of such as were. An asylum
+was also afforded, beyond the reach of law, for all persons whose
+crimes or debts induced them to fly from the several European
+settlements. These considerations chiefly made the Company
+resolve to reclaim their ancient privileges in that kingdom, and
+a deputation was sent from the presidency of Madras in the year
+1695 for that purpose, with letters addressed to her illustrious
+majesty the queen of Achin, desiring permission to settle on the
+terms her predecessors had granted to them; which was readily
+complied with, and a factory, but on a very limited scale, was
+established accordingly, but soon declined and disappeared. In
+1704, when Charles Lockyer (whose account of his voyage,
+containing a particular description of this place, was published
+in 1711) visited Achin, one of these independent factors, named
+Francis Delton, carried on a flourishing trade. In 1695 the
+Achinese were alarmed by the arrival of six sail of Dutch ships
+of force, with a number of troops on board, in their road, not
+having been visited by any of that nation for fifteen years, but
+they departed without offering any molestation.</p>
+
+<p>1699.</p>
+
+<p>This queen was deposed by her subjects (whose grounds of
+complaint are not stated) about the latter part of the year 1699,
+after reigning also eleven years; and with her terminated the
+female dynasty, which, during its continuance of about fifty-nine
+years, had attracted much notice in Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Her successor was named Beder al-alum sherif Hasham, the
+nature of whose pretensions to the crown does not positively
+appear, but there is reason to believe that he was her brother.
+When he had reigned a little more than two years it pleased God
+(as the Annals express it) to afflict him with a distemper which
+caused his feet and hands to contract (probably the gout) and
+disqualified him for the performance of his religious duties.</p>
+
+<p>1702.</p>
+
+<p>Under these circumstances he was induced to resign the
+government in 1702, and died about a month after his
+abdication.</p>
+
+<p>Perkasa-alum, a priest, found means by his intrigues to
+acquire the sovereignty, and one of his first acts was to attempt
+imposing certain duties on the merchandise imported by English
+traders, who had been indulged with an exemption from all port
+charges excepting the established complimentary presents upon
+their arrival and receiving the chap or licence. This had been
+stipulated in the treaty made by Sir James Lancaster, and renewed
+by Mr. Grey when chief of the Company's factory. The innovation
+excited an alarm and determined opposition on the part of the
+masters of ships then at the place, and they proceeded (under the
+conduct of Captain Alexander Hamilton, who published an account
+of his voyage in 1727) to the very unwarrantable step of
+commencing hostilities by firing upon the villages situated near
+the mouth of the river, and cutting off from the city all
+supplies of provisions by sea. The inhabitants, feeling severely
+the effects of these violent measures, grew clamorous against the
+government, which was soon obliged to restore to these insolent
+traders the privileges for which they contended.</p>
+
+<p>1704.</p>
+
+<p>Advantage was taken of the public discontents to raise an
+insurrection in favour of the nephew of the late queen, or,
+according to the Annals, the son of Beder al-alum (who was
+probably her brother), in the event of which Perkasa-alum was
+deposed about the commencement of the year 1704, and after an
+interregnum or anarchy of three months continuance, the young
+prince obtained possession of the throne, by the name of Jemal
+al-alum. From this period the native writers furnish very ample
+details of the transactions of the Achinese government, as well
+as of the general state of the country, whose prosperous
+circumstances during the early part of this king's reign are
+strongly contrasted with the misery and insignificance to which
+it was reduced by subsequent events. The causes and progress of
+this political decline cannot be more satisfactorily set forth
+than in a faithful translation of the Malayan narrative which was
+drawn up, or extracted from a larger work, for my use, and is
+distinct from the Annals already mentioned:</p>
+
+<p>When raja Jemal al-alum reigned in Achin the country was
+exceedingly populous, the nobles had large possessions, the
+merchants were numerous and opulent, the judgments of the king
+were just, and no man could experience the severity of punishment
+but through his own fault. In those days the king could not trade
+on his own account, the nobles having combined to prevent it; but
+the accustomed duties of the port were considered as his revenue,
+and ten per cent was levied for this purpose upon all merchandise
+coming into the country. The city was then of great extent, the
+houses were of brick and stone. The most considerable merchant
+was a man named Daniel, a Hollander; but many of different
+nations were also settled there, some from Surat, some from
+Kutch, others from China. When ships arrived in the port, if the
+merchants could not take off all the cargoes the king advanced
+the funds for purchasing what remained, and divided the goods
+among them, taking no profit to himself. After the departure of
+the vessel the king was paid in gold the amount of his principal,
+without interest.</p>
+
+<p>His daily amusements were in the grounds allotted for the
+royal sports. He was attended by a hundred young men, who were
+obliged to be constantly near his person day and night, and who
+were clothed in a sumptuous manner at a monthly expense of a
+hundred dollars for each man. The government of the different
+parts of the country was divided, under his authority, amongst
+the nobles. When a district appeared to be disturbed he took
+measures for quelling the insurrection; those who resisted his
+orders he caused to be apprehended; when the roads were bad he
+gave directions for their repair. Such was his conduct in the
+government. His subjects all feared him, and none dared to
+condemn his actions. At that time the country was in peace.</p>
+
+<p>When he had been a few years on the throne a country lying to
+the eastward, named Batu Bara, attempted to throw off its
+subjection to Achin. The chiefs were ordered to repair to court
+to answer for their conduct, but they refused to obey. These
+proceedings raised the king's indignation. He assembled the
+nobles and required of them that each should furnish a vessel of
+war, to be employed on an expedition against that place, and
+within two months, thirty large galleys, without counting vessels
+of a smaller size, were built and equipped for sea. When the
+fleet arrived off Batu Bara (by which must be understood the
+Malayan district at the mouth of the river, and not the Batta
+territory through which it takes its course), a letter was sent
+on shore addressed to the refractory chiefs, summoning them to
+give proof of their allegiance by appearing in the king's
+presence, or threatening the alternative of an immediate attack.
+After much division in their councils it was at length agreed to
+feign submission, and a deputation was sent off to the royal
+fleet, carrying presents of fruit and provisions of all kinds.
+One of the chiefs carried, as his complimentary offering, some
+fresh coconuts, of the delicate species called kalapa-gading,
+into which a drug had been secretly introduced. The king
+observing these directed that one should be cut open for him, and
+having drunk of the juice, became affected with a giddiness in
+his head. (This symptom shows the poison to have been the upas,
+but too much diluted in the liquor of the nut to produce death).
+Being inclined to repose, the strangers were ordered to return on
+shore, and, finding his indisposition augment, he gave directions
+for being conveyed back to Achin, whither his ship sailed next
+day. The remainder of the fleet continued off the coast during
+five or six days longer, and then returned likewise without
+effecting the reduction of the place, which the chiefs had lost
+no time in fortifying.</p>
+
+<p>About two years after this transaction the king, under
+pretence of amusement, made an excursion to the country lying
+near the source of the river Achin, then under the jurisdiction
+of a panglima or governor named Muda Seti; for it must be
+understood that this part of the kingdom is divided into three
+districts, known by the appellations of the Twenty-two,
+Twenty-six, and Twenty-five Mukims (see above), which were
+governed respectively by Muda Seti, Imam Muda, and
+Perbawang&shy;Shah (or Purba-wangsa). These three chiefs had the
+entire control of the country, and when their views were united
+they had the power of deposing and setting up kings. Such was the
+nature of the government. The king's expedition was undertaken
+with the design of making himself master of the person of Muda
+Seti, who had given him umbrage, and on this occasion his
+followers of all ranks were so numerous that wherever they halted
+for the night the fruits of the earth were all devoured, as well
+as great multitudes of cattle. Muda Seti however, being aware of
+the designs against him, had withdrawn himself from the place of
+his usual residence and was not to be found when the king arrived
+there; but a report being brought that he had collected five or
+six hundred followers and was preparing to make resistance,
+orders were immediately given for burning his house. This being
+effected, the king returned immediately to Achin, leaving the
+forces that had accompanied him at a place called Pakan Badar,
+distant about half a day's journey from the capital, where they
+were directed to entrench themselves. From this post they were
+driven by the country chief, who advanced rapidly upon them with
+several thousand men, and forced them to fall back to Padang
+Siring, where the king was collecting an army, and where a battle
+was fought soon after, that terminated in the defeat of the royal
+party with great slaughter. Those who escaped took refuge in the
+castle along with the king.</p>
+
+<p>1723.</p>
+
+<p>Under these disastrous circumstances he called upon the chiefs
+who adhered to him to advise what was best to be done, surrounded
+as they were by the country people, on whom he invoked the curse
+of God; when one of them, named Panglima Maharaja, gave it as his
+opinion that the only effectual measure by which the country
+could be saved from ruin would be the king's withdrawing himself
+from the capital so long as the enemy should continue in its
+vicinity, appointing a regent from among the nobles to govern the
+country in his absence; and when subordination should be restored
+he might then return and take again possession of his throne. To
+this proposition he signified his assent on the condition that
+Panglima Maharaja should assure him by an oath that no treachery
+was intended; which oath was accordingly taken, and the king,
+having nominated as his substitute Maharaja Lela, one of the
+least considerable of the ulubalangs, retired with his wives and
+children to the country of the Four mukims, situated about three
+hours journey to the westward of the city. (The Annals say he
+fled to Pidir in November 1723.) Great ravages were committed by
+the insurgents, but they did not attack the palace, and after
+some days of popular confusion the chiefs of the Three districts,
+who (says the writer) must not be confounded with the officers
+about the person of the king, held a consultation amongst
+themselves, and, exercising an authority of which there had been
+frequent examples, set up Panglima Maharaja in the room of the
+abdicated king (by the title, say the Annals, of Juhar al-alum,
+in December 1723). About seven days after his elevation he was
+seized with a convulsive disorder in his neck and died. A nephew
+of Jemal al-alum, named Undei Tebang, was then placed upon the
+throne, but notwithstanding his having bribed the chiefs of the
+Three districts with thirty katties of gold, they permitted him
+to enjoy his dignity only a few days, and then deposed him. (The
+same authority states that he was set up by the chiefs of the
+Four mukims, and removed through the influence of Muda Seti.)</p>
+
+<p>1724. 1735.</p>
+
+<p>The person whom they next combined to raise to the throne was
+Maharaja Lela (before mentioned as the king's substitute). It was
+his good fortune to govern the country in tranquillity for the
+space of nearly twelve years, during which period the city of
+Achin recovered its population. (According to the Annals he began
+to reign in February 1724, by the title of Ala ed-din Ahmed shah
+Juhan, and died in June 1735.) It happened that the same day on
+which the event of his death took place Jemal al-alum again made
+his appearance, and advanced to a mosque near the city. His
+friends advised him to lose no time in possessing himself of the
+castle, but for trifling reasons that mark the weakness of his
+character he resolved to defer the measure till the succeeding
+day; and the opportunity, as might be expected, was lost. The
+deceased king left five sons, the eldest of whom, named
+Po-chat-au (or Po-wak, according to another manuscript) exhorted
+his brothers to unite with him in the determination of resisting
+a person whose pretensions were entirely inconsistent with their
+security. They accordingly sent to demand assistance of
+Perbawang-shah, chief of the district of the Twenty-five mukims,
+which lies the nearest to that quarter. He arrived before
+morning, embraced the five princes, confirmed them in their
+resolution, and authorised the eldest to assume the government
+(which he did, say the Annals, by the title of Ala ed-din
+Juhan-shah in September 1735.) But to this measure the
+concurrence of the other chiefs was wanting. At daybreak the guns
+of the castle began to play upon the mosque, and, some of the
+shot penetrating its walls, the pusillanimous Jemal al-alum,
+being alarmed at the danger, judged it advisable to retreat from
+thence and to set up his standard in another quarter, called
+kampong Jawa, his people at the same time retaining possession of
+the mosque. A regular warfare now ensued between the two parties
+and continued for no less than ten years (the great chiefs taking
+different sides), when at length some kind of compromise was
+effected that left Po-chat-au (Juhan&shy;shah) in the possession
+of the throne, which he afterwards enjoyed peaceably for eight
+years, and no further mention is made of Jemal al-alum. About
+this period the chiefs took umbrage at his interfering in matters
+of trade, contrary to what they asserted to be the established
+custom of the realm, and assembled their forces in order to
+intimidate him. (The history of Achin presents a continual
+struggle between the monarch and the aristocracy of the country,
+which generally made the royal monopoly of trade the ground of
+crimination and pretext for their rebellions).</p>
+
+<p>1755.</p>
+
+<p>Panglima Muda Seti, being considered as the head of the
+league, came down with twenty thousand followers, and, upon the
+king's refusing to admit into the castle his complimentary
+present (considering it only as the prelude to humiliating
+negotiation), another war commenced that lasted for two years,
+and was at length terminated by Muda Seti's withdrawing from the
+contest and returning to his province. About five years after
+this event Juhan shah died, and his son, Pochat-bangta, succeeded
+him, but not (says this writer, who here concludes his abstract)
+with the general concurrence of the chiefs, and the country long
+continued in a disturbed state.</p>
+
+<p>END OF NARRATIVE.</p>
+
+<p>1760.</p>
+
+<p>The death of Juhan shah is stated in the Annals to have taken
+place in August 1760, and the accession of the son, who took the
+name of Ala-eddin Muhammed shah, not until November of the same
+year. Other authorities place these events in 1761.</p>
+
+<p>1763.</p>
+
+<p>Before he had completed the third year of his reign an
+insurrection of his subjects obliged him to save himself by
+flight on board a ship in the road. This happened in 1763 or
+1764. The throne was seized by the maharaja (first officer of
+state) named Sinara, who assumed the title of Beder-eddin Juhan
+shah, and about the end of 1765 was put to death by the adherents
+of the fugitive monarch, Muhammed shah, who thereupon returned to
+the throne.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Captain Forrest acquaints us that he
+visited the court of Mahomed Selim (the latter name is not given
+to this prince by any other writer) in the year 1764, at which
+time he appeared to be about forty years of age. It is difficult
+to reconcile this date with the recorded events of this
+unfortunate reign, and I have doubts whether it was not the
+usurper whom the Captain saw.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>He was exposed however to further revolutions. About six years
+after his restoration the palace was attacked in the night by a
+desperate band of two hundred men, headed by a man called Raja
+Udah, and he was once more obliged to make a precipitate retreat.
+This usurper took the title of sultan Suliman shah, but after a
+short reign of three months was driven out in his turn and forced
+to fly for refuge to one of the islands in the eastern sea. The
+nature of his pretensions, if he had any, have not been stated,
+but he never gave any further trouble. From this period Muhammed
+maintained possession of his capital, although it was generally
+in a state of confusion.</p>
+
+<p>1772.</p>
+
+<p>"In the year 1772," says Captain Forrest, "Mr. Giles Holloway,
+resident of Tappanooly, was sent to Achin by the Bencoolen
+government, with a letter and present, to ask leave from the king
+to make a settlement there. I carried him from his residency. Not
+being very well on my arrival, I did not accompany Mr. Holloway
+(a very sensible and discreet gentleman, and who spoke the Malay
+tongue very fluently) on shore at his first audience; and finding
+his commission likely to prove abortive I did not go to the
+palace at all. There was great anarchy and confusion at this
+time; and the malcontents came often, as I was informed, near the
+king's palace at night."</p>
+
+<p>1775.</p>
+
+<p>The Captain further remarks that when again there in 1775 he
+could not obtain an audience.</p>
+
+<p>1781.</p>
+
+<p>The Annals report his death to have happened on the 2nd of
+June 1781, and observe that from the commencement to the close of
+his reign the country never enjoyed repose. His brother, named
+Ala-eddin (or Uleddin, as commonly pronounced, and which seems to
+have been a favourite title with the Achinese princes), was in
+exile at Madras during a considerable period, and resided also
+for some time at Bencoolen.</p>
+
+<p>The eldest son of the deceased king, then about eighteen years
+of age, succeeded him on the 16th of the same month, by the title
+of Ala-eddin Mahmud shah Juhan, in spite of an opposition
+attempted to be raised by the partisans of another son by a
+favourite wife. Weapons had been drawn in the court before the
+palace, when the tuanku agung or high priest, a person of great
+respectability and influence, by whom the former had been
+educated, came amidst the crowd, bareheaded and without
+attendance, leading his pupil by the hand. Having placed himself
+between the contending factions, he addressed them to the
+following effect: that the prince who stood before them had a
+natural right and legal claim to the throne of his father; that
+he had been educated with a view to it, and was qualified to
+adorn it by his disposition and talents; that he wished however
+to found his pretensions neither upon his birthright nor the
+strength of the party attached to him, but upon the general voice
+of his subjects calling him to the sovereignty; that if such was
+their sentiment he was ready to undertake the arduous duties of
+the station, in which he himself would assist him with the fruits
+of his experience; that if on the contrary they felt a
+predilection for his rival, no blood should be shed on his
+account, the prince and his tutor being resolved in that case to
+yield the point without a struggle, and retire to some distant
+island. This impressive appeal had the desired effect, and the
+young prince was invited by unanimous acclamation to assume the
+reins of government.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Mr. Philip Braham, late chief of the East
+India Company's settlement of Fort Marlborough, by whom the
+circumstances of this event were related to me, arrived at Achin
+in July 1781, about a fortnight after the transaction. He thus
+described his audience. The king was seated in a gallery (to
+which there were no visible steps), at the extremity of a
+spacious hall or court, and a curtain which hung before him was
+drawn aside when it was his pleasure to appear. In this court
+were great numbers of female attendants, but not armed, as they
+have been described. Mr. Braham was introduced through a long
+file of guards armed with blunderbusses, and then seated on a
+carpet in front of the gallery. When a conversation had been
+carried on for some time through the Shabandar, who communicated
+his answers to an interpreter, by whom they were reported to the
+king, the latter perceiving that he spoke the Malayan language
+addressed him directly, and asked several questions respecting
+England; what number of wives and children our sovereign had; how
+many ships of war the English kept in India; what was the French
+force, and others of that nature. He expressed himself in
+friendly terms with regard to our nation, and said he should
+always be happy to countenance our traders in his ports. Even at
+this early period of his reign he had abolished some vexatious
+imposts. Mr. Braham had an opportunity of learning the great
+degree of power and control possessed by certain of the orang
+kayas, who held their respective districts in actual sovereignty,
+and kept the city in awe by stopping, when it suited their
+purpose, the supplies of provisions. Captain Forrest, who once
+more visited Achin in 1784 and was treated with much distinction
+(see his Voyage to the Mergui Archipelago page 51), says he
+appeared to be twenty-five years of age; but this was a
+misconception. Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie, who saw him in 1782, judged
+him to have been at that time no more than nineteen or twenty,
+which corresponds with Mr. Braham's statement.)</blockquote>
+
+<p>Little is known of the transactions of his reign, but that
+little is in favour of his personal character. The Annals (not
+always unexceptionable evidence when speaking of the living
+monarch) describe him as being endowed with every princely
+virtue, exercising the functions of government with vigour and
+rectitude, of undaunted courage, attentive to the protection of
+the ministers of religion, munificent to the descendants of the
+prophet (seiyid, but commonly pronounced sidi) and to men of
+learning, prompt at all times to administer justice, and
+consequently revered and beloved by his people. I have not been
+enabled to ascertain the year in which he died.</p>
+
+<p>1791.</p>
+
+<p>It appears by a Malayan letter from Achin that in 1791 the
+peace of the capital was much disturbed, and the state of the
+government as well as of private property (which induced the
+writer to reship his goods) precarious.</p>
+
+<p>1805.</p>
+
+<p>In 1805 his son, then aged twenty-one, was on the throne, and
+had a contention with his paternal uncle, and at the same time
+his father-in-law, named Tuanku Raja, by whom he had been
+compelled to fly (but only for a short time) to Pidir, the usual
+asylum of the Achinese monarchs. Their quarrel appears to have
+been rather of a family than of a political nature, and to have
+proceeded from the irregular conduct of the queen-mother. The low
+state of this young king's finances, impoverished by a fruitless
+struggle to enforce, by means of an expensive marine
+establishment, his right to an exclusive trade, had induced him
+to make proposals, for mutual accommodation, to the English
+government of Pulo Pinang.*</p>
+
+<blockquote>(*Footnote. Since the foregoing was printed the
+following information respecting the manners of the Batta people,
+obtained by Mr. Charles Holloway from Mr. W.H. Hayes, has reached
+my hands. "In the month of July 1805 an expedition consisting of
+Sepoys, Malays, and Battas was sent from Tapanuli against a chief
+named Punei Manungum, residing at Nega&shy;timbul, about thirty
+miles inland from Old Tapanuli, in consequence of his having
+attacked a kampong under the protection of the company, murdered
+several of the inhabitants, and carried others into captivity.
+After a siege of three days, terms of accommodation being
+proposed, a cessation of hostilities took place, when the people
+of each party having laid aside their arms intermixed with the
+utmost confidence, and conversed together as if in a state of
+perfect amity. The terms however not proving satisfactory, each
+again retired to his arms and renewed the contest with their
+former inveteracy. On the second day the place was evacuated, and
+upon our people entering it Mr. Hayes found the bodies of one man
+and two women, whom the enemy had put to death before their
+departure (being the last remaining of sixteen prisoners whom
+they had originally carried off), and from whose legs large
+pieces had been cut out, evidently for the purpose of being
+eaten. During the progress of this expedition a small party had
+been sent to hold in check the chiefs of Labusukum and
+Singapollum (inland of Sibogah), who were confederates of Punei
+Manungum. These however proved stronger than was expected, and,
+making a sally from their kampongs, attacked the sergeant's party
+and killed a sepoy, whom he was obliged to abandon. Mr. Hayes, on
+his way from Negatimbul, was ordered to march to the support of
+the retreating party; but these having taken a different route he
+remained ignorant of the particulars of their loss. The village
+of Singapollam being immediately carried by storm, and the enemy
+retreating by one gate, as our people entered at the opposite,
+the accoutrements of the sepoy who had been killed the day before
+were seen hanging as trophies in the front of the houses, and in
+the town hall, Mr. Hayes saw the head entirely scalped, and one
+of the fingers fixed upon a fork or skewer, still warm from the
+fire. On proceeding to the village of Labusucom, situated little
+more than two hundred yards from the former, he found a large
+plantain leaf full of human flesh, mixed with lime-juice and
+chili-pepper, from which he inferred that they had been surprised
+in the very act of feasting on the sepoy, whose body had been
+divided between the two kampongs. Upon differences being settled
+with the chiefs they acknowledged with perfect sangfroid that
+such had been the case, saying at the same time, "you know it is
+our custom; why should we conceal it?")</blockquote>
+
+<p><a name="ch-23"></a></p>
+
+<h3>CHAPTER 23.</h3>
+
+<p><b>BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ISLANDS LYING OFF THE WESTERN COAST OF
+SUMATRA.</b></p>
+
+<p>ISLANDS ADJACENT TO SUMATRA.</p>
+
+<p>The chain of islands which extends itself in a line nearly
+parallel to the western coast, at the distance from it of little
+more than a degree, being immediately connected with the
+principal subject of this work, and being themselves inhabited by
+a race or races of people apparently from the same original stock
+as those of the interior of Sumatra, whose genuineness of
+character has been preserved to a remarkable degree (whilst the
+islands on the eastern side are uniformly peopled with Malays), I
+have thought it expedient to add such authentic information
+respecting them as I have been enabled to obtain; and this I feel
+to be the more necessary from observing in the maps to which I
+have had recourse so much error and confusion in applying the
+names that the identity and even the existence of some of them
+have been considered as doubtful.</p>
+
+<p>ENGANO.</p>
+
+<p>Of these islands the most southern is Engano, which is still
+but very imperfectly known, all attempts to open a friendly
+communication with the natives having hitherto proved fruitless;
+and in truth they have had but too much reason to consider
+strangers attempting to land on their coast as piratical enemies.
+In the voyage of J.J. Saar, published in 1662, we have an account
+of an expedition fitted out from Batavia in 1645 for the purpose
+of examining this island, which terminated in entrapping and
+carrying off with them sixty or seventy of the inhabitants, male
+and female. The former died soon after their arrival, refusing to
+eat any other food than coconuts, but the women, who were
+distributed amongst the principal families of Batavia, proved
+extremely tractable and docile, and acquired the language of the
+place. It is not stated, nor does it appear from any subsequent
+publication, that the opportunity was taken of forming a
+collection of their words.</p>
+
+<p>From that period Engano had only been incidentally noticed,
+until in March 1771 Mr. Richard Wyatt, then governor, and the
+council of Fort Marlborough, sent Mr. Charles Miller in a vessel
+belonging to the Company to explore the productions of this
+island. On approaching it he observed large plantations of
+coconut-trees, with several spots of ground cleared for
+cultivation on the hills, and at night many fires on the beach.
+Landing was found to be in most parts extremely difficult on
+account of the surf. Many of the natives were seen armed with
+lances and squatting down amongst the coral rocks, as if to
+conceal their numbers. Upon rowing into a bay with the ship's
+boat it was pursued by ten canoes full of men and obliged to
+return. Mr. Whalfeldt, the surveyor, and the second mate
+proceeded to make a survey of the bay and endeavour to speak with
+the natives. They were furnished with articles for presents, and,
+upon seeing a canoe on the beach of a small island, and several
+people fishing on the rocks, they rowed to the island and sent
+two caffrees on shore with some cloth, but the natives would not
+come near them. The mate then landed and advanced towards them,
+when they immediately came to him. He distributed some presents
+among them, and they in return gave him some fish. Several canoes
+came off to the ship with coconuts, sugar-cane, toddy, and a
+species of yam. The crew of one of them took an opportunity of
+unshipping and carrying away the boat's rudder, and upon a musket
+being fired over their heads many of them leaped into the
+sea.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Miller describes these people as being taller and fairer
+than the Malays, their hair black, which the men cut short, and
+the women wear long, and neatly turned up. The former go entirely
+naked except that they sometimes throw a piece of bark of tree,
+or plantain-leaf over their shoulders to protect them from the
+heat of the sun. The latter also are naked except a small slip of
+plantain-leaf round the waist; and some had on their heads fresh
+leaves made up nearly in the shape of a bonnet, with necklaces of
+small pieces of shell, and a shell hanging by a string, to be
+used as a comb. The ears of both men and women have large holes
+made in them, an inch or two in diameter, into which they put a
+ring made of coconut-shell or a roll of leaves. They do not chew
+betel. Their language was not understood by any person on board,
+although there were people from most parts adjacent to the coast.
+Their canoes are very neat, formed of two thin planks sewn
+together, sharp-pointed at each end and provided with outriggers.
+In general they contain six or seven men. They always carry
+lances, not only as offensive weapons, but for striking fish.
+These are about seven feet in length, formed of ni&shy;bong and
+other hard woods; some of them tipped with pieces of bamboo made
+very sharp, and the concave part filled with fish-bones (and
+shark's teeth), others armed with pieces of bone made sharp and
+notched, and others pointed with bits of iron and copper
+sharpened. They seemed not to be unaccustomed to the sight of
+vessels. (Ships bound from the ports of India to the straits of
+Sunda, as well as those from Europe, when late in the season,
+frequently make the land of Engano, and many must doubtless be
+wrecked on its coast).</p>
+
+<p>Attempts were made to find a river or fresh water, but without
+success, nor even a good place to land. Two of the people from
+the ship having pushed in among the rocks and landed the natives
+soon came to them, snatched their handkerchiefs off their heads
+and ran away with them, but dropped them on being pursued. Soon
+afterwards they sounded a conch-shell, which brought numbers of
+them down to the beach. The bay appeared to be well sheltered and
+to afford good anchorage ground. The soil of the country for the
+most part a red clay. The productions Mr. Miller thought the same
+as are commonly found on the coast of Sumatra; but circumstances
+did not admit of his penetrating into the country, which,
+contrary to expectation, was found to be so full of inhabitants.
+In consequence of the loss of anchors and cables it was judged
+necessary that the vessel should return to Fort Marlborough.
+Having taken in the necessary supplies, the island was revisited.
+Finding no landing-place, the boat was run upon the coral rocks.
+Signs were made to the natives, who had collected in considerable
+numbers, and upon seeing our people land had retreated towards
+some houses, to stop, but to no purpose until Mr. Miller
+proceeded towards them unaccompanied, when they approached in
+great numbers and accepted of knives, pieces of cloth, etc.
+Observing a spot of cultivated ground surrounded by a sort of
+fence he went to it, followed by several of the natives who made
+signs to deter him, and as soon as he was out of sight of his own
+people began to handle his clothes and attempt to pull them off,
+when he returned to the beach.</p>
+
+<p>Their houses stand singly in their plantations, are circular,
+about eight feet in diameter, raised about six from the ground on
+slender iron&shy;wood sticks, floored with planks, and the roof,
+which is thatched with long grass, rises from the floor in a
+conical shape. No rice was seen among them, nor did they appear
+to know the use of it when shown to them; nor were cattle nor
+fowls of any kind observed about their houses.</p>
+
+<p>Having anchored off a low point of marshy land in the northern
+part of the bay, where the natives seemed to be more accustomed
+to intercourse with strangers, the party landed in hopes of
+finding a path to some houses about two miles inland. Upon
+observing signs made to them by some people on the coral reef Mr.
+Miller and Mr. Whalfeldt went towards them in the sampan, when
+some among them took an opportunity of stealing the latter's
+hanger and running away with it; upon which they were immediately
+fired at by some of the party, and notwithstanding Mr. Miller's
+endeavours to prevent them both the officer and men continued to
+fire upon and pursue the natives through the morass, but without
+being able to overtake them. Meeting however with some houses
+they set fire to them, and brought off two women and a boy whom
+the caffrees had seized. The officers on board the vessel,
+alarmed at the firing and seeing Mr. Miller alone in the sampan,
+whilst several canoes full of people were rowing towards him,
+sent the pinnace with some sepoys to his assistance. During the
+night conch-shells were heard to sound almost all over the bay,
+and in the morning several large parties were observed on
+different parts of the beach. All further communication with the
+inhabitants being interrupted by this imprudent quarrel, and the
+purposes of the expedition thereby frustrated, it was not thought
+advisable to remain any longer at Engano, and Mr. Miller, after
+visiting some parts of the southern coast of Sumatra, returned to
+Fort Marlborough.</p>
+
+<p>PULO MEGA.</p>
+
+<p>The next island to the north-west of Engano, but at a
+considerable distance, is called by the Malays Pulo Mega
+(cloud-island), and by Europeans Triste, or isle de Recif. It is
+small and uninhabited, and like many others in these seas is
+nearly surrounded by a coral reef with a lagoon in the centre.
+Coconut-trees grow in vast numbers in the sand near the
+sea-shore, whose fruit serves for food to rats and squirrels, the
+only quadrupeds found there. On the borders of the lagoon is a
+little vegetable mould, just above the level of high water, where
+grow some species of timber-trees.</p>
+
+<p>PULO SANDING.</p>
+
+<p>The name of Pulo Sanding or Sandiang belongs to two small
+islands situated near the south-eastern extremity of the Nassau
+or Pagi islands, in which group they are sometimes included. Of
+these the southernmost is distinguished in the Dutch charts by
+the term of Laag or low, and the other by that of Bergen or
+hilly. They are both uninhabited, and the only productions worth
+notice is the long nutmeg, which grows wild on them, and some
+good timber, particularly of the kind known by the name of marbau
+(Metrosideros amboinensis). An idea was entertained of making a
+settlement on one of them, and in 1769 an officer with a few men
+were stationed there for some months, during which period the
+rains were incessant. The scheme was afterwards abandoned as
+unlikely to answer any useful purpose.</p>
+
+<p>NASSAUS OR PULO PAGI.</p>
+
+<p>The two islands separated by a narrow strait, to which the
+Dutch navigators have given the name of the Nassaus, are called
+by the Malays Pulo Pagi or Pagei, and by us commonly the Poggies.
+The race of people by whom these as well as some other islands to
+the northward of them are inhabited having the appellation of
+orang mantawei, this has been confounded with the proper names of
+the islands, and, being applied sometimes to one and sometimes to
+another, has occasioned much confusion and uncertainty. The
+earliest accounts we have of them are the reports of Mr. Randolph
+Marriot in 1749, and of Mr. John Saul in 1750 and 1751, with
+Captain Thomas Forrest's observations in 1757, preserved in Mr.
+Dalrymple's Historical Relation of the several Expeditions from
+Fort Marlborough to the Islands adjacent to the West-coast of
+Sumatra; but by much the most satisfactory information is
+contained in a paper communicated by Mr. John Crisp to the
+Asiatic Society of Bengal, in the sixth volume of whose
+Transactions it is published, and from these documents I shall
+extract such particulars as may best serve to convey a knowledge
+of the country and the people.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Crisp sailed from Fort Marlborough on the 12th of August
+1792 in a vessel navigated at his own expense, and with no other
+view than that of gratifying a liberal curiosity. On the 14th he
+anchored in the straits of See Cockup (Si Kakap), which divide
+the Northern from the Southern Pagi. These straits are about two
+miles in length and a quarter of a mile over, and make safe
+riding for ships of any size, which lie perfectly secure from
+every wind, the water being literally as smooth as in a pond. The
+high land of Sumatra (inland of Moco-moco and Ipu) was plainly to
+be distinguished from thence. In the passage are scattered
+several small islands, each of which consists of one immense
+rock, and which may have been originally connected with the main
+island. The face of the country is rough and irregular,
+consisting of high hills of sudden and steep ascent, and covered
+with trees to their summits, among which the species called
+bintangur or puhn, fit for the largest masts, abounds. The
+sago-tree grows in plenty, and constitutes the chief article of
+food to the inhabitants, who do not cultivate rice. The use of
+betel is unknown to them. Coconut-trees, bamboos, and the common
+fruits of Sumatra are found here. The woods are impervious to
+man: the species of wild animals that inhabit them but few; the
+large red deer, hogs, and several kinds of monkey, but neither
+buffaloes nor goats; nor are they infested with tigers or other
+beasts of prey; They have the common domestic fowl, but pork and
+fish are the favourite animal food of the natives.</p>
+
+<p>When the vessel had been two days at anchor they began to come
+down from their villages in their canoes, bringing fruit of
+various kinds, and on invitation they readily came on board
+without showing signs of apprehension or embarrassment. On
+presenting to them plates of boiled rice they would not touch it
+until it had been previously tasted by one of the ship's company.
+They behaved whilst on board with much decorum, showed a strong
+degree of curiosity, but not the least disposition for pilfering.
+They appeared to live in great friendship and harmony with each
+other, and voluntarily divided amongst their companions what was
+given to them. Their stature seldom exceeds five feet and a half.
+Their colour is like that of the Malays, a light brown or
+copper-colour. Some canoes came alongside the vessel with only
+women in them, and upon being encouraged by the men several
+ventured on board. When on the water they use a temporary dress
+to shield them from the heat of the sun, made of the leaves of
+the plantain, of which they form a sort of conical cap (the same
+was observed of the women of Engano), and there is also a broad
+piece of the leaf fastened round the body over their breasts, and
+another round their waist. This leaf readily splits, and has the
+appearance of a coarse fringe. When in their villages the women,
+like the men, wear only a small piece of coarse cloth, made of
+the bark of a tree, round their middle. Beads and other ornaments
+are worn about the neck. Although coconuts are in such plenty
+they have not the use of oil, and their hair, which is black, and
+naturally long, is, for want of it and the use of combs, in
+general matted and full of vermin. They have a method of filing
+or grinding their teeth to a point, like the people of
+Sumatra.</p>
+
+<p>The number of inhabitants of the two islands is supposed not
+to exceed 1400 persons. They are divided into small tribes, each
+occupying a small river and living in one village. On the
+southern island are five of these villages, and on the northern
+seven, of which Kakap is accounted the chief, although Labu-labu
+is supposed to contain the greater number of people. Their houses
+are built of bamboos and raised on posts; the under part is
+occupied by poultry and hogs, and, as may be supposed, much filth
+is collected there. Their arms consist of a bow and arrows. The
+former is made of the nibong-tree, and the string of the entrails
+of some animal. The arrows are of small bamboo, headed with brass
+or with a piece of hard wood cut to a point. With these they kill
+deer, which are roused by dogs of a mongrel breed, and also
+monkeys, whose flesh they eat. Some among them wear krises. It
+was said that the different tribes of orang mantawei who inhabit
+these islands never make war upon each other, but with people of
+islands to the northward they are occasionally in a state of
+hostility. The measurement of one of their war-canoes, preserved
+with great care under a shed, was twenty-five feet in the length
+of the floor, the prow projecting twenty-two, and the stern
+eighteen, making the whole length sixty-five feet. The greatest
+breadth was five feet, and the depth three feet eight inches. For
+navigating in their rivers and the straits of Si Kakap, where the
+sea is as smooth as glass, they employ canoes, formed with great
+neatness of a single tree, and the women and young children are
+extremely expert in the management of the paddle. They are
+strangers to the use of coin of any kind, and have little
+knowledge of metals. The iron bill or chopping-knife, called
+parang, is in much esteem among them, it serves as a standard for
+the value of other commodities, such as articles of
+provision.</p>
+
+<p>The religion of these people, if it deserves the name,
+resembles much what has been described of the Battas; but their
+mode of disposing of their dead is different, and analogous
+rather to the practice of the South&shy;sea islanders, the
+corpse, being deposited on a sort of stage in a place
+appropriated for the purpose, and with a few leaves strewed over
+it, is left to decay. Inheritance is by male descent; the house
+or plantation, the weapons and tools of the father, become the
+property of the sons. Their chiefs are but little distinguished
+from the rest of the community by authority or possessions, their
+pre-eminence being chiefly displayed at public entertainments, of
+which they do the honours. They have not even judicial powers,
+all disputes being settled, and crimes adjudged, by a meeting of
+the whole village. Murder is punishable by retaliation, for which
+purpose the offender is delivered over to the relations of the
+deceased, who may put him to death; but the crime is rare. Theft,
+when to a considerable amount, is also capital. In cases of
+adultery the injured husband has a right to seize the effects of
+the paramour, and sometimes punishes his wife by cutting off her
+hair. When the husband offends the wife has a right to quit him
+and to return to her parents' house. Simple fornication between
+unmarried persons is neither considered as a crime nor a
+disgrace. The state of slavery is unknown among these people, and
+they do not practise circumcision.</p>
+
+<p>The custom of tattooing, or imprinting figures on the skin, is
+general among the inhabitants of this group of islands. They call
+it in their language teetee or titi. They begin to form these
+marks on boys at seven years of age, and fill them up as they
+advance in years. Mr. Crisp thinks they were originally intended
+as marks of military distinction. The women have a star imprinted
+on each shoulder, and generally some small marks on the backs of
+their hands. These punctures are made with an instrument
+consisting of a brass wire fixed perpendicularly into a piece of
+stick about eight inches in length. The pigment made use of is
+the smoke collected from dammar, mixed with water (or, according
+to another account, with the juice of the sugar-cane). The
+operator takes a stalk of dried grass, or a fine piece of stick,
+and, dipping the end in the pigment, traces on the skin the
+outline of the figure, and then, dipping the brass point in the
+same preparation, with very quick and light strokes of a long,
+small stick, drives it into the skin, whereby an indelible mark
+is produced. The pattern when completed is in all the individuals
+nearly the same.</p>
+
+<p>In the year 1783 the son of a raja of one of the Pagi islands
+came over to Sumatra on a visit of curiosity, and, being an
+intelligent man, much information was obtained from him. He could
+give some account of almost every island that lies off the coast,
+and when a doubt arose about their position he ascertained it by
+taking the rind of a pumplenose or shaddock, and, breaking it
+into bits of different sizes, disposing them on the floor in such
+a manner as to convey a clear idea of the relative situation. He
+spoke of Engano (by what name is not mentioned) and said that
+their boats were sometimes driven to that island, on which
+occasions they generally lost a part, if not the whole, of their
+crews, from the savage disposition of the natives. He appeared to
+be acquainted with several of the constellations, and gave names
+for the Pleiades, Scorpion, Great Bear, and Orion's Belt. He
+understood the distinction between the fixed and wandering stars,
+and particularly noticed Venus, which he named usutat-si-geb-geb
+or planet of the evening. To Sumatra he gave the appellation of
+Seraihu. As to religion he said the rajas alone prayed and
+sacrificed hogs and fowls. They addressed themselves in the first
+place to the Power above the sky; next to those in the moon, who
+are male and female; and lastly, to that evil being whose
+residence is beneath the earth, and is the cause of earthquakes.
+A drawing of this man, representing accurately the figures in
+which his body and limbs were tattooed, was made by Colonel
+Trapaud, and obligingly given to me. He not only stood patiently
+during the performance, but seemed much pleased with the
+execution, and proposed that the Colonel should accompany him to
+his country to have an opportunity of making a likeness of his
+father. To our collectors of rare prints it is well known that
+there exists an engraving of a man of this description by the
+title of The Painted Prince, brought to England by Captain
+Dampier from one of the islands of the eastern sea in the year
+1691, and of whom a particular account is given in his Voyage. He
+said that the inhabitants of the Pagi islands derived their
+origin from the orang mantawei of the island called Si Biru.</p>
+
+<p>SI PORAH OR GOOD FORTUNE.</p>
+
+<p>North-westward of the Pagi islands, and at no great distance,
+lies that of Si Porah, commonly denominated Good Fortune Island,
+inhabited by the same race as the former, and with the same
+manners and language. The principal towns or villages are named
+Si Porah, containing, when visited by Mr. John Saul in 1750,
+three hundred inhabitants, Si Labah three hundred (several of
+whom were originally from the neighbouring island of Nias), Si
+Bagau two hundred, and Si Uban a smaller number; and when Captain
+Forrest made his inquiries in 1757 there was not any material
+variation. Since that period, though the island has been
+occasionally visited, it does not appear that any report has been
+preserved of the state of the population. The country is
+described as being entirely covered with wood. The highest land
+is in the vicinity of Si Labah.</p>
+
+<p>SI BIRU.</p>
+
+<p>The next island in the same direction is named Si Biru, which,
+although of considerable size, being larger than Si Porah, has
+commonly been omitted in our charts, or denoted to be uncertain.
+It is inhabited by the Mantawei race, and the natives both of Si
+Porah and the Pagi Islands consider it as their parent country,
+but notwithstanding this connexion they are generally in a state
+of hostility, and in 1783 no intercourse subsisted between them.
+The inhabitants are distinguished only by some small variety of
+the patterns in which their skins are tattooed, those of Si Biru
+having them narrower on the breast and broader on the shoulders.
+The island itself is rendered conspicuous by a
+volcano&shy;mountain.</p>
+
+<p>PULO BATU.</p>
+
+<p>Next to this is Pulo Batu, situated immediately to the
+southward of the equinoctial line, and, in consequence of an
+original mistake in Valentyn's erroneous chart, published in
+1726, usually called by navigators Mintaon, being a corruption of
+the word Mantawei, which, as already explained, is appropriated
+to a race inhabiting the islands of Si Biru, Si Porah, and Pagi.
+Batu, on the contrary, is chiefly peopled by a colony from Nias.
+These pay a yearly tax to the raja of Buluaro, a small kampong in
+the interior part of the island, belonging to a race different
+from both, and whose number it is said amounts only to one
+hundred, which it is not allowed to exceed, so many children
+being reared as may replace the deaths. They are reported to bear
+a resemblance to the people of Makasar or Bugis, and may have
+been adventurers from that quarter. The influence of their raja
+over the Nias inhabitants, who exceed his immediate subjects in
+the proportion of twenty to one, is founded on the superstitious
+belief that the water of the island will become salt when they
+neglect to pay the tax. He in his turn, being in danger from the
+power of the Malay traders who resort thither from Padang and are
+not affected by the same superstition, is constrained to pay them
+to the amount of sixteen ounces of gold as an annual tribute.</p>
+
+<p>The food of the people, as in the other islands, is chiefly
+sago, and their exports coconuts, oil in considerable quantities,
+and swala or sea&shy;slugs. No rice is planted there, nor, if we
+may trust to the Malayan accounts, suffered to be imported. Upon
+the same authority also we are told that the island derives its
+name of Batu from a large rock resembling the hull of a vessel,
+which tradition states to be a petrifaction of that in which the
+Buluaro people arrived. The same fanciful story of a petrified
+boat is prevalent in the Serampei country of Sumatra. From Natal
+Hill Pulo Batu is visible. Like the islands already described it
+is entirely covered with wood.</p>
+
+<p>PULO KAPINI.</p>
+
+<p>Between Pulo Batu and the coast of Sumatra, but much nearer to
+the latter, is a small uninhabited island, called Pulo Kapini
+(iron-wood island), but to which our charts (copying from
+Valentyn) commonly give the name of Batu, whilst to Batu itself,
+as above described, is assigned the name of Mintaon. In
+confirmation of the distinctions here laid down it will be
+thought sufficient to observe that, when the Company's packet,
+the Greyhound, lay at what was called Lant's Bay in Mintaon, an
+officer came to our settlement of Natal (of which Mr. John
+Marsden at that time was chief) in a Batu oil-boat; and that a
+large trade for oil is carried on from Padang and other places
+with the island of Batu, whilst that of Kapini is known to be
+without inhabitants, and could not supply the article.</p>
+
+<p>PULO NIAS.</p>
+
+<p>The most productive and important, if not the largest of this
+chain of islands, is Pulo Nias. Its inhabitants are very
+numerous, and of a race distinct not only from those on the main
+(for such we must relatively consider Sumatra), but also from the
+people of all the islands to the southward, with the exception of
+the last-mentioned. Their complexions, especially the women, are
+lighter than those of the Malays; they are smaller in their
+persons and shorter in stature; their mouths are broad, noses
+very flat, and their ears are pierced and distended in so
+extraordinary a manner as nearly, in many instances, to touch the
+shoulders, particularly when the flap has, by excessive
+distension or by accident, been rent asunder; but these pendulous
+excrescences are commonly trimmed and reduced to the ordinary
+size when they are brought away from their own country.
+Preposterous however as this custom may appear, it is not
+confined to the Nias people. Some of the women of the inland
+parts of Sumatra, in the vicinity of the equinoctial line
+(especially those of the Rau tribes) increase the perforation of
+their ears until they admit ornaments of two or three inches
+diameter. There is no circumstance by which the natives of this
+island are more obviously distinguished than the prevalence of a
+leprous scurf with which the skins of a great proportion of both
+sexes are affected; in some cases covering the whole of the body
+and limbs, and in others resembling rather the effect of the
+tetter or ringworm, running like that partial complaint in waving
+lines and concentric curves. It is seldom if ever radically
+cured, although by external applications (especially in the
+slighter cases) its symptoms are moderated, and a temporary
+smoothness given to the skin; but it does not seem in any stage
+of the disease to have a tendency to shorten life, or to be
+inconsistent with perfect health in other respects, nor is there
+reason to suppose it infectious; and it is remarkable that the
+inhabitants of Pulo Batu, who are evidently of the same race, are
+exempt from this cutaneous malady. The principal food of the
+common people is the sweet-potato, but much pork is also eaten by
+those who can afford it, and the chiefs make a practice of
+ornamenting their houses with the jaws of the hogs, as well as
+the skulls of the enemies whom they slay. The cultivation of rice
+has become extensive in modern times, but rather as an article of
+traffic than of home consumption.</p>
+
+<p>These people are remarkable for their docility and expertness
+in handicraft work, and become excellent house-carpenters and
+joiners, and as an instance of their skill in the arts they
+practise that of letting blood by cupping, in a mode nearly
+similar to ours. Among the Sumatrans blood is never drawn with so
+salutary an intent. They are industrious and frugal, temperate
+and regular in their habits, but at the same time avaricious,
+sullen, obstinate, vindictive, and sanguinary. Although much
+employed as domestic slaves (particularly by the Dutch) they are
+always esteemed dangerous in that capacity, a defect in their
+character which philosophers will not hesitate to excuse in an
+independent people torn by violence from their country and
+connexions. They frequently kill themselves when disgusted with
+their situation or unhappy in their families, and often their
+wives at the same time, who appeared, from the circumstances
+under which they were found, to have been consenting to the
+desperate act. They were both dressed in their best apparel (the
+remainder being previously destroyed), and the female, in more
+than one instance that came under notice, had struggled so little
+as not to discompose her hair or remove her head from the pillow.
+It is said that in their own country they expose their children
+by suspending them in a bag from a tree, when they despair of
+being able to bring them up. The mode seems to be adopted with
+the view of preserving them from animals of prey, and giving them
+a chance of being saved by persons in more easy
+circumstances.</p>
+
+<p>The island is divided into about fifty small districts, under
+chiefs or rajas who are independent of, and at perpetual variance
+with, each other; the ultimate object of their wars being to make
+prisoners, whom they sell for slaves, as well as all others not
+immediately connected with them, whom they can seize by
+stratagem. These violences are doubtless encouraged by the resort
+of native traders from Padang, Natal, and Achin to purchase
+cargoes of slaves, who are also accused of augmenting the profits
+of their voyage by occasionally surprising and carrying off whole
+families. The number annually exported is reckoned at four
+hundred and fifty to Natal, and one hundred and fifty to the
+northern ports (where they are said to be employed by the
+Achinese in the gold-mines), exclusive of those which go to
+Padang for the supply of Batavia, where the females are highly
+valued and taught music and various accomplishments. In catching
+these unfortunate victims of avarice it is supposed that not
+fewer than two hundred are killed; and if the aggregate be
+computed at one thousand it is a prodigious number to be supplied
+from the population of so small an island.</p>
+
+<p>Beside the article of slaves there is a considerable export of
+padi and rice, the cultivation of which is chiefly carried on at
+a distance from the sea-coasts, whither the natives retire to be
+secure from piratical depredations, bringing down the produce to
+the harbours (of which there are several good ones), to barter
+with the traders for iron, steel, beads, tobacco, and the coarser
+kinds of Madras and Surat piece-goods. Numbers of hogs are
+reared, and some parts of the main, especially Barus, are
+supplied from hence with yams, beans, and poultry. Some of the
+rajas are supposed to have amassed a sum equal to ten or twenty
+thousand dollars, which is kept in ingots of gold and silver,
+much of the latter consisting of small Dutch money (not the
+purest coin) melted down; and of these they make an ostentatious
+display at weddings and other festivals.</p>
+
+<p>The language scarcely differs more from the Batta and the
+Lampong than these do from each other, and all evidently belong
+to the same stock. The pronunciation is very guttural, and either
+from habit or peculiar conformation of organs these people cannot
+articulate the letter p, but in Malayan words, where the sound
+occurs, pronounce it as f (saying for example Fulo Finang instead
+of Pulo Pinang), whilst on the contrary the Malays never make use
+of the f, and pronounce as pikir the Arabic word fikir. Indeed
+the Arabians themselves appear to have the same organic defect as
+the people of Nias, and it may likewise be observed in the
+languages of some of the South-sea islands.</p>
+
+<p>PULO NAKO-NAKO.</p>
+
+<p>On the western side of Nias and very near to it is a cluster
+of small islands called Pulo Nako-nako, whose inhabitants (as
+well as others who shall presently be noticed) are of a race
+termed Maros or orang maruwi, distinct from those of the former,
+but equally fair-complexioned. Large quantities of coconut-oil
+are prepared here and exported chiefly to Padang, the natives
+having had a quarrel with the Natal traders. The islands are
+governed by a single raja, who monopolizes the produce, his
+subjects dealing only with him, and he with the praws or country
+vessels who are regularly furnished with cargoes in the order of
+their arrival, and never dispatched out of turn.</p>
+
+<p>PULO BABI.</p>
+
+<p>Pulo Babi or Hog island, called by the natives Si Malu, lies
+north&shy;westward from Nias, and, like Nako-Nako, is inhabited
+by the Maruwi race. Buffaloes (and hogs, we may presume) are met
+with here in great plenty and sold cheap.</p>
+
+<p>PULO BANIAK.</p>
+
+<p>The name of Pulo Baniak belongs to a cluster of islands (as
+the terms imply) situated to the eastward, or in-shore of Pulo
+Babi, and not far from the entrance of Singkel River. It is
+however most commonly applied to one of them which is
+considerably larger than the others. It does not appear to
+furnish any vegetable produce as an article of trade, and the
+returns from thence are chiefly sea-slug and the edible
+birds-nest. The inhabitants of these islands also are Maruwis,
+and, as well as the others of the same race, are now Mahometans.
+Their language, although considered by the natives of these parts
+as distinct and peculiar (which will naturally be the case where
+people do not understand each other's conversation), has much
+radical affinity to the Batta and Nias, and less to the Pagi; but
+all belong to the same class, and may be regarded as dialects of
+a general language prevailing amongst the original inhabitants of
+this eastern archipelago, as far at least as the Moluccas and
+Philippines.</p>
+
+<h4>THE END.</h4>
+
+<p><a name="index"></a></p>
+
+<h3>INDEX.</h3>
+
+<pre>
+
+Achin or Acheh:
+kingdom of, its boundaries.
+Situation, buildings, and appearance of the capital.
+Air esteemed healthy.
+Inhabitants described.
+Present state of commerce.
+Productions of soil, manufactures, navigation.
+Coin, government.
+Officers of state, ceremonies.
+Local division.
+Revenues, duties.
+Administration of justice and punishments.
+History of.
+State of the kingdom at the time when Malacca fell into the hands of the
+Portuguese.
+Circumstances which placed Ibrahim, a slave of the king of Pidir, on the
+throne.
+Rises to considerable importance during the reign of Mansur-shah.
+King of, receives a letter from Queen Elizabeth.
+Letter from King James the First.
+Commencement of female reigns.
+Their termination.
+Subsequent events.
+
+Achin Head:
+situation of.
+
+Address:
+custom of, in the third instead of the second person.
+
+Adultery:
+laws respecting.
+
+Agriculture.
+
+Air:
+temperature of.
+
+Ala-eddin:
+or Ula-eddin Shah, king of Achin, lays repeated siege to Malacca.
+His death.
+
+Alboquerque (Affonso d'):
+touches at Pidir and Pase in his voyage to Malacca.
+
+Alligators:
+Superstitious dread of.
+
+Amomum:
+different species of.
+
+Amusements.
+
+Anak-sungei:
+kingdom of.
+
+Ancestors:
+veneration for burying-places of.
+
+Animals:
+account of.
+
+Annals:
+Malayan, of the kingdom of Achin.
+
+Ants:
+variety and abundance of.
+White-ant.
+
+Arabian:
+travellers, mention Sumatra by the name of Ramni.
+
+Arabic:
+character, with modifications, used by the Malays.
+
+Arithmetic.
+
+Arsenic:
+yellow.
+
+Arts:
+and manufactures.
+
+Aru, kingdom of.
+
+Astronomy.
+
+Atap:
+covering for roofs of houses.
+
+Babi:
+island of.
+
+Bamboo:
+principal material for building.
+Account of the.
+
+Bangka:
+island of, its tin-mines.
+
+Baniak:
+islands of.
+
+Banyan:
+tree or jawi-jawi, its peculiarities.
+
+Bantam:
+city of.
+Expulsion of English from thence.
+
+Barbosa, (Odoardus):
+his account of Sumatra.
+
+Barthema (Ludovico):
+his visit to the island.
+
+Barus:
+a place chiefly remarkable for having given its name to the most valuable
+sort of camphor.
+
+Bats:
+various species of.
+
+Batta:
+country of.
+Its divisions.
+Mr. Miller's journey into it.
+Governments.
+Authority of the rajas.
+Succession.
+Persons, dress, and weapons of the inhabitants.
+Warfare.
+Fortified villages or kampongs.
+Trade, mode of holding fairs.
+Food.
+Buildings, domestic manners.
+Horse-racing.
+Books.
+Observations on their mode of writing.
+Religion.
+Mythology.
+Oaths.
+Funeral ceremonies.
+Crimes and punishments.
+Practice of eating human flesh.
+Motives for this custom.
+Mode of proceeding.
+Doubts obviated.
+Testimonies.
+Death of Mr. Nairne in the Batta country.
+Originality of manners preserved amongst this people, and its probable
+causes.
+
+Batu (Pulo).
+
+Batu Bara:
+river.
+
+Beards:
+practice of eradicating.
+
+Beasts.
+
+Beaulieu:
+commander of a French squadron at Achin.
+
+Beeswax.
+
+Bencoolen:
+river and town.
+Interior country visited.
+Account of first English establishment at.
+
+Benzoin:
+or benjamin, mode of procuring.
+Nature of the trade.
+Oil distilled from.
+
+Betel:
+practice of chewing.
+Preparation of.
+
+Betel-nut:
+or areca, see Pinang.
+
+Bintang:
+island of.
+
+Birds:
+Species which form the edible nests.
+Modes of catching.
+
+Birds-nest:
+edible, account of.
+
+Biru:
+island of.
+
+Blachang:
+species of caviar, mode of preparing.
+
+Blades:
+of krises.
+mode of damasking.
+
+Boulton (Mr. Matthew).
+
+Bread-fruit:
+or sukun.
+
+Breezes:
+land and sea.
+
+Braham (Mr. Philip).
+
+Broff (Mr. Robert).
+
+Buffalo:
+or karbau, description of the.
+Killed at festivals.
+
+Building:
+modes of, described.
+
+Bukit Lintang:
+a high range of hills inland of Moco-moco.
+
+Bukit Pandang:
+a high mountain inland of Ipu.
+
+Burying-places:
+ancient, veneration for.
+
+Chameleon:
+description of.
+
+Campbell (Mr. Charles).
+
+Camphor:
+or kapur barus, a valuable drug.
+Description of the tree.
+Mode of procuring it.
+Its price.
+Camphor-oil.
+Japan camphor.
+
+Cannibalism.
+
+Cannon:
+use of, previously to Portuguese discoveries.
+
+Carpenters' work.
+
+Carving.
+
+Cassia:
+description of the tree.
+Found in the Serampei, Musi, and Batta countries.
+
+Cattle:
+Laws respecting.
+
+Causes:
+or suits, mode of deciding.
+
+Caut-chouc:
+or elastic gum.
+
+Cements.
+
+Champaka:
+flower.
+
+Character:
+difference in respect of it, between the Malays and other Sumatrans.
+
+Characters:
+of Rejang, Batta, and Lampong languages.
+
+Charms.
+
+Chastity.
+
+Chess:
+game of, Malayan terms.
+
+Child-bearing.
+
+Children:
+treatment of.
+
+Chinese:
+colonists.
+
+Circumcision.
+
+Cloth:
+manufacture of.
+
+Clothing:
+materials of.
+
+Coal.
+
+Cock-fighting:
+strong propensity to this sport.
+Matches.
+
+Coconut-tree:
+an important object of cultivation.
+Does not bear fruit in the hill country.
+
+Codes:
+of laws.
+Remarks on.
+
+Coins:
+current in Sumatra.
+
+Commerce.
+
+Company (English East India):
+its influence.
+Permission given to it to settle a factory at Achin.
+
+Compass:
+irregularity of, noticed.
+
+Compensation:
+for murder, termed bangun.
+
+Complexion:
+fairness of, comparatively with other Indians.
+Darkness of, not dependent on climate.
+
+Confinement:
+modes of.
+
+Contracts:
+made with the chiefs of the country, for obliging their dependants to
+plant pepper.
+
+Conversion:
+to religion of Mahomet, period of.
+
+Cookery.
+
+Copper.
+Rich mine of.
+
+Coral rock.
+
+Corallines:
+collection of, in the possession of Mr. John Griffiths.
+
+Cosmetic:
+used, and mode of preparing it.
+
+Cotton:
+two species of, cultivated.
+
+Courtship.
+
+Crisp (Mr. John).
+
+Cultivation:
+of rice.
+
+Curry:
+dish or mode of cookery so called.
+
+Custard-apple.
+
+Cycas circinalis:
+(a palm-fern confounded with the sago-tree) described.
+
+Dalrymple (Mr. Alexander).
+
+Dammar:
+a species of resin or turpentine.
+
+Dancing:
+amusement of.
+
+Dare (Lieutenant Hastings).
+Journal of his expedition to the Serampei and Sungei-tenang countries.
+
+Datu:
+title of.
+
+Debts:
+and debtors, laws respecting.
+
+Deer:
+diminutive species of.
+
+Deity:
+name for the, borrowed by the Rejangs from the Malays.
+
+Dice.
+
+Diseases:
+modes of curing.
+
+Diversion:
+of tossing a ball.
+
+Divorces:
+laws respecting.
+
+Dragons'-blood:
+a drug, how procured.
+
+Dress:
+description of man's and woman's.
+
+Dupati:
+nature of title.
+
+Durian:
+fruit.
+
+Dusuns:
+or villages, description of.
+
+Duyong:
+or sea-cow.
+
+Dye-stuffs.
+
+Ears:
+ceremony of boring.
+
+Earthenware.
+
+Earth-oil.
+
+Earthquakes.
+
+Eating:
+mode of.
+
+Eclipses:
+notion respecting.
+
+Edrisi:
+his account of Sumatra by the name of Al-Rami.
+
+Elastic gum.
+
+Elephants.
+
+Elizabeth:
+Queen, addresses a letter to the king of Achin.
+
+Elopements:
+laws respecting.
+
+Emblematic presents.
+
+Engano:
+island of.
+
+English:
+their first visit to Sumatra.
+Settle a factory at Achin.
+
+Europeans:
+influence of.
+
+Evidence:
+rules of, and mode of giving.
+
+Expedition:
+to Serampei and Sungei-tenang countries.
+
+Fairs.
+
+Fencing.
+
+Fertility:
+of soil.
+
+Festivals.
+
+Feud:
+account of a remarkable one.
+
+Fevers:
+how treated by the natives.
+
+Filigree:
+manufacture of.
+
+Fire:
+modes of kindling.
+Necessary for warmth among the hills.
+
+Firearms:
+manufactured in Menangkabau.
+
+Firefly.
+
+Fish:
+Ikan layer, a remarkable species.
+Various kinds enumerated.
+
+Fishing:
+mode of.
+
+Fish-roes:
+preserved by salting.
+An article of trade.
+
+Flowers:
+description of.
+
+Foersch, (Mr.):
+his account of the poison-tree.
+
+Fogs:
+dense among the hills.
+
+Food.
+
+Fortification:
+mode of.
+
+Fort Marlborough:
+the chief English settlement on the coast of Sumatra.
+Establishment of.
+Reduced by Act of Parliament.
+
+French:
+settlement of Tappanuli taken by the, in the year 1760, and again in
+1809, attended with circumstances of atrocity.
+Sent a fleet to Achin, under General Beaulieu.
+
+Fruits:
+description of.
+
+Funerals:
+ceremonies observed at.
+
+Furniture:
+of houses.
+
+Gambir:
+mode of preparing it for eating with betel.
+
+Gaming:
+laws respecting.
+Propensity for, and modes of.
+
+Geography:
+limited ideas of.
+
+Goitres:
+natives of the hills subject to.
+Disease not imputable to snow-water.
+In the Serampei country.
+
+Gold:
+island celebrated for its production of.
+Chiefly found in the Menangkabau country.
+Distinctions of.
+Mode of working the mines.
+Estimation of quantity procured.
+Price.
+Mode of cleansing.
+Weights.
+
+Government:
+Malayan.
+
+Grammar.
+
+Graves:
+form of.
+
+Griffiths, (Mr. John).
+
+Guana:
+or iguana, animal of the lizard kind.
+
+Guava:
+fruit.
+
+Gum-lac.
+
+Gunpowder:
+manufacture of.
+
+Hair:
+modes of dressing the.
+
+Heat:
+degree of.
+
+Hemp:
+or ganja, its inebriating qualities.
+
+Henna:
+of the Arabians used for tingeing the nails.
+
+Herbs:
+and shrubs used medicinally.
+
+Hills:
+inhabitants of, subject to goitres.
+
+Hippopotamus.
+
+History:
+of Malayan kings.
+Of Achinese.
+
+Hollanders:
+their first visit to Sumatra.
+
+Holloway, (Mr. Giles).
+
+Horse-racing:
+practised by the Battas.
+
+Horses:
+small breed of.
+Occasionally used in war.
+Eaten as food by the Battas.
+
+Hot springs.
+
+Houses:
+description of.
+
+Human flesh:
+eaten by the Battas.
+
+Iang de per-tuan:
+title of sovereignty.
+
+Ibrahim (otherwise, Saleh-eddin shah):
+king of Achin, his origin.
+Enmity to the Portuguese.
+Transactions of his reign, and death.
+
+Iju:
+a peculiar vegetable substance used for cordage.
+
+Ilhas d'Ouro:
+attempts of the Portuguese to discover them.
+
+Import-trade.
+
+Incest.
+
+Indalas:
+one of the Malayan names of Sumatra.
+
+Indigo:
+Broad-leafed or tarum akar.
+
+Indragiri:
+river of.
+Has its source in a lake of the Menangkabau country.
+
+Indrapura:
+kingdom of.
+
+Inhabitants:
+general distinctions of.
+
+Inheritance:
+rules of.
+
+Ink:
+manufacture of.
+
+Insanity.
+
+Insects:
+Various kinds of, enumerated.
+
+Instruments:
+musical.
+
+Interest:
+of money.
+
+Investiture.
+
+Ipu:
+river of.
+Sungei-ipu (a different river).
+
+Iron:
+Ore smelted.
+Manufactures of.
+Mines.
+
+Iskander Muda (Paduka Sri):
+king of Achin, receives a letter from king James the first, by Captain
+Best, and gives permission for establishing an English factory.
+Conquers Johor.
+Attacks Malacca with a great fleet.
+Receives an embassy from France.
+Again attacks Malacca.
+His death.
+Wealth and power.
+
+Islands:
+near the western coast, account of.
+
+Ivory.
+
+Jack:
+fruit.
+
+Jaggri:
+imperfect sort of sugar from a species of palm.
+
+Jambi:
+river of.
+Colonies settled on branches of it, for collecting gold.
+Has its source in the Limun country.
+Town of.
+
+Jambu:
+fruit.
+
+James the first:
+king, writes a letter to the king of Achin.
+
+Jeinal:
+sultan of Pase, his history.
+
+Johor:
+kingdom of.
+
+Kampar:
+river of.
+King of, negotiates with Alboquerque.
+
+Kampongs:
+or fortified villages.
+
+Kananga:
+flowering tree.
+
+Kapini:
+island of.
+
+Kasumba:
+name of, given to the carthamus and the bixa.
+
+Kataun:
+or Cattown, river of.
+
+Kima:
+or gigantic cockle.
+
+Koran.
+
+Korinchi:
+country.
+Mr. Campbell's visit to it.
+Situation of lake.
+Inhabitants and buildings.
+Food, articles of commerce, gold.
+Account of lepers.
+Peculiar plants.
+Character of the natives.
+
+Koto-tuggoh:
+a fortified village of the Sungei­tenang country.
+Taken and destroyed.
+
+Krises:
+description of.
+
+Kroi:
+district of.
+
+Kulit-kayu:
+or coolicoy, the bark of certain trees used in building, and for other
+purposes.
+
+Kuwau:
+argus or Sumatran pheasant.
+
+Labun:
+district of.
+
+Lakes.
+
+Laksamana:
+a title equivalent to commander-in-chief.
+
+Lampong:
+country, limits of.
+Inhabitants, language, and governments.
+Wars.
+Account of a peculiar people, called orang abung.
+Manners and customs.
+Superstitions.
+
+Land:
+unevenness of its surface.
+New­formed.
+Rarely considered as the subject of property.
+
+Land:
+and sea breezes, causes of.
+
+Language:
+Nature of the Malayan.
+Of others spoken in Sumatra.
+Court.
+Specimens of.
+Batta.
+Nias.
+
+Lanseh:
+fruit.
+
+Laws:
+and customs.
+Compilation of.
+
+Laye:
+river and district of.
+
+Leeches:
+a small kind of, very troublesome on marches.
+
+Lemba:
+district, inhabitants of, similar to the Rejangs.
+
+Leprosy:
+account of.
+
+Lignum-aloes:
+or kalambac.
+
+Limun:
+district of.
+Gold-traders of.
+
+Literature.
+
+Lizards.
+
+Longitude:
+of Fort Marlborough, determined by observation.
+
+Looms:
+description of.
+
+Macdonald, (Lieutenant-colonel John).
+
+Mackenzie, (Mr. Kenneth).
+
+Madagascar:
+resemblance in customs of, to those of Sumatra.
+
+Mahmud shah Juhan (Ala-eddin).
+
+Mahometanism:
+period of conversion to.
+
+Maize:
+or jagong, cultivation of.
+
+Malacca:
+or Malaka, city of, when founded.
+Visited in 1509 by the Portuguese.
+In 1511 taken by them.
+Repeatedly attacked by the kings of Achin.
+In 1641 taken by the Hollanders.
+
+Malays:
+name of, applied to people of Menangkabau.
+Nearly synonymous with Mahometan, in these parts.
+Difference in character between Malays and other Sumatrans.
+Guards composed of.
+Origin of.
+Race of kings.
+Not strict in matters of religion.
+Governments of.
+
+Malayan:
+language.
+
+Malur:
+or Malati flower (nyctanthes).
+
+Mango:
+fruit, described.
+
+Mangustin:
+fruit, described.
+
+Manjuta:
+river and district of.
+English settlement at.
+
+Manna:
+district of.
+
+Mansalar:
+island of.
+
+Mansur shah:
+king of Achin, besieges Malacca, and is defeated.
+Renews the attack, without success.
+Again appears before it with a large fleet, and proceeds to the attack of
+Johor.
+Murdered when preparing to sail with a considerable expedition.
+
+Mantawei:
+name of race of people inhabiting certain islands.
+
+Manufactures.
+
+Marco Polo:
+his account of Sumatra, by the name of Java minor.
+Visited it about the year 1290.
+
+Marriage:
+modes of, and laws respecting.
+Rites of.
+Festivals.
+Consummation of.
+
+Marsden (Mr. John).
+
+Measures:
+of capacity and length.
+
+Measurement:
+of time.
+
+Medicinal:
+shrubs and herbs.
+
+Medicine:
+art of.
+
+Mega:
+island of.
+
+Menangkabau:
+kingdom of.
+History of, imperfectly known.
+Limits of.
+Rivers proceeding from it.
+Political decline.
+Early mention of it by travellers.
+Division of the government.
+Extraordinary respect paid to reigning family.
+Titles of the sultan.
+Remarks on them.
+Ceremonies.
+Conversion of people to the Mahometan religion.
+Antiquity of the empire more remote than that event.
+Sultan held in respect by the Battas.
+
+Metempsychosis:
+ideas of, as entertained by the Sumatrans.
+
+Miller (Mr. Charles).
+
+Minerals.
+
+Mines:
+gold.
+Copper.
+Iron.
+
+Missionaries:
+no attempt of, to convert the Sumatrans to Christianity, upon record.
+
+Moco-moco:
+in Anac-sungei, account of.
+
+Monkeys:
+various species of.
+
+Monsoons:
+causes of their change.
+
+Morinda:
+wood of, used for dyeing.
+
+Mountains:
+chain of, running along the island.
+Height of Mount Ophir or Gunong Passamman.
+High mountain called Bukit Pandang.
+
+Mucks:
+practice, nature, and causes of.
+
+Muhammed shah (Ala-eddin or Ula-eddin):
+succeeds Juhan shah as king of Achin.
+His turbulent reign, and death.
+
+Mukim:
+divisional district of the country of Achin.
+
+Mulberry.
+
+Murder:
+compensation for.
+
+Musi:
+district of.
+
+Music:
+Minor key preferred.
+
+Mythology:
+of the Battas.
+
+Nako-nako:
+islands of.
+
+Nalabu:
+port of.
+
+Name:
+of Sumatra, unknown to the Arabian geographers, and to Marco Polo.
+Various orthography of.
+Probably of Hindu origin.
+
+Names:
+when given to children.
+Distinctions of.
+Father often named from his child.
+Hesitate to pronounce their own.
+
+Natal:
+settlement of.
+Gold of fine quality procured in the country of.
+Governed by datus.
+
+Navigation.
+
+Nias:
+island of.
+
+Nibong:
+species of palm, description and uses of.
+
+Nicolo di Conti:
+his visit to Sumatra.
+
+Nutmegs:
+and cloves, first introduction of, by Mr. Robert Broff.
+Second importation.
+Success of the culture.
+
+
+Oaths:
+nature of, in legal proceedings.
+Collateral.
+Mode of administering.
+Amongst the Battas.
+
+Odoricus:
+his visit to the island of Sumoltra.
+
+Officers:
+of state, in Malayan governments.
+At Achin.
+
+Oil:
+earth-.
+Camphor-.
+Coconut-.
+
+Ophir:
+name of, not known to the natives.
+Height of Mount Ophir or Gunong Passamman.
+
+Opium:
+considerable importation of, from Bengal.
+Law respecting.
+Practice of smoking.
+Preparation of.
+Effects of.
+
+Oranges:
+various species of.
+
+Oratory:
+gift of, natural to the Sumatrans.
+
+Ornaments:
+worn.
+
+Padang:
+the principal Dutch settlement.
+
+Padang-guchi:
+river of.
+
+Padi:
+or rice, cultivation of upland.
+Of lowland.
+Transplantation of.
+Rate of produce.
+Threshing.
+Beating out.
+
+Paduka Sri:
+king of Achin, see Iskander Muda.
+
+Pagi (or Nassaus):
+islands of.
+
+Palembang:
+river of.
+Rises in the district of Musi, near Bencoolen river.
+Dutch factory on it.
+Description of country on its banks.
+Government.
+City of.
+Many foreign settlers.
+Language.
+Interior country visited by the English.
+
+Palma-christi.
+
+Pandan:
+shrub, its fragrant blossom.
+
+Pangeran:
+nature of title.
+Authority much limited.
+
+Pantun:
+or proverbial song.
+
+Papaw:
+fruit.
+
+Pase:
+kingdom of.
+
+Passamman:
+province of.
+
+Passummah:
+Legal customs of.
+
+Pawns:
+or pledges, law respecting.
+
+Pepper:
+principal object of the Company's trade.
+Cultivation of.
+Description of the plant.
+Progress of bearing.
+Time of gathering.
+Mode of drying.
+White pepper.
+Surveys of plantations.
+Transportation of.
+
+Percha (Pulo):
+one of the Malayan names of Sumatra.
+
+Perfume.
+
+Pergularia odoratissima:
+cultivated in England by Sir Joseph Banks.
+
+Persons:
+of the natives, description of.
+
+Pheasant:
+argus or Sumatran.
+
+Philippine:
+islands, customs and superstitions of, resembling those of Sumatra.
+
+Pidir:
+kingdom of.
+
+Pigafetta (Antonio):
+in his voyage appears the earliest specimen of a Malayan vocabulary.
+
+Pikul:
+weight.
+
+Pinang:
+areca, or, vulgarly, the betel-nut-tree, and fruit.
+
+Pinang (Pulo):
+island of.
+
+Pineapple.
+
+Piratical habits:
+of Malays.
+
+Plantain:
+or pisang.
+Varieties of the fruit.
+
+Pleading:
+mode of.
+
+Poetry:
+fondness of the natives for.
+
+Polishing:
+leaf.
+
+Polygamy:
+question of.
+Connexion between it and the practice of purchasing wives.
+
+Population.
+
+Porah:
+island of.
+
+Portuguese:
+expeditions of, rendered the island of Sumatra well known to Europeans.
+Their first visit to it, under Diogo Lopez de Sequeira.
+Transactions at Pidir, and Pase.
+Conquer Malacca.
+Sustain many attacks and sieges from kings of Achin.
+
+Potatoes:
+cultivated in the Korinchi country.
+
+Priaman:
+river and district of.
+Invitation to the English to form a settlement there.
+
+Puhn:
+or Poon, signifying tree in general, applied by Europeans to a particular
+species.
+
+Puhn-upas:
+or poison-tree, account of.
+
+Pulas:
+species of twine from the kaluwi nettle.
+
+Pulse:
+variety of.
+
+Pulo:
+or island.
+
+Pulo:
+point and bay.
+
+Punei-jambu:
+a beautiful species of dove.
+
+Punishments:
+corporal.
+Amongst the Battas.
+Amongst the Achinese.
+
+Quail-fighting.
+
+Queen:
+government of Achin devolves to a.
+Account of embassy from Madras to the.
+
+Radin:
+prince of Madura.
+
+Raffles (Mr. Thomas).
+
+Rakan:
+river or estuary.
+
+Rambutan:
+fruit.
+
+Ramni:
+name given to Sumatra by the Arabian geographers.
+
+Ranjaus:
+description of.
+
+Rapes:
+laws respecting.
+
+Rattan-cane:
+fruit of.
+Considerable export trade in.
+
+Rau:
+or Rawa country.
+
+Rayet shah (Ala-eddin):
+said to have been originally a fisherman, ascends the throne of Achin,
+having murdered the heir.
+During his reign the Hollanders first visited Achin.
+And also the English, under Captain (Sir James) Lancaster, who carried
+letters from Queen Elizabeth.
+At the age of ninety-five, confined by his son.
+
+Reaping:
+mode of.
+
+Rejang:
+people of, chosen as a standard for description of manners.
+Situation of the country.
+Divided into tribes.
+Their government.
+
+Religion:
+state of, amongst the Rejang.
+No ostensible worship.
+The word dewa applied to a class of invisible beings.
+Veneration for the tombs of their ancestors.
+Ancient religion of Malays.
+Motives for conversion to Mahometanism.
+Of the Battas.
+
+Reptiles.
+
+Rhinoceros.
+
+Rice:
+culture of.
+Distinctions of ladang or upland, and sawah or lowland.
+Sowing, mode of.
+Reaping, mode of.
+An article of trade.
+
+Rivers.
+
+Rock:
+species of soft.
+Coral.
+
+Rum:
+or Rome, for Constantinople.
+
+Sago-tree:
+or rambiya (confounded with the Cycas circinalis, a different tree),
+described.
+
+Salt:
+manufacture of.
+
+Saltpetre:
+Procured from certain caves.
+
+Sanding:
+islands or Pulo Sandiang.
+
+Sappan:
+wood.
+
+Scorpion:
+flower or anggrek kasturi.
+
+Sculpture:
+ancient.
+
+Sea:
+encroachments of.
+
+Sequeira (Diogo Lopez de):
+first Portuguese who visited Sumatra.
+
+Serampei:
+country.
+Villages, government, features of the women.
+Peculiar regulation.
+Further account of.
+
+Sesamum:
+or bijin, oil produced from.
+
+Sexes:
+mistaken ideas of a considerable inequality in the numbers of the two.
+
+Shellfish.
+
+Siak:
+river of.
+Survey of.
+Country on both sides flat and alluvial.
+Abundance of ship-timber.
+Government.
+Trade.
+Subdued by the king of Achin.
+
+Si Biru:
+island of.
+
+Silebar:
+river, and district of.
+
+Sileda:
+attempt to work a gold mine at.
+
+Silk-cotton (bombax).
+
+Singapura:
+city of, when founded.
+
+Singkel:
+river.
+
+Si Porah:
+or Good Fortune, island of.
+
+Situation:
+of the island, general account of.
+
+Slavery:
+state of, not common among the Rejangs.
+Condition of negro slaves at Fort Marlborough.
+
+Smallpox:
+its ravages.
+
+Snakes.
+
+Soil:
+described.
+Unevenness of surface.
+Fertility of.
+
+Songs:
+Singing.
+amusement of.
+
+Spices:
+see Nutmegs.
+
+Sugar:
+manufacture of.
+Imperfect sort, called jaggri.
+
+Sugar-cane, cultivation of.
+
+Suits:
+see Causes.
+
+Sulphur:
+Where procured.
+
+Sumatra:
+name probably of Hindu origin.
+
+Sungei-lamo and Sungei-itam:
+rivers.
+
+Sungei-tenang:
+country, account of.
+
+Superstitious opinions.
+
+Surf:
+Considerations respecting.
+Probable cause of.
+
+Surveys:
+of pepper plantations.
+
+Swala:
+or sea-slug, an article of trade.
+
+Swasa:
+a mixture of gold and copper so called.
+
+Tamarind:
+tree.
+
+Tanjong:
+flower.
+
+Tappanuli:
+celebrated bay of.
+Settlement on the island of Punchong kechil.
+Taken in 1760 by the French, and again in 1809.
+
+Taprobane:
+name of, applied to Sumatra in the middle ages.
+
+Teak:
+timber, its valuable qualities.
+Attempts to cultivate the tree.
+
+Teeth:
+mode of filing them.
+Sometimes plated with gold.
+
+Theft:
+laws respecting.
+Proof of, required.
+
+Thermometer:
+height of, at Fort Marlborough, and at Natal.
+So low as 45 degrees on a hill in the Ipu country.
+
+Threshing:
+mode of.
+
+Thunder:
+and lightning, very frequent.
+Effect of.
+
+Tides:
+At Siak.
+Flow to a great distance in rivers on eastern side of the island.
+
+Tiger:
+Ravages by this animal.
+Traps.
+
+Tiku:
+river and islands of.
+
+Timber:
+great variety of.
+Species enumerated.
+
+Time:
+manner of dividing.
+
+Tin:
+A considerable export of it to China.
+
+Titles.
+
+Tobacco:
+cultivation of.
+
+Toddy:
+or nira, how procured.
+
+Tools:
+for mining.
+Carpenters'.
+
+Torches:
+or links.
+
+Trade.
+
+Triste:
+island of, see Mega.
+
+Tulang-bawang:
+river.
+
+Turmeric.
+
+Upas:
+vegetable poison, account of.
+
+Urei:
+river of.
+
+Utensils:
+account of.
+
+Vegetable productions.
+
+Venereal disease.
+
+Villages:
+description of.
+
+Virgins:
+their distinguishing ornaments.
+
+Volcanoes:
+called gunong api, account of.
+
+Warfare:
+mode of.
+
+Waterfalls.
+
+Waterspout:
+account of.
+
+Wax:
+a considerable article of trade.
+
+Weapons.
+
+Weaving.
+
+Weights.
+
+Wens.
+
+White-ants.
+
+White pepper.
+
+Widows:
+laws respecting.
+
+Wilkins (Mr. Charles).
+
+Winds.
+
+Wives:
+number of. See Marriage.
+
+Worm-shell:
+or Teredo navalis.
+
+Wood:
+various species of.
+
+Woods:
+Mode of clearing.
+
+Wounds:
+laws respecting.
+
+Writing:
+On bark of tree, and on slips of bamboo.
+Specimens of.
+
+Yams:
+various roots under that denomination.
+
+Year:
+mode of estimating its length.
+
+</pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The History of Sumatra, by William Marsden
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The History of Sumatra, by William Marsden
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The History of Sumatra
+       Containing An Account Of The Government, Laws, Customs And
+       Manners Of The Native Inhabitants
+
+Author: William Marsden
+
+Release Date: September 28, 2005 [EBook #16768]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Sue Asscher
+
+
+
+
+
+(PLATE 16. A MALAY BOY, NATIVE OF BENCOOLEN.
+T. Heaphy delt. A. Cardon fecit.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA,
+
+CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF
+
+THE GOVERNMENT, LAWS, CUSTOMS, AND MANNERS
+
+OF
+
+THE NATIVE INHABITANTS,
+
+WITH
+
+A DESCRIPTION OF THE NATURAL PRODUCTIONS,
+
+AND A RELATION OF THE
+
+ANCIENT POLITICAL STATE OF THAT ISLAND.
+
+BY
+
+WILLIAM MARSDEN, F.R.S.
+
+THE THIRD EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS, ADDITIONS, AND PLATES.
+
+LONDON:
+PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,
+BY J. M'CREERY, BLACK-HORSE-COURT,
+AND SOLD BY
+LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
+1811.
+
+...
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA.
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+CHAPTER 1.
+
+SITUATION.
+NAME.
+GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, ITS MOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND RIVERS.
+AIR AND METEORS.
+MONSOONS, AND LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.
+MINERALS AND FOSSILS.
+VOLCANOES.
+EARTHQUAKES.
+SURFS AND TIDES.
+
+
+CHAPTER 2.
+
+DISTINCTION OF INHABITANTS.
+REJANGS CHOSEN FOR GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
+PERSONS AND COMPLEXION.
+CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.
+
+VILLAGES.
+BUILDINGS.
+DOMESTIC UTENSILS.
+FOOD.
+
+
+CHAPTER 4.
+
+AGRICULTURE.
+RICE, ITS CULTIVATION, ETC.
+PLANTATIONS OF COCONUT, BETEL-NUT, AND OTHER VEGETABLES FOR DOMESTIC USE.
+DYE STUFFS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 5.
+
+FRUITS, FLOWERS, MEDICINAL SHRUBS AND HERBS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 6.
+
+BEASTS.
+REPTILES.
+FISH.
+BIRDS.
+INSECTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 7.
+
+VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF THE ISLAND CONSIDERED AS ARTICLES OF COMMERCE.
+PEPPER.
+CULTIVATION OF PEPPER.
+CAMPHOR.
+BENZOIN.
+CASSIA, ETC.
+
+
+CHAPTER 8.
+
+GOLD, TIN, AND OTHER METALS.
+BEESWAX.
+IVORY.
+BIRDS-NEST, ETC.
+IMPORT-TRADE.
+
+
+CHAPTER 9.
+
+ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
+ART OF MEDICINE.
+SCIENCES.
+ARITHMETIC.
+GEOGRAPHY.
+ASTRONOMY.
+MUSIC, ETC.
+
+
+CHAPTER 10.
+
+LANGUAGES.
+MALAYAN.
+ARABIC CHARACTER USED.
+LANGUAGES OF THE INTERIOR PEOPLE.
+PECULIAR CHARACTERS.
+SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES AND OF ALPHABETS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 11.
+
+COMPARATIVE STATE OF THE SUMATRANS IN CIVIL SOCIETY.
+DIFFERENCE OF CHARACTER BETWEEN THE MALAYS AND OTHER INHABITANTS.
+GOVERNMENT.
+TITLES AND POWER OF THE CHIEFS AMONG THE REJANGS.
+INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEANS.
+GOVERNMENT IN PASSUMMAH.
+
+
+CHAPTER 12.
+
+LAWS AND CUSTOMS.
+MODE OF DECIDING CAUSES.
+CODE OF LAWS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 13.
+
+REMARKS ON, AND ELUCIDATION OF, THE VARIOUS LAWS AND CUSTOMS.
+MODES OF PLEADING.
+NATURE OF EVIDENCE.
+OATHS.
+INHERITANCE.
+OUTLAWRY.
+THEFT, MURDER, AND COMPENSATION FOR IT.
+ACCOUNT OF A FEUD.
+DEBTS.
+SLAVERY.
+
+
+CHAPTER 14.
+
+MODES OF MARRIAGE, AND CUSTOMS RELATIVE THERETO.
+POLYGAMY.
+FESTIVALS.
+GAMES.
+COCK-FIGHTING.
+USE AND EFFECTS OF OPIUM.
+
+
+CHAPTER 15.
+
+CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.
+EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.
+ORATORY.
+CHILDREN.
+NAMES.
+CIRCUMCISION.
+FUNERALS.
+RELIGION.
+
+
+CHAPTER 16.
+
+THE COUNTRY OF LAMPONG AND ITS INHABITANTS.
+LANGUAGE.
+GOVERNMENT.
+WARS.
+PECULIAR CUSTOMS.
+RELIGION.
+
+
+CHAPTER 17.
+
+ACCOUNT OF THE INLAND COUNTRY OF KORINCHI.
+EXPEDITION TO THE SERAMPEI AND SUNGEI-TENANG COUNTRIES.
+
+
+CHAPTER 18.
+
+MALAYAN STATES.
+ANCIENT EMPIRE OF MENANGKABAU.
+ORIGIN OF THE MALAYS AND GENERAL ACCEPTATION OF NAME.
+EVIDENCES OF THEIR MIGRATION FROM SUMATRA.
+SUCCESSION OF MALAYAN PRINCES.
+PRESENT STATE OF THE EMPIRE.
+TITLES OF THE SULTAN.
+CEREMONIES.
+CONVERSION TO MAHOMETAN RELIGION.
+LITERATURE.
+ARTS.
+WARFARE.
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+
+CHAPTER 19.
+
+KINGDOMS OF INDRAPURA, ANAK-SUNGEI, PASSAMMAN, SIAK.
+
+
+CHAPTER 20.
+
+THE COUNTRY OF THE BATTAS.
+TAPPANULI-BAY.
+JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.
+CASSIA-TREES.
+GOVERNMENTS.
+ARMS.
+WARFARE.
+TRADE.
+FAIRS.
+FOOD.
+MANNERS.
+LANGUAGE.
+WRITING.
+RELIGION.
+FUNERALS.
+CRIMES.
+EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.
+
+
+CHAPTER 21.
+
+KINGDOM OF ACHIN.
+ITS CAPITAL.
+AIR.
+INHABITANTS.
+COMMERCE.
+MANUFACTURES.
+NAVIGATION.
+COIN.
+GOVERNMENT.
+REVENUES.
+PUNISHMENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 22.
+
+HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF ACHIN, FROM THE PERIOD OF ITS BEING VISITED BY
+EUROPEANS.
+
+
+CHAPTER 23.
+
+BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ISLANDS LYING OFF THE WESTERN COAST OF SUMATRA.
+
+
+LIST OF PLATES.
+
+PLATE 1. THE PEPPER-PLANT, Piper nigrum.
+E.W. Marsden delt. Engraved by J. Swaine, Queen Street, Golden Square.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 2. THE DAMMAR, A SPECIES OF PINUS.
+Sinensis delt. Swaine Sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 3. THE MANGUSTIN FRUIT, Garcinia mangostana.
+Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 4. THE RAMBUTAN, Nephelium lappaceum.
+L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 5. THE LANSEH FRUIT, Lansium domesticum.
+L. Wilkins delt. Hooker Sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 6. THE RAMBEH FRUIT, A SPECIES OF LANSEH.
+Maria Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 7. THE KAMILING OR BUAH KRAS, Juglans camirium.
+L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 8. Marsdenia tinctoria, OR BROAD-LEAFED INDIGO.
+E.W. Marsden delt. Swaine fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 9. A SPECIES OF Lemur volans, SUSPENDED FROM THE RAMBEH-TREE.
+Sinensis delt. N. Cardon fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 9a. THE MUSANG, A SPECIES OF VIVERRA.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 10. THE TANGGILING OR PENG-GOLING-SISIK, A SPECIES OF MANIS.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 11. n.1. THE ANJING-AYER, Mustela lutra.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.
+
+PLATE 11a. n.2.
+1. SKULL OF THE KAMBING-UTAN.
+2. SKULL OF THE KIJANG.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.
+
+PLATE 12. n.1. THE PALANDOK, A DIMINUTIVE SPECIES OF MOSCHUS.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
+
+PLATE 12a. n.2. THE KIJANG OR ROE, Cervus muntjak.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 13. n.1. THE LANDAK, Hystrix longicauda.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 13a. n.2. THE ANJING-AYER.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 14. n.1. THE KAMBING-UTAN, OR WILD-GOAT.
+W. Bell delt.
+
+PLATE 14a. n.2. THE KUBIN, Draco volans.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 15. BEAKS OF THE BUCEROS OR HORN-BILL.
+M. de Jonville delt. Swaine sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 16. A MALAY BOY, NATIVE OF BENCOOLEN.
+T. Heaphy delt. A. Cardon fecit.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 17. SUMATRAN WEAPONS.
+A. A Malay Gadoobang.
+B. A Batta Weapon.
+C. A Malay Creese.
+One-third of the size of the Originals.
+W. Williams del. and sculpt.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 17a. SUMATRAN WEAPONS.
+D. A Malay Creese.
+E. An Achenese Creese.
+F. A Malay Sewar.
+One-third of the size of the Originals.
+W. Williams del. and sculpt.
+
+PLATE 18. ENTRANCE OF PADANG RIVER.
+With Buffaloes.
+
+PLATE 18A. VIEW OF PADANG HILL.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 19. A VILLAGE HOUSE IN SUMATRA.
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+PLATE 19a. A PLANTATION HOUSE IN SUMATRA.
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+...
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+The island of Sumatra, which, in point of situation and extent, holds a
+conspicuous rank on the terraqueous globe, and is surpassed by few in the
+bountiful indulgences of nature, has in all ages been unaccountably
+neglected by writers insomuch that it is at this day less known, as to
+the interior parts more especially, than the remotest island of modern
+discovery; although it has been constantly resorted to by Europeans for
+some centuries, and the English have had a regular establishment there
+for the last hundred years. It is true that the commercial importance of
+Sumatra has much declined. It is no longer the Emporium of Eastern riches
+whither the traders of the West resorted with their cargoes to exchange
+them for the precious merchandise of the Indian Archipelago: nor does it
+boast now the political consequence it acquired when the rapid progress
+of the Portuguese successes there first received a check. That
+enterprising people, who caused so many kingdoms to shrink from the
+terror of their arms, met with nothing but disgrace in their attempts
+against Achin, whose monarchs made them tremble in their turn. Yet still
+the importance of this island in the eye of the natural historian has
+continued undiminished, and has equally at all periods laid claim to an
+attention that does not appear, at any, to have been paid to it.
+
+The Portuguese being better warriors than philosophers, and more eager to
+conquer nations than to explore their manners or antiquities, it is not
+surprising that they should have been unable to furnish the world with
+any particular and just description of a country which they must have
+regarded with an evil eye. The Dutch were the next people from whom we
+had a right to expect information. They had an early intercourse with the
+island, and have at different times formed settlements in almost every
+part of it; yet they are almost silent with respect to its history.* But
+to what cause are we to ascribe the remissness of our own countrymen,
+whose opportunities have been equal to those of their predecessors or
+contemporaries? It seems difficult to account for it; but the fact is
+that, excepting a short sketch of the manners prevailing in a particular
+district of the island, published in the Philosophical Transactions of
+the year 1778, not one page of information respecting the inhabitants of
+Sumatra has been communicated to the public by any Englishman who has
+resided there.
+
+(*Footnote. At the period when this remark was written, I was not aware
+that an account of the Dutch settlements and commerce in Sumatra by M.
+Adolph Eschels-kroon had in the preceding year been published at
+Hamburgh, in the German language; nor had the transactions of a literary
+society established at Batavia, whose first volume appeared there in
+1779, yet reached this country. The work, indeed, of Valentyn, containing
+a general history of the European possessions in the East Indies, should
+have exempted a nation to which oriental learning is largely indebted
+from what I now consider as an unmerited reflection.)
+
+To form a general and tolerably accurate account of this country and its
+inhabitants is a work attended with great and peculiar difficulties. The
+necessary information is not to be procured from the people themselves,
+whose knowledge and inquiries are to the last degree confined, scarcely
+extending beyond the bounds of the district where they first drew breath;
+and but very rarely have the almost impervious woods of Sumatra been
+penetrated to any considerable distance from the sea coast by Europeans,
+whose observations have been then imperfect, trusted perhaps to memory
+only, or, if committed to paper, lost to the world by their deaths. Other
+difficulties arise from the extraordinary diversity of national
+distinctions, which, under a great variety of independent governments,
+divide this island in many directions; and yet not from their number
+merely, nor from the dissimilarity in their languages or manners, does
+the embarrassment entirely proceed: the local divisions are perplexed and
+uncertain; the extent of jurisdiction of the various princes is
+inaccurately defined; settlers from different countries and at different
+periods have introduced an irregular though powerful influence that
+supersedes in some places the authority of the established governments,
+and imposes a real dominion on the natives where a nominal one is not
+assumed. This, in a course of years, is productive of innovations that
+destroy the originality and genuineness of their customs and manners,
+obliterate ancient distinctions, and render confused the path of an
+investigator.
+
+These objections, which seem to have hitherto proved unsurmountable with
+such as might have been inclined to attempt the history of Sumatra, would
+also have deterred me from an undertaking apparently so arduous, had I
+not reflected that those circumstances in which consisted the principal
+difficulty were in fact the least interesting to the public, and of the
+least utility in themselves. It is of but small importance to determine
+with precision whether a few villages on this or that particular river
+belong to one petty chief or to another; whether such a nation is divided
+into a greater or lesser number of tribes; or which of two neighbouring
+powers originally did homage to the other for its title. History is only
+to be prized as it tends to improve our knowledge of mankind, to which
+such investigations contribute in a very small degree. I have therefore
+attempted rather to give a comprehensive than a circumstantial
+description of the divisions of the country into its various governments;
+aiming at a more particular detail in what respects the customs,
+opinions, arts, and industry of the original inhabitants in their most
+genuine state. The interests of the European powers who have established
+themselves on the island; the history of their settlements, and of the
+revolutions of their commerce I have not considered as forming a part of
+my plan; but these subjects, as connected with the accounts of the native
+inhabitants and the history of their governments, are occasionally
+introduced.
+
+I was principally encouraged to this undertaking by the promises of
+assistance I received from some ingenious and very highly esteemed
+friends who resided with me in Sumatra. It has also been urged to me here
+in England that, as the subject is altogether new, it is a duty incumbent
+on me to lay the information I am in possession of, however defective,
+before the public, who will not object to its being circumscribed whilst
+its authenticity remains unimpeachable. This last quality is that which I
+can with the most confidence take upon me to vouch for. The greatest
+portion of what I have described has fallen within the scope of my own
+immediate observation; the remainder is either matter of common notoriety
+to every person residing in the island, or received upon the concurring
+authority of gentlemen whose situation in the East India Company's
+service, long acquaintance with the natives, extensive knowledge of their
+language, ideas, and manners, and respectability of character, render
+them worthy of the most implicit faith that can be given to human
+testimony.
+
+I have been the more scrupulously exact in this particular because my
+view was not, ultimately, to write an entertaining book to which the
+marvellous might be thought not a little to contribute, but sincerely and
+conscientiously to add the small portion in my power to the general
+knowledge of the age; to throw some glimmering light on the path of the
+naturalist; and more especially to furnish those philosophers whose
+labours have been directed to the investigation of the history of Man
+with facts to serve as data in their reasonings, which are too often
+rendered nugatory, and not seldom ridiculous, by assuming as truths the
+misconceptions or wilful impositions of travellers. The study of their
+own species is doubtless the most interesting and important that can
+claim the attention of mankind; and this science, like all others, it is
+impossible to improve by abstract speculation merely. A regular series of
+authenticated facts is what alone can enable us to rise towards a perfect
+knowledge in it. To have added one new and firm step in this arduous
+ascent is a merit of which I should be proud to boast.
+
+...
+
+Of this third edition it is necessary to observe that, the former two
+having made their appearance so early as the years 1783 and 1784, it
+would long since have been prepared for the public eye had not the duties
+of an official situation occupied for many years the whole of my
+attention. During that period, however, I received from my friends abroad
+various useful, and, to me at least, interesting communications which
+have enabled me to correct some inaccuracies, to supply deficiencies, and
+to augment the general mass of information on the subject of an island
+still but imperfectly explored. To incorporate these new materials
+requiring that many liberties should be taken with the original
+contexture of the work, I became the less scrupulous of making further
+alterations wherever I thought they could be introduced with advantage.
+The branch of natural history in particular I trust will be found to have
+received much improvement, and I feel happy to have had it in my power to
+illustrate several of the more interesting productions of the vegetable
+and animal kingdoms by engravings executed from time to time as the
+drawings were procured, and which are intended to accompany the volume in
+a separate atlas.
+
+...
+
+
+
+THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA.
+
+
+CHAPTER 1.
+
+SITUATION.
+NAME.
+GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, ITS MOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND RIVERS.
+AIR AND METEORS.
+MONSOONS, AND LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.
+MINERALS AND FOSSILS.
+VOLCANOES.
+EARTHQUAKES.
+SURFS AND TIDES.
+
+If antiquity holds up to us some models, in different arts and sciences,
+which have been found inimitable, the moderns, on the other hand, have
+carried their inventions and improvements, in a variety of instances, to
+an extent and a degree of perfection of which the former could entertain
+no ideas. Among those discoveries in which we have stepped so far beyond
+our masters there is none more striking, or more eminently useful, than
+the means which the ingenuity of some, and the experience of others, have
+taught mankind, of determining with certainty and precision the relative
+situation of the various countries of the earth. What was formerly the
+subject of mere conjecture, or at best of vague and arbitrary
+computation, is now the clear result of settled rule, founded upon
+principles demonstratively just. It only remains for the liberality of
+princes and states, and the persevering industry of navigators and
+travellers, to effect the application of these means to their proper end,
+by continuing to ascertain the unknown and uncertain positions of all the
+parts of the world, which the barriers of nature will allow the skill and
+industry of man to approach.
+
+SITUATION OF THE ISLAND.
+
+Sumatra, the subject of the present work, is an extensive island in the
+East Indies, the most western of those which may be termed the Malayan
+Archipelago, and constituting its boundary on that side.
+
+LATITUDE.
+
+The equator divides it obliquely, its general direction being north-west
+and south-east, into almost equal parts; the one extremity lying in five
+degrees thirty-three minutes north, and the other in five degrees
+fifty-six minutes south latitude. In respect to relative position its
+northern point stretches into the Bay of Bengal; its south-west coast is
+exposed to the great Indian Ocean; towards the south it is separated by
+the Straits of Sunda from the island of Java; on the east by the
+commencement of the Eastern and China Seas from Borneo and other islands;
+and on the north-east by the Straits of Malacca from the peninsula of
+Malayo, to which, according to a tradition noticed by the Portuguese
+historians, it is supposed to have been anciently united.
+
+LONGITUDE.
+
+The only point of the island whose longitude has been settled by actual
+observation is Fort Marlborough, near Bencoolen, the principal English
+settlement, standing in three degrees forty-six minutes of south
+latitude. From eclipses of Jupiter's satellites observed in June 1769,
+preparatory to an observation of the transit of the planet Venus over the
+sun's disc, Mr. Robert Nairne calculated its longitude to be 101 degrees
+42 minutes 45 seconds; which was afterwards corrected by the Astronomer
+Royal to 102 degrees east of Greenwich. The situation of Achin Head is
+pretty accurately fixed by computation at 95 degrees 34 minutes; and
+longitudes of places in the Straits of Sunda are well ascertained by the
+short runs from Batavia, which city has the advantage of an observatory.
+
+MAP.
+
+By the general use of chronometers in latter times the means have been
+afforded of determining the positions of many prominent points both on
+the eastern and western coasts, by which the map of the island has been
+considerably improved: but particular surveys, such as those of the bays
+and islets from Batang-kapas to Padang, made with great ability by
+Captain (now Lieutenant-Colonel) John Macdonald; of the coast from
+Priaman to the islands off Achin by Captain George Robertson; and of Siak
+River by Mr. Francis Lynch, are much wanted; and the interior of the
+country is still very imperfectly known. From sketches of the routes of
+Mr. Charles Campbell and of Lieutenant Hastings Dare I have been enabled
+to delineate the principal features of the Sarampei, Sungei Tenang and
+Korinchi countries, inland of Ipu, Moco-moco, and Indrapura; and
+advantage has been taken of all other information that could be procured.
+For the general materials from which the map is constructed I am chiefly
+indebted to the kindness of my friend, the late Mr. Alexander Dalrymple,
+whose indefatigable labours during a long life have contributed more than
+those of any other person to the improvement of Indian Hydrography. It
+may be proper to observe that the map of Sumatra to be found in the fifth
+volume of Valentyn's great work is so extremely incorrect, even in regard
+to those parts immediately subject to the Dutch government, as to be
+quite useless.
+
+UNKNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS. TAPROBANE.
+
+Notwithstanding the obvious situation of this island in the direct track
+from the ports of India to the Spice Islands and to China, it seems to
+have been unknown to the Greek and Roman geographers, whose information
+or conjectures carried them no farther than Selan-dib or Ceylon, which
+has claims to be considered as their Taprobane; although during the
+middle ages that celebrated name was almost uniformly applied to Sumatra.
+The single circumstance indeed of the latter being intersected by the
+equator (as Taprobane was said to be) is sufficient to justify the doubts
+of those who were disinclined to apply it to the former; and whether in
+fact the obscure and contradictory descriptions given by Strabo,
+Pomponius Mela, Pliny, and Ptolemy, belonged to any actual place, however
+imperfectly known; or whether, observing that a number of rare and
+valuable commodities were brought from an island or islands in the
+supposed extremity of the East, they might have been led to give place in
+their charts to one of vast extent, which should stand as the
+representative of the whole, is a question not to be hastily decided.
+
+OPHIR.
+
+The idea of Sumatra being the country of Ophir, whither Solomon sent his
+fleets for cargoes of gold and ivory, rather than to the coast of Sofala,
+or other part of Africa, is too vague, and the subject wrapped in a veil
+of too remote antiquity, to allow of satisfactory discussion; and I shall
+only observe that no inference can be drawn from the name of Ophir found
+in maps as belonging to a mountain in this island and to another in the
+peninsula; these having been applied to them by European navigators, and
+the word being unknown to the natives.
+
+Until the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope the
+identity of this island as described or alluded to by writers is often
+equivocal, or to be inferred only from corresponding circumstances.
+
+ARABIAN TRAVELLERS.
+
+The first of the two Arabian travellers of the ninth century, the account
+of whose voyages to India and China was translated by Renaudot from a
+manuscript written about the year 1173, speaks of a large island called
+Ramni, in the track between Sarandib and Sin (or China), that from the
+similarity of productions has been generally supposed to mean Sumatra;
+and this probability is strengthened by a circumstance I believe not
+hitherto noticed by commentators. It is said to divide the Sea of
+Herkend, or Indian Ocean, from the Sea of Shelahet) Salahet in Edrisi),
+and Salat being the Malayan term both for a strait in general, and for
+the well-known passage within the island of Singapura in particular, this
+may be fairly presumed to refer to the Straits of Malacca.
+
+EDRISI.
+
+Edrisi, improperly called the Nubian geographer, who dedicated his work
+to Roger, King of Sicily, in the middle of the twelfth century, describes
+the same island, in the first climate, by the name of Al-Rami; but the
+particulars so nearly correspond with those given by the Arabian
+traveller as to show that the one account was borrowed from the other. He
+very erroneously however makes the distance between Sarandib and that
+island to be no more than three days' sail instead of fifteen. The island
+of Soborma, which he places in the same climate, is evidently Borneo, and
+the two passages leading to it are the Straits of Malacca and of Sunda.
+What is mentioned of Sumandar, in the second climate, has no relation
+whatever to Sumatra, although from the name we are led to expect it.
+
+MARCO POLO.
+
+Marco Polo, the celebrated Venetian traveller of the thirteenth century,
+is the first European who speaks of this island, but under the
+appellation of Java minor, which he gave to it by a sort of analogy,
+having forgotten, or not having learned from the natives, its appropriate
+name. His relation, though for a long time undervalued, and by many
+considered as a romantic tale, and liable as it is to the charge of
+errors and omissions, with some improbabilities, possesses,
+notwithstanding, strong internal evidence of genuineness and good faith.
+Containing few dates, the exact period of his visit to Sumatra cannot be
+ascertained, but as he returned to Venice in 1295, and possibly five
+years might have elapsed in his subsequent tedious voyages and journeys
+by Ceylon, the Karnatick, Malabar, Guzerat, Persia, the shores of the
+Caspian and Euxine, to Genoa (in a prison at which place he is said to
+have dictated his narrative), we may venture to refer it to the year
+1290.
+
+Taking his departure, with a considerable equipment, from a southern port
+of China, which he (or his transcriber) named Zaitum, they proceeded to
+Ziamba (Tsiampa or Champa, adjoining to the southern part of
+Cochin-China) which he had previously visited in 1280, being then in the
+service of the emperor Kublai Khan. From thence, he says, to the island
+of Java major is a course of fifteen hundred miles, but it is evident
+that he speaks of it only from the information of others, and not as an
+eyewitness; nor is it probable that the expedition should have deviated
+so far from its proper route. He states truly that it is a mart for
+spices and much frequented by traders from the southern provinces of
+China. He then mentions in succession the small uninhabited islands of
+Sondur and Condur (perhaps Pulo Condore); the province of Boeach
+otherwise Lochac (apparently Camboja, near to which Condore is situated);
+the island of Petan (either Patani or Pahang in the peninsula) the
+passage to which, from Boeach, is across a gulf (that of Siam); and the
+kingdom called Malaiur in the Italian, and Maletur in the Latin version,
+which we can scarcely doubt to be the Malayan kingdom of Singa-Pura, at
+the extremity of the peninsula, or Malacca, then beginning to flourish.
+It is not however asserted that he touched at all these places, nor does
+he seem to speak from personal knowledge until his arrival at Java minor
+(as he calls it) or Sumatra. This island, lying in a south-eastern
+direction from Petan (if he does not rather mean from Malaiur, the place
+last mentioned) he expressly says he visited, and describes it as being
+in circumference two thousand miles (not very wide of the truth in a
+matter so vague), extending to the southward so far as to render the
+Polar Star invisible, and divided into eight kingdoms, two of which he
+did not see, and the six others he enumerates as follows: Ferlech, which
+I apprehend to be Parlak, at the eastern extremity of the northern coast,
+where they were likely to have first made the land. Here he says the
+people in general were idolaters; but the Saracen merchants who
+frequented the place had converted to the faith of Mahomet the
+inhabitants of the towns, whilst those of the mountains lived like
+beasts, and were in the practice of eating human flesh. Basma or Basman:
+this nearly approaches in sound to Pasaman on the western coast, but I
+should be more inclined to refer it to Pase (by the Portuguese written
+Pacem) on the northern. The manners of the people here, as in the other
+kingdoms, are represented as savage; and such they might well appear to
+one who had long resided in China. Wild elephants are mentioned, and the
+rhinoceros is well described. Samara: this I suppose to be Samar-langa,
+likewise on the northern coast, and noted for its bay. Here, he says, the
+expedition, consisting of two thousand persons, was constrained to remain
+five months, waiting the change of the monsoon; and, being apprehensive
+of injury from the barbarous natives, they secured themselves, by means
+of a deep ditch, on the land side, with its extremities embracing the
+port, and strengthened by bulwarks of timber. With provisions they were
+supplied in abundance, particularly the finest fish. There is no wheat,
+and the people live on rice. They are without vines, but extract an
+excellent liquor from trees of the palm kind by cutting off a branch and
+applying to it a vessel which is filled in the course of a day and night.
+A description is then given of the Indian or coconut. Dragoian, a name
+bearing some though not much resemblance to Indragiri on the eastern
+coast; but I doubt his having proceeded so far to the southward as that
+river. The customs of the natives are painted as still more atrocious in
+this district. When any of them are afflicted with disorders pronounced
+by their magicians to be incurable their relations cause them to be
+suffocated, and then dress and eat their flesh; justifying the practice
+by this argument, that if it were suffered to corrupt and breed worms,
+these must presently perish, and by their deaths subject the soul of the
+deceased to great torments. They also kill and devour such strangers
+caught amongst them as cannot pay a ransom. Lambri might be presumed a
+corruption of Jambi, but the circumstances related do not justify the
+analogy. It is said to produce camphor, which is not found to the
+southward of the equinoctial line; and also verzino, or red-wood (though
+I suspect benzuin to be the word intended), together with a plant which
+he names birci, supposed to be the bakam of the Arabs, or sappan wood of
+the eastern islands, the seeds of which he carried with him to Venice. In
+the mountainous parts were men with tails a palm long; also the
+rhinoceros, and other wild animals. Lastly, Fanfur or Fansur, which
+corresponds better to Campar than to the island of Panchur, which some
+have supposed it. Here the finest camphor was produced, equal in value to
+its weight in gold. The inhabitants live on rice and draw liquor from
+certain trees in the manner before described. There are likewise trees
+that yield a species of meal. They are of a large size, have a thin bark,
+under which is a hard wood about three inches in thickness, and within
+this the pith, from which, by means of steeping and straining it, the
+meal (or sago) is procured, of which he had often eaten with
+satisfaction. Each of these kingdoms is said to have had its peculiar
+language. Departing from Lambri, and steering northward from Java minor
+one hundred and fifty miles, they reached a small island named Necuram or
+Norcueran (probably Nancowry, one of the Nicobars), and afterwards an
+island named Angaman (Andaman), from whence, steering to the southward of
+west a thousand miles, they arrived at that of Zeilan or Seilam, one of
+the most considerable in the world. The editions consulted are chiefly
+the Italian of Ramusio, 1583, Latin of Muller, 1671, and French of
+Bergeron, 1735, varying much from each other in the orthography of proper
+names.
+
+ODORICUS.
+
+Odoricus, a friar, who commenced his travels in 1318 and died at Padua in
+1331, had visited many parts of the East. From the southern part of the
+coast of Coromandel he proceeded by a navigation of twenty days to a
+country named Lamori (perhaps a corruption of the Arabian Al-rami), to
+the southward of which is another kingdom named Sumoltra, and not far
+from thence a large island named Java. His account, which was delivered
+orally to the person by whom it was written down, is extremely meagre and
+unsatisfactory.
+
+MANDEVILLE.
+
+Mandeville, who travelled in the fourteenth century, seems to have
+adopted the account of Odoricus when he says, "Beside the isle of Lemery
+is another that is clept Sumobor; and fast beside a great isle clept
+Java."
+
+NICOLO DI CONTI.
+
+Nicolo di Conti, of Venice, returned from his oriental travels in 1449
+and communicated to the secretary of Pope Eugenius IV a much more
+consistent and satisfactory account of what he had seen than any of his
+predecessors. After giving a description of the cinnamon and other
+productions of Zeilam he says he sailed to a great island named Sumatra,
+called by the ancients Taprobana, where he was detained one year. His
+account of the pepper-plant, of the durian fruit, and of the
+extraordinary customs, now well ascertained, of the Batech or Batta
+people, prove him to have been an intelligent observer.
+
+ITINERARIUM PORTUGALLENSIUM.
+
+A small work entitled Itinerarium Portugallensium, printed at Milan in
+1508, after speaking of the island of Sayla, says that to the eastward of
+this there is another called Samotra, which we name Taprobane, distant
+from the city of Calechut about three months' voyage. The information
+appears to have been obtained from an Indian of Cranganore, on the coast
+of Malabar, who visited Lisbon in 1501.
+
+LUDOVICO BARTHEMA.
+
+Ludovico Barthema (Vartoma) of Bologna, began his travels in 1503, and in
+1505, after visiting Malacca, which he describes as being the resort of a
+greater quantity of shipping than any other port in the world, passed
+over to Pedir in Sumatra, which he concludes to be Taprobane. The
+productions of the island, he says, were chiefly exported to Catai or
+China. From Sumatra he proceeded to Banda and the Moluccas, from thence
+returned by Java and Malacca to the west of India, and arrived at Lisbon
+in 1508.
+
+ODOARDUS BARBOSA.
+
+Odoardus Barbosa, of Lisbon, who concluded the journal of his voyage in
+1516, speaks with much precision of Sumatra. He enumerates many places,
+both upon the coast and inland, by the names they now bear, among which
+he considers Pedir as the principal, distinguishes between the Mahometan
+inhabitants of the coast and the Pagans of the inland country; and
+mentions the extensive trade carried on by the former with Cambaia in the
+west of India.
+
+ANTONIO PIGAFETTA.
+
+In the account given by Antonio Pigafetta, the companion of Ferdinand
+Magellan, of the famous circumnavigatory voyage performed by the
+Spaniards in the years 1519 to 1522, it is stated that, from their
+apprehension of falling in with Portuguese ships, they pursued their
+westerly route from the island of Timor, by the Laut Kidol, or southern
+ocean, leaving on their right hand the island of Zamatra (written in
+another part of the journal, Somatra) or Taprobana of the ancients.
+Mention is also made of a native of that island being on board, who
+served them usefully as an interpreter in many of the places they
+visited; and we are here furnished with the earliest specimen of the
+Malayan language.
+
+PORTUGUESE EXPEDITIONS.
+
+Previously however to this Spanish navigation of the Indian seas, by the
+way of South America, the expeditions of the Portuguese round the Cape of
+Good Hope had rendered the island well known, both in regard to its local
+circumstances and the manners of its inhabitants.
+
+EMANUEL KING OF PORTUGAL.
+
+In a letter from Emanuel King of Portugal to Pope Leo the Tenth, dated in
+1513, he speaks of the discovery of Zamatra by his subjects; and the
+writings of Juan de Barros, Castaneda, Osorius, and Maffaeus, detail the
+operations of Diogo Lopez de Sequeira at Pedir and Pase in 1509, and
+those of the great Alfonso de Alboquerque at the same places, in 1511,
+immediately before his attack upon Malacca. Debarros also enumerates the
+names of twenty of the principal places of the island with considerable
+precision, and observes that the peninsula or chersonesus had the epithet
+of aurea given to it on account of the abundance of gold carried thither
+from Monancabo and Barros, countries in the island of C(cedilla)amatra.
+
+Having thus noticed what has been written by persons who actually visited
+this part of India at an early period, or published from their oral
+communication by contemporaries, it will not be thought necessary to
+multiply authorities by quoting the works of subsequent commentators and
+geographers, who must have formed their judgments from the same original
+materials.
+
+NAME OF SUMATRA.
+
+With respect to the name of Sumatra, we perceive that it was unknown both
+to the Arabian travellers and to Marco Polo, who indeed was not likely to
+acquire it from the savage natives with whom he had intercourse. The
+appellation of Java minor which he gives to the island seems to have been
+quite arbitrary, and not grounded upon any authority, European or
+Oriental, unless we can suppose that he had determined it to be the
+I'azadith nesos of Ptolemy; but from the other parts of his relation it
+does not appear that he was acquainted with the work of that great
+geographer, nor could he have used it with any practical advantage. At
+all events it could not have led him to the distinction of a greater and
+a lesser Java; and we may rather conclude that, having visited (or heard
+of) the great island properly so called, and not being able to learn the
+real name of another, which from its situation and size might well be
+regarded as a sister island, he applied the same to both, with the
+relative epithets of major and minor. That Ptolemy's Jaba-dib or dio was
+intended, however vaguely, for the island of Java, cannot be doubted. It
+must have been known to the Arabian merchants, and he was indefatigable
+in his inquiries; but at the same time that they communicated the name
+they might be ill qualified to describe its geographical position.
+
+In the rude narrative of Odoricus we perceive the first approach to the
+modern name in the word Sumoltra. Those who immediately followed him
+write it with a slight, and often inconsistent, variation in the
+orthography, Sumotra, Samotra, Zamatra, and Sumatra. But none of these
+travellers inform us from whom they learned it; whether from the natives
+or from persons who had been in the habits of frequenting it from the
+continent of India; which latter I think the more probable. Reland, an
+able oriental scholar, who directed his attention to the languages of the
+islands, says it obtains its appellation from a certain high land called
+Samadra, which he supposes to signify in the language of the country a
+large ant; but in fact there is not any spot so named; and although there
+is some resemblance between semut, the word for an ant, and the name in
+question, the etymology is quite fanciful. Others have imagined that they
+find an easy derivation in the word samatra, to be met with in some
+Spanish or Portuguese dictionaries, as signifying a sudden storm of wind
+and rain, and from whence our seamen may have borrowed the expression;
+but it is evident that the order of derivation is here reversed, and that
+the phrase is taken from the name of the land in the neighbourhood of
+which such squalls prevail. In a Persian work of the year 1611 the name
+of Shamatrah occurs as one of those places where the Portuguese had
+established themselves; and in some very modern Malayan correspondence I
+find the word Samantara employed (along with another more usual, which
+will be hereafter mentioned) to designate this island.
+
+PROBABLY DERIVED FROM THE SANSKRIT.
+
+These, it is true, are not entirely free from the suspicion of having
+found their way to the Persians and Malays through the medium of European
+intercourse; but to a person who is conversant with the languages of the
+continent of India it must be obvious that the name, however written,
+bears a strong resemblance to words in the Sanskrit language: nor should
+this appear extraordinary when we consider (what is now fully admitted)
+that a large proportion of the Malayan is derived from that source, and
+that the names of many places in this and the neighbouring countries
+(such as Indrapura and Indragiri in Sumatra, Singapura at the extremity
+of the peninsula, and Sukapura and the mountain of Maha-meru in Java) are
+indisputably of Hindu origin. It is not my intention however to assign a
+precise etymology; but in order to show the general analogy to known
+Sanskrit terms it may be allowed to instance Samuder, the ancient name of
+the capital of the Carnatik, afterwards called Bider; Samudra-duta, which
+occurs in the Hetopadesa, as signifying the ambassador of the sea; the
+compound formed of su, good, and matra, measure; and more especially the
+word samantara, which implying a boundary, intermediate, or what lies
+between, might be thought to apply to the peculiar situation of an island
+intermediate between two oceans and two straits.
+
+NOT ENTIRELY UNKNOWN TO THE NATIVES.
+
+When on a former occasion it was asserted (and with too much confidence)
+that the name of Sumatra is unknown to the natives, who are ignorant of
+its being an island, and have no general name for it, the expression
+ought to have been confined to those natives with whom I had an
+opportunity of conversing, in the southern part of the west coast, where
+much genuineness of manners prevails, with little of the spirit of
+commercial enterprise or communication with other countries. But even in
+situations more favourable for acquiring knowledge I believe it will be
+found that the inhabitants of very large islands, and especially if
+surrounded by smaller ones, are accustomed to consider their own as terra
+firma, and to look to no other geographical distinction than that of the
+district or nation to which they belong. Accordingly we find that the
+more general names have commonly been given by foreigners, and, as the
+Arabians chose to call this island Al-rami or Lameri, so the Hindus
+appear to have named it Sumatra or Samantara.
+
+MALAYAN NAMES FOR THE ISLAND.
+
+Since that period however, having become much better acquainted with
+Malayan literature, and perused the writings of various parts of the
+peninsula and islands where the language is spoken and cultivated, I am
+enabled to say that Sumatra is well known amongst the eastern people and
+the better-informed of the natives themselves by the two names of Indalas
+and Pulo percha (or in the southern dialect Pritcho).
+
+INDALAS.
+
+Of the meaning or analogies of the former, which seems to have been
+applied to it chiefly by the neighbouring people of Java, I have not any
+conjecture, and only observe its resemblance (doubtless accidental) to
+the Arabian denomination of Spain or Andalusia. In one passage I find the
+Straits of Malacca termed the sea of Indalas, over which, we are gravely
+told, a bridge was thrown by Alexander the Great.
+
+PERCHA.
+
+The latter and more common name is from a Malayan word signifying
+fragments or tatters, and the application is whimsically explained by the
+condition of the sails of the vessel in which the island was
+circumnavigated for the first time; but it may with more plausibility be
+supposed to allude to the broken or intersected land for which the
+eastern coast is so remarkable. It will indeed be seen in the map that in
+the vicinity of what are called Rupat's Straits there is a particular
+place of this description named Pulo Percha, or the Broken Islands. As to
+the appellation of Pulo Ber-api, or Volcano Island, which has also
+occurred, it is too indefinite for a proper name in a region of the globe
+where the phenomenon is by no means rare or peculiar, and should rather
+be considered as a descriptive epithet.
+
+MAGNITUDE.
+
+In respect to magnitude, it ranks amongst the largest islands in the
+world; but its breadth throughout is determined with so little accuracy
+that any attempt to calculate its superficies must be liable to very
+considerable error. Like Great Britain it is broadest at the southern
+extremity, narrowing gradually to the north; and to this island it is
+perhaps in size more nearly allied than in shape.
+
+MOUNTAINS.
+
+A chain of mountains runs through its whole extent, the ranges being in
+many parts double and treble, but situated in general much nearer to the
+western than the opposite coast, being on the former seldom so much as
+twenty miles from the sea, whilst on the eastern side the extent of level
+country, in the broader part of the island, through which run the great
+rivers of Siak, Indragiri, Jambi, and Palembang, cannot be less than a
+hundred and fifty. The height of these mountains, though very great, is
+not sufficient to occasion their being covered with snow during any part
+of the year, as those in South America between the tropics are found to
+be. Mount Ophir,* or Gunong Pasaman, situated immediately under the
+equinoctial line, is supposed to be the highest visible from the sea, its
+summit being elevated thirteen thousand eight hundred and forty-two feet
+above that level; which is no more than two-thirds of the altitude the
+French astronomers have ascribed to the loftiest of the Andes, but
+somewhat exceeds that of the Peak of Tenerife.
+
+(*Footnote. The following is the result of observations made by Mr.
+Robert Nairne of the height of Mount Ophir:
+
+Height of the peak above the level of the sea, in feet: 13,842.
+English miles: 2.6216.
+Nautical miles: 2.26325.
+Inland, nearly: 26 nautical miles.
+Distance from Massang Point: 32 nautical miles.
+Distance at sea before the peak is sunk under the horizon: 125 nautical
+miles.
+Latitude of the peak: 0 degrees 6 minutes north.
+A volcano mountain, south of Ophir, is short of that in height by: 1377
+feet.
+Inland, nearly 29 nautical miles.
+In order to form a comparison I subjoin the height, as computed by
+mathematicians, of other mountains in different parts of the world:
+Chimborazo, the highest of the Andes, 3220 toises or 20,633 English feet.
+Of this about 2400 feet from the summit are covered with eternal snow.
+Carazon, ascended by the French astronomers: 15,800 English feet.
+Peak of Tenerife. Feuille: 2270 toises or 13,265 feet.
+Mount Blanc, Savoy. Sr. G. Shuckburgh: 15,662.
+Mount Etna, Sr. G. Shuckburgh: 10,954.
+
+Between these ridges of mountains are extensive plains, considerably
+elevated above the surface of the maritime lands, where the air is cool;
+and from this advantage they are esteemed the most eligible portion of
+the country, are consequently the best inhabited and the most cleared
+from woods, which elsewhere in general throughout Sumatra cover both
+hills and valleys with an eternal shade. Here too are found many large
+and beautiful lakes that extend at intervals through the heart of the
+country, and facilitate much the communication between the different
+parts, but their dimensions, situation, or direction, are very little
+known, though the natives make frequent mention of them in the accounts
+of their journeys. Those principally spoken of are: one of great extent
+but unascertained situation in the Batta country; one in the Korinchi
+country, lately visited by Mr. C. Campbel; and another in the Lampong
+country, extending towards Pasummah, navigated by boats of a large class
+with sails, and requires a day and night to effect the passage across it;
+which may be the case in the rainy season, as that part of the island
+through which the Tulang Bawang River flows is subject to extensive
+inundations, causing it to communicate with the river of the Palembang.
+In a journey made many years since by a son of the sultan of the latter
+place, to visit the English resident at Croee, he is said to have
+proceeded by the way of that lake. It is much to be regretted that the
+situation of so important a feature in the geography of the island should
+be at this day the subject of uncertain conjecture.
+
+WATERFALLS.
+
+Waterfalls and cascades are not uncommon, as may be supposed in a country
+of so uneven a surface as that of the western coast. A remarkable one
+descends from the north side of Mount Pugong. The island of Mansalar,
+lying off and affording shelter to the bay of Tappanuli, presents to the
+view a fall of very striking appearance, the reservoir of which the
+natives assert (in their fondness for the marvellous) to be a huge shell
+of the species called kima (Chama gigas) found in great quantities in
+that bay, as well as at New Guinea and other parts of the east.* At the
+bottom of this fall ships occasionally take in their water without being
+under the necessity of landing their casks; but such attempts are liable
+to extreme hazard. A ship from England (the Elgin) attracted by the
+appearance from sea of a small but beautiful cascade descending
+perpendicularly from the steep cliff, that, like an immense rampart,
+lines the seashore near Manna, sent a boat in order to procure fresh
+water; but she was lost in the surf, and the crew drowned.
+
+(*Footnote. The largest I have seen was brought from Tappanuli by Mr.
+James Moore of Arno's Vale in the north of Ireland. It is 3 feet 3 1/2
+inches in its longest diameter, and 2 feet 1 1/4 inches across. One of
+the methods of taking them in deep water is by thrusting a long bamboo
+between the valves as they lie open, when, by the immediate closure which
+follows, they are made fast. The substance of the shell is perfectly
+white, several inches thick, is worked by the natives into arm-rings, and
+in the hands of our artists is found to take a polish equal to the finest
+statuary marble.)
+
+RIVERS.
+
+No country in the world is better supplied with water than the western
+coast of the island. Springs are found wherever they are sought for, and
+the rivers are innumerable; but they are in general too small and rapid
+for the purpose of navigation. The vicinity of the mountains to that side
+of the island occasions this profusion of rivulets, and at the same time
+the imperfections that attend them, by not allowing them space to
+accumulate to any considerable size. On the eastern coast the distance of
+the range of hills not only affords a larger scope for the course of the
+rivers before they disembogue, presents a greater surface for the
+receptacle of rain and vapours, and enables them to unite a greater
+number of subsidiary streams, but also renders the flux more steady and
+uniform by the extent of level space than where the torrent rolls more
+immediately from the mountains. But it is not to be understood that on
+the western side there are no large rivers. Kataun, Indrapura, Tabuyong,
+and Sinkel have a claim to that title, although inferior in size to
+Palembang, Jambi, Indragiri, and Siak. The latter derive also a material
+advantage from the shelter given to them by the peninsula of Malacca, and
+Borneo, Banca, and the other islands of the Archipelago, which, breaking
+the force of the sea, prevent the surf from forming those bars that choke
+the entrance of the south-western rivers, and render them impracticable
+to boats of any considerable draught of water. These labour too under
+this additional inconvenience that scarcely any except the largest run
+out to sea in a direct course. The continual action of the surf, more
+powerful than the ordinary force of the stream, throws up at their mouths
+a bank of sand, which in many instances has the effect of diverting their
+course to a direction parallel with the shore, between the cliffs and the
+beach, until the accumulated waters at length force their way wherever
+there is found the weakest resistance. In the southerly monsoon, when the
+surfs are usually highest, and the streams, from the dryness of the
+weather, least rapid, this parallel course is of the greatest extent; and
+Moco-moco River takes a course, at times, of two or three miles in this
+manner, before it mixes with the sea; but as the rivers swell with the
+rain they gradually remove obstructions and recover their natural
+channel.
+
+AIR.
+
+The heat of the air is by no means so intense as might be expected in a
+country occupying the middle of the torrid zone. It is more temperate
+than in many regions without the tropics, the thermometer, at the most
+sultry hour, which is about two in the afternoon, generally fluctuating
+between 82 and 85 degrees. I do not recollect to have ever seen it higher
+than 86 in the shade, at Fort Marlborough; although at Natal, in latitude
+34 minutes north, it is not unfrequently at 87 and 88 degrees. At sunrise
+it is usually as low as 70; the sensation of cold however is much greater
+than this would seem to indicate, as it occasions shivering and a
+chattering of the teeth; doubtless from the greater relaxation of the
+body and openness of the pores in that climate; for the same temperature
+in England would be esteemed a considerable degree of warmth. These
+observations on the state of the air apply only to the districts near the
+sea-coast, where, from their comparatively low situation, and the greater
+compression of the atmosphere, the sun's rays operate more powerfully.
+Inland, as the country ascends, the degree of heat decreases rapidly,
+insomuch that beyond the first range of hills the inhabitants find it
+expedient to light fires in the morning, and continue them till the day
+is advanced, for the purpose of warming themselves; a practice unknown in
+the other parts of the island; and in the journal of Lieutenant Dare's
+expedition it appears that during one night's halt on the summit of a
+mountain, in the rainy season, he lost several of his party from the
+severity of the weather, whilst the thermometer was not lower than 40
+degrees. To the cold also they attribute the backwardness in growth of
+the coconut-tree, which is sometimes twenty or thirty years in coming to
+perfection, and often fails to produce fruit. Situations are uniformly
+colder in proportion to their height above the level of the sea, unless
+where local circumstances, such as the neighbourhood of sandy plains,
+contribute to produce a contrary effect; but in Sumatra the coolness of
+the air is promoted by the quality of the soil, which is clayey, and the
+constant and strong verdure that prevails, which, by absorbing the sun's
+rays, prevents the effect of their reflection. The circumstance of the
+island being so narrow contributes also to its general temperateness, as
+wind directly or recently from the sea is seldom possessed of any violent
+degree of heat, usually acquired in passing over large tracts of land in
+the tropical climates. Frost, snow, and hail I believe to be unknown to
+the inhabitants. The hill-people in the country of Lampong speak indeed
+of a peculiar kind of rain that falls there, which some have supposed to
+be what we call sleet; but the fact is not sufficiently established. The
+atmosphere is in common more cloudy than in Europe, which is sensibly
+perceived from the infrequency of clear starlight nights. This may
+proceed from the greater rarefaction of the air occasioning the clouds to
+descend lower and become more opaque, or merely from the stronger heat
+exhaling from the land and sea a thicker and more plentiful vapour. The
+fog, called kabut by the natives, which is observed to rise every morning
+among the distant hills, is dense to a surprising degree; the extremities
+of it, even when near at hand, being perfectly defined; and it seldom is
+observed to disperse till about three hours after sunrise.
+
+WATERSPOUT.
+
+That extraordinary phenomenon, the waterspout, so well known to and
+described by navigators, frequently makes its appearance in these parts,
+and occasionally on shore. I had seen many at sea; but the largest and
+most distinct (from its proximity) that I had an opportunity of
+observing, presented itself to me whilst on horseback. I was so near to
+it that I could perceive what appeared to be an inward gyration, distinct
+from the volume surrounding it or body of the tube; but am aware that
+this might have been a deception of sight, and that it was the exterior
+part which actually revolved--as quiescent bodies seem to persons in
+quick motion, to recede in a contrary direction. Like other waterspouts
+it was sometimes perpendicular and sometimes curved, like the pipe of a
+still-head, its course tending in a direction from Bencoolen Bay across
+the peninsula on which the English settlement stands; but before it
+reached the sea on the other side it diminished by degrees, as if from
+want of the supplies that should be furnished by its proper element, and
+collected itself into the cloud from which it depended, without any
+consequent fall of water or destructive effect. The whole operation we
+may presume to be of the nature of a whirlwind, and the violent
+ebullition in that part of the sea to which the lower extremity of the
+tube points to be a corresponding effect to the agitation of the leaves
+or sand on shore, which in some instances are raised to a vast height;
+but in the formation of the waterspout the rotatory motion of the wind
+acts not only upon the surface of the land or sea, but also upon the
+overhanging cloud, and seems to draw it downwards.
+
+THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.
+
+Thunder and lightning are there so very frequent as scarcely to attract
+the attention of persons long resident in the country. During the
+north-west monsoon the explosions are extremely violent; the forked
+lightning shoots in all directions, and the whole sky seems on fire,
+whilst the ground is agitated in a degree little inferior to the motion
+of a slight earthquake. In the south-east monsoon the lightning is more
+constant, but the coruscations are less fierce or bright, and the thunder
+is scarcely audible. It would seem that the consequences of these awful
+meteors are not so fatal there as in Europe, few instances occurring of
+lives being lost or buildings destroyed by the explosions, although
+electrical conductors have never been employed. Perhaps the paucity of
+inhabitants in proportion to the extent of country and the unsubstantial
+materials of the houses may contribute to this observation. I have seen
+some trees, however, that have been shattered in Sumatra by the action of
+lightning.*
+
+(*Footnote. Since the above was written accounts have been received that
+a magazine at Fort Marlborough, containing four hundred barrels of
+powder, was fired by lightning and blown up on the 18th of March 1782.)
+
+MONSOONS.
+
+The causes which produce a successive variety of seasons in the parts of
+the earth without the tropics, having no relation or respect to the
+region of the torrid zone, a different order takes place there, and the
+year is distinguished into two divisions, usually called the rainy and
+dry monsoons or seasons, from the weather peculiar to each. In the
+several parts of India these monsoons are governed by various particular
+laws in regard to the time of their commencement, period of duration,
+circumstances attending their change, and direction of the prevailing
+wind according to the nature and situation of the lands and coasts where
+their influence is felt. The farther peninsula of India, where the
+kingdom of Siam lies, experiences at the same time the effects of
+opposite seasons; the western side, in the Bay of Bengal, being exposed
+for half the year to continual rains, whilst on the eastern side the
+finest weather is enjoyed; and so on the different coasts of Indostan the
+monsoons exert their influence alternately; the one remaining serene and
+undisturbed whilst the other is agitated by storms. Along the coast of
+Coromandel the change, or breaking up of the monsoon as it is called, is
+frequently attended with the most violent gales of wind.
+
+On the west coast of Sumatra, southward of the equinoctial, the
+south-east monsoon or dry season begins about May and slackens in
+September: the north-west monsoon begins about November, and the hard
+rains cease about March. The monsoons for the most part commence and
+leave off gradually there; the months of April and May, October and
+November generally affording weather and winds variable and uncertain.
+
+CAUSE OF THE MONSOONS.
+
+The causes of these periodical winds have been investigated by several
+able naturalists, whose systems, however, do not entirely correspond
+either in the principles laid down or in their application to the effects
+known to be produced in different parts of the globe. I shall summarily
+mention what appear to be the most evident, or probable at least, among
+the general laws, or inferences, which have been deduced from the
+examination of this subject. If the sea were perfectly uninterrupted and
+free from the irregular influence of lands, a perpetual easterly wind
+would prevail in all that space comprehended between the twenty-eighth or
+thirteenth degrees of north and south latitude. This is primarily
+occasioned by the diurnal revolution of the earth upon its axis from west
+to east; but whether through the operation of the sun, proceeding
+westward, upon the atmospheric fluid, or the rapidity of revolution of
+the solid body, which leaves behind it that fluid with which it is
+surrounded, and thereby causes it virtually to recede in a contrary
+direction; or whether these principles cooperate, or unequally oppose
+each other, as has been ingeniously contended, I shall not take upon me
+to decide. It is sufficient to say that such an effect appears to be the
+first general law of the tropical winds. Whatever may be the degree of
+the sun's influence upon the atmosphere in his transient diurnal course,
+it cannot be doubted but that, in regard to his station in the path of
+the ecliptic, his power is considerable. Towards that region of the air
+which is rarefied by the more immediate presence of the heat, the colder
+and denser parts will naturally flow. Consequently from about, and a few
+degrees beyond, the tropics, on either side, the air tends towards the
+equator; and, combining with the general eastern current before
+mentioned, produces (or would, if the surface were uniform) a north-east
+wind in the northern division, and a south-east in the southern; varying
+in the extent of its course as the sun happens to be more or less remote
+at the time. These are denominated the trade-winds, and are the subject
+of the second general observation. It is evident that, with respect to
+the middle space between the tropics, those parts which at one season of
+the year lie to the northward of the sun, are, during another, to the
+southward of him; and of course that an alteration of the effects last
+described must take place, according to the relative situation of the
+luminary; or in other words, that the principle which causes at one time
+a north-east wind to prevail at any particular spot in those latitudes
+must, when the circumstances are changed, occasion a south-east wind.
+Such may be esteemed the outline of the periodical winds, which
+undoubtedly depend upon the alternate course of the sun northwards and
+southwards; and this I state as the third general law. But although this
+may be conformable with experience in extensive oceans, yet, in the
+vicinity of continents and great islands, deviations are remarked that
+almost seem to overturn the principle. Along the western coast of Africa
+and in some parts of the Indian seas, the periodical winds, or monsoons
+as they are termed in the latter, blow from the west-north-west and
+south-west, according to the situation, extent, and nature of the nearest
+lands; the effect of which upon the incumbent atmosphere, when heated by
+the sun at those seasons in which he is vertical, is prodigious, and
+possibly superior to that of any other cause which contributes to the
+production or direction of wind. To trace the operation of this irregular
+principle through the several winds prevalent in India, and their
+periodical failures and changes, would prove an intricate but, I
+conceive, by no means an impossible task.* It is foreign however to my
+present purpose, and I shall only observe that the north-east monsoon is
+changed, on the western coast of Sumatra, to north-west or
+west-north-west by the influence of the land. During the south-east
+monsoon the wind is found to blow there, between that point and south.
+Whilst the sun continues near the equator the winds are variable, nor is
+their direction fixed till he has advanced several degrees towards the
+tropic: and this is the cause of the monsoons usually setting in, as I
+have observed, about May and November, instead of the equinoctial months.
+
+(*Footnote. It has been attempted, and with much ingenious reasoning, by
+Mr. Semeyns in the third volume of the Haerlem Transactions which have
+but lately fallen into my hands.)
+
+LAND AND SEA BREEZES.
+
+Thus much is sufficient with regard to the periodical winds. I shall
+proceed to give an account of those distinguished by the appellation of
+land and sea breezes, which require from me a minuter investigation, both
+because, as being more local, they more especially belong to my subject,
+and that their nature has hitherto been less particularly treated of by
+naturalists.
+
+In this island, as well as all other countries between the tropics of any
+considerable extent, the wind uniformly blows from the sea to the land
+for a certain number of hours in the four and twenty, and then changes
+and blows for about as many from the land to the sea; excepting only when
+the monsoon rages with remarkable violence, and even at such time the
+wind rarely fails to incline a few points, in compliance with the efforts
+of the subordinate clause, which has not power, under these
+circumstances, to produce an entire change. On the west coast of Sumatra
+the sea-breeze usually sets in, after an hour or two of calm, about ten
+in the forenoon, and continues till near six in the evening. About seven
+the land-breeze comes off, and prevails through the night till towards
+eight in the morning, when it gradually dies away.
+
+CAUSE OF THE LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.
+
+These depend upon the same general principle that causes and regulates
+all other wind. Heat acting upon air rarefies it, by which it becomes
+specifically lighter, and mounts upward. The denser parts of the
+atmosphere which surround that so rarefied, rush into the vacuity from
+their superior weight; endeavouring, as the laws of gravity require, to
+restore the equilibrium. Thus in the round buildings where the
+manufactory of glass is carried on, the heat of the furnace in the centre
+being intense, a violent current of air may be perceived to force its way
+in, through doors or crevices, on opposite sides of the house. As the
+general winds are caused by the DIRECT influence of the sun's rays upon
+the atmosphere, that particular deviation of the current distinguished by
+the name of land and sea breezes is caused by the influence of his
+REFLECTED rays, returned from the earth or sea on which they strike. The
+surface of the earth is more suddenly heated by the rays of the sun than
+that of the sea, from its greater density and state of rest; consequently
+it reflects those rays sooner and with more power: but, owing also to its
+density, the heat is more superficial than that imbibed by the sea, which
+becomes more intimately warmed by its transparency and by its motion,
+continually presenting a fresh surface to the sun. I shall now endeavour
+to apply these principles. By the time the rising sun has ascended to the
+height of thirty or forty degrees above the horizon the earth has
+acquired, and reflected on the body of air situated over it, a degree of
+heat sufficient to rarefy it and destroy its equilibrium; in consequence
+of which the body of air above the sea, not being equally, or scarcely at
+all, rarefied, rushes towards the land and the same causes operating so
+long as the sun continues above the horizon, a constant sea-breeze, or
+current of air from sea to land, prevails during that time. From about an
+hour before sunset the surface of the earth begins to lose the heat it
+has acquired from the more perpendicular rays. That influence of course
+ceases, and a calm succeeds. The warmth imparted to the sea, not so
+violent as that of the land but more deeply imbibed, and consequently
+more permanent, now acts in turn, and by the rarefaction it causes draws
+towards its region the land air, grown cooler, more dense, and heavier,
+which continues thus to flow back till the earth, by a renovation of its
+heat in the morning, once more obtains the ascendancy. Such is the
+general rule, conformable with experience, and founded, as it seems to
+me, in the laws of motion and the nature of things. The following
+observations will serve to corroborate what I have advanced, and to throw
+additional light on the subject for the information and guidance of any
+future investigator.
+
+The periodical winds which are supposed to blow during six months from
+the north-west and as many from the south-east rarely observe this
+regularity, except in the very heart of the monsoon; inclining, almost at
+all times, several points to seaward, and not unfrequently blowing from
+the south-west or in a line perpendicular to the coast. This must be
+attributed to the influence of that principle which causes the land and
+sea winds proving on these occasions more powerful than the principle of
+the periodical winds; which two seem here to act at right angles with
+each other; and as the influence of either is prevalent the winds draw
+towards a course perpendicular to or parallel with the line of the coast.
+Excepting when a squall or other sudden alteration of weather, to which
+these climates are particularly liable, produces an irregularity, the
+tendency of the land-wind at night has almost ever a correspondence with
+the sea-wind of the preceding or following day; not blowing in a
+direction immediately opposite to it (which would be the case if the
+former were, as some writers have supposed, merely the effect of the
+accumulation and redundance of the latter, without any positive cause)
+but forming an equal and contiguous angle, of which the coast is the
+common side. Thus, if the coast be conceived to run north and south, the
+same influence, or combination of influences, which produces a sea-wind
+at north-west produces a land-wind at north-east; or adapting the case to
+Sumatra, which lies north-west and south-east, a sea-wind at south is
+preceded or followed by a land-wind at east. This remark must not be
+taken in too strict a sense, but only as the result of general
+observation. If the land-wind, in the course of the night, should draw
+round from east to north it would be looked upon as an infallible
+prognostic of a west or north-west wind the next day. On this principle
+it is that the natives foretell the direction of the wind by the noise of
+the surf at night, which if heard from the northward is esteemed the
+forerunner of a northerly wind, and vice versa. The quarter from which
+the noise is heard depends upon the course of the land-wind, which brings
+the sound with it, and drowns it to leeward--the land-wind has a
+correspondence with the next day's sea-wind--and thus the divination is
+accounted for.
+
+The effect of the sea-wind is not perceived to the distance of more than
+three or four leagues from the shore in common, and for the most part it
+is fainter in proportion to the distance. When it first sets in it does
+not commence at the remoter extremity of its limits but very near the
+shore, and gradually extends itself farther to sea, as the day advances;
+probably taking the longer or shorter course as the day is more or less
+hot. I have frequently observed the sails of ships at the distance of
+four, six, or eight miles, quite becalmed, whilst a fresh sea-breeze was
+at the time blowing upon the shore. In an hour afterwards they have felt
+its effect.*
+
+(*Footnote. This observation as well as many others I have made on the
+subject I find corroborated in the Treatise before quoted from the
+Haerlem Transactions which I had not seen when the present work was first
+published.)
+
+Passing along the beach about six o'clock in the evening when the
+sea-breeze is making its final efforts, I have perceived it to blow with
+a considerable degree of warmth, owing to the heat the sea had by that
+time acquired, which would soon begin to divert the current of air
+towards it when it had first overcome the vis inertiae that preserves
+motion in a body after the impelling power has ceased to operate. I have
+likewise been sensible of a degree of warmth on passing, within two hours
+after sunset, to leeward of a lake of fresh water; which proves the
+assertion of water imbibing a more permanent heat than earth. In the
+daytime the breeze would be rendered cool in crossing the same lake.
+
+Approaching an island situated at a distance from any other land, I was
+struck with the appearance of the clouds about nine in the morning which
+then formed a perfect circle round it, the middle being a clear azure,
+and resembled what the painters call a glory. This I account for from the
+reflected rays of the sun rarefying the atmosphere immediately over the
+island, and equally in all parts, which caused a conflux of the
+neighbouring air, and with in the circumjacent clouds. These last,
+tending uniformly to the centre, compressed each other at a certain
+distance from it, and, like the stones in an arch of masonry, prevented
+each other's nearer approach. That island, however, does not experience
+the vicissitude of land and sea breezes, being too small, and too lofty,
+and situated in a latitude where the trade or perpetual winds prevail in
+their utmost force. In sandy countries, the effect of the sun's rays
+penetrating deeply, a more permanent heat is produced, the consequence of
+which should be the longer continuance of the sea-breeze in the evening;
+and agreeably to this supposition I have been informed that on the coast
+of Coromandel it seldom dies away before ten at night. I shall only add
+on this subject that the land-wind on Sumatra is cold, chilly, and damp;
+an exposure to it is therefore dangerous to the health, and sleeping in
+it almost certain death.
+
+SOIL.
+
+The soil of the western side of Sumatra may be spoken of generally as a
+stiff, reddish clay, covered with a stratum or layer of black mould, of
+no considerable depth. From this there springs a strong and perpetual
+verdure of rank grass, brushwood, or timber-trees, according as the
+country has remained a longer or shorter time undisturbed by the
+consequences of population, which, being in most places extremely thin,
+it follows that a great proportion of the island, and especially to the
+southward, is an impervious forest.
+
+UNEVENNESS OF SURFACE.
+
+Along the western coast of the island the low country, or space of land
+which extends from the seashore to the foot of the mountains, is
+intersected and rendered uneven to a surprising degree by swamps whose
+irregular and winding course may in some places be traced in a continual
+chain for many miles till they discharge themselves either into the sea,
+some neighbouring lake, or the fens that are so commonly found near the
+banks of the larger rivers and receive their overflowings in the rainy
+monsoons. The spots of land which these swamps encompass become so many
+islands and peninsulas, sometimes flat at top, and often mere ridges;
+having in some places a gentle declivity, and in others descending almost
+perpendicularly to the depth of a hundred feet. In few parts of the
+country of Bencoolen, or of the northern districts adjacent to it, could
+a tolerably level space of four hundred yards square be marked out. I
+have often, from an elevated situation, where a wider range was subjected
+to the eye, surveyed with admiration the uncommon face which nature
+assumes, and made inquiries and attended to conjectures on the causes of
+these inequalities. Some choose to attribute them to the successive
+concussions of earthquakes through a course of centuries. But they do not
+seem to be the effect of such a cause. There are no abrupt fissures; the
+hollows and swellings are for the most part smooth and regularly sloping
+so as to exhibit not unfrequently the appearance of an amphitheatre, and
+they are clothed with verdure from the summit to the edge of the swamp.
+From this latter circumstance it is also evident that they are not, as
+others suppose, occasioned by the falls of heavy rains that deluge the
+country for one half of the year; which is likewise to be inferred from
+many of them having no apparent outlet and commencing where no torrent
+could be conceived to operate. The most summary way of accounting for
+this extraordinary unevenness of surface were to conclude that, in the
+original construction of our globe, Sumatra was thus formed by the same
+hand which spread out the sandy plains of Arabia, and raised up the alps
+and Andes beyond the region of the clouds. But this is a mode of solution
+which, if generally adopted, would become an insuperable bar to all
+progress in natural knowledge by damping curiosity and restraining
+research. Nature, we know from sufficient experience, is not only turned
+from her original course by the industry of man, but also sometimes
+checks and crosses her own career. What has happened in some instances it
+is not unfair to suppose may happen in others; nor is it presumption to
+trace the intermediate causes of events which are themselves derived from
+one first, universal, and eternal principle.
+
+CAUSES OF THIS INEQUALITY.
+
+To me it would seem that the springs of water with which these parts of
+the island abound in an uncommon degree operate directly, though
+obscurely, to the producing this irregularity of the surface of the
+earth. They derive their number and an extraordinary portion of activity
+from the loftiness of the ranges of mountains that occupy the interior
+country, and intercept and collect the floating vapours. Precipitated
+into rain at such a hight, the water acquires in its descent through the
+fissures or pores of these mountains a considerable force which exerts
+itself in every direction, lateral and perpendicular, to procure a vent.
+The existence of these copious springs is proved in the facility with
+which wells are everywhere sunk; requiring no choice of ground but as it
+may respect the convenience of the proprietor; all situations, whether
+high or low, being prodigal of this valuable element. Where the
+approaches of the sea have rendered the cliffs abrupt, innumerable rills,
+or rather a continued moisture, is seen to ooze through and trickle down
+the steep. Where on the contrary the sea has retired and thrown up banks
+of sand in its retreat I have remarked the streams of water, at a certain
+level and commonly between the boundaries of the tide, effecting their
+passage through the loose and feeble barrier opposed to them. In short,
+every part of the low country is pregnant with springs that labour for
+the birth; and these continual struggles, this violent activity of
+subterraneous waters, must gradually undermine the plains above. The
+earth is imperceptibly excavated, the surface settles in, and hence the
+inequalities we speak of. The operation is slow but unremitting, and, I
+conceive, fully capable of the effect.
+
+MINERAL PRODUCTIONS.
+
+The earth of Sumatra is rich in minerals and other fossil productions.
+
+GOLD.
+
+No country has been more famous in all ages for gold, and, though the
+sources from whence it is drawn may be supposed in some measure exhausted
+by the avarice and industry of ages, yet at this day the quantity
+procured is very considerable, and doubtless might be much increased were
+the simple labour of the gatherer assisted by a knowledge of the arts of
+mineralogy.
+
+COPPER, IRON, TIN, SULPHUR.
+
+There are also mines of copper, iron, and tin. Sulphur is gathered in
+large quantities about the numerous volcanoes.
+
+SALTPETRE.
+
+Saltpetre the natives procure by a process of their own from the earth
+which is found impregnated with it; chiefly in extensive caves that have
+been, from the beginning of time, the haunt of a certain species of
+birds, of whose dung the soil is formed.
+
+COAL.
+
+Coal, mostly washed down by the floods, is collected in several parts,
+particularly at Kataun, Ayer-rammi, and Bencoolen. It is light and not
+esteemed very good; but I am informed that this is the case with all coal
+found near the surface of the earth, and, as the veins are observed to
+run in an inclined direction until the pits have some depth, the fossil
+must be of an indifferent quality. The little island of Pisang, near the
+foot of Mount Pugong, was supposed to be chiefly a bed of rock crystal,
+but upon examination of specimens taken from thence they proved to be
+calcareous spar.
+
+HOT SPRINGS.
+
+Mineral and hot springs have been discovered in many districts. In taste
+the waters mostly resemble those of Harrowgate, being nauseous to the
+palate.
+
+EARTH OIL.
+
+The oleum terrae, or earth oil, used chiefly as a preservative against
+the destructive ravages of the white-ants, is collected at Ipu and
+elsewhere.*
+
+(*Footnote. The fountain of Naphtha or liquid balsam found at Pedir, so
+much celebrated by the Portuguese writers, is doubtless this oleum
+terrae, or meniak tanah, as it is called by the Malays.)
+
+SOFT ROCK.
+
+There is scarcely any species of hard rock to be met with in the low
+parts of the island near the seashore. Besides the ledges of coral, which
+are covered by the tide, that which generally prevails is the napal, as
+it is called by the inhabitants, forming the basis of the red cliffs, and
+not infrequently the beds of the rivers. Though this napal has the
+appearance of rock it possesses in fact so little solidity that it is
+difficult to pronounce whether it be a soft stone or only an indurated
+clay. The surface of it becomes smooth and glossy by a slight attrition,
+and to the touch resembles soap, which is its most striking
+characteristic; but it is not soluble in water and makes no effervescence
+with acids. Its colour is either grey, brown, or red, according to the
+nature of the earth that prevails in its composition. The red napal has
+by much the smallest proportion of sand, and seems to possess all the
+qualities of the steatite or soap-earth found in Cornwall and other
+countries. The specimens of stone which I brought from the hills in the
+neighbourhood of Bencoolen were pronounced by some mineralogists, to whom
+I showed them at the time, to be granite; but upon more particular
+examination they appear to be a species of trap, consisting principally
+of feldspar and hornblende, of a greyish colour and nearly similar to the
+mountain stone of North Wales.
+
+PETRIFACTION.
+
+Where the encroachments of the sea have undermined the land the cliffs
+are left abrupt and naked, in some places to a very considerable height.
+In these many curious fossils are discovered, such as petrified wood, and
+seashells of various sorts. Hypotheses on this subject have been so ably
+supported and so powerfully attacked that I shall not presume to intrude
+myself in the lists. I shall only observe that, being so near the sea,
+many would hesitate to allow such discoveries to be of any weight in
+proving a violent alteration to have taken place in the surface of the
+terraqueous globe; whilst, on the other hand, it is unaccountable how, in
+the common course of natural events, such extraneous matter should come
+to be lodged in strata at the height perhaps of fifty feet above the
+level of the water, and as many below the surface of the land.
+
+COLOURED EARTHS.
+
+Here are likewise found various species of earths which might be applied
+to valuable purposes, as painters' colours, and otherwise. The most
+common are the yellow and red, probably ochres, and the white, which
+answers the description of the milenum of the ancients.
+
+VOLCANOES.
+
+There are a number of volcano mountains in this, as in almost all the
+other islands of the eastern Archipelago. They are called in the Malay
+language gunong-api, or more correctly, gunong ber-api. Lava has been
+seen to flow from a considerable one near Priamang; but I have never
+heard of its causing any other damage than the burning of woods. This
+however may be owing to the thinness of population, which does not render
+it necessary for the inhabitants to settle in a situation that exposes
+them to danger of this kind. The only volcano I had an opportunity of
+observing opened in the side of a mountain, about twenty miles inland of
+Bencoolen, one-fourth way from its top, as nearly as I can judge. It
+scarcely ever failed to emit smoke; but the column was only visible for
+two or three hours in the morning, seldom rising and preserving its form,
+above the upper edge of the hill, which is not of a conical shape but
+extending with a gradual slope.
+
+EARTHQUAKES.
+
+The high trees with which the country thereabout is covered, prevent the
+crater from being discernible at a distance; and this proves that the
+spot is not considerably raised or otherwise affected by the earthquakes
+which are very frequently felt there. Sometimes it has emitted smoke upon
+these occasions, and in other instances not. Yet during a smart
+earthquake which happened a few years before my arrival it was remarked
+to send forth flame, which it is rarely known to do.* The apprehension of
+the European inhabitants however is rather more excited when it continues
+any length of time without a tendency to an eruption, as they conceive it
+to be the vent by which the inflammable matter escapes that would
+otherwise produce these commotions of the earth. Comparatively with the
+descriptions I have read of earthquakes in South America, Calabria, and
+other countries, those which happen in Sumatra are generally very slight;
+and the usual manner of building renders them but little formidable to
+the natives.
+
+(*Footnote. Some gentlemen who deny the fact of its having at any time
+emitted flame, conjecture that what exhibits the appearance of smoke is
+more probably vapour arising from a considerable hot spring. The natives
+speak of it as a volcano.)
+
+REMARKABLE EFFECTS OF AN EARTHQUAKE.
+
+The most severe that I have known was chiefly experienced in the district
+of Manna in the year 1770. A village was destroyed by the houses falling
+down and taking fire, and several lives were lost.* The ground was in one
+place rent a quarter of a mile, the width of two fathoms, and depth of
+four or five. A bituminous matter is described to have swelled over the
+sides of the cavity, and the earth for a long time after the shocks was
+observed to contract and dilate alternately. Many parts of the hills far
+inland could be distinguished to have given way, and a consequence of
+this was that during three weeks Manna River was so much impregnated with
+particles of clay that the natives could not bathe in it. At this time
+was formed near to the mouth of Padang Guchi, a neighbouring river south
+of the former, a large plain, seven miles long and half a mile broad;
+where there had been before only a narrow beach. The quantity of earth
+brought down on this occasion was so considerable that the hill upon
+which the English resident's house stands appears, from indubitable
+marks, less elevated by fifteen feet than it was before the event.
+
+(*Footnote. I am informed that in 1763 an entire village was swallowed up
+by an earthquake in Pulo Nias, one of the islands which lie off the
+western coast of Sumatra. In July or August of the same year a severe one
+was felt in Bengal.)
+
+Earthquakes have been remarked by some to happen usually upon sudden
+changes of weather, and particularly after violent heats; but I do not
+vouch this upon my own experience, which has been pretty ample. They are
+preceded by a low rumbling noise like distant thunder. The domestic
+cattle and fowls are sensible of the preternatural motion, and seem much
+alarmed; the latter making the cry they are wont to do on the approach of
+birds of prey. Houses situated on a low sandy soil are least affected,
+and those which stand on distinct hills suffer most from the shocks
+because the further removed from the centre of motion the greater the
+agitation; and the loose contexture of the one foundation, making less
+resistance than the solidity of the other, subjects the building to less
+violence. Ships at anchor in the road, though several miles distant from
+the shore, are strongly sensible of the concussion.
+
+NEW LAND FORMED.
+
+Besides the new land formed by the convulsions above described, the sea
+by a gradual recess in some parts produces the same effect. Many
+instances of this kind, of no considerable extent however have been
+observed within the memory of persons now living. But it would seem to me
+that that large tract of land called Pulo Point, forming the bay of the
+name, near to Silebar, with much of the adjacent country has thus been
+left by the withdrawing or thrown up by the motion of the sea. Perhaps
+the point may have been at first an island (from whence its appellation
+of Pulo) and the parts more inland gradually united to it.* Various
+circumstances tend to corroborate such an opinion, and to evince the
+probability that this was not an original portion of the main but new,
+half-formed land. All the swamps and marshy grounds that lie within the
+beach, and near the extremity there are little else, are known, in
+consequence of repeated surveys, to be lower than the level of
+high-water; the bank of sand alone preventing an inundation. The country
+is not only quite free from hills or inequalities of any kind, but has
+scarcely a visible slope. Silebar River, which empties itself into Pulo
+Bay, is totally unlike those in other parts of the island. The motion of
+its stream is hardly perceptible; it is never affected by floods; its
+course is marked out, not by banks covered with ancient and venerable
+woods but by rows of mangroves and other aquatics springing from the
+ooze, and perfectly regular. Some miles from the mouth it opens into a
+beautiful and extensive lake, diversified with small islands, flat, and
+verdant with rushes only. The point of Pulo is covered with the arau tree
+(casuarina) or bastard-pine, as some have called it, which never grows
+but in the seasand and rises fast.
+
+(*Footnote. Since I formed this conjecture I have been told that such a
+tradition of no very ancient date prevails amongst the inhabitants.)
+
+ENCROACHMENT OF THE SEA.
+
+None such are found toward Sungei-Lamo and the rest of the shore
+northward of Marlborough Point, where, on the contrary, you perceive the
+effects of continual depredations by the ocean. The old forest trees are
+there yearly undermined and, falling, obstruct the traveller; whilst
+about Pulo the arau-trees are continually springing up faster than they
+can be cut down or otherwise destroyed. Nature will not readily be forced
+from her course. The last time I visited that part there was a beautiful
+rising grove of these trees, establishing a possession in their proper
+soil. The country, as well immediately here about as to a considerable
+distance inland, is an entire bed of sand without any mixture of clay or
+mould, which I know to have been in vain sought for many miles up the
+neighbouring rivers. To the northward of Padang there is a plain which
+has evidently been, in former times, a bay. Traces of a shelving beach
+are there distinguishable at the distance of one hundred and fifty yards
+from the present boundary of the sea.
+
+But upon what hypothesis can it be accounted for that the sea should
+commit depredations on the northern coast, of which there are the most
+evident tokens as high up at least as Ipu, and probably to Indrapura,
+where the shelter of the neighbouring islands may put a stop to them, and
+that it should restore the land to the southward in the manner I have
+described? I am aware that according to the general motion of the tides
+from east to west this coast ought to receive a continual accession
+proportioned to the loss which others, exposed to the direction of this
+motion, must and do sustain; and it is likely that it does gain upon the
+whole. But the nature of my work obliges me to be more attentive to
+effects than causes, and to record facts though they should clash with
+systems the most just in theory, and most respectable in point of
+authority.
+
+ISLANDS NEAR THE WEST COAST.
+
+The chain of islands which lie parallel with the west coast of Sumatra
+may probably have once formed a part of the main and been separated from
+it, either by some violent effort of nature, or the gradual attrition of
+the sea. I should scarcely introduce the mention of this apparently vague
+surmise but that a circumstance presents itself on the coast which
+affords some stronger colour of proof than can be usually obtained in
+such instances. In many places, and particularly about Pally, we observe
+detached pieces of land standing singly, as islands, at the distance of
+one or two hundred yards from the shore, which were headlands of points
+running out into the sea within the remembrance of the inhabitants. The
+tops continue covered with trees or shrubs; but the sides are bare,
+abrupt, and perpendicular. The progress of insulation here is obvious and
+incontrovertible, and why may not larger islands, at a greater distance,
+have been formed in the revolution of ages by the same accidents? The
+probability is heightened by the direction of the islands Nias, Batu,
+Mantawei, Pagi, Mego, etc., the similarity of the rock, soil, and
+productions, and the regularity of soundings between them and the main,
+whilst without them the depth is unfathomable.
+
+CORAL ROCKS.
+
+Where the shore is flat or shelving the coast of Sumatra, as of all other
+tropical islands, is defended from the attacks of the sea by a reef or
+ledge of coral rock on which the surfs exert their violence without
+further effect than that of keeping its surface even, and reducing to
+powder those beautiful excrescences and ramifications which have been so
+much the object of the naturalist's curiosity, and which some ingenious
+men who have analysed them contend to be the work of insects. The coral
+powder is in particular places accumulated on the shore in great
+quantities, and appears, when not closely inspected, like a fine white
+sand.
+
+SURF.
+
+The surf (a word not to be found, I believe, in our dictionaries) is used
+in India, and by navigators in general, to express a peculiar swell and
+breaking of the sea upon the shore; the phenomena of which not having
+been hitherto much adverted to by writers I shall be the more
+circumstantial in my description of them.
+
+The surf forms sometimes but a single range along the shore. At other
+times there is a succession of two, three, four, or more, behind each
+other, extending perhaps half a mile out to sea. The number of ranges is
+generally in proportion to the height and violence of the surf.
+
+The surf begins to assume its form at some distance from the place where
+it breaks, gradually accumulating as it moves forward till it gains a
+height, in common, of fifteen to twenty feet,* when it overhangs at top
+and falls like a cascade, nearly perpendicular, involving itself as it
+descends. The noise made by the fall is prodigious, and during the
+stillness of the night may be heard many miles up the country.
+
+(*Footnote. It may be presumed that in this estimation of its height I
+was considerably deceived.)
+
+Though in the rising and formation of the surf the water seems to have a
+quick progressive motion towards the land, yet a light body on the
+surface is not carried forward, but, on the contrary, if the tide is
+ebbing, will recede from the shore; from which it would follow that the
+motion is only propagated in the water, like sound in air, and not the
+mass of water protruded. A similar species of motion is observed on
+shaking at one end a long cord held moderately slack, which is expressed
+by the word undulation. I have sometimes remarked however that a body
+which sinks deep and takes hold of the water appears to move towards
+shore with the course of the surf, as is perceptible in a boat landing
+which seems to shoot swiftly forward on the top of the swell; though
+probably it is only after having reached the summit, and may owe its
+velocity to its own weight in the descent.
+
+Countries where the surfs prevail require boats of a peculiar
+construction, and the art of managing them demands the experience of a
+man's life. All European boats are more or less unfit, and seldom fail to
+occasion the sacrifice of the people on board them, in the imprudent
+attempts that are sometimes made to land with them on the open coast. The
+natives of Coromandel are remarkably expert in the management of their
+craft; but it is to be observed that the intervals between the breaking
+of the surfs are usually on that coast much longer than on the coast of
+Sumatra.
+
+The force of the surf is extremely great. I have known it to overset a
+country vessel in such a manner that the top of the mast has stuck in the
+sand, and the lower end made its appearance through her bottom. Pieces of
+cloth have been taken up from a wreck, twisted and rent by its involved
+motion. In some places the surfs are usually greater at high, and in
+others at low, water; but I believe they are uniformly more violent
+during the spring-tides.
+
+CONSIDERATIONS RESPECTING THE CAUSE OF THE SURF.
+
+I shall proceed to inquire into the efficient cause of the surfs. The
+winds have doubtless a strong relation to them. If the air was in all
+places of equal density, and not liable to any motion, I suppose the
+water would also remain perfectly at rest and its surface even;
+abstracting from the general course of the tides and the partial
+irregularities occasioned by the influx of rivers. The current of the air
+impels the water and causes a swell, which is the regular rising and
+subsiding of the waves. This rise and fall is similar to the vibrations
+of a pendulum and subject to like laws. When a wave is at its height it
+descends by the force of gravity, and the momentum acquired in descending
+impels the neighbouring particles, which in their turn rise and impel
+others, and thus form a succession of waves. This is the case in the open
+sea; but when the swell approaches the shore and the depth of water is
+not in proportion to the size of the swell the subsiding wave, instead of
+pressing on a body of water, which might rise in equal quantity, presses
+on the ground, whose reaction causes it to rush on in that manner which
+we call a surf. Some think that the peculiar form of it may be plainly
+accounted for from the shallowness and shelving of the beach. When a
+swell draws near to such a beach the lower parts of the water, meeting
+first with obstruction from the bottom, stand still, whilst the higher
+parts respectively move onward, by which a rolling and involved motion is
+produced that is augmented by the return of the preceding swell. I object
+that this solution is founded on the supposition of an actual progressive
+motion of the body of water in forming a surf; and, that certainly not
+being the fact, it seems deficient. The only real progression of the
+water is occasioned by the perpendicular fall, after the breaking of the
+surf, when from its weight it foams on to a greater or less distance in
+proportion to the height from which it fell and the slope of the shore.
+
+That the surfs are not, like common waves, the immediate effect of the
+wind, is evident from this, that the highest and most violent often
+happen when there is the least wind and vice versa. And sometimes the
+surfs will continue with an equal degree of violence during a variety of
+weather. On the west coast of Sumatra the highest are experienced during
+the south-east monsoon, which is never attended with such gales of wind
+as the north-west. The motion of the surf is not observed to follow the
+course of the wind, but often the contrary; and when it blows hard from
+the land the spray of the sea may be seen to fly in a direction opposite
+to the body of it, though the wind has been for many hours in the same
+point.
+
+Are the surfs the effect of gales of wind at sea, which do not happen to
+extend to the shore but cause a violent agitation throughout a
+considerable tract of the waters, which motion, communicating with less
+distant parts, and meeting at length with resistance from the shore,
+occasions the sea to swell and break in the manner described? To this I
+object that there seems no regular correspondence between their magnitude
+and the apparent agitation of the water without them: that gales of wind,
+except at particular periods, are very unfrequent in the Indian seas,
+where the navigation is well known to be remarkably safe, whilst the
+surfs are almost continual; and that gales are not found to produce this
+effect in other extensive oceans. The west coast of Ireland borders a sea
+nearly as extensive and much more wild than the coast of Sumatra, and yet
+there, though when it blows hard the swell on the shore is high and
+dangerous, is there nothing that resembles the surfs of India.
+
+PROBABLE CAUSE OF THE SURF.
+
+These, so general in the tropical latitudes, are, upon the most probable
+hypothesis I have been able to form, after long observation and much
+thought and inquiry, the consequence of the trade or perpetual winds
+which prevail at a distance from shore between the parallels of thirty
+degrees north and south, whose uniform and invariable action causes a
+long and constant swell, that exists even in the calmest weather, about
+the line, towards which its direction tends from either side. This swell
+or libration of the sea is so prodigiously long, and the sensible effect
+of its height, of course, so much diminished, that it is not often
+attended to; the gradual slope engrossing almost the whole horizon when
+the eye is not very much elevated above its surface: but persons who have
+sailed in those parts may recollect that, even when the sea is apparently
+the most still and level, a boat or other object at a distance from the
+ship will be hidden from the sight of one looking towards it from the
+lower deck for the space of minutes together. This swell, when a squall
+happens or the wind freshens up, will for a time have other subsidiary
+waves on the extent of its surface, breaking often in a direction
+contrary to it, and which will again subside as a calm returns without
+having produced on it any perceptible effect. Sumatra, though not
+continually exposed to the south-east trade-wind, is not so distant but
+that its influence may be presumed to extend to it, and accordingly at
+Pulo Pisang, near the southern extremity of the island, a constant
+southerly sea is observed even after a hard north-west wind. This
+incessant and powerful swell rolling in from an ocean, open even to the
+pole, seems an agent adequate to the prodigious effects produced on the
+coast; whilst its very size contributes to its being overlooked. It
+reconciles almost all the difficulties which the phenomena seem to
+present, and in particular it accounts for the decrease of the surf
+during the north-west monsoon, the local wind then counteracting the
+operation of the general one; and it is corroborated by an observation I
+have made that the surfs on the Sumatran coast ever begin to break at
+their southern extreme, the motion of the swell not being perpendicular
+to the direction of the shore. This manner of explaining their origin
+seems to carry much reason with it; but there occurs to me one objection
+which I cannot get over, and which a regard to truth obliges me to state.
+The trade-winds are remarkably steady and uniform, and the swell
+generated by them is the same. The surfs are much the reverse, seldom
+persevering for two days in the same degree of violence; often mountains
+high in the morning and nearly subsided by night. How comes a uniform
+cause to produce effects so unsteady, unless by the intervention of
+secondary causes, whose nature and operation we are unacquainted with?
+
+It is clear to me that the surfs as above described are peculiar to those
+climates which lie within the remoter limits of the trade-winds, though
+in higher latitudes large swells and irregular breakings of the sea are
+to be met with after boisterous weather. Possibly the following causes
+may be judged to conspire, with that I have already specified, towards
+occasioning this distinction. The former region being exposed to the
+immediate influence of the two great luminaries, the water, from their
+direct impulse, is liable to more violent agitation than nearer the poles
+where their power is felt only by indirect communication. The equatorial
+parts of the earth performing their diurnal revolution with greater
+velocity than the rest, a larger circle being described in the same time,
+the waters thereabout, from the stronger centrifugal force, may be
+supposed to feel less restraint from the sluggish principle of matter; to
+have less gravity; and therefore to be more obedient to external impulses
+of every kind, whether from the winds or any other cause.
+
+TIDES.
+
+The spring-tides on the west coast of Sumatra are estimated to rise in
+general no more than four feet, owing to its open, unconfined situation,
+which prevents any accumulation of the tide, as is the case in narrow
+seas. It is always high-water there when the moon is in the horizon, and
+consequently at six o'clock nearly, on the days of conjunction and
+opposition throughout the year, in parts not far remote from the
+equator.* This, according to Newton's theory, is about three hours later
+than the uninterrupted course of nature, owing to the obvious impediment
+the waters meet with in revolving from the eastward.
+
+(*Footnote. Owing to this uniformity it becomes an easy matter for the
+natives to ascertain the height of the tide at any hour that the moon is
+visible. Whilst she appears to ascend the water falls and vice versa; the
+lowest of the ebb happening when she is in her meridian. The vulgar rule
+for calculating the tides is rendered also to Europeans more simple and
+practical from the same cause. There only needs to add together the
+epact, number of the month, and day of the month; the sum of which, if
+under thirty, gives the moon's age--the excess, if over. Allow
+forty-eight minutes for each day or, which is the same, take four-fifths
+of the age, and it will give you the number of hours after six o'clock at
+which high-water happens. A readiness at this calculation is particularly
+useful in a country where the sea-beach is the general road for
+travelling.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 2.
+
+DISTINCTION OF INHABITANTS.
+REJANGS CHOSEN FOR GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
+PERSONS AND COMPLEXION.
+CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS.
+
+GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE INHABITANTS.
+
+Having exhibited a general view of the island as it is in the hands of
+nature, I shall now proceed to a description of the people who inhabit
+and cultivate it, and shall endeavour to distinguish the several species
+or classes of them in such a manner as may best tend to perspicuity, and
+to furnish clear ideas of the matter.
+
+VARIOUS MODES OF DIVISION.
+
+The most obvious division, and which has been usually made by the writers
+of voyages, is that of Mahometan inhabitants of the sea-coast, and Pagans
+of the inland country. This division, though not without its degree of
+propriety, is vague and imperfect; not only because each description of
+people differ considerably among themselves, but that the inland
+inhabitants are, in some places, Mahometans, and those of the coast, in
+others, what they term Pagans. It is not unusual with persons who have
+not resided in this part of the East to call the inhabitants of the
+islands indiscriminately by the name of Malays. This is a more
+considerable error, and productive of greater confusion than the former.
+By attempting to reduce things to heads too general we defeat the very
+end we propose to ourselves in defining them at all: we create obscurity
+where we wish to throw light. On the other hand, to attempt enumerating
+and distinguishing the variety, almost endless, of petty sovereignties
+and nations into which this island is divided, many of which differ
+nothing in person or manners from their neighbours, would be a task both
+insurmountable and useless. I shall aim at steering a middle course, and
+accordingly shall treat of the inhabitants of Sumatra under the following
+summary distinctions, taking occasion as it may offer to mention the
+principal subdivisions. And first it is proper to distinguish the empire
+of Menangkabau and the Malays; in the next place the Achinese; then the
+Battas; the Rejangs; and next to them the people of Lampong.*
+
+(*Footnote. In the course of my inquiries amongst the natives concerning
+the aborigines of the island I have been informed of two different
+species of people dispersed in the woods and avoiding all communication
+with the other inhabitants. These they call Orang Kubu and Orang Gugu.
+The former are said to be pretty numerous, especially in that part of the
+country which lies between Palembang and Jambi. Some have at times been
+caught and kept as slaves in Labun; and a man of that place is now
+married to a tolerably handsome Kubu girl who was carried off by a party
+that discovered their huts. They have a language quite peculiar to
+themselves, and they eat promiscuously whatever the woods afford, as
+deer, elephant, rhinoceros, wild hog, snakes, or monkeys. The Gugu are
+much scarcer than these, differing in little but the use of speech from
+the Orang Utan of Borneo; their bodies being covered with long hair.
+There have not been above two or three instances of their being met with
+by the people of Labun (from whom my information is derived) and one of
+these was entrapped many years ago in much the same manner as the
+carpenter in Pilpay's Fables caught the monkey. He had children by a
+Labun woman which also were more hairy than the common race; but the
+third generation are not to be distinguished from others. The reader will
+bestow what measure of faith he thinks due to this relation, the veracity
+of which I do not pretend to vouch for. It has probably some foundation
+in truth but is exaggerated in the circumstances.)
+
+Menangkabau being the principal sovereignty of the island, which formerly
+comprehended the whole, and still receives a shadow of homage from the
+most powerful of the other kingdoms which have sprung up from its ruins,
+would seem to claim a right to precedence in description, but I have a
+sufficient reason for deferring it to a subsequent part of the work;
+which is that the people of this empire, by their conversion to
+Mahometanism and consequent change of manners, have lost in a greater
+degree than some neighbouring tribes the genuine Sumatran character,
+which is the immediate object of my investigation.
+
+MALAYS.
+
+They are distinguished from the other inhabitants of this island by the
+appellation of Orang Malayo, or Malays, which however they have in common
+with those of the coast of the Peninsula and of many other islands; and
+the name is applied to every Mussulman speaking the Malayan as his proper
+language, and either belonging to, or claiming descent from, the ancient
+kingdom of Menangkabau; wherever the place of his residence may be.
+Beyond Bencoolen to the southward there are none to be met with excepting
+such as have been drawn thither by, and are in the pay of, Europeans. On
+the eastern side of the island they are settled at the entrance of almost
+all the navigable rivers, where they more conveniently indulge their
+habitual bent for trade and piracy. It must be observed indeed that in
+common speech the term Malay, like that of Moor in the continent of
+India, is almost synonymous with Mahometan; and when the natives of other
+parts learn to read the Arabic character, submit to circumcision, and
+practise the ceremonies of religion, they are often said men-jadi Malayo,
+to become Malays, instead of the more correct expression sudah masuk
+Islam, have embraced the faith. The distinction will appear more strongly
+from this circumstance, that whilst the sultan of Anak Sungei
+(Moco-moco), ambitious of imitating the sultan of Menangkabau, styles
+himself and his immediate subjects Malays, his neighbour, the Pangeran of
+Sungei Lamo, chief of the Rejangs, a very civilised Mahometan, and whose
+ancestors for some generations were of the same faith, seemed offended,
+in a conversation I had with him, at my supposing him (as he is usually
+considered) a Malay, and replied with some emotion, "Malayo tidah, sir;
+orang ulu betul sayo." "No Malay sir; I am a genuine, aboriginal
+countryman." The two languages he wrote and talked (I know not if he be
+still living) with equal facility; but the Rejang he esteemed his mother
+tongue.
+
+Attempts to ascertain from what quarter Sumatra was peopled must rest
+upon mere conjecture. The adjacent peninsula (called by Europeans or
+other foreigners the Malayan Peninsula) presents the most obvious source
+of population; and it has accordingly been presumed that emigrants from
+thence supplied it and the other islands of the eastern Archipelago with
+inhabitants. By this opinion, adopted without examination, I was likewise
+misled and, on a former occasion, spoke of the probability of a colony
+from the peninsula having settled upon the western coast of the island;
+but I have since learned from the histories and traditions of the natives
+of both countries that the reverse is the fact, and that the founders of
+the celebrated kingdoms of Johor, Singapura, and Malacca were adventurers
+from Sumatra. Even at this day the inhabitants of the interior parts of
+the peninsula are a race entirely distinct from those of the two coasts.
+
+Thus much it was necessary, in order to avoid ambiguity, to say in the
+first instance concerning the Malays, of whom a more particular account
+will be given in a subsequent part of the work.
+
+As the most dissimilar among the other classes into which I have divided
+the inhabitants must of course have very many points of mutual
+resemblance, and many of their habits, customs, and ceremonies, in
+common, it becomes expedient, in order to avoid a troublesome and useless
+repetition, to single out one class from among them whose manners shall
+undergo a particular and full investigation, and serve as a standard for
+the whole; the deviation from which, in other classes, shall afterwards
+be pointed out, and the most singular and striking usages peculiar to
+each superadded.
+
+NATION OF THE REJANGS ADOPTED AS A STANDARD OF DESCRIPTION.
+
+Various circumstances induce me on this occasion to give the preference
+to the Rejangs, though a nation of but small account in the political
+scale of the island. They are placed in what may be esteemed a central
+situation, not geographically, but with respect to the encroachments of
+foreign manners and opinions introduced by the Malays from the north, and
+Javans from the south; which gives them a claim to originality superior
+to that of most others. They are a people whose form of government and
+whose laws extend with very little variation over a considerable part of
+the island, and principally that portion where the connexions of the
+English lie. There are traditions of their having formerly sent forth
+colonies to the southward; and in the country of Passummah the site of
+their villages is still pointed out; which would prove that they have
+formerly been of more consideration than they can boast at present. They
+have a proper language and a perfect written character. These advantages
+point out the Rejang people as an eligible standard of description; and a
+motive equally strong that induces me to adopt them as such is that my
+situation and connexions in the island led me to a more intimate and
+minute acquaintance with their laws and manners than with those of any
+other class. I must premise however that the Malay customs having made
+their way in a greater or less degree to every part of Sumatra, it will
+be totally impossible to discriminate with entire accuracy those which
+are original from those which are borrowed; and of course what I shall
+say of the Rejangs will apply for the most part not only to the Sumatrans
+in general but may sometimes be in strictness proper to the Malays alone,
+and by them taught to the higher rank of country people.
+
+SITUATION OF THE REJANG COUNTRY.
+
+The country of the Rejangs is divided to the north-west from the kingdom
+of Anak Sungei (of which Moco-moco is the capital) by the small river of
+Uri, near that of Kattaun; which last, with the district of Labun on its
+banks, bounds it on the north or inland side. The country of Musi, where
+Palembang River takes its rise, forms its limit to the eastward.
+Bencoolen River, precisely speaking, confines it on the south-east;
+though the inhabitants of the district called Lemba, extending from
+thence to Silebar, are entirely the same people in manners and language.
+The principal rivers besides those already mentioned are Laye, Pally, and
+Sungeilamo; on all of which the English have factories, the resident or
+chief being stationed at Laye.
+
+PERSONS OF THE INHABITANTS.
+
+The persons of the inhabitants of the island, though differing
+considerably in districts remote from each other, may in general be
+comprehended in the following description; excepting the Achinese, whose
+commixture with the Moors of the west of India has distinguished them
+from the other Sumatrans.
+
+GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
+
+They are rather below the middle stature; their bulk is in proportion;
+their limbs are for the most part slight, but well shaped, and
+particularly small at the wrists and ankles. Upon the whole they are
+gracefully formed, and I scarcely recollect to have ever seen one
+deformed person among the natives.*
+
+(*Footnote. Ghirardini, an Italian painter, who touched at Sumatra on his
+way to China in 1698 observes of the Malays:
+Son di persona ben formata
+Quanto mai finger san pittori industri.
+He speaks in high terms of the country as being beautifully picturesque.)
+
+The women however have the preposterous custom of flattening the noses,
+and compressing the heads of children newly born, whilst the skull is yet
+cartilaginous, which increases their natural tendency to that shape. I
+could never trace the origin of the practice, or learn any other reason
+for moulding the features to this uncouth appearance, but that it was an
+improvement of beauty in their estimation. Captain Cook takes notice of a
+similar operation at the island of Ulietea. They likewise pull out the
+ears of infants to make them stand at an angle from the head. Their eyes
+are uniformly dark and clear, and among some, especially the southern
+women, bear a strong resemblance to those of the Chinese, in the
+peculiarity of formation so generally observed of that people. Their hair
+is strong and of a shining black; the improvement of both which qualities
+it probably owes in great measure to the early and constant use of
+coconut oil, with which they keep it moist. The men frequently cut their
+hair short, not appearing to take any pride in it; the women encourage
+theirs to a considerable length, and I have known many instances of its
+reaching the ground. The men are beardless and have chins so remarkably
+smooth that, were it not for the priests displaying a little tuft, we
+should be apt to conclude that nature had refused them this token of
+manhood. It is the same in respect to other parts of the body with both
+sexes; and this particular attention to their persons they esteem a point
+of delicacy, and the contrary an unpardonable neglect. The boys as they
+approach to the age of puberty rub their chins, upper lips, and those
+parts of the body that are subject to superfluous hair with chunam
+(quicklime) especially of shells, which destroys the roots of the
+incipient beard. The few pilae that afterwards appear are plucked out
+from time to time with tweezers, which they always carry about them for
+that purpose. Were it not for the numerous and very respectable
+authorities from which we are assured that the natives of America are
+naturally beardless, I should think that the common opinion on that
+subject had been rashly adopted, and that their appearing thus at a
+mature age was only the consequence of an early practice, similar to that
+observed among the Sumatrans. Even now I must confess that it would
+remove some small degree of doubt from my mind could it be ascertained
+that no such custom prevails.*
+
+(*Footnote. It is allowed by travellers that the Patagonians have tufts
+of hair on the upper lip and chin. Captain Carver says that among the
+tribes he visited the people made a regular practice of eradicating their
+beards with pincers. At Brussels is preserved, along with a variety of
+ancient and curious suits of armour, that of Montezuma, king of Mexico,
+of which the visor, or mask for the face, has remarkably large whiskers;
+an ornament which those Americans could not have imitated unless nature
+had presented them with the model. See a paper in the Philosophical
+Transactions for 1786, which puts this matter beyond a doubt. In a French
+dictionary of the Huron language, published in 1632, I observe a term
+corresponding to "arracher la barbe.")
+
+Their complexion is properly yellow, wanting the red tinge that
+constitutes a tawny or copper colour. They are in general lighter than
+the Mestees, or halfbreed, of the rest of India; those of the superior
+class who are not exposed to the rays of the sun, and particularly their
+women of rank, approaching to a great degree of fairness. Did beauty
+consist in this one quality some of them would surpass our brunettes in
+Europe. The major part of the females are ugly, and many of them even to
+disgust, yet there are those among them whose appearance is strikingly
+beautiful; whatever composition of person, features, and complexion that
+sentiment may be the result of.
+
+COLOUR NOT ASCRIBABLE TO CLIMATE.
+
+The fairness of the Sumatrans comparatively with other Indians, situated
+as they are under a perpendicular sun where no season of the year affords
+an alternative of cold, is I think an irrefragable proof that the
+difference of colour in the various inhabitants of the earth is not the
+immediate effect of climate. The children of Europeans born in this
+island are as fair as those born in the country of their parents. I have
+observed the same of the second generation, where a mixture with the
+people of the country has been avoided. On the other hand the offspring
+and all the descendants of the Guinea and other African slaves imported
+there continue in the last instance as perfectly black as in the original
+stock. I do not mean to enter into the merits of the question which
+naturally connects with these observations; but shall only remark that
+the sallow and adust countenances so commonly acquired by Europeans who
+have long resided in hot climates are more ascribable to the effect of
+bilious distempers, which almost all are subject to in a greater or less
+degree, than of their exposure to the influence of the weather, which few
+but seafaring people are liable to, and of which the impression is seldom
+permanent. From this circumstance I have been led to conjecture that the
+general disparity of complexions in different nations might POSSIBLY be
+owing to the more or less copious secretion or redundance of that juice,
+rendering the skin more or less dark according to the qualities of the
+bile prevailing in the constitutions of each. But I fear such a
+hypothesis would not stand the test of experiment, as it might be
+expected to follow that, upon dissection, the contents of a negro's
+gall-bladder, or at least the extravasated bile, should uniformly be
+found black. Persons skilled in anatomy will determine whether it is
+possible that the qualities of any animal secretion can so far affect the
+frame as to render their consequences liable to be transmitted to
+posterity in their full force.*
+
+(*Footnote. In an Essay on the Causes of the Variety of Complexion and
+Figure in the Human Species published at Philadelphia in 1787 the
+permanent effect of the bilious secretion in determining the colour is
+strongly insisted upon.)
+
+The small size of the inhabitants, and especially of the women, may be in
+some measure owing to the early communication between the sexes; though,
+as the inclinations which lead to this intercourse are prompted here by
+nature sooner than in cold climates, it is not unfair to suppose that,
+being proportioned to the period of maturity, this is also sooner
+attained, and consequently that the earlier cessation of growth of these
+people is agreeable to the laws of their constitution, and not occasioned
+by a premature and irregular appetite.
+
+Persons of superior rank encourage the growth of their hand-nails,
+particularly those of the fore and little fingers, to an extraordinary
+length; frequently tingeing them red with the expressed juice of a shrub
+which they call inei, the henna of the Arabians; as they do the nails of
+their feet also, to which, being always uncovered, they pay as much
+attention as to their hands. The hands of the natives, and even of the
+halfbreed, are always cold to the touch; which I cannot account for
+otherwise than by a supposition that, from the less degree of elasticity
+in the solids occasioned by the heat of the climate, the internal action
+of the body by which the fluids are put in motion is less vigorous, the
+circulation is proportionably languid, and of course the diminished
+effect is most perceptible in the extremities, and a coldness there is
+the natural consequence.
+
+HILL PEOPLE SUBJECT TO WENS.
+
+The natives of the hills through the whole extent of the island are
+subject to those monstrous wens from the throat which have been observed
+of the Vallaisans and the inhabitants of other mountainous districts in
+Europe. It has been usual to attribute this affection to the badness,
+thawed state, mineral quality, or other peculiarity of the waters; many
+skilful men having applied themselves to the investigation of the
+subject. My experience enables me to pronounce without hesitation that
+the disorder, for such it is though it appears here to mark a distinct
+race of people (orang-gunong), is immediately connected with the
+hilliness of the country, and of course, if the circumstances of the
+water they use contribute thereto, it must be only so far as the nature
+of the water is affected by the inequality or height of the land. But in
+Sumatra neither snow nor other congelation is ever produced, which
+militates against the most plausible conjecture that has been adopted
+concerning the Alpine goitres. From every research that I have been
+enabled to make I think I have reason to conclude that the complaint is
+owing, among the Sumatrans, to the fogginess of the air in the valleys
+between the high mountains, where, and not on the summits, the natives of
+these parts reside. I before remarked that, between the ranges of hills,
+the kabut or dense mist was visible for several hours every morning;
+rising in a thick, opaque, and well-defined body with the sun, and seldom
+quite dispersed till afternoon. This phenomenon, as well as that of the
+wens, being peculiar to the regions of the hills, affords a presumption
+that they may be connected; exclusive of the natural probability that a
+cold vapour, gross to a uncommon degree, and continually enveloping the
+habitations, should affect with tumors the throats of the inhabitants. I
+cannot pretend to say how far this solution may apply to the case of the
+goitres, but I recollect it to have been mentioned that the only method
+of curing the people is by removing them from the valleys to the clear
+and pure air on the tops of the hills; which seems to indicate a similar
+source of the distemper to what I have pointed out. The Sumatrans do not
+appear to attempt any remedy for it, the wens being consistent with the
+highest health in other respects.
+
+DIFFERENCE IN PERSON BETWEEN MALAYS AND OTHER SUMATRANS.
+
+The personal difference between the Malays of the coast and the country
+inhabitants is not so strongly marked but that it requires some
+experience to distinguish them. The latter however possess an evident
+superiority in point of size and strength, and are fairer complexioned,
+which they probably owe to their situation, where the atmosphere is
+colder; and it is generally observed that people living near the
+seashore, and especially when accustomed to navigation, are darker than
+their inland neighbours. Some attribute the disparity in constitutional
+vigour to the more frequent use of opium among the Malays, which is
+supposed to debilitate the frame; but I have noted that the Limun and
+Batang Asei gold traders, who are a colony of that race settled in the
+heart of the island, and who cannot exist a day without opium, are
+remarkably hale and stout; which I have known to be observed with a
+degree of envy by the opium-smokers of our settlements. The inhabitants
+of Passummah also are described as being more robust in their persons
+than the planters of the low country.
+
+CLOTHING.
+
+The original clothing of the Sumatrans is the same with that found by
+navigators among the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands, and now
+generally called by the name of Otaheitean cloth. It is still used among
+the Rejangs for their working dress, and I have one in my possession
+procured from these people consisting of a jacket, short drawers, and a
+cap for the head. This is the inner bark of a certain species of tree,
+beaten out to the degree of fineness required, approaching the more to
+perfection as it resembles the softer kind of leather, some being nearly
+equal to the most delicate kid-skin; in which character it somewhat
+differs from the South Sea cloth, as that bears a resemblance rather to
+paper, or to the manufacture of the loom. The country people now conform
+in a great measure to the dress of the Malays, which I shall therefore
+describe in this place, observing that much more simplicity still
+prevails among the former, who look upon the others as coxcombs who lay
+out all their substance on their backs, whilst in their turns they are
+regarded by the Malays with contempt as unpolished rustics.
+
+MAN'S DRESS.
+
+A man's dress consists of the following parts. A close waistcoat, without
+sleeves, but having a neck like a shirt, buttoned close up to the top,
+with buttons, often of gold filigree. This is peculiar to the Malays.
+Over this they wear the baju, which resembles a morning gown, open at the
+neck, but generally fastened close at the wrists and halfway up the arm,
+with nine buttons to each sleeve. The sleeves, however, are often wide
+and loose, and others again, though nearly tight, reach not far beyond
+the elbow, especially of those worn by the younger females, which, as
+well as those of the young men, are open in front no farther down than
+the bosom, and reach no lower than the waist, whereas the others hang
+loose to the knees, and sometimes to the ankles. They are made usually of
+blue or white cotton cloth; for the better sort, of chintz; and for great
+men, of flowered silks. The kain-sarong is not unlike a Scots
+highlander's plaid in appearance, being a piece of party-coloured cloth
+about six or eight feet long and three or four wide, sewed together at
+the ends; forming, as some writers have described it, a wide sack without
+a bottom. This is sometimes gathered up and slung over the shoulder like
+a sash, or else folded and tucked about the waist and hips; and in full
+dress it is bound on by the belt of the kris (dagger), which is of
+crimson silk and wraps several times round the body, with a loop at the
+end in which the sheath of the kris hangs. They wear short drawers
+reaching halfway down the thigh, generally of red or yellow taffeta.
+There is no covering to their legs or feet. Round their heads they
+fasten, in a particular manner, a fine, coloured handkerchief, so as to
+resemble a small turban; the country people usually twisting a piece of
+white or blue cloth for this purpose. The crown of their head remains
+uncovered except on journeys, when they wear a tudong or umbrella-hat,
+which completely screens them from the weather.
+
+WOMAN'S DRESS.
+
+The women have a kind of bodice, or short waistcoat rather, that defends
+the breasts and reaches to the hips. The kain-sarong, before described,
+comes up as high as the armpits, and extends to the feet, being kept on
+simply by folding and tucking it over at the breast, except when the
+tali-pending, or zone, is worn about the waist, which forms an additional
+and necessary security. This is usually of embroidered cloth, and
+sometimes a plate of gold or silver, about two inches broad, fastening in
+the front with a large clasp of filigree or chased work, with some kind
+of precious stone, or imitation of such, in the centre. The baju, or
+upper gown, differs little from that of the men, buttoning in the same
+manner at the wrists. A piece of fine, thin, cotton cloth, or slight
+silk, about five feet long, and worked or fringed at each end, called a
+salendang, is thrown across the back of the neck, and hangs down before;
+serving also the purpose of a veil to the women of rank when they walk
+abroad. The handkerchief is carried either folded small in the hand, or
+in a long fold over the shoulder. There are two modes of dressing the
+hair, one termed kundei and the other sanggol. The first resembles much
+the fashion in which we see the Chinese women represented in paintings,
+and which I conclude they borrowed from thence, where the hair is wound
+circularly over the centre of the head, and fastened with a silver bodkin
+or pin. In the other mode, which is more general, they give the hair a
+single twist as it hangs behind, and then doubling it up they pass it
+crosswise under a few hairs separated from the rest on the back of the
+head for that purpose. A comb, often of tortoise-shell and sometimes
+filigreed, helps to prevent it from falling down. The hair of the front
+and of all parts of the head is of the same length, and when loose hangs
+together behind, with most of the women, in very great quantity. It is
+kept moist with oil newly expressed from the coconut; but those persons
+who can afford it make use also of an empyreumatic oil extracted from gum
+benzoin, as a grateful perfume. They wear no covering except ornaments of
+flowers, which on particular occasions are the work of much labour and
+ingenuity. The head-dresses of the dancing girls by profession, who are
+usually Javans, are very artificially wrought, and as high as any modern
+English lady's cap, yielding only to the feathered plumes of the year
+1777. It is impossible to describe in words these intricate and fanciful
+matters so as to convey a just idea of them. The flowers worn in undress
+are for the most part strung in wreaths, and have a very neat and pretty
+effect, without any degree of gaudiness, being usually white or pale
+yellow, small, and frequently only half-blown. Those generally chosen for
+these occasions are the bunga-tanjong and bunga-mellur: the
+bunga-chumpaka is used to give the hair a fragrance, but is concealed
+from the sight. They sometimes combine a variety of flowers in such a
+manner as to appear like one, and fix them on a single stalk; but these,
+being more formal, are less elegant than the wreaths.
+
+DISTINGUISHING ORNAMENTS OF VIRGINS.
+
+Among the country people, particularly in the southern countries, the
+virgins (anak gaddis, or goddesses, as it is usually pronounced) are
+distinguished by a fillet which goes across the front of the hair and
+fastens behind. This is commonly a thin plate of silver, about half an
+inch broad: those of the first rank have it of gold, and those of the
+lowest class have their fillet of the leaf of the nipah tree. Beside this
+peculiar ornament their state is denoted by their having rings or
+bracelets of silver or gold on their wrists. Strings of coins round the
+neck are universally worn by children, and the females, before they are
+of an age to be clothed, have what may not be inaptly termed a
+modesty-piece, being a plate of silver in the shape of a heart (called
+chaping) hung before, by a chain of the same metal, passing round the
+waist. The young women in the country villages manufacture themselves the
+cloth that forms the body-dress, or kain-sarong, which for common
+occasions is their only covering, and reaches from the breast no lower
+than the knees. The dresses of the women of the Malay bazaars on the
+contrary extend as low as the feet; but here, as in other instances, the
+more scrupulous attention to appearances does not accompany the superior
+degree of real modesty. This cloth, for the wear both of men and women,
+is imported from the island of Celebes, or, as it is here termed, the
+Bugis country.
+
+MODE OF FILING TEETH.
+
+Both sexes have the extraordinary custom of filing and otherwise
+disfiguring their teeth, which are naturally very white and beautiful
+from the simplicity of their food. For files they make use of small
+whetstones of different degrees of fineness, and the patients lie on
+their back during the operation. Many, particularly the women of the
+Lampong country, have their teeth rubbed down quite even with the gums;
+others have them formed in points; and some file off no more than the
+outer coat and extremities, in order that they may the better receive and
+retain the jetty blackness with which they almost universally adorn them.
+The black used on these occasions is the empyreumatic oil of the
+coconut-shell. When this is not applied the filing does not, by
+destroying what we term the enamel, diminish the whiteness of the teeth;
+but the use of betel renders them black if pains be not taken to prevent
+it. The great men sometimes set theirs in gold, by casing, with a plate
+of that metal, the under row; and this ornament, contrasted with the
+black dye, has by lamp or candlelight a very splendid effect. It is
+sometimes indented to the shape of the teeth, but more usually quite
+plain. They do not remove it either to eat or sleep.
+
+At the age of about eight or nine they bore the ears and file the teeth
+of the female children; which are ceremonies that must necessarily
+precede their marriage. The former they call betende, and the latter
+bedabong; and these operations are regarded in the family as the occasion
+of a festival. They do not here, as in some of the adjacent islands (of
+Nias in particular), increase the aperture of the ear to a monstrous
+size, so as in many instances to be large enough to admit the hand, the
+lower parts being stretched till they touch the shoulders. Their earrings
+are mostly of gold filigree, and fastened not with a clasp, but in the
+manner of a rivet or nut screwed to the inner part.
+
+
+CHAPTER 3.
+
+VILLAGES.
+BUILDINGS.
+DOMESTIC UTENSILS.
+FOOD.
+
+I shall now attempt a description of the villages and buildings of the
+Sumatrans, and proceed to their domestic habits of economy, and those
+simple arts on which the procuring of their food and other necessaries
+depends. These are not among the least interesting objects of
+philosophical speculation. In proportion as the arts in use with any
+people are connected with the primary demands of nature, they carry the
+greater likelihood of originality, because those demands must have been
+administered to from a period coeval with the existence of the people
+themselves. Or if complete originality be regarded as a visionary idea,
+engendered from ignorance and the obscurity of remote events, such arts
+must be allowed to have the fairest claim to antiquity at least. Arts of
+accommodation, and more especially of luxury, are commonly the effect of
+imitation, and suggested by the improvements of other nations which have
+made greater advances towards civilisation. These afford less striking
+and characteristic features in delineating the picture of mankind, and,
+though they may add to the beauty, diminish from the genuineness of the
+piece. We must not look for unequivocal generic marks, where the breed,
+in order to mend it, has been crossed by a foreign mixture. All the arts
+of primary necessity are comprehended within two distinctions: those
+which protect us from the inclemency of the weather and other outward
+accidents; and those which are employed in securing the means of
+subsistence. Both are immediately essential to the continuance of life,
+and man is involuntarily and immediately prompted to exercise them by the
+urgent calls of nature, even in the merest possible state of savage and
+uncultivated existence. In climates like that of Sumatra this impulse
+extends not far. The human machine is kept going with small effort in so
+favourable a medium. The spring of importunate necessity there soon loses
+its force, and consequently the wheels of invention that depend upon it
+fail to perform more than a few simple revolutions. In regions less mild
+this original motive to industry and ingenuity carries men to greater
+lengths in the application of arts to the occasions of life; and these of
+course in an equal space of time attain to greater perfection than among
+the inhabitants of the tropical latitudes, who find their immediate wants
+supplied with facility, and prefer the negative pleasure of inaction to
+the enjoyment of any conveniences that are to be purchased with exertion
+and labour. This consideration may perhaps tend to reconcile the high
+antiquity universally allowed to Asiatic nations, with the limited
+progress of arts and sciences among them; in which they are manifestly
+surpassed by people who compared with them are but of very recent date.
+
+The Sumatrans however in the construction of their habitations have
+stepped many degrees beyond those rude contrivances which writers
+describe the inhabitants of some other Indian countries to have been
+contented with adopting in order to screen themselves from the immediate
+influence of surrounding elements. Their houses are not only permanent
+but convenient, and are built in the vicinity of each other that they may
+enjoy the advantages of mutual assistance and protection resulting from a
+state of society.*
+
+(*Footnote. In several of the small islands near Sumatra (including the
+Nicobars), whose inhabitants in general are in a very low state of
+civilisation, the houses are built circularly. Vid Asiatic Researches
+volume 4 page 129 plate.)
+
+VILLAGES.
+
+The dusuns or villages (for the small number of inhabitants assembled in
+each does not entitle them to the appellations of towns) are always
+situated on the banks of a river or lake for the convenience of bathing
+and of transporting goods. An eminence difficult of ascent is usually
+made choice of for security. The access to them is by footways, narrow
+and winding, of which there are seldom more than two; one to the country
+and the other to the water; the latter in most places so steep as to
+render it necessary to cut steps in the cliff or rock. The dusuns, being
+surrounded with abundance of fruit-trees, some of considerable height, as
+the durian, coco, and betel-nut, and the neighbouring country for a
+little space about being in some degree cleared of wood for the rice and
+pepper plantations, these villages strike the eye at a distance as clumps
+merely, exhibiting no appearance of a town or any place of habitation.
+The rows of houses form commonly a quadrangle, with passages or lanes at
+intervals between the buildings, where in the more considerable villages
+live the lower class of inhabitants, and where also their padi-houses or
+granaries are erected. In the middle of the square stands the balei or
+town hall, a room about fifty to a hundred feet long and twenty or thirty
+wide, without division, and open at the sides, excepting when on
+particular occasions it is hung with mats or chintz; but sheltered in a
+lateral direction by the deep overhanging roof.
+
+
+(PLATE 19. A VILLAGE HOUSE IN SUMATRA.
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+
+PLATE 19a. A PLANTATION HOUSE IN SUMATRA.
+W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.)
+
+
+BUILDINGS.
+
+In their buildings neither stone, brick, nor clay, are ever made use of,
+which is the case in most countries where timber abounds, and where the
+warmth of the climate renders the free admission of air a matter rather
+to be desired than guarded against: but in Sumatra the frequency of
+earthquakes is alone sufficient to have prevented the natives from
+adopting a substantial mode of building. The frames of the houses are of
+wood, the underplate resting on pillars of about six or eight feet in
+height, which have a sort of capital but no base, and are wider at top
+than at bottom. The people appear to have no idea of architecture as a
+science, though much ingenuity is often shown in the manner of working up
+their materials, and they have, the Malays at least, technical terms
+corresponding to all those employed by our house carpenters. Their
+conception of proportions is extremely rude, often leaving those parts of
+a frame which have the greatest bearing with the weakest support, and
+lavishing strength upon inadequate pressure. For the floorings they lay
+whole bamboos (a well-known species of large cane) of four or five inches
+diameter, close to each other, and fasten them at the ends to the
+timbers. Across these are laid laths of split bamboo, about an inch wide
+and of the length of the room, which are tied down with filaments of the
+rattan; and over these are usually spread mats of different kinds. This
+sort of flooring has an elasticity alarming to strangers when they first
+tread on it. The sides of the houses are generally closed in with palupo,
+which is the bamboo opened and rendered flat by notching or splitting the
+circular joints on the outside, chipping away the corresponding divisions
+within, and laying it to dry in the sun, pressed down with weights. This
+is sometimes nailed onto the upright timbers or bamboos, but in the
+country parts it is more commonly interwoven, or matted, in breadths of
+six inches, and a piece, or sheet, formed at once of the size required.
+In some places they use for the same purpose the kulitkayu, or coolicoy,
+as it is pronounced by the Europeans, who employ it on board ship as
+dunnage in pepper and other cargoes. This is a bark procured from some
+particular trees, of which the bunut and ibu are the most common. When
+they prepare to take it the outer rind is first torn or cut away; the
+inner, which affords the material, is then marked out with a prang,
+pateel, or other tool, to the size required, which is usually three
+cubits by one; it is afterwards beaten for some time with a heavy stick
+to loosen it from the stem, and being peeled off is laid in the sun to
+dry, care being taken to prevent its warping. The thicker or thinner
+sorts of the same species of kulitkayu owe their difference to their
+being taken nearer to or farther from the root. That which is used in
+building has nearly the texture and hardness of wood. The pliable and
+delicate bark of which clothing is made is procured from a tree called
+kalawi, a bastard species of the bread-fruit.
+
+The most general mode of covering houses is with the atap, which is the
+leaf of a species of palm called nipah. These, previous to their being
+laid on, are formed into sheets of about five feet long and as deep as
+the length of the leaf will admit, which is doubled at one end over a
+slip or lath of bamboo; they are then disposed on the roof so as that one
+sheet shall lap over the other, and are tied to the bamboos which serve
+for rafters. There are various other and more durable kinds of covering
+used. The kulitkayu, before described, is sometimes employed for this
+purpose: the galumpei--this is a thatch of narrow split bamboos, six feet
+in length, placed in regular layers, each reaching within two feet of the
+extremity of that beneath it, by which a treble covering is formed:
+iju--this is a vegetable production so nearly resembling horse-hair as
+scarcely to be distinguished from it. It envelopes the stem of that
+species of palm called anau, from which the best toddy or palm wine is
+procured, and is employed by the natives for a great variety of purposes.
+It is bound on as a thatch in the manner we do straw, and not
+unfrequently over the galumpei; in which case the roof is so durable as
+never to require renewal, the iju being of all vegetable substances the
+least prone to decay, and for this reason it is a common practice to wrap
+a quantity of it round the ends of timbers or posts which are to be fixed
+in the ground. I saw a house about twenty miles up Manna River, belonging
+to Dupati Bandar Agung, the roof of which was of fifty years standing.
+The larger houses have three pitches in the roof; the middle one, under
+which the door is placed, being much lower than the other two. In smaller
+houses there are but two pitches, which are always of unequal height, and
+the entrance is in the smaller, which covers a kind of hall or cooking
+room.
+
+There is another kind of house, erected mostly for a temporary purpose,
+the roof of which is flat and is covered in a very uncommon, simple, and
+ingenious manner. Large, straight bamboos are cut of a length sufficient
+to lie across the house, and, being split exactly in two and the joints
+knocked out, a first layer of them is disposed in close order, with the
+inner or hollow sides up; after which a second layer, with the outer or
+convex sides up, is placed upon the others in such manner that each of
+the convex falls into the two contiguous concave pieces, covering their
+edges; the latter serving as gutters to carry off the water that falls
+upon the upper or convex layer.*
+
+(*Footnote. I find that the original inhabitants of the Philippine
+Islands covered their buildings in the same manner.)
+
+The mode of ascent to the houses is by a piece of timber or stout bamboo,
+cut in notches, which latter an European cannot avail himself of,
+especially as the precaution is seldom taken of binding them fast. These
+are the wonderful light scaling-ladders which the old Portuguese writers
+described to have been used by the people of Achin in their wars with
+their nation. It is probable that the apprehension of danger from the
+wild beasts caused them to adopt and continue this rude expedient, in
+preference to more regular and commodious steps. The detached buildings
+in the country, near to their plantations, called talangs, they raise to
+the height of ten or twelve feet from the ground, and make a practice of
+taking up their ladder at night to secure themselves from the destructive
+ravages of the tigers. I have been assured, but do not pledge myself for
+the truth of the story, that an elephant, attempting to pass under one of
+these houses, which stand on four or six posts, stuck by the way, but,
+disdaining to retreat, carried it, with the family it contained, on his
+back to a considerable distance.
+
+In the buildings of the dusuns, particularly where the most respectable
+families reside, the woodwork in front is carved in the style of
+bas-relief, in a variety of uncouth ornaments and grotesque figures, not
+much unlike the Egyptian hieroglyphics, but certainly without any mystic
+or historical allusion.
+
+FURNITURE.
+
+The furniture of their houses, corresponding with their manner of living,
+is very simple, and consists of but few articles. Their bed is a mat,
+usually of fine texture, and manufactured for the purpose, with a number
+of pillows, worked at the ends and adorned with a shining substance that
+resembles foil. A sort of canopy or valance, formed of various coloured
+cloths, hangs overhead. Instead of tables they have what resemble large
+wooden salvers, with feet called dulang, round each of which three or
+four persons dispose themselves; and on these are laid the talams or
+brass waiters which hold the cups that contain their curry, and plantain
+leaves or matted vessels filled with rice. Their mode of sitting is not
+cross-legged, as the inhabitants of Turkey and our tailors use, but
+either on the haunches or on the left side, supported by the left hand
+with the legs tucked in on the right side; leaving that hand at liberty
+which they always, from motives of delicacy, scrupulously eat with; the
+left being reserved for less cleanly offices. Neither knives, spoons, nor
+any substitutes for them are employed; they take up the rice and other
+victuals between the thumb and fingers, and dexterously throw it into the
+mouth by the action of the thumb, dipping frequently their hands in water
+as they eat.
+
+UTENSILS.
+
+They have a little coarse chinaware, imported by the eastern praws, which
+is held a matter of luxury. In cooking they employ a kind of iron vessel
+well-known in India by the name of quallie or tauch, resembling in shape
+the pans used in some of our manufactures, having the rim wide and bottom
+narrow. These are likewise brought from the eastward. The priu and
+balanga, species of earthen pipkins, are in more common use, being made
+in small quantities in different parts of the island, particularly in
+Lampong, where they give them a sort of glazing; but the greater number
+of them are imported from Bantam. The original Sumatran vessel for
+boiling rice, and which is still much used for that purpose, is the
+bamboo, that material of general utility with which bountiful nature has
+supplied an indolent people. By the time the rice is dressed the utensil
+is nearly destroyed by the fire, but resists the flame so long as there
+is moisture within.
+
+FIRES.
+
+Fire being wanted among these people but occasionally, and only when they
+cook their victuals, there is not much attention paid in their buildings
+to provide conveniences for it. Their houses have no chimneys, and their
+fireplaces are no more than a few loose bricks or stones, disposed in a
+temporary manner and frequently on the landing-place before the doors.
+The fuel made use of is wood alone, the coal which the island produces
+never being converted by the inhabitants to that purpose. The flint and
+steel for striking fire are common in the country, but it is a practice
+certainly borrowed from some other people, as that species of stone is
+not a native of the soil. These generally form part of their travelling
+apparatus, and especially with those men called risaus (spendthrifts that
+turn freebooters), who find themselves often obliged to take up their
+habitation in the woods or in deserted houses. But they also frequently
+kindle fire from the friction of two sticks.
+
+MODE OF KINDLING THEM.
+
+They choose a piece of dry, porous wood, and cutting smooth a spot of it
+lay it in a horizontal direction. They then apply a smaller piece, of a
+harder substance, with a blunt point, in a perpendicular position, and
+turn it quickly round, between the two hands, as chocolate is milled,
+pressing it downwards at the same time. A hole is soon formed by this
+motion of the smaller stick; but it has not penetrated far before the
+larger one takes fire. I have also seen the same effect produced more
+simply by rubbing one bit of bamboo with a sharp edge across another.*
+
+(*Footnote. This mode of kindling fire is not peculiar to Sumatra: we
+read of the same practice in Africa and even in Kamtschatka. It is
+surprising, but confirmed by abundant authority, that many nations of the
+earth have at certain periods, been ignorant of the use of fire. To our
+immediate apprehension human existence would seem in such circumstances
+impossible. Every art, every convenience, every necessary of life, is now
+in the most intimate manner connected with it: and yet the Chinese, the
+Egyptians, the Phoenicians, and Greeks acknowledged traditions concerning
+its first discovery in their respective countries. But in fact if we can
+once suppose a man, or society of men, unacquainted with the being and
+uses of this element, I see no difficulty in conceiving the possibility
+of their supporting life without it; I mean in the tropical climates; and
+of centuries passing before they should arrive at the important
+discovery. It is true that lightning and its effects, volcanoes, the
+firing of dry substances by fortuitous attrition, or of moist, by
+fermentation, might give them an idea of its violent and destructive
+properties; but far from being thence induced to appropriate and apply it
+they would, on the contrary, dread and avoid it, even in its less
+formidable appearances. They might be led to worship it as their deity,
+but not to cherish it as their domestic. There is some reason to conclude
+that the man who first reduced it to subjection and rendered it
+subservient to the purposes of life procured it from the collision of two
+flints; but the sparks thus produced, whether by accident or design,
+might be observed innumerable times without its suggesting a beneficial
+application. In countries where those did not present themselves the
+discovery had, most probably, its origin in the rubbing together of dry
+sticks, and in this operation, the agent and subject coexisting, flame,
+with its properties and uses, became more immediately apparent. Still, as
+no previous idea was conceived of this latent principle, and consequently
+no search made, no endeavours exerted, to bring it to light, I see not
+the impossibility a priori of its remaining almost as long concealed from
+mankind as the properties of the loadstone or the qualities of
+gunpowder.)
+
+Water is conveyed from the spring in bamboos, which for this purpose are
+cut, either to the length of five or six feet and carried over the
+shoulder, or into a number of single joints that are put together in a
+basket. It is drunk out of the fruit called labu here, resembling the
+calabash of the West Indies, a hole being made in the side of the neck
+and another at top for vent. In drinking they generally hold the vessel
+at a distance above their mouths and catch the stream as it falls; the
+liquid descending to the stomach without the action of swallowing.
+Baskets (bronong, bakul) are a considerable part of the furniture of a
+man's house, and the number of these seen hanging up are tokens of the
+owner's substance; for in them his harvests of rice or pepper are
+gathered and brought home; no carts being employed in the interior parts
+of the island which I am now describing. They are made of slips of bamboo
+connected by means of split rattans; and are carried chiefly by the
+women, on the back, supported by a string or band across the forehead.
+
+FOOD.
+
+Although the Sumatrans live in a great measure upon vegetable food they
+are not restrained by any superstitious opinion from other aliments, and
+accordingly at their entertainments the flesh of the buffalo (karbau),
+goat, and fowls, are served up. Their dishes are almost all prepared in
+that mode of dressing to which we have given the name of curry (from a
+Hindostanic word), and which is now universally known in Europe. It is
+called in the Malay language gulei, and may be composed of any kind of
+edible, but is generally of flesh or fowl, with a variety of pulse and
+succulent herbage, stewed down with certain ingredients, by us termed,
+when mixed and ground together, curry powder. These ingredients are,
+among others, the cayenne or chili-pepper, turmeric, sarei or
+lemon-grass, cardamums, garlick, and the pulp of the coconut bruised to a
+milk resembling that of almonds, which is the only liquid made use of.
+This differs from the curries of Madras and Bengal, which have greater
+variety of spices, and want the coconut. It is not a little remarkable
+that the common pepper, the chief produce and staple commodity of the
+country, is never mixed by the natives in their food. They esteem it
+heating to the blood, and ascribe a contrary effect to the cayenne; which
+I can say, my own experience justifies. A great diversity of curries is
+usually served up at the same time, in small vessels, each flavoured to a
+nice discerning taste in a different manner; and in this consists all the
+luxury of their tables. Let their quantity or variety or meat be what it
+may, the principle article of their food is rice, which is eaten in a
+large proportion with every dish, and very frequently without any other
+accompaniment than salt and chili-pepper. It is prepared by boiling in a
+manner peculiar to India; its perfection, next to cleanness and
+whiteness, consisting in its being, when thoroughly dressed and soft to
+the heart, at the same time whole and separate, so that no two grains
+shall adhere together. The manner of effecting this is by putting into
+the earthen or other vessel in which it is boiled a quantity of water
+sufficient to cover it, letting it simmer over a slow fire, taking off
+the water by degrees with a flat ladle or spoon that the grain may dry,
+and removing it when just short of burning. At their entertainments the
+guests are treated with rice prepared also in a variety of modes, by
+frying it in cakes or boiling a particular species of it mixed with the
+kernel of the coconut and fresh oil, in small joints of bamboo. This is
+called lemmang. Before it is served up they cut off the outer rind of the
+bamboo and the soft inner coat is peeled away by the person who eats.
+
+FLESH-MEAT.
+
+They dress their meat immediately after killing it, while it is still
+warm, which is conformable with the practice of the ancients as recorded
+in Homer and elsewhere, and in this state it is said to eat tenderer than
+when kept for a day: longer the climate will not admit of, unless when it
+is preserved in that mode called dinding. This is the flesh of the
+buffalo cut into small thin steaks and exposed to the heat of the sun in
+fair weather, generally on the thatch of their houses, till it is become
+so dry and hard as to resist putrefaction without any assistance from
+salt. Fish is preserved in the same manner, and cargoes of both are sent
+from parts of the coast where they are in plenty to those where
+provisions are in more demand. It is seemingly strange that heat, which
+in a certain degree promotes putrefaction, should when violently
+increased operate to prevent it; but it must be considered that moisture
+also is requisite to the former effect, and this is absorbed in thin
+substances by the sun's rays before it can contribute to the production
+of maggots.
+
+Blachang, a preservation, if it may be so termed, of an opposite kind, is
+esteemed a great delicacy among the Malays, and is by them exported to
+the west of India. The country Sumatrans seldom procure it. It is a
+species of caviar, and is extremely offensive and disgusting to persons
+who are not accustomed to it, particularly the black kind, which is the
+most common. The best sort, or the red blachang, is made of the spawn of
+shrimps, or of the shrimps themselves, which they take about the mouths
+of rivers. They are, after boiling, exposed to the sun to dry, then
+pounded in a mortar with salt, moistened with a little water and formed
+into cakes, which is all the process. The black sort, used by the lower
+class, is made of small fish, prepared in the same manner. On some parts
+of the east coast of the island they salt the roes of a large fish of the
+shad kind, and preserve them perfectly dry and well flavoured. These are
+called trobo.
+
+When the natives kill a buffalo, which is always done at their public
+meetings, they do not cut it up into joints as we do an ox, but into
+small pieces of flesh, or steaks, which they call bantei. The hide of the
+buffalo is sometimes scalded, scraped, and hung up to dry in their houses
+where it shrivels and becomes perfectly hard. When wanted for use a piece
+is chopped off and, being stewed down for a great number of hours in a
+small quantity of water, forms a rich jelly which, properly seasoned, is
+esteemed a very delicate dish.
+
+The sago (sagu), though common on Sumatra and used occasionally by the
+natives, is not an article of food of such general use among them as with
+the inhabitants of many other eastern islands, where it is employed as a
+substitute for rice. Millet (randa jawa) is also cultivated for food, but
+not in any considerable quantity.
+
+When these several articles of subsistence fail the Sumatran has recourse
+to those wild roots, herbs, and leaves of trees which the woods
+abundantly afford in every season without culture, and which the habitual
+simplicity of his diet teaches him to consider as no very extraordinary
+circumstance of hardship. Hence it is that famines in this island or,
+more properly speaking, failures of crops of grain, are never attended
+with those dreadful consequences which more improved countries and more
+provident nations experience.
+
+
+CHAPTER 4.
+
+AGRICULTURE.
+RICE, ITS CULTIVATION, ETC.
+PLANTATIONS OF COCONUT, BETEL-NUT, AND OTHER VEGETABLES FOR DOMESTIC USE.
+DYE STUFFS.
+
+AGRICULTURE.
+
+From their domestic economy I am led to take a view of their labours in
+the field, their plantations and the state of agriculture amongst them,
+which an ingenious writer esteems the justest criterion of civilisation.
+
+RICE.
+
+The most important article of cultivation, not in Sumatra alone but
+throughout the East, is rice. It is the grand material of food on which a
+hundred millions of the inhabitants of the earth subsist, and although
+chiefly confined by nature to the regions included between and bordering
+on the tropics, its cultivation is probably more extensive than that of
+wheat, which the Europeans are wont to consider as the universal staff of
+life. In the continent of Asia, as you advance to the northward, you come
+to the boundary where the plantations of rice disappear and the
+wheatfields commence; the cold felt in that climate, owing in part to the
+height of the land, being unfriendly to the production of the former
+article.
+
+Rice (Oryza sativa) whilst in the husk is called padi by the Malays (from
+whose language the word seems to have found its way to the maritime parts
+of the continent of India), bras when deprived of the husk, and nasi
+after it has been boiled; besides which it assumes other names in its
+various states of growth and preparation. This minuteness of distinction
+applies also to some other articles of common use, and may be accounted
+for upon this principle: that amongst people whose general objects of
+attention are limited, those which do of necessity occupy them are liable
+to be more the subject of thought and conversation than in more
+enlightened countries where the ideas of men have an extensive range. The
+kinds of rice also (whether technically of different species I cannot
+pronounce) are very numerous, but divided in the first place into the two
+comprehensive classes of padi ladang or upland, from its growing in high,
+dry grounds, and padi sawah (vulgarly pronounced sawur or sour) or
+lowland, from its being planted in marshes; each of which is said to
+contain ten or fifteen varieties, distinct in shape, size, and colour of
+the grain, modes of growth, and delicacy of flavour; it being observed
+that in general the larger-grained rice is not so much prized by the
+natives as that which is small, when at the same time white and in some
+degree transparent.* To M. Poivre, in his Travels of a Philosopher, we
+are indebted for first pointing out these two classes when speaking of
+the agriculture of Cochin-China. The qualities of the ladang, or upland
+rice, are held to be superior to those of the sawah, being whiter, more
+nourishing, better tasted and having the advantage in point of keeping.
+Its mode of culture too is free from the charge of unhealthiness
+attributed to the latter, which is of a watery substance, is attended
+with less increase in boiling, and is subject to a swifter decay; but of
+this the rate of produce from the seed is much greater, and the certainty
+of the crops more to be depended on. It is accordingly cheaper and in
+more common use. The seed of each sort is kept separate by the natives,
+who assert that they will not grow reciprocally.
+
+(*Footnote. The following sorts of dry-ground padi have come under my
+notice but as the names vary in different districts it is possible that
+some of these may be repetitions, where there is no striking difference
+of character:
+Padi Ebbas, large grain, very common;
+Andalong, short round grain, grows in whorls or bunches round the stalk,
+common;
+Galu, light-coloured, scarce;
+Sini, small grain, deep coloured, scarce;
+Iju, light ish colour, scarce;
+Kuning, deep yellow, crooked and pointed, fine rice;
+Kukur-ballum, small, much crooked and resembling a dove's claw, from
+whence the name; light-coloured, highly esteemed for its delicate flavour;
+Pisang, outer coat light brown, inner red, longer, smaller, and less
+crooked than the preceding;
+Bringin, long, flattish, ribbed, pointed, dead yellow;
+Bujut, shaped like the preceding, but with a tinge of red in the colour;
+Chariap, short, roundish, reddish yellow;
+Janggut or bearded, small, narrow, pale brown;
+Jambi, small, somewhat crooked and pointed, light brown;
+Laye, gibbous, light-coloured;
+Musang, long, small, crooked and pointed, deep purple;
+Pandan, small, light-coloured;
+Pau, long, crooked and pointed, light yellow;
+Puyuh, small, delicate, crooked and pointed, bright ochre;
+Rakkun, roundish grain, resembles the andalong, but larger and deeper colour;
+Sihong, much resembles the laye in shape and colour;
+Sutar, short, roundish, bright, reddish brown;
+Pulut gading or ivory, long, nearly straight, light yellow;
+Pulut kechil, small, crooked, reddish yellow;
+Pulut bram, long and rather large grain, purple, when fresh more nearly red;
+Pulut bram lematong, in shape like the preceding, but of a dead pale colour.
+Beside these four there is also a black kind of pulut.
+Samples of most of these have been in my possession for a number of
+years, and still continue perfectly sound. Of the sorts of rice growing
+in low grounds I have not specimens. The padi santong, which is small,
+straight, and light-coloured, is held to be the finest. In the Lampong
+country they make a distinction of padi krawang and padi jerru, of which
+I know nothing more than that the former is a month earlier in growth
+than the latter.)
+
+UPLAND RICE.
+
+For the cultivation of upland padi the site of woods is universally
+preferred, and the more ancient the woods the better, on account of the
+superior richness of the soil; the continual fall and rotting of the
+leaves forming there a bed of vegetable mould, which the open plains do
+not afford, being exhausted by the powerful operation of the sun's rays
+and the constant production of a rank grass called lalang. When this
+grass, common to all the eastern islands, is kept under by frequent
+mowing or the grazing of cattle (as is the case near the European
+settlements) its room is supplied by grass of a finer texture. Many
+suppose that the same identical species of vegetable undergoes this
+alteration, as no fresh seeds are sown and the substitution uniformly
+takes place. But this is an evident mistake as the generic characters of
+the two are essentially different; the one being the Gramen caricosum and
+the other the Gramen aciculatum described by Rumphius. The former, which
+grows to the height of five feet, is remarkable for the whiteness and
+softness of the down or blossom, and the other for the sharpness of its
+bearded seeds, which prove extremely troublesome to the legs of those who
+walk among it.*
+
+(*Footnote. Gramen hoc (caricosum) totos occupat campos, nudosque colles
+tam dense et laete germinans, ut e longinquo haberetur campus oryza
+consitus, tam luxuriose ac fortiter crescit, ut neque hortos neque sylvas
+evitet, atque tam vehementer prorepit, ut areae vix depurari ac servari
+possint, licet quotidie deambulentur...Potissimum amat solum flavum
+arguillosum. (Gramen aciculatum) Usus ejus fere nullus est, sed hic
+detegendum est taediosum ludibrium, quod quis habet, si quis per campos
+vel in sylvis procedat, ubi hoc gramen ad vias publicas crescit, quum
+praetereuntium vestibus, hoc semen quam maxime inhaeret. Rumphius volume
+6 book 10 chapters 8 and 13. M. Poivre describes the plains of Madagascar
+and Java as covered with a long grass which he calls fatak, and which,
+from the analogy of the countries in other respects, I should suppose to
+be the lalang; but he praises it as affording excellent pasturage;
+whereas in Sumatra it is reckoned the worst, and except when very young
+it is not edible by the largest cattle; for which reason the carters and
+drovers are in the practice of setting fire to that which grows on the
+plains by the roadside, that the young shoots which thereupon shoot up,
+may afterwards supply food to their buffaloes.)
+
+If old woods are not at hand ground covered with that of younger growth,
+termed balukar, is resorted to; but not, if possible, under the age of
+four or five years. Vegetation is there so strong that spots which had
+been perfectly cleared for cultivation will, upon being neglected for a
+single season, afford shelter to the beasts of the forest; and the same
+being rarely occupied for two successive years, the face of the country
+continues to exhibit the same wild appearance, although very extensive
+tracts are annually covered with fresh plantations. From this it will be
+seen that, in consequence of the fertility to which it gives occasion,
+the abundance of wood in the country is not considered by the inhabitants
+as an inconvenience but the contrary. Indeed I have heard a native prince
+complain of a settlement made by some persons of a distant tribe in the
+inland part of his dominions, whom he should be obliged to expel from
+thence in order to prevent the waste of his old woods. This seemed a
+superfluous act of precaution in an island which strikes the eye as one
+general, impervious, and inexhaustible forest.
+
+MODE OF CLEARING THE GROUND.
+
+On the approach of the dry monsoon (April and May) or in the course of
+it, the husbandman makes choice of a spot for his ladang, or plantation
+of upland rice, for that season, and marks it out. Here it must be
+observed that property in land depends upon occupancy, unless where
+fruit-bearing trees have been planted, and, as there is seldom any
+determined boundary between the lands of neighbouring villages, such
+marks are rarely disturbed. Collecting his family and dependents, he next
+proceeds to clear the ground. This is an undertaking of immense labour,
+and would seem to require herculean force, but it is effected by skill
+and perseverance. The work divides itself into two parts. The first
+(called tebbas, menebbas) consists in cutting down the brushwood and rank
+vegetables, which are suffered to dry during an interval of a fortnight,
+or more or less, according to the fairness of the weather, before they
+proceed to the second operation (called tebbang, menebbang) of felling
+the large trees. Their tools, the prang and billiong (the former
+resembling a bill-hook, and the latter an imperfect adze) are seemingly
+inadequate to the task, and the saw is unknown in the country. Being
+regardless of the timber they do not fell the tree near the ground, where
+the stem is thick, but erect a stage and begin to hew, or chop rather, at
+the height of ten or twelve, to twenty or thirty feet, where the
+dimensions are smaller (and sometimes much higher, taking off little more
+than the head) until it is sufficiently weakened to admit of their
+pulling it down with rattans made fast to the branches instead of ropes.*
+And thus by slow degrees the whole is laid low.
+
+(*Footnote. A similar mode of felling is described in the Maison rustique
+de Cayenne.)
+
+In some places however a more summary process is attempted. It may be
+conceived that in the woods the cutting down trees singly is a matter of
+much difficulty on account of the twining plants which spread from one to
+the other and connect them strongly together. To surmount this it is not
+an uncommon practice to cut a number of trees half through, on the same
+side, and then fix upon one of great bulk at the extremity of the space
+marked out, which they cut nearly through, and, having disengaged it from
+these lianas (as they are termed in the western world) determine its fall
+in such a direction as may produce the effect of its bearing down by its
+prodigious weight all those trees which had been previously weakened for
+the purpose. By this much time and labour are saved, and, the object
+being to destroy and not to save the timber, the rending or otherwise
+spoiling the stems is of no moment. I could never behold this devastation
+without a strong sentiment of regret. Perhaps the prejudices of a
+classical education taught me to respect those aged trees as the
+habitation or material frame of an order of sylvan deities, who were now
+deprived of existence by the sacrilegious hand of a rude,
+undistinguishing savage. But without having recourse to superstition it
+is not difficult to account for such feelings on the sight of a venerable
+wood, old, to appearance, as the soil it stood on, and beautiful beyond
+what pencil can describe, annihilated for the temporary use of the space
+it occupied. It seemed a violation of nature in the too arbitrary
+exercise of power. The timber, from its abundance, the smallness of
+consumption, and its distance in most cases from the banks of navigable
+rivers, by which means alone it could be transported to any distance, is
+of no value; and trees whose bulk, height, straightness of stem, and
+extent of limbs excite the admiration of a traveller, perish
+indiscriminately. Some of the branches are lopped off, and when these,
+together with the underwood, are become sufficiently arid, they are set
+fire to, and the country, for the space of a month or two, is in a
+general blaze and smoke, until the whole is consumed and the ground
+effectually cleared. The expiring wood, beneficent to its ungrateful
+destroyer, fertilises for his use by its ashes and their salts the earth
+which it so long adorned.
+
+Unseasonable wet weather at this period, which sometimes happens, and
+especially when the business is deferred till the close of the dry or
+south-east monsoon, whose termination is at best irregular, produces much
+inconvenience by the delay of burning till the vegetation has had time to
+renew itself; in which case the spot is commonly abandoned, or, if
+partially burned, it is not without considerable toil that it can be
+afterwards prepared for sowing. On such occasions there are imposters
+ready to make a profit of the credulity of the husbandman who, like all
+others whose employments expose them to risks, are prone to superstition,
+by pretending to a power of causing or retarding rain. One of these will
+receive, at the time of burning the ladangs, a dollar or more from each
+family in the neighbourhood, under the pretence of ensuring favourable
+weather for their undertaking. To accomplish this purpose he abstains, or
+pretends to abstain, for many days and nights from food and sleep, and
+performs various trifling ceremonies; continuing all the time in the open
+air. If he espies a cloud gathering he immediately begins to smoke
+tobacco with great vehemence, walking about with a quick pace and
+throwing the puffs towards it with all the force of his lungs. How far he
+is successful it is no difficult matter to judge. His skill, in fact,
+lies in choosing his time, when there is the greatest prospect of the
+continuance of fair weather in the ordinary course of nature: but should
+he fail there is an effectual salvo. He always promises to fulfil his
+agreement with a Deo volente clause, and so attributes his occasional
+disappointments to the particular interposition of the deity. The cunning
+men who, in this and many other instances of conjuration, impose on the
+simple country people, are always Malayan adventurers, and not
+unfrequently priests. The planter whose labour has been lost by such
+interruptions generally finds it too late in the season to begin on
+another ladang, and the ordinary resource for subsisting himself and
+family is to seek a spot of sawah ground, whose cultivation is less
+dependent upon accidental variations of weather. In some districts much
+confusion in regard to the period of sowing is said to have arisen from a
+very extraordinary cause. Anciently, say the natives, it was regulated by
+the stars, and particularly by the appearance (heliacal rising) of the
+bintang baniak or Pleiades; but after the introduction of the Mahometan
+religion they were induced to follow the returns of the puisa or great
+annual fast, and forgot their old rules. The consequence of this was
+obvious, for the lunar year of the hejrah being eleven days short of the
+sidereal or solar year the order of the seasons was soon inverted; and it
+is only astonishing that its inaptness to the purposes of agriculture
+should not have been immediately discovered.
+
+SOWING.
+
+When the periodical rains begin to fall, which takes place gradually
+about October, the planter assembles his neighbours (whom he assists in
+turn), and with the aid of his whole family proceeds to sow his ground,
+endeavouring to complete the task in the course of one day. In order to
+ensure success he fixes, by the priest's assistance, on a lucky day, and
+vows the sacrifice of a kid if his crop should prove favourable; the
+performance of which is sacredly observed, and is the occasion of a feast
+in every family after harvest. The manner of sowing (tugal-menugal) is
+this. Two or three men enter the plantation, as it is usual to call the
+padi-field, holding in each hand sticks about five feet long and two
+inches diameter, bluntly pointed, with which, striking them into the
+ground as they advance, they make small, shallow holes, at the distance
+of about five inches from each other. These are followed by the women and
+elder children with small baskets containing the seed-grain (saved with
+care from the choicest of the preceding crop) of which they drop four or
+five grains into every hole, and, passing on, are followed by the younger
+children who with their feet (in the use of which the natives are nearly
+as expert as with their hands) cover them lightly from the adjacent
+earth, that the seed may not be too much exposed to the birds, which, as
+might be expected, often prove destructive foes. The ground, it should be
+observed, has not been previously turned up by any instrument of the hoe
+or plough kind, nor would the stumps and roots of trees remaining in it
+admit of the latter being worked; although employed under other
+circumstances, as will hereafter appear. If rain succeeds the padi is
+above ground in four or five days; but by an unexpected run of dry
+weather it is sometimes lost, and the field sowed a second time. When it
+has attained a month or six weeks' growth it becomes necessary to clear
+it of weeds (siang-menyiang), which is repeated at the end of two months
+or ten weeks; after which the strength it has acquired is sufficient to
+preserve it from injury in that way. Huts are now raised in different
+parts of the plantation, from whence a communication is formed over the
+whole by means of rattans, to which are attached scarecrows, rattles,
+clappers, and other machines for frightening away the birds, in the
+contrivance of which they employ incredible pains and ingenuity; so
+disposing them that a child, placed in the hut, shall be able, with
+little exertion, to create a loud clattering noise to a great extent; and
+on the borders of the field are placed at intervals a species of windmill
+fixed on poles which, on the inexperienced traveller, have an effect as
+terrible as those encountered by the knight of La Mancha. Such
+precautions are indispensable for the protection of the corn, when in the
+ear, against the numerous flights of the pipi, a small bird with a
+light-brown body, white head, and bluish beak, rather less than the
+sparrow, which in its general appearance and habits it resembles. Several
+of these lighting at once upon a stalk of padi, and bearing it down, soon
+clear it of its produce, and thus if unmolested destroy whole crops.
+
+At the time of sowing the padi it is a common practice to sow also, in
+the interstices, and in the same manner, jagong or maize, which, growing
+up faster and ripening before it (in little more than three months) is
+gathered without injury to the former. It is also customary to raise in
+the same ground a species of momordica, the fruit of which comes forward
+in the course of two months.
+
+REAPING.
+
+The nominal time allowed from the sowing to the reaping of the crop is
+five lunar months and ten days; but from this it must necessarily vary
+with the circumstances of the season. When it ripens, if all at the same
+time, the neighbours are again summoned to assist, and entertained for
+the day: if a part only ripens first the family begin to reap it, and
+proceed through the whole by degrees. In this operation, called
+tuwei-menuwei from the instrument used, they take off the head of corn
+(the term of ear not being applicable to the growth of this plant) about
+six inches below the grain, the remaining stalk or halm being left as of
+no value. The tuwei is a piece of wood about six inches long, usually of
+carved work and about two inches diameter, in which is fixed lengthwise a
+blade of four or five inches, secured at the extremes by points bent to a
+right angle and entering the wood. To this is added a piece of very small
+bamboo from two to three inches long, fixed at right angles across the
+back of the wood, with a notch for receiving it, and pinned through by a
+small peg. This bamboo rests in the hollow of the hand, one end of the
+piece of wood passing between the two middle fingers, with the blade
+outwards; the natives always cutting FROM them.* With this in the right
+hand and a small basket slung over the left shoulder, they very
+expeditiously crop the heads of padi one by one, bringing the stalk to
+the blade with their two middle fingers, and passing them, when cut, from
+the right hand to the left. As soon as the left hand is full the contents
+are placed in regular layers in the basket (sometimes tied up in a little
+sheaf), and from thence removed to larger baskets, in which the harvest
+is to be conveyed to the dusun or village, there to be lodged in the
+tangkian or barns, which are buildings detached from the dwelling-houses,
+raised like them from the ground, widening from the floor towards the
+roof, and well lined with boards or coolitcoy. In each removal care is
+taken to preserve the regularity of the layers, by which means it is
+stowed to advantage, and any portion of it readily taken out for use.
+
+(*Footnote. The inhabitants of Menangkabau are said to reap with an
+instrument resembling a sickle.)
+
+LOW-GROUND RICE.
+
+Sawahs are plantations of padi in low wet ground, which, during the
+growth of the crop, in the rainy season between the months of October and
+March,* are for the most part overflowed to the depth of six inches or a
+foot, beyond which latter the water becomes prejudicial. Level marshes,
+of firm bottom, under a moderate stratum of mud, and not liable to deep
+stagnant water, are the situations preferred; the narrower hollows,
+though very commonly used for small plantations, being more liable to
+accidents from torrents and too great depth of water, which the
+inhabitants have rarely industry enough to regulate to advantage by
+permanent embankments. They are not however ignorant of such expedients,
+and works are sometimes met with, constructed for the purpose chiefly of
+supplying the deficiency of rain to several adjoining sawahs by means of
+sluices, contrived with no small degree of skill and attention to levels.
+
+(*Footnote. In the Transactions of the Batavian Society the following
+mention is made of the cultivation of rice in Java. The padi sawa is sown
+in low watered grounds in the month of March, transplanted in April, and
+reaped in August. The padi tipar is sown in high ploughed lands in
+November, and reaped in March (earlier in the season than I could have
+supposed.) when sown where woods have been recently cut down, or in the
+clefts of the hills (klooven van het gebergte) it is named padi gaga.
+Volume 1 page 27.)
+
+In new ground, after clearing it from the brushwood, reeds, and aquatic
+vegetables with which the marshes, when neglected, are overrun, and
+burning them at the close of the dry season, the soil is, in the
+beginning of the wet, prepared for culture by different modes of working.
+In some places a number of buffaloes, whose greatest enjoyment consists
+in wading and rolling in mud, are turned in, and these by their motions
+contribute to give it a more uniform consistence as well as enrich it by
+their dung. In other parts less permanently moist the soil is turned up,
+either with a wooden instrument between a hoe and a pickaxe, or with the
+plough, of which they use two kinds; their own, drawn by one buffalo,
+extremely simple, and the wooden share of it doing little more than
+scratch the ground to the depth of six inches; and one they have borrowed
+from the Chinese, drawn either with one or two buffaloes, very light, and
+the share more nearly resembling ours, turning the soil over as it passes
+and making a narrow furrow. In sawahs however the surface has in general
+so little consistence that no furrow is perceptible, and the plough does
+little more than loosen the stiff mud to some depth, and cut the roots of
+the grass and weeds, from which it is afterwards cleared by means of a
+kind of harrow or rake, being a thick plank of heavy wood with strong
+wooden teeth and loaded with earth where necessary. This they contrive to
+drag along the surface for the purpose at the same time of depressing the
+rising spots and filling up the hollow ones. The whole being brought as
+nearly as possible to a level, that the water may lie equally upon it the
+sawah is, for the more effectual securing of this essential point,
+divided into portions nearly square or oblong (called piring, which
+signifies a dish) by narrow banks raised about eighteen inches and two
+feet wide. These drying become harder than the rest, confine the water,
+and serve the purpose of footways throughout the plantation. When there
+is more water in one division than another small passages are cut through
+the dams to produce an equality. Through these apertures water is also in
+some instances introduced from adjacent rivers or reservoirs, where such
+exist, and the season requires their aid. The innumerable springs and
+rivulets with which this country abounds render unnecessary the laborious
+processes by which water is raised and supplied to the rice grounds in
+the western part of India, where the soil is sandy: yet still the
+principal art of the planter consists, and is required, in the management
+of this article; to furnish it to the ground in proper and moderate
+quantities and to carry it off from time to time by drains; for if
+suffered to be long stagnant it would occasion the grain to rot.
+
+TRANSPLANTATION.
+
+Whilst the sawahs have been thus in preparation to receive the padi a
+small, adjacent, and convenient spot of good soil has been chosen, in
+which the seed-grain is sown as thick as it can well lie to the ground,
+and is then often covered with layers of lalang (long grass, instead of
+straw) to protect the grain from the birds, and perhaps assist the
+vegetation. When it has grown to the height of from five to eight inches,
+or generally at the end of forty days from the time of sowing, it is
+taken up in showery weather and transplanted to the sawah, where holes
+are made four or five inches asunder to receive the plants. If they
+appear too forward the tops are cropped off. A supply is at the same time
+reserved in the seed-plots to replace such as may chance to fail upon
+removal. These plantations, in the same manner as the ladangs, it is
+necessary to cleanse from weeds at least twice in the first two or three
+months; but no maize or other seed is sown among the crop. When the padi
+begins to form the ear or to blossom, as the natives express it, the
+water is finally drawn off, and at the expiration of four months from the
+time of transplanting it arrives at maturity. The manner of guarding
+against the birds is similar to what has been already described; but the
+low ground crop has a peculiar and very destructive enemy in the rats,
+which sometimes consume the whole of it, especially when the plantation
+has been made somewhat out of season; to obviate which evil the
+inhabitants of a district sow by agreement pretty nearly at the same
+time; whereby the damage is less perceptible. In the mode of reaping
+likewise there is nothing different. Upon the conclusion of the harvest
+it is an indispensable duty to summon the neighbouring priests to the
+first meal that is made of the new rice, when an entertainment is given
+according to the circumstances of the family. Should this ceremony be
+omitted the crop would be accursed (haram) nor could the whole household
+expect to outlive the season. This superstition has been by the
+Mahometans judiciously engrafted on the stock of credulity in the country
+people.
+
+The same spot of low ground is for the most part used without regular
+intermission for several successive years, the degree of culture they
+bestow by turning up the soil and the overflowing water preserving its
+fertility. They are not however insensible to the advantage of occasional
+fallows. In consequence of this continued use the value of the sawah
+grounds differs from that of ladangs, the former being, in the
+neighbourhood of populous towns particularly, distinct property, and of
+regularly ascertained value. At Natal for example those consisting
+between one and two acres sell for sixteen to twenty Spanish dollars. In
+the interior country, where the temperature of the air is more favourable
+to agriculture, they are said to sow the same spot with ladang rice for
+three successive years; and there also it is common to sow onions as soon
+as the stubble is burned off. Millet (randa jawa) is sown at the same
+time with the padi. In the country of Manna, southward of Bencoolen, a
+progress in the art of cultivation is discovered, superior to what
+appears in almost any other part of the island; the Batta country perhaps
+alone excepted. Here may be seen pieces of land in size from five to
+fifteen acres, regularly ploughed and harrowed. The difference is thus
+accounted for. It is the most populous district in that southern part,
+with the smallest extent of sea-coast. The pepper plantations and ladangs
+together having in a great measure exhausted the old woods in the
+accessible parts of the country, and the inhabitants being therein
+deprived of a source of fertility which nature formerly supplied, they
+must either starve, remove to another district, or improve by cultivation
+the spot where they reside. The first is contrary to the inherent
+principle that teaches man to preserve life by every possible means:
+their attachment to their native soil, or rather their veneration for the
+sepulchres of their ancestors, is so strong that to remove would cost
+them a struggle almost equal to the pangs of death: necessity therefore,
+the parent of art and industry, compels them to cultivate the earth.
+
+RATE OF PRODUCE.
+
+The produce of the grounds thus tilled is reckoned at thirty for one;
+from those in the ordinary mode about a hundred fold on the average, the
+ladangs yielding about eighty, and the sawahs a hundred and twenty. Under
+favourable circumstances I am assured the rate of produce is sometimes so
+high as a hundred and forty fold. The quantity sown by a family is
+usually from five to ten bamboo measures or gallons. These returns are
+very extraordinary compared with those of our wheat-fields in Europe,
+which I believe seldom exceed fifteen, and are often under ten. To what
+is this disproportion owing? to the difference of grain, as rice may be
+in its nature extremely prolific? to the more genial influence of a
+warmer climate? or to the earth's losing by degrees her fecundity from an
+excessive cultivation? Rather than to any of these causes I am inclined
+to attribute it to the different process followed in sowing. In England
+the saving of labour and promoting of expedition are the chief objects,
+and in order to effect these the grain is almost universally scattered in
+the furrows; excepting where the drill has been introduced. The
+Sumatrans, who do not calculate the value of their own labour or that of
+their domestics on such occasions, make holes in the ground, as has been
+described, and drop into each a few grains*; or, by a process still more
+tedious, raise the seed in beds and then plant it out. Mr. Charles
+Miller, in a paper published in the Philosophical Transactions, has shown
+us the wonderful effects of successive transplantation. How far it might
+be worth the English farmer's while to bestow more labour in the business
+of sowing the grain, with the view of a proportionate increase in the
+rate of produce, I am not competent, nor is it to my present purpose, to
+form a judgment. Possibly as the advantage might be found to lie rather
+in the quantity of grain saved in the sowing than gained in the reaping,
+it would not answer his purpose; for although half the quantity of
+seed-corn bears reciprocally the same proportion to the usual produce
+that double the latter does to the usual allowance of seed, yet in point
+of profit the scale is different. To augment this it is of much more
+importance to increase the produce from a given quantity of land than to
+diminish the quantity of grain necessary for sowing it.
+
+(*Footnote. In an address from the Bath Agricultural Society dated 12th
+October 1795 it is strongly recommended to the cultivators of land (on
+account of the then existing scarcity of grain) to adopt the method of
+dibbling wheat. The holes to be made either by the common dibble, or with
+an implement having four or more points in a frame, at the distance of
+about four inches every way, and to the depth of an inch and a half;
+dropping TWO grains into every hole. The man who dibbles is to move
+backwards and to be followed by two or three women or children, who drop
+in the grains. A bush-hurdle, drawn across the furrows by a single horse,
+finishes the business. About six pecks of seed-wheat per acre are saved
+by this method. The expense of dibbling, dropping, and covering is
+reckoned in Norfolk at about six shillings per acre. Times Newspaper of
+20th October 1795.)
+
+FERTILITY OF SOIL.
+
+Notwithstanding the received opinion of the fertility of what are called
+the Malay Islands, countenanced by the authority of M. Poivre and other
+celebrated writers, and still more by the extraordinary produce of grain,
+as above stated, I cannot help saying that I think the soil of the
+western coast of Sumatra is in general rather sterile than rich. It is
+for the most part a stiff red clay, burned nearly to the state of a brick
+where it is exposed to the influence of the sun. The small proportion of
+the whole that is cultivated is either ground from which old woods have
+been recently cleared, whose leaves had formed a bed of vegetable earth
+some inches deep, or else ravines into which the scanty mould of the
+adjoining hills has been washed by the annual torrents of rain. It is
+true that in many parts of the coast there are, between the cliffs and
+the sea-beach, plains varying in breadth and extent of a sandy soil,
+probably left by the sea and more or less mixed with earth in proportion
+to the time they have remained uncovered by the waters; and such are
+found to prove the most favourable spots for raising the productions of
+other parts of the world. But these are partial and insufficient proofs
+of fertility. Every person who has attempted to make a garden of any kind
+nor Fort Marlborough must well know how ineffectual a labour it would
+prove to turn up with the spade a piece of ground adopted at random. It
+becomes necessary for this purpose to form an artificial soil of dung,
+ashes, rubbish, and such other materials as can be procured. From these
+alone he can expect to raise the smallest supply of vegetables for the
+table. I have seen many extensive plantations of coconut, pinang, lime,
+and coffee-trees, laid out at a considerable expense by different
+gentlemen, and not one do I recollect to have succeeded; owing as it
+would seem to the barrenness of the soil, although covered with long
+grass. These disappointments have induced the Europeans almost entirely
+to neglect agriculture. The more industrious Chinese colonists, who work
+the ground with indefatigable pains, and lose no opportunity of saving
+and collecting manure, are rather more successful; yet have I heard one
+of the most able cultivators among this people, who, by the dint of
+labour and perseverance, had raised what then appeared to me a delightful
+garden, designed for profit as well as pleasure, declare that his heart
+was almost broken in struggling against nature; the soil being so
+ungrateful that, instead of obtaining an adequate return for his trouble
+and expense, the undertaking was likely to render him a bankrupt; and
+which he would inevitably have been but for assistance afforded him by
+the East India Company.*
+
+(*Footnote. Some particular plants, especially the tea, Key Sun used to
+tell me he considered as his children: his first care in the morning and
+his last in the evening was to tend and cherish them. I heard with
+concern of his death soon after the first publication of this work, and
+could have wished the old man had lived to know that the above small
+tribute of attention had been paid to his merits as a gardener. In a
+letter received from the late ingenious Mr. Charles Campbell, belonging
+to the medical establishment of Fort Marlborough, whose communications I
+shall have future occasion to notice, he writes on the 29th of March
+1802: "I must not omit to say a word about my attempts to cultivate the
+land. The result of all my labours in that way was disappointment almost
+as heartbreaking as that of the unlucky Chinaman, whose example however
+did not deter me. After many vexations I descended from the plains into
+the ravines, and there met with the success denied me on the elevated
+land. In one of these, through which runs a small rivulet emptying itself
+into the lake of Dusun Besar, I attempted a plantation of coffee, where
+there are now upwards of seven thousand plants firmly rooted and putting
+out new leaves." this cultivation has since been so much increased as to
+become an important article of commerce. It should at the same time be
+acknowledged that our acquaintance with the central and eastern parts of
+the island is very imperfect, and that much fertile land may be found
+beyond the range of mountains.)
+
+The natives, it is true, without much or any cultivation raise several
+useful trees and plants; but they are in very small quantities, and
+immediately about their villages, where the ground is fertilised in spite
+of their indolence by the common sweepings of their houses and streets
+and the mere vicinity of their buildings. I have often had occasion to
+observe in young plantations that those few trees which surrounded the
+house of the owner or the hut of the keeper considerably over-topped
+their brethren of the same age. Every person at first sight, and on a
+superficial view of the Malayan countries, pronounces them the favourites
+of nature where she has lavished her bounties with a profusion unknown in
+other regions, and laments the infatuation of the people, who neglect to
+cultivate the finest soil in the world. But I have scarcely known one
+who, after a few years' residence, has not entirely altered his opinion.
+Certain it is that in point of external appearance they may challenge all
+others to comparison. In many parts of Sumatra, rarely trodden by human
+foot, scenes present themselves adapted to raise the sublimest sentiments
+in minds susceptible of the impression. But how rarely are they
+contemplated by minds of that temper! and yet it is alone:
+
+For such the rivers dash their foaming tides,
+The mountain swells, the vale subsides,
+The stately wood detains the wandering sight,
+And the rough barren rock grows pregnant with delight.
+
+Even when there ARE inhabitants, to how little purpose as it respects
+them has she been profuse in ornament! In passing through places where my
+fancy was charmed with more luxuriant, wild, and truly picturesque views
+than I had ever before met with, I could not avoid regretting that a
+country so captivating to the eye should be allotted to a race of people
+who seem totally insensible of its beauties. But it is time to return
+from this excursion and pursue the progress of the husbandman through his
+remaining labours.
+
+MODES OF THRESHING.
+
+Different nations have adopted various methods of separating the grain
+from the ear. The most ancient we read of was that of driving cattle over
+the sheaves in order to trample it out. Large planks, blocks of marble,
+heavy carriages, have been employed in later times for this end. In most
+parts of Europe the flail is now in use, but in England begins to be
+superseded by the powerful and expeditious but complicated threshing
+machine. The Sumatrans have a mode differing from all these. The bunches
+of padi in the ear being spread on mats, they rub out the grain between
+and under their feet; supporting themselves in common for the more easy
+performance of this labour by holding with their hands a bamboo placed
+horizontally over their heads. Although, by going always unshod, their
+feet are extremely callous, and therefore adapted to the exercise, yet
+the workmen when closely tasked by their masters sometimes continue
+shuffling till the blood issues from their soles. This is the universal
+practice throughout the island.
+
+After treading out or threshing the next process is to winnow the corn
+(mengirei), which is done precisely in the same manner as practised by
+us. Advantage being taken of a windy day, it is poured out from the sieve
+or fan; the chaff dispersing whilst the heavier grain falls to the
+ground. This simple mode seems to have been followed in all ages and
+countries, though now giving place, in countries where the saving of
+labour is a principal object, to mechanical contrivances.
+
+In order to clear the grain from the husk, by which operation the padi
+acquires the name of rice (bras), and loses one half of its measured
+quantity, two bamboos of the former yielding only one of the latter, it
+is first spread out in the sunshine to dry (jumur), and then pounded in
+large wooden mortars (lesung) with heavy pestles (alu) made of a hard
+species of wood, until the outer coat is completely separated from it,
+when it is again fanned. This business falls principally to the lot of
+the females of the family, two of whom commonly work at the same mortar.
+In some places (but not frequently) it is facilitated by the use of a
+lever, to the end of which a short pestle or pounder is fixed; and in
+others by a machine which is a hollow cylinder or frustum of a cone,
+formed of heavy wood, placed upon a solid block of the same diameter, the
+contiguous surfaces of each being previously cut in notches or small
+grooves, and worked backwards and forwards horizontally by two handles or
+transverse arms; a spindle fixed in the centre of the lower cylinder
+serving as an axis to the upper or hollow one. Into this the grain is
+poured, and it is thus made to perform the office of the hopper at the
+same time with that of the upper, or movable stone, in our mills. In
+working it is pressed downwards to increase the friction, which is
+sufficient to deprive the padi of its outer coating.
+
+The rice is now in a state for sale, exportation, or laying up. To render
+it perfectly clean for eating, a point to which they are particularly
+attentive, it is put a second time into a lesung of smaller size, and,
+being sufficiently pounded without breaking the grains, it is again
+winnowed by tossing it dexterously in a flat sieve until the pure and
+spotless corns are separated from every particle of bran. They next wash
+it in cold water and then proceed to boil it in the manner before
+described.
+
+RICE AS AN ARTICLE OF TRADE.
+
+As an article of trade the Sumatran rice seems to be of a more perishable
+nature than that of some other countries, the upland rice not being
+expected to keep longer than twelve months, and the lowland showing signs
+of decay after six. At Natal there is a practice of putting a quantity of
+leaves of a shrub called lagundi (Vitex trifolia) amongst it in
+granaries, or the holds of vessels, on the supposition of its possessing
+the property of destroying or preventing the generation of weevils that
+usually breed in it. In Bengal it is said the rice intended for
+exportation is steeped in hot water whilst still in the husk, and
+afterwards dried by exposure to the sun; owing to which precaution it
+will continue sound for two or three years, and is on that account
+imported for garrison store at the European settlements. If retained in
+the state of padi it will keep very long without damaging.* The country
+people lay it up unthreshed from the stalk and beat it out (as we render
+their word tumbuk) from time to time as wanted for use or sale.
+
+(*Footnote. I have in my possession specimens of a variety of species
+which were transmitted to me twelve years ago and are still perfectly
+sound.)
+
+The price of this necessary of life differs considerably throughout the
+island, not only from the circumstances of the season but according to
+the general demand at the places where it is purchased, the degree of
+industry excited by such demand, and the aptitude of the country to
+supply it. The northern parts of the coast under the influence of the
+Achinese produce large quantities; particularly Susu and Tampat-tuan,
+where it is (or used to be) purchased at the rate of thirty bamboos
+(gallons) for the Spanish dollar, and exported either to Achin or to the
+settlement of Natal for the use of the Residency of Fort Marlborough. At
+Natal also, and for the same ultimate destination, is collected the
+produce of the small island of Nias, whose industrious inhabitants,
+living themselves upon the sweet-potato (Convolvulus batatas), cultivate
+rice for exportation only, encouraged by the demand from the English and
+(what were) the Dutch factories. Not any is exported from Natal of its
+actual produce; a little from Ayer Bungi; more from the extensive but
+neglected districts of Pasaman and Masang, and many cargoes from the
+country adjacent to Padang. Our pepper settlements to the northward of
+Fort Marlborough, from Moco-moco to Laye inclusive, export each a small
+quantity, but from thence southward to Kroi supplies are required for the
+subsistence of the inhabitants, the price varying from twelve to four
+bamboos according to the season. At our head settlement the consumption
+of the civil and military establishments, the company's LABOURERS,
+together with the Chinese and Malayan settlers, so much exceeds the
+produce of the adjoining districts (although exempted from any obligation
+to cultivate pepper) that there is a necessity for importing a quantity
+from the islands of Java and Bally, and from Bengal about three to six
+thousand bags annually.*
+
+(*Footnote. This has reference to the period between 1770 and 1780
+generally. So far as respects the natives there has been no material
+alteration.)
+
+The rice called pulut or bras se-pulut (Oryza gelatinosa), of which
+mention has been made in the list above, is in its substance of a very
+peculiar nature, and not used as common food but with the addition of
+coconut-kernel in making a viscous preparation called lemang, which I
+have seen boiled in a green bamboo, and other juadahs or friandises. It
+is commonly distinguished into the white, red, and black sorts, among
+which the red appears to be the most esteemed. The black chiefly is
+employed by the Chinese colonists at Batavia and Fort Marlborough in the
+composition of a fermented liquor called bram or brum, of which the basis
+is the juice extracted from a species of palm.
+
+COCONUT.
+
+The coconut-tree, kalapa, nior (Cocos nucifera), may be esteemed the next
+important object of cultivation from the uses to which its produce is
+applied; although by the natives of Sumatra it is not converted to such a
+variety of purposes as in the Maldives and those countries where nature
+has been less bountiful in other gifts. Its value consists principally in
+the kernel of the nut, the consumption of which is very great, being an
+essential ingredient in the generality of their dishes. From this also,
+but in a state of more maturity, is procured the oil in common use near
+the sea-coast, both for anointing the hair, in cookery, and for burning
+in lamps. In the interior country other vegetable oils are employed, and
+light is supplied by a kind of links made of dammar or resin. A liquor,
+commonly known in India by the name of toddy, is extracted from this as
+well as from other trees of the palm-kind. Whilst quite fresh it is sweet
+and pleasant to the taste, and is called nira. After four and twenty
+hours it acidulates, ferments, and becomes intoxicating, in which state
+it is called tuak. Being distilled with molasses and other ingredients it
+yields the spirit called arrack. In addition to these but of trifling
+importance are the cabbage or succulent pith at the head of the tree,
+which however can be obtained only when it is cut down, and the fibres of
+the leaves, of which the natives form their brooms. The stem is never
+used for building nor any carpenter's purposes in a country where fine
+timber so much abounds. The fibrous substance of the husk is not there
+manufactured into cordage, as in the west of India where it is known by
+the name of coir; rattans and eju (a substance to be hereafter described)
+being employed for that purpose. The shell of the nut is but little
+employed as a domestic utensil, the lower class of people preferring the
+bamboo and the labu (Cucurbita lagenaria) and the better sort being
+possessed of coarse chinaware. If the filaments surrounding the stem are
+anywhere manufactured into cloth, as has been asserted, it must be in
+countries that do not produce cotton, which is a material beyond all
+comparison preferable: besides that certain kind of trees, as before
+observed, afford in their soft and pliable inner bark what may be
+considered as a species of cloth ready woven to their hands.
+
+This tree in all its species, stages, fructification, and appropriate
+uses has been so elaborately and justly described by many writers,
+especially the celebrated Rumphius in his Herbarium Amboinense, and Van
+Rheede in his Hortus Malabaricus, that to attempt it here would be an
+unnecessary repetition, and I shall only add a few local observations on
+its growth. Every dusun is surrounded with a number of fruit-bearing
+trees, and especially the coconut where the soil and temperature will
+allow them to grow, and, near the bazaars or sea-port towns, where the
+concourse of inhabitants is in general much greater than in the country,
+there are always large plantations of them to supply the extraordinary
+demand. The tree thrives best in a low, sandy soil, near the sea, where
+it will produce fruit in four or five years; whilst in the clayey ground
+it seldom bears in less than seven to ten years. As you recede from the
+coast the growth is proportionably slower, owing to the greater degree of
+cold among the hills; and it must attain there nearly its full height
+before it is productive, whereas in the plains a child can generally
+reach its first fruit from the ground. Here, said a countryman at Laye,
+if I plant a coconut or durian-tree I may expect to reap the fruit of it;
+but in Labun (an inland district) I should only plant for my
+great-grandchildren. In some parts where the land is particularly high,
+neither these, the betel-nut, nor pepper-vines, will produce fruit at
+all.
+
+It has been remarked by some writer that the date-bearing palm-tree and
+the coconut are never found to flourish in the same country. However this
+may hold good as a general assertion it is a fact that not one tree of
+that species is known to grow in Sumatra, where the latter, and many
+others of the palm kind, so much abound. All the small low islands which
+lie off the western coast are skirted near the sea-beach so thickly with
+coconut-trees that their branches touch each other, whilst the interior
+parts, though not on a higher level, are entirely free from them. This
+beyond a doubt is occasioned by the accidental floating of the nuts to
+the shore, where they are planted by the hand of nature, shoot up, and
+bear fruit; which, falling when it arrives at maturity, causes a
+successive reproduction. Where uninhabited, as is the case with Pulo
+Mego, one of the southernmost, the nuts become a prey to the rats and
+squirrels unless when occasionally disturbed by the crews of vessels
+which go thither to collect cargoes for market on the mainland. In the
+same manner, as we are told by Flacourt,* they have been thrown upon a
+coast of Madagascar and are not there indigenous; as I have been also
+assured by a native. Yet it appears that the natives call it voaniou,
+which is precisely the name by which it is familiarly known in Sumatra,
+being buah-nior; and v being uniformly substituted for b, and f for p, in
+the numerous Malayan words occurring in the language of the former
+island. On the other hand the singular production to which the
+appellation of sea-coconut (kalapa laut) has been given, and which is
+known to be the fruit of a species of borassus growing in one of the
+Seychelles Islands,** not far from Madagascar, are sometimes floated as
+far as the Malayan coasts, where they are supposed to be natives of the
+ocean and were held in high veneration for their miraculous effects in
+medicine until, about the year 1772, a large cargo of them was brought to
+Bencoolen by a French vessel, when their character soon fell with their
+price.
+
+(*Footnote. Histoire de l'isle Madagascar page 127.)
+
+(*Footnote. See a particular description of the sea-coconut with plates
+in the Voyage a la Nouvelle Guinee par Sonnerat page 3.)
+
+PINANG OR BETEL-NUT.
+
+The pinang (Areca catechu L.) or betel-nut-tree (as it is usually, but
+improperly, called, the betel being a different plant) is in its mode of
+growth and appearance not unlike the coconut. It is however straighter in
+the stem, smaller in proportion to the height, and more graceful. The
+fruit, of which the varieties are numerous (such as pinang betul, pinang
+ambun, and pinang wangi), is in its outer coat about the size of a plum;
+the nut something less than that of the nutmeg but rounder. This is eaten
+with the leaf of the sirih or betel (Piper betel L.) a claiming plant
+whose leaf has a strong aromatic flavour and other stimulating additions;
+a practice that shall be hereafter described. Of both of these the
+natives make large plantations.
+
+BAMBOO.
+
+In respect to its numerous and valuable uses the bambu or bamboo-cane
+(Arundo bambos) holds a conspicuous rank amongst the vegetables of the
+island, though I am not aware that it is anywhere cultivated for domestic
+purposes, growing wild in most parts in great abundance. In the Batta
+country, and perhaps some other inland districts, they plant a particular
+species very thickly about their kampongs or fortified villages as a
+defence against the attacks of an enemy; the mass of hedge which they
+form being almost impenetrable. It grows in common to the thickness of a
+man's leg, and some sorts to that of the thigh. The joints are from
+fifteen to twenty inches asunder, and the length about twenty to forty
+feet. In all manner of building it is the chief material, both in its
+whole state, and split into laths and otherwise, as has already appeared
+in treating of the houses of the natives; and the various other modes of
+employing it will be noticed either directly or incidentally in the
+course of the work.
+
+SUGAR-CANE.
+
+The sugar-cane (tubbu) is very generally cultivated, but not in large
+quantities, and more frequently for the sake of chewing the juicy reed,
+which they consider as a delicacy, than for the manufacture of sugar. Yet
+this is not unattended to for home consumption, especially in the
+northern districts. By the Europeans and Chinese large plantations have
+been set on foot near Bencoolen, and worked from time to time with more
+or less effect; but in no degree to rival those of the Dutch at Batavia,
+from whence in time of peace the exportation of sugar (gula), sugar-candy
+(gula batu) and arrack is very considerable. In the southern parts of the
+island, and particularly in the district of Manna, every village is
+provided with two or three machines of a peculiar construction for
+squeezing the cane; but the inhabitants are content with boiling the
+juice to a kind of syrup. In the Lampong country they manufacture from
+the liquor yielded by a species of palm-tree a moist, clammy, imperfect
+kind of sugar, called jaggri in most parts of India.*
+
+(*Footnote. This word is evidently the shakar of the Persians, the Latin
+saccharum, and our sugar.)
+
+JAGGRI.
+
+This palm, named in Sumatra anau, and by the eastern Malays gomuto, is
+the Borassus gomutus of Loureiro, the Saguerus pinnatus of the Batavian
+Transactions, and the cleophora of Gaertner. Its leaves are long and
+narrow and, though naturally tending to a point, are scarcely ever found
+perfect, but always jagged at the end. The fruit grows in bunches of
+thirty or forty together, on strings three or four feet long, several of
+which hang from one shoot. In order to procure the nira or toddy (held in
+higher estimation than that from the coconut-tree), one of these shoots
+for fructification is cut off a few inches from the stem, the remaining
+part is tied up and beaten, and an incision is then made, from which the
+liquor distils into a vessel or bamboo closely fastened beneath. This is
+replaced every twenty-four hours. The anau palm produces also (beside a
+little sago) the remarkable substance called iju and gomuto, exactly
+resembling coarse black horse-hair, and used for making cordage of a very
+excellent kind, as well as for many other purposes, being nearly
+incorruptible. It encompasses the stem of the tree, and is seemingly
+bound to it by thicker fibres or twigs, of which the natives made pens
+for writing. Toddy is likewise procured from the lontar or Borassus
+flabellifer, the tala of the Hindus.
+
+SAGO.
+
+The rambiya, puhn sagu, or proper sago tree, is also of the palm kind.
+Its trunk contains a farinaceous and glutinous pith that, being soaked,
+dried, and granulated, becomes the sago of our shops, and has been too
+frequently and accurately described (by Rumphius in particular, Volume 1
+chapters 17 and 18, and by M. Poivre) to need a repetition here.
+
+NIBONG.
+
+The nibong (Caryota urens), another species of palm, grows wild in such
+abundance as not to need cultivation. The stem is tall, slender, and
+straight, and, being of a hard texture on the outer part, it is much used
+for posts in building the slight houses of the country, as well as for
+paling of a stronger kind than the bamboo usually employed. Withinside it
+is fibrous and soft and, when hollowed out, being of the nature of a
+pipe, is well adapted to the purpose of gutters or channels to convey
+water. The cabbage, as it is termed, or pith at the head of the tree (the
+germ of the foliage) is eaten as a delicacy, and preferred to that of the
+coconut.
+
+NIPAH.
+
+The nipah (Cocos nypa, Lour.) a low species of palm, is chiefly valuable
+for its leaves, which are much used as thatch for the roofs of houses.
+The pulpy kernels of the fruit (called buah atap) are preserved as a
+sweetmeat, but are entirely without flavour.
+
+CYCAS.
+
+The paku bindu (Cycas circinalis) has the general appearance of a young,
+or rather dwarf coconut-tree, and like that and the nibong produces a
+cabbage that is much esteemed as a culinary vegetable. The tender shoots
+are likewise eaten. The stem is short and knobby, the lower part of each
+branch (if branches they may be called) prickly, and the blossom yellow.
+The term paku, applied to it by the Malays, shows that they consider it
+as partaking of the nature of the fern (filix) and Rumphius, who names it
+Sayor calappa and Olus calappoides, describes it as an arborescent
+species of osmunda. It is well depicted in Volume 1 table 22.
+
+MAIZE.
+
+The maize or turkey-corn (Zea mays), called jagong, though very generally
+sown, is not cultivated in quantities as an article of food, excepting in
+the Batta country. The ears are plucked whilst green, and, being slightly
+roasted on the embers, are eaten as a delicacy. Chili or cayenne pepper
+(capsicum), called improperly lada panjang or long pepper, and also lada
+merah, red pepper, which, in preference to the common or black pepper, is
+used in their curries and with almost every article of their food, always
+finds a place in their irregular and inartificial gardens. To these
+indeed their attention is very little directed, in consequence of the
+liberality with which nature, unsolicited, supplies their wants. Turmeric
+(curcuma) is a root of general use. Of this there are two kinds, the one
+called kunyit merah, an indispensable ingredient in their curries,
+pilaws, and sundry dishes; the other, kunyit tummu (a variety with
+coloured leaves and a black streak running along the midrib) is esteemed
+a good yellow dye, and is sometimes employed in medicine. Ginger (Amomum
+zinziber) is planted in small quantities. Of this also there are two
+kinds, alia jai (Zinziber majus) and alia padas (Zinziber minus),
+familiarly called se-pade or se-pudde, from a word signifying that
+pungent acrid taste in spices which we express by the vague term hot. The
+tummu (Costus arabicus) and lampuyang (Amomum zerumbet) are found both in
+the wild and cultivated state, being used medicinally; as is also the
+galangale (Kaempferia galanga). The coriander, called katumbar, and the
+cardamum, puah lako, grow in abundance. Of the puah (amomum) they reckon
+many species, the most common of which has very large leaves, resembling
+those of the plantain and possessing an aromatic flavour not unlike that
+of the bay tree. The jintan or cumin-seed (cuminum) is sometimes an
+ingredient in curries. Of the morunggei or kelor (Guilandina moringa L.
+Hyperanthera moringa Wilden.), a tall shrub with pinnated leaves, the
+root has the appearance, flavour, and pungency of the horse-radish, and
+the long pods are dressed as a culinary vegetable; as are also the young
+shoots of the pringgi (Cucurbita pepo) various sorts of the lapang or
+cucumber, and of the lobak or radish. The inei or henna of the Arabians
+(Lawsonia inermis) is a shrub with small light-green leaves, yielding an
+expressed juice with which the natives tinge the nails of their hands and
+feet. Ampalas (Delima sarmentosa and Ficus ampelos) is a shrub whose
+blossom resembles that of our hawthorn in appearance and smell. Its leaf
+has an extraordinary roughness, on which account it is employed to give
+the last fine polish to carvings in wood ivory, particularly the handles
+and sheaths of their krises, on which they bestow much labour. The leaf
+of the sipit also, a climbing species of fig, having the same quality, is
+put to the same use. Ganja or hemp (cannabis) is extensively cultivated,
+not for the purpose of making rope, to which they never apply it, but to
+make an intoxicating preparation called bang, which they smoke in pipes
+along with tobacco. In other parts of India a drink is prepared by
+bruising the blossoms, young leaves, and tender parts of the stalk. Small
+plantations of tobacco, which the natives call tambaku, are met with in
+every part of the country. The leaves are cut whilst green into fine
+shreds, and afterwards dried in the sun. The species is the same as the
+Virginian, and, were the quantity increased and people more expert in the
+method of curing it, a manufacture and trade of considerable importance
+might be established.
+
+PULAS TWINE.
+
+The kaluwi is a species of urtica or nettle of which excellent twine
+called pulas is made. It grows to the height of about four feet, has a
+stem imperfectly ligneous, without branches. When cut down, dried, and
+beaten, the rind is stripped off and then twisted as we do the hemp. It
+affords me great satisfaction to learn that the manufacture of rope from
+this useful plant has lately attracted the attention of the Company's
+Government, and that a considerable nursery of the kaluwi has been
+established in the Botanic Garden at Calcutta, under the zealous and
+active management of Dr. Roxburgh, who expresses his opinion that so soon
+as a method shall be discovered of removing a viscid matter found to
+adhere to the fibres the kaluwi hemp, or pulas, will supersede every
+other material. The bagu-tree (Gnetum gnemon, L.) abounds on the southern
+coast of the island, where its bark is beaten, like hemp, and the twine
+manufactured from it is employed in the construction of large fishing
+nets. The young leaves of the tree are dressed in curries. In the island
+of Nias they make a twine of the baru-tree (Hibiscus tiliaceus), which is
+afterwards woven into a coarse cloth for bags. From the pisang (musa) a
+kind of sewing-thread is procured by stripping filaments from the midribs
+of the leaves, as well as from the stem. In some places this thread is
+worked in the loom. The kratau, a dwarf species of mulberry (morus,
+foliis profunde incisis) is planted for the food of the silkworms, which
+they rear, but not to any great extent, and the raw silk produced from
+them seems of but an indifferent quality. The samples I have seen were
+white instead of yellow, in large, flat cakes, which would require much
+trouble to wind off, and the filaments appeared coarse; but this may be
+partly occasioned by the method of loosening them from the bags, which is
+by steeping them in hot water. Jarak (ricinus and Palma christi), from
+whence the castor oil is extracted, grows wild in abundance: especially
+near the sea-shore. Bijin (Sesamum indicum) is sown extensively in the
+interior districts for the oil it produces, which is there used for
+burning in place of the coconut-oil so common near the coast.
+
+ELASTIC GUM.
+
+In the description of the Urceola elastica, or caout-chouc-vine, of
+Sumatra and Pulo Pinang, by Dr. W. Roxburgh, in the Asiatic Researches
+Volume 5 page 167, he says, "For the discovery of this useful vine we
+are, I believe, indebted to Mr. Howison, late surgeon at Pulo Pinang; but
+it would appear he had no opportunity of determining its botanical
+character. To Dr. Charles Campbell of Fort Marlborough we owe the
+gratification arising from a knowledge thereof. About twelve months ago I
+received from that gentleman, by means of Mr. Fleming, very complete
+specimens, in full foliage, flower, and fruit. From these I was enabled
+to reduce it to its class and order in the Linnean system. It forms new
+genus immediately after tabernaemontana, and consequently belongs to the
+class called contortae. One of the qualities of the plants of this order
+is their yielding, on being cut, a juice which is generally milky, and
+for the most part deemed of a poisonous nature." Of another plant,
+producing a similar substance, I received the following information from
+Mr. Campbell, in a letter dated in November, 1803: "You may remember a
+trailing plant with a small yellowish flower and a seed vessel of an
+oblong form, containing one seed; the whole plant resembling much the
+caout-chouc. To this, finding it wholly nondescript, I have taken the
+liberty to attach your name. It has no relationship to a genus yielding a
+similar substance, of which I sent a specimen to Dr. Roxburgh at Bengal,
+who published an account of it under the name of urceola. It is called
+jintan by the Malays, and of its three species I have accurately
+ascertained two, the jintan itam and jintan burong, the latter very rare.
+Its leaves are of a deep glossy green, and the flowers lightly tinged
+with a pale yellow; it belongs to the tetrandria, and is a handsome
+plant--but more of this with the drawing." Unfortunately however neither
+this drawing nor any part of his valuable collection of materials for
+improving the natural history of that interesting country, which he
+bequeathed to me by his will, have yet reached my hands.
+
+GUM.
+
+Mr. Charles Miller observed in the country near Bencoolen a gum exuding
+spontaneously from the paty tree, which appeared very much to resemble
+the gum-arabic; and, as they belong to the same genus of plants, he
+thought it not improbable that this gum might be used for the same
+purposes. In the list of new species by F. Norona (Batavian Transactions
+Volume 5) he gives to the pete of Java the name of Acacia gigantea; which
+I presume to be the same plant.
+
+PULSE.
+
+Kachang is a term applied to all sorts of pulse, of which a great variety
+is cultivated; as the kachang china (Dolichos sinensis), kachang putih
+(Dolichos katjang), k. ka-karah (D. lignosus), k. kechil (Phaseolus
+radiatus), k. ka-karah gatal (Dolichos pruriens) and many others. The
+kachang tanah (Arachis hypogaea) is of a different class, being the
+granulose roots (or, according to some, the self-buried pods) of a herb
+with a yellow, papilionaceous flower, the leaves of which have some
+resemblance to the clover, but double only, and, like it, affords rice
+pasture for cattle. The seeds are always eaten fried or parched, from
+whence they obtain their common appellation of kachang goring.
+
+YAMS.
+
+The variety of roots of the yam and potato kind, under the general name
+of ubi, is almost endless; the dioscorea being generally termed ubi
+kechil (small), and the convolvulus ubi gadang (large); some of which
+latter, of the sort called at Bencoolen the China-yam, weigh as much as
+forty pounds, and are distinguished into the white and the purple. The
+fruit of the trong (melongena), of which the egg-plant is one species, is
+much eaten by the natives, split and fried. They are commonly known by
+the name of brinjals, from the beringelhas of the Portuguese.
+
+DYE-STUFFS.
+
+
+(PLATE 8. Marsdenia tinctoria, OR BROAD-LEAFED INDIGO.
+E.W. Marsden delt. Swaine fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+INDIGO.
+
+Tarum or indigo (Indigofera tinctoria) being the principal dye-stuff they
+employ, the shrub is always found in their planted spots; but they do not
+manufacture it into a solid substance, as is the practice elsewhere. The
+stalks and branches having lain for some days in water to soak and
+macerate, they then boil it, and work among it with their hands a small
+quantity of chunam (quick lime, from shells), with leaves of the paku
+sabba (a species of fern) for fixing the colour. It is afterwards drained
+off, and made use of in the liquid state.
+
+There is another kind of indigo, called in Sumatra tarum akar, which
+appears to be peculiar to that country, and was totally unknown to
+botanists to whom I showed the leaves upon my return to England in the
+beginning of the year 1780. The common kind is known to have small
+pinnated leaves growing on stalks imperfectly ligneous. This, on the
+contrary, is a vine, or climbing plant, with leaves from three to five
+inches in length, thin, of a dark green, and in the dried state
+discoloured with blue stains. It yields the same dye as the former sort;
+they are prepared also in the same manner, and used indiscriminately, no
+preference being given to the one above the other, as the natives
+informed me, excepting inasmuch as the tarum akar, by reason of the
+largeness of the foliage, yields a greater proportion of sediment.
+Conceiving it might prove a valuable plant in our colonies, and that it
+was of importance in the first instance that its identity and class
+should be accurately ascertained, I procured specimens of its
+fructification, and deposited them in the rich and extensively useful
+collection of my friend Sir Joseph Banks. In a paper on the Asclepiadeae,
+highly interesting to botanical science, communicated by Mr. Robert Brown
+(who has lately explored the vegetable productions of New Holland and
+other parts of the East) to the Wernerian Society of Edinburgh, and
+printed in their Transactions, he has done me the honour of naming the
+genus to which this plant belongs, MARSDENIA, and this particular species
+Marsdenia tinctoria.*
+
+(*Footnote. 2. M. caule volubili, foliis cordatis ovato-oblongis
+acuminatis glabriusculis basi antice glandulosis, thyrsis lateralibus,
+fauce barbata. Tarram akkar Marsd. Sumat. page 78 edition 2 Hab. In
+insula Sumatra. (v.s. in Herb. Banks.))
+
+KASUMBA.
+
+Under the name of kasumba are included two plants yielding materials for
+dyeing, but very different from each other. The kasumba (simply) or
+kasumba jawa, as it is sometimes called, is the Carthamus tinctorius, of
+which the flowers are used to produce a saffron colour, as the name
+imports. The kasumba kling or galuga is the Bixa orellana, or arnotto of
+the West Indies. Of this the capsule, about an inch in length, is covered
+with soft prickles or hair, opens like a bivalve shell, and contains in
+its cavities a dozen or more seeds, the size of grape-stones, thickly
+covered with a reddish farina, which is the part that constitutes the
+dye.
+
+Sapang, the Brazil-wood, (Caesalpinia sappan), whether indigenous or not,
+is common in the Malayan countries. The heart of this being cut into
+chips, steeped for a considerable time in water, and then boiled, is used
+for dying here, as in other countries. The cloth or thread is repeatedly
+dipped in this liquid, and hung to dry between each wetting till it is
+brought to the shade required. To fix the colour alum is added in the
+boiling.
+
+Of the tree called bangkudu in some districts, and in others mangkudu
+(Morinda umbellata) the outward parts of the root, being dried, pounded,
+and boiled in water, afford a red dye, for fixing which the ashes
+procured from the stalks of the fruit and midribs of the leaves of the
+coconut are employed. Sometimes the bark or wood of the sapang tree is
+mixed with these roots. It is to be observed that another species of
+bangkudu,
+with broader leaves (Morinda citrifolia) does not yield any colouring
+matter, but is, as I apprehend, the tree commonly planted in the Malayan
+peninsula and in Pulo Pinang as a support to the pepper-vine.
+
+RED-WOOD.
+
+Ubar is a red-wood resembling the logwood (haematoxylon) of Honduras, and
+might probably be employed for the same purpose. It is used by the
+natives in tanning twine for fishing nets, and appears to be the okir or
+Tanarius major of Rumphius, Volume 3 page 192, and Jambolifera rezinoso
+of Lour. Fl. C. C. page 231. Their black dye is commonly made from the
+coats of the mangostin-fruit and of the kataping (Terminalia catappa).
+With this the blue cloth from the west of India is changed to a black, as
+usually worn by the Malays of Menangkabau. It is said to be steeped in
+mud in order to fix the colour.
+
+The roots of the chapada or champadak (Artocarpus integrifolia) cut into
+chips and boiled in water produce a yellow dye. To strengthen the tint a
+little turmeric (the kunyit tumma or variety of curcuma already spoken
+of) is mixed with it, and alum to fix it; but as the yellow does not hold
+well it is necessary that the operation of steeping and drying should be
+frequently repeated.
+
+
+CHAPTER 5.
+
+FRUITS, FLOWERS, MEDICINAL SHRUBS AND HERBS.
+
+FRUITS.
+
+Nature, says a celebrated writer,* seems to have taken a pleasure in
+assembling in the Malayan countries her most favourite productions; and
+with truth I think it may be affirmed that no region of the earth can
+boast an equal abundance and variety of indigenous fruits; for although
+the whole of those hereafter enumerated cannot be considered as such, yet
+there is reason to conclude that the greater part may, for the natives,
+who never appear to bestow the smallest labour in improving or even in
+cultivating such as they naturally possess, can hardly be suspected of
+taking the pains to import exotics. The larger number grow wild, and the
+rest are planted in a careless, irregular manner about their villages.
+
+(*Footnote. Les terres possedees par les Malais, sont en general de tres
+bonne qualite. La nature semble avoir pris plaisir d'y placer ses plus
+excellentes productions. On y voit tous les fruits delicieux que j'ai dit
+se trouver sur le territoire de Siam, et une multitude d'autres fruits
+agreables qui sont particuliers a ces isles. On y respire un air embaume
+par une multitude de fleurs agreables qui se succedent toute l'annee, et
+dont l'odeur suave penetre jusqu'a l'ame, et inspire la volupte la plus
+seduisante. Il n'est point de voyageur qui en se promenant dans les
+campagnes de Malacca, ne se sente invite a fixer son sejour dans un lieu
+si plein d'agremens, dont la nature seule a fait tous les frais. Voyages
+d'un Philosophe par M. Poivre page 56.)
+
+
+(PLATE 3. THE MANGUSTIN FRUIT, GARCINIA MANGOSTANA.
+Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+MANGUSTIN.
+
+The mangustin, called by the natives manggis and manggista (Garcinia
+mangostana, L.) is the pride of these countries, to which it exclusively
+belongs, and has, by general consent, obtained, in the opinion of
+Europeans, the pre-eminence amongst Indian fruits. Its characteristic
+quality is extreme delicacy of flavour, without being rich or luscious.
+It is a drupe of a brownish-red colour, and the size of a common apple,
+consisting of a thick rind, somewhat hard on the outside, but soft and
+succulent within, encompassing kernels which are covered with a juicy and
+perfectly white pulp, which is the part eaten, or, more properly, sucked,
+for it dissolves in the mouth. Its qualities are as innocent as they are
+grateful, and the fruit may be eaten in any moderate quantity without
+danger of surfeit, or other injurious effects. The returns of its season
+appeared to be irregular, and the periods short.
+
+DURIAN.
+
+The durian (Durio zibethinus) is also peculiar to the Malayan countries.
+It is a rich fruit but strong and even offensive in taste as well as
+smell, to those who are not accustomed to it, and of a very heating
+quality; yet the natives (and others who fall into their habits) are
+passionately addicted to it, and during the time of its continuing in
+season live almost wholly upon its luscious and cream-like pulp; whilst
+the rinds, thrown about in the bazaars, communicate their scent to the
+surrounding atmosphere. The tree is large and lofty; the leaves are small
+in proportion, but in themselves long and pointed. The blossoms grow in
+clusters on the stem and larger branches. The petals are five, of a
+yellowish-white, surrounding five branches of stamina, each bunch
+containing about twelve, and each stamen having four antherae. The
+pointal is knobbed at top. When the stamina and petal fall, the
+empalement resembles a fungus, and nearly in shape a Scot's bonnet. The
+fruit is in its general appearance not unlike the bread-fruit, but
+larger, and its coat is rougher.
+
+BREAD-FRUIT.
+
+The sutun kapas, and sukun biji or kalawi, are two species of the
+bread-fruit-tree (Artocarpus incisa). The former is the genuine, edible
+kind, without kernels, and propagated by cuttings of the roots. Though by
+no means uncommon, it is said not to be properly a native of Sumatra. The
+kalawi, on the contrary, is in great abundance, and its bark supplies the
+country people with a sort of cloth for their working dresses. The leaves
+of both species are deeply indented, like those of the fig, but
+considerably longer. The bread-fruit is cut in slices, and, being boiled
+or broiled on the fire, is eaten with sugar, and much esteemed. It cannot
+however be considered as an article of food, and I suspect that in
+quality it is inferior to the bread-fruit of the South-Sea Islands.
+
+JACK-FRUIT.
+
+The Malabaric name of jacca, or the jack-fruit, is applied both to the
+champadak or chapada (Artocarpus integrifolia, L. and Polyphema jaca,
+Lour.) and to the nangka (Artocarpus integrifolia, L. and Polyphema
+champeden, Lour). Of the former the leaves are smooth and pointed; of the
+latter they are roundish, resembling those of the cashew. This is the
+more common, less esteemed, and larger fruit, weighing, in some
+instances, fifty or sixty pounds. Both grow in a peculiar manner from the
+stem of the tree. The outer coat is rough, containing a number of seeds
+or kernels (which, when roasted, have the taste of chestnuts) inclosed in
+a fleshy substance of a rich, and, to strangers, too strong smell and
+flavour, but which gains upon the palate. When the fruit ripens the
+natives cover it with mats or the like to preserve it from injury by the
+birds. Of the viscous juice of this tree they make a kind of bird-lime:
+the yellow wood is employed for various purposes, and the root yields a
+dye-stuff.
+
+MANGO.
+
+The mango, called mangga and mampalam (Mangifera indica, L.) is well
+known to be a rich, high-flavoured fruit of the plumb kind, and is found
+here in great perfection; but there are many inferior varieties beside
+the ambachang, or Mangifera foetida, and the tais.
+
+JAMBU.
+
+Of the jambu (eugenia, L.) there are several species, among which the
+jambu merah or kling (Eugenia malaccensis) is the most esteemed for the
+table, and is also the largest. In shape it has some resemblance to the
+pear, but is not so taper near the stalk. The outer skin, which is very
+fine, is tinged with a deep and beautiful red, the inside being perfectly
+white. Nearly the whole substance is edible, and when properly ripe it is
+a delicious fruit; but otherwise, it is spongy and indigestible. In smell
+and even in taste it partakes much of the flavour of the rose; but this
+quality belongs more especially to another species, called jambu ayer
+mawar, or the rose-water jambu. Nothing can be more beautiful than the
+blossoms, the long and numerous stamina of which are of a bright pink
+colour. The tree grows in a handsome, regular, conical shape, and has
+large, deep-green, pointed leaves. The jambu ayer (Eugenia aquea) is a
+delicate and beautiful fruit in appearance, the colour being a mixture of
+white and pink; but in its flavour, which is a faint, agreeable acid, it
+does not equal the jambu merah.
+
+PLANTAIN.
+
+Of the pisang, or plantain (Musa paradisiaca, L.) the natives reckon
+above twenty varieties, including the banana of the West Indies. Among
+these the pisang amas, or small yellow plantain, is esteemed the most
+delicate; and next to that the pisang raja, pisang dingen, and pisang
+kalle.
+
+Pineapple.
+
+The nanas, or pineapple (Bromelia ananas), though certainly not
+indigenous, grows here in great plenty with the most ordinary culture.
+Some think them inferior to those produced from hothouses in England; but
+this opinion may be influenced by the smallness of their price, which
+does not exceed two or three pence. With equal attention it is probable
+they might be rendered much superior, and their variety is considerable.
+The natives eat them with salt.
+
+ORANGES.
+
+Oranges (limau manis) of many sorts, are in the highest perfection. That
+called limau japan, or Japan orange, is a fine fruit, not commonly known
+in Europe. In this the cloves adhere but slightly to each other, and
+scarcely at all to the rind, which contains an unusual quantity of the
+essential oil. The limau gadang, or pumple-nose (Citrus aurantium),
+called in the West Indies the shaddock (from the name of the captain who
+carried them thither), is here very fine, and distinguished into the
+white and red sorts. Limes or limau kapas, and lemons, limau kapas
+panjang, are in abundance. The natives enumerate also the limau langga,
+limau kambing, limau pipit, limau sindi masam, and limau sindi manis. The
+true citron, or limau karbau, is not common nor in esteem.
+
+GUAVA.
+
+The guava (Psidium pomiferum) called jambu biji, and also jambu protukal
+(for Portugal, in consequence, as we may presume, of its having been
+introduced by the people of that country) has a flavour which some
+admire, and others equally dislike. The pulp of the red sort is sometimes
+mixed with cream by Europeans, to imitate strawberries, from a fond
+partiality to the productions of their native soil; and it is not
+unusual, amidst a profusion of the richest eastern fruits, to sigh for an
+English codling or gooseberry.
+
+CUSTARD-APPLE.
+
+The siri kaya, or custard-apple (Annona squamosa), derives its name from
+the likeness which its white and rich pulp bears to a custard, and it is
+accordingly eaten with a spoon. The nona, as it is called by the natives
+(Annona reticulata), is another species of the same fruit, but not so
+grateful to the taste.
+
+PAPAW.
+
+The kaliki, or papaw (Carica papaja), is a large, substantial, and
+wholesome fruit, in appearance not unlike a smooth sort of melon, but not
+very highly flavoured. The pulp is of a reddish yellow, and the seeds,
+which are about the size of grains of pepper, have a hot taste like
+cresses. The watermelon, called here samangka (Cucurbita citrullus) is of
+very fine quality. The rock or musk-melons, are not common.
+
+TAMARIND.
+
+Tamarinds, called asam jawa, or the Javan acid, are the produce of a
+large and noble tree, with small pinnated leaves, and supply a grateful
+relief in fevers, which too frequently require it. The natives preserve
+them with salt, and use them as an acid ingredient in their curries and
+other dishes. It may be remarked that in general they are not fond of
+sweets, and prefer many of their fruits whilst green to the same in their
+ripe state.
+
+
+(PLATE 4. THE RAMBUTAN, Nephelium lappaceum.
+L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+RAMBUTAN.
+
+The rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum, L. Mant.) is in appearance not much
+unlike the fruit of the arbutus, but larger, of a brighter red, and
+covered with coarser hair or soft spines, from whence it derives its
+name. The part eaten is a gelatinous and almost transparent pulp
+surrounding the kernel, of a rich and pleasant acid.
+
+
+(PLATE 5. THE LANSEH FRUIT, Lansium domesticum.
+L. Wilkins delt. Hooker Sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.
+
+
+PLATE 6. THE RAMBEH FRUIT, A SPECIES OF LANSEH.
+Maria Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+LANSEH.
+
+The lanseh, likewise but little known to botanists, is a small oval
+fruit, of a whitish-brown colour, which, being deprived of its thin outer
+coat, divides into five cloves, of which the kernels are covered with a
+fleshy pulp, subacid, and agreeable to the taste. The skin contains a
+clammy juice, extremely bitter, and, if not stripped with care, it is apt
+to communicate its quality to the pulp. M. Correa de Serra, in les
+Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle Tome 10 page 157 plate 7, has
+given a description of the Lansium domesticum from specimens of the fruit
+preserved in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks. The chupak, ayer-ayer,
+and rambe are species or varieties of the same fruit.
+
+BLIMBING.
+
+Of the blimbing (Averrhoa carambola) a pentagonal fruit, containing five
+flattish seeds, and extremely acid, there are two sorts, called penjuru
+and besi. The leaves of the latter are small, opposite, and of a
+sap-green; those of the former grow promiscuously and are of a silver
+green. There is also the blimbing bulu (Averrhoa billimbi), or smooth
+species. Their uses are chiefly in cookery, and for purposes where a
+strong acid is required, as in cleaning the blades of their krises and
+bringing out the damask, for which they are so much admired. The cheremi
+(Averrhoa acida) is nearly allied to the blimbing besi, but the fruit is
+smaller, of an irregular shape, growing in clusters close to the branch,
+and containing each a single hard seed or stone. It is a common
+substitute for our acid fruits in tarts.
+
+KATAPING.
+
+The kataping (Terminalia catappa, L. and Juglans catappa, Lour.)
+resembles the almond both in its outer husk and the flavour of its
+kernel; but instead of separating into two parts, like the almond, it is
+formed of spiral folds, and is developed somewhat like a rosebud, but
+continuous, and not in distinct laminae.
+
+SPECIES OF CHESTNUT.
+
+The barangan (a species of fagus) resembles the chestnut. The tree is
+large, and the nuts grow sometimes one, two, and three in a husk. The
+jerring, a species of mimosa, resembles the same fruit, but is larger and
+more irregularly shaped than the barangan. The tree is smaller. The tapus
+(said to be a new genus belonging to the tricoccae) has likewise some
+analogy, but more distant, to the chestnut. There are likewise three nuts
+in one husk, forming in shape an oblong spheroid. If eaten unboiled they
+are said to inebriate. The tree is large.
+
+
+(PLATE 7. THE KAMILING OR BUAH KRAS, Juglans camirium.
+L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+KAMILING.
+
+The fruit named kamiri, kamiling, and more commonly buah kras, or the
+hard fruit (Camirium cordifolium, Gaert. and Juglans camirium, Lour.)
+bears much resemblance to the walnut in the flavour and consistence of
+the kernel; but the shell is harder and does not open in the same manner.
+The natives of the hills make use of it as a substitute for the coconut,
+both in their cookery and for procuring a delicate oil.
+
+RATTAN.
+
+The rotan salak (Calamus zalacca, Gaert.) yields a fruit, the pulp of
+which is sweetish, acidulous, and pleasant. Its outer coat, like those of
+the other rotans, is covered with scales, or the appearance of nice
+basket-work. It incloses sometimes one, two, and three kernels, of a
+peculiar horny substance.
+
+CASHEW.
+
+The cashew-apple and nut, called jambu muniet, or monkey-jambu
+(Anacardium occidentale), are well known for the strong acidity of the
+former, and the caustic quality of the oil contained in the latter, from
+tasting which the inexperienced often suffer.
+
+POMEGRANATE.
+
+The pomegranate or dalima (Punica granatum) flourishes here, as in all
+warm climates.
+
+GRAPES, ETC.
+
+Grape-vines are planted with success by Europeans for their tables, but
+not cultivated by the people of the country. There is found in the woods
+a species of wild grape, called pringat (Vitis indica); and also a
+strawberry, the blossom of which is yellow, and the fruit has little
+flavour. Beside these there are many other, for the most part wild,
+fruits, of which some boast a fine flavour, and others are little
+superior to our common berries, but might be improved by culture. Such
+are the buah kandis, a variety of garcinia (it should be observed that
+buah, signifying fruit, is always prefixed to the particular name), buah
+malaka (Phyllanthus emblica), rukam (Carissa spinarum), bangkudu or
+mangkudu (Morinda citrifolia), sikaduduk (melastoma), kitapan (Callicarpa
+japonica).
+
+FLOWERS.
+
+"You breathe in the country of the Malays (says the writer before quoted)
+an air impregnated with the odours of innumerable flowers of the greatest
+fragrance, of which there is a perpetual succession throughout the year,
+the sweet flavour of which captivates the soul, and inspires the most
+voluptuous sensations." Although this luxurious picture may be drawn in
+too-warm tints it is not however without its degree of justness. The
+people of the country are fond of flowers in the ornament of their
+persons, and encourage their growth, as well as that of various
+odoriferous shrubs and trees.
+
+KANANGA.
+
+The kananga (Uvaria cananga, L.) being a tree of the largest size,
+surpassed by few in the forest, may well take the lead, on that account,
+in a description of those which bear flowers. These are of a greenish
+yellow, scarcely distinguishable from the leaves, among which the bunches
+hang down in a peculiar manner. About sunset, if the evening be calm,
+they diffuse a fragrance around that affects the sense at the distance of
+some hundred yards.
+
+CHAMPAKA.
+
+Champaka (Michelia champaca). This tree grows in a regular, conical
+shape, and is ornamental in gardens. The flowers are a kind of small
+tulip, but close and pointed at top; their colour a deep yellow, the
+scent strong, and at a distance agreeable. They are wrapped in the folds
+of the hair, both by the women, and by young men who aim at gallantry.
+
+TANJONG.
+
+Bunga tanjong (Mimusops elengi, L.) A fair tree, rich in foliage, of a
+dark green; the flowers small, radiated, of a yellowish white, and worn
+in wreaths by the women; their scent, though exquisite at a distance, is
+too powerful when brought nigh. The fruit is a drupe, containing a large
+blackish flatted seed.
+
+GARDENIA.
+
+Sangklapa (Gardenia flore simplice). A handsome shrub with leaves of very
+deep green, long-pointed; the flowers a pure white, without visible
+stamina or pistil, the petals standing angularly to each other. It has
+little or no scent. The pachah-piring (Gardenia florida, described by
+Rumphius under the name of catsjopiri) is a grand white double flower,
+emitting a pleasing and not powerful odour.
+
+HIBISCUS.
+
+The bunga raya (Hibiscus rosa sinensis) is a well-known shrub, with
+leaves of a yellowish green, serrated and curled. Of one sort the flower
+is red, yielding a juice of deep purple, and when applied to leather
+produces a bright black, from whence its vulgar name of the shoe-flower.
+Of another sort the blossom is white. They are without smell.
+
+PLUMERIA.
+
+Bunga or kumbang kamboja (Plumeria obtusa) is likewise named bunga
+kubur-an, from its being always planted about graves. The flower is
+large, white, yellow towards the centre, consisting of five simple,
+smooth,
+thick petals, without visible pistil or stamina, and yielding a strong
+scent. The leaf of the tree is long, pointed, of a deep green, remarkable
+in this, that round the fibres proceeding from the midrib run another set
+near the edge, forming a handsome border. The tree grows in a stunted,
+irregular manner, and even whilst young has a venerable antique
+appearance.
+
+NYCTANTHES.
+
+The bunga malati and bunga malur (Nyctanthes sambac) are different names
+for the same humble plant, called mugri in Bengal. It bears a pretty
+white flower, diffusing a more exquisite fragrance, in the opinion of
+most persons, than any other of which the country boasts. It is much worn
+by the females; sometimes in wreaths, and various combinations, along
+with the bunga tanjong, and frequently the unblown buds are strung in
+imitation of rows of pearls. It should be remarked that the appellative
+bunga, or flower, (pronounced bungo in the south-western parts of
+Sumatra), is almost ever prefixed to the proper name, as buah is to
+fruits. There is also the malati china (Nyctanthes multiflora); the
+elegant bunga malati susun (Nyctanthes acuminata).
+
+PERGULARIA.
+
+And the celebrated bunga tonking (Pergularia odoratissima), whose
+fascinating sweets have been widely dispersed in England by the
+successful culture and liberal participation of Sir Joseph Banks. At
+Madras it obtained the appellation of West-coast, i.e. Sumatran, creeper,
+which marks the quarter from whence it was obtained. At Bencoolen the
+same appellation is familiarly applied to the bunga tali-tali (Ipomoea
+quamoclit), a beautiful, little, monopetalous flower, divided into five
+angular segments, and closing at sunset. From its bright crimson colour
+it received from Rumphius the name of Flos cardinalis. The plant is a
+luxuriant creeper, with a hairlike leaf.
+
+Pavetta indica, ETC.
+
+The angsuka, or bunga jarum-jarum (Pavetta indica), obtained from
+Rumphius, on account of the glowing red colour of its long calices, the
+name of flamma sylvarum peregrina. The bunga marak (Poinciana
+pulcherrima) is a most splendid flower, the colours being a mixture of
+yellow and scarlet, and its form being supposed to resemble the crest of
+the peacock, from whence its Malayan name, which Rumphius translated. The
+nagasari (Calophyllum nagassari) bears a much admired blossom, well known
+in Bengal; but in the upper parts of India, called nagakeh-sir, and in
+the Batavian Transactions Acacia aurea. The bakong, or salandap (Crinum
+asiaticum), is a plant of the lily kind, with six large, white,
+turbinated petals of an agreeable scent. It grows wild near the beach
+amongst those plants which bind the loose sands. Another and beautiful
+species of the bakong has a deep shade of purple mixed with the white.
+The kachubong (Datura metel) appears also to flourish mostly by the
+seaside. It bears a white infundibuliform flower, rather pentagonal than
+round, with a small hook at each angle. The leaves are dark green,
+pointed, broad and unequal at the bottom. The fruit is shaped like an
+apple, very prickly, and full of small seeds. Sundal malam or harlot of
+the night (Polyanthes tuberosa) is so termed from the circumstance of its
+diffusing its sweet odours at that season. It is the tuberose of our
+gardens, but growing with great vigour and luxuriance. The bunga mawur
+(Rosa semperflorens, Curtis, Number 284), is small and of a deep crimson
+colour. Its scent is delicate and by no means so rich as that yielded by
+the roses of our climate. The Amaranthus cristatus (Celosia castrensis,
+L.) is probably a native, being found commonly in the interior of the
+Batta country, where strangers have rarely penetrated. The various
+species of this genus are called by the general name of bayam, of which
+some are edible, as before observed.
+
+PANDAN.
+
+Of the pandan (pandanus), a shrub with very long prickly leaves, like
+those of the pineapple or aloe, there are many varieties, of which some
+are highly fragrant, particularly the pandan wangi (Pandanus
+odoratissima, L.), which produces a brownish white spath or blossom, one
+or two feet in length. This the natives shred fine and wear about their
+persons. The pandan pudak, or keura of Thunberg, which is also fragrant,
+I have reason to believe the same as the wangi. The common sort is
+employed for hedging and called caldera by Europeans in many parts of
+India. In the Nicobar islands it is cultivated and yields a fruit called
+the melori, which is one of the principle articles of food.
+
+EPIDENDRA.
+
+Bunga anggrek (epidendrum). The species or varieties of this remarkable
+tribe of parasitical plants are very numerous, and may be said to exhibit
+a variety of loveliness. Kaempfer describes two kinds by the names of
+angurek warna and katong'ging; the first of which I apprehend to be the
+anggrek bunga putri (Angraecum scriptum, R.) and the other the anggrek
+kasturi (Angraecum moschatum, R.) or scorpion-flower, from its resembling
+that insect, as the former does the butterfly. The musky scent resides at
+the extremity of the tail.*
+
+(*Footnote. Habetur haec planta apud Javanos in deliciis et magno studio
+colitur; tum ob floris eximium odorem, quem spirat, moschi, tum ob
+singularem elegantiam et figuram scorpionis, quam exhibet...spectaculo
+sane jocundissimo, ut negem quicquam elegantius et admiratione dignius in
+regno vegetabili me vidisse...Odorem flos moschi exquisitissimum atque
+adeo copiosum spargit, ut unicus stylus floridus totum conclave impleat.
+Qui vero odor, quod maxi me mireris, in extrema parte petali caudam
+referentis, residet; qua abicissa, omnis cessat odoris expiratio. Amoen
+exoticae, page 868.)
+
+WATER-LILIES, ETC.
+
+The bunga tarati or seruja (Nymphaea nelumbo) as well as several other
+beautiful kinds of aquatic plants are found upon the inland waters of
+this country. Daun gundi or tabung bru (Nepenthes destillatoria) can
+scarcely be termed a flower, but is a very extraordinary climbing plant.
+From the extremity of the leaf a prolongation of the mid-rib, resembling
+the tendril of a vine, terminates in a membrane formed like a tankard
+with the lid or valve half opened; and growing always nearly erect, it is
+commonly half full of pure water from the rain or dews. This monkey-cup
+(as the Malayan name implies) is about four or five inches long and an
+inch in diameter. Giring landak (Crotalaria retusa) is a papilionaceous
+flower resembling the lupin, yellow, and tinged at the extremities with
+red. From the rattling of its seed in the pod it obtains its name, which
+signifies porcupine-bells, alluding to the small bells worn about the
+ankles of children. The daup (bauhinia) is a small, white, semiflosculous
+flower, with a faint smell. The leaves alone attract notice, being
+double, as if united by a hinge, and this peculiarity suggested the
+Linnean name, which was given in compliment to two brothers of the name
+of Bauhin, celebrated botanists, who always worked conjointly.
+
+To the foregoing list, in every respect imperfect, many interesting
+plants might be added by an attentive and qualified observer. The natives
+themselves have a degree of botanical knowledge that surprises Europeans.
+They are in general, and at a very early age, acquainted not only with
+the names, but the properties of every shrub and herb amongst that
+exuberant variety with which the island is clothed. They distinguish the
+sexes of many plants and trees, and divide several of the genera into as
+many species as our professors. Of the paku or fern I have had specimens
+brought to me of twelve sorts, which they told me were not the whole, and
+to each they gave a distinct name.
+
+MEDICINAL HERBS.
+
+Some of the shrubs and herbs employed medicinally are as follows.
+Scarcely any of them are cultivated, being culled from the woods or
+plains as they happen to be wanted.
+
+Lagundi (Vitex trifolia, L.) The botanic characters of this shrub are
+well known. The leaves, which are bitter and pungent rather than
+aromatic, are considered as a powerful antiseptic, and are employed in
+fevers in the place of Peruvian bark. They are also put into granaries
+and among cargoes of rice to prevent the destruction of the grain by
+weevils.
+
+Katupong resembles the nettle in growth, in fruit the blackberry. I have
+not been able to identify it. The leaf, being chewed, is used in dressing
+small fresh wounds.
+
+Siup, a kind of wild fig, is applied to the scurf or leprosy of the Nias
+people, when not inveterate.
+
+Sikaduduk (melastoma) has the appearance of a wild rose. A decoction of
+its leaves is used for the cure of a disorder in the sole of the foot,
+called maltus, resembling the impetigo or ringworm.
+
+Ampadu-bruang or bear's gall (brucea, foliis serratis) is the lussa raja
+of Rumphius, excessively bitter, and applied in infusion for the relief
+of disorders in the bowels.
+
+Kabu (unknown). Of this the bark and root are used for curing the kudis
+or itch, by rubbing it on the part affected.
+
+Marampuyan (a new genus). The young shoots of this, being supposed to
+have a refreshing and corroborating quality, are rubbed over the body and
+limbs after violent fatigue.
+
+Mali-mali (unknown). The leaf of this plant, which bears a white
+umbellated blossom, is applied to reduce swellings.
+
+Chapo (Conyza balsamifera) resembles the sage (salvia) in colour, smell,
+taste, and qualities, but grows to the height of six feet, has a long
+jagged leaf, and its blossom resembles that of groundsel.
+
+Murribungan (unknown). The leaves of this climber are broad, roundish,
+and smooth. The juice of its stalk is applied to heal excoriations of the
+tongue.
+
+Ampi-ampi (unknown). A climbing plant with leaves resembling the box, and
+a small flosculous blossom. It is used as a medicine in fevers.
+
+Kadu (species of piper), with a leaf in shape and taste resembling the
+betel. It is burned to preserve children newly born from the influence of
+evil spirits.
+
+Gumbai (unknown). A shrub with monopetalous, stillated, purple flowers,
+growing in tufts. The leaves are used in disorders of the bowels.
+
+Tabulan bukan (unknown). A shrub bearing a semiflosculous blossom,
+applied to the cure of sore eyes.
+
+Kachang prang (Dolichos ensiformis). The pods of this are of a huge size,
+and the beans, of a fine crimson colour, are used in diseases of the
+pleura.
+
+Sipit, a species of fig, with a large oval leaf, rough to the touch, and
+rigid. An infusion of it is swallowed in iliac affections.
+
+Daun se-dingin (Cotyledon laciniata). This leaf, as the name denotes, is
+of a remarkably cold quality. It is applied to the forehead to cure the
+headache, and sometimes to the body in fevers.
+
+Long pepper (Piper longum) is used medicinally.
+
+Turmeric, also, mixed with rice reduced to powder and then formed into a
+paste, is much used outwardly in cases of colds and pains in the bones;
+and chunam or quick-lime is likewise commonly rubbed on parts of the body
+affected with pain.
+
+In the cure of the kura or boss (from the Portuguese word baco), which is
+an obstruction of the spleen, forming a hard lump in the upper part of
+the abdomen, a decoction of the following plants is externally applied:
+sipit tunggul; madang tandok (a new genus, highly aromatic); ati ayer
+(species of arum ?) tapa besi; paku tiong (a most beautiful fern, with
+leaves like a palm; genus not ascertained); tapa badak (a variety of
+callicarpa); laban (Vitex altissima); pisang ruko (species of musa); and
+paku lamiding (species of polypodium ?); together with a juice extracted
+from the akar malabatei (unknown).
+
+In the cure of the kurap, tetter or ringworm, they apply the daun
+galinggan (Cassia quadri-alata) a herbaceous shrub with large pinnated
+leaves and a yellow blossom. In the more inveterate cases, barangan
+(coloured arsenic, or orpiment), a strong poison, is rubbed in.
+
+The milky exsudation from the sudu-sudu (Euphorbia neriifolia) is valued
+highly by the natives for medicinal purposes. Its leaves eaten by sheep
+or goats occasion present death.
+
+UPAS TREE.
+
+On the subject of the puhn upas or poison tree (Arbor toxicaria, R.), of
+whose properties so extraordinary an account was published in the London
+Magazine for September 1785 by Mr. N.P. Foersch, a surgeon in the service
+of the Dutch East India Company, at that time in England, I shall quote
+the observations of the late ingenious Mr. Charles Campbell, of the
+medical establishment at Fort Marlborough. "On my travels in the country
+at the back of Bencoolen I found the upas tree, about which so many
+ridiculous tales have been told. Some seeds must by this time have
+arrived in London in a packet I forwarded to Mr. Aiton at Kew. The poison
+is certainly deleterious, but not in so terrific a degree as has been
+represented. Some of it in an inspissated state you will receive by an
+early opportunity. As to the tree itself, it does no manner of injury to
+those around it. I have sat under its shade, and seen birds alight upon
+its branches; and as to the story of grass not growing beneath it,
+everyone who has been in a forest must know that grass is not found in
+such situations." For further particulars respecting this poison-tree,
+which has excited so much interest, the reader is referred to Sir George
+Staunton's Account of Lord Macartney's Embassy Volume 1 page 272; to
+Pennant's Outlines of the Globe Volume 4 page 42, where he will find a
+copy of Foersch's original narrative; and to a Dissertation by Professor
+C.P. Thunberg upon the Arbor toxicaria Macassariensis, in the Mem. of the
+Upsal Acad. for 1788. The information given by Rumphius upon the subject
+of the Ipo or Upas, in his Herb. Amboin. Volume 2 page 263, will also be
+perused with satisfaction.* It is evident that some of the exaggerated
+stories related to him by the people of Celebes (the plant not being
+indigenous at Amboina) suggested to Mr. Foersch, the fables with which he
+amused the world.
+
+(*Footnote. Since the above was written I have seen the Dissertation sur
+les Effets d'un Poison de Java, appele Upas tieute, etc.; presentee a la
+Faculte de Medicine de Paris le 6 Juillet 1809, par M. Alire
+Raffeneau-Delile, in which he details a set of curious and interesting
+experiments on this very active poison, made with specimens brought from
+Java by M. Leschenault; and also a second dissertation, in manuscript
+(presented to the Royal Society), upon the effects of similar experiments
+made with what he terms the upas antiar. The former he states to be a
+decoction or extract from the bark of the roots of a climbing plant of
+the genus strychnos, called tieute by the natives of Java; and the latter
+to be a milky, bitter, and yellowish juice, running from an incision in
+the bark of a large tree (new genus) called antiar; the word upas
+meaning, as M. Leschenault understands, vegetable poison of any kind. A
+small branch of the puhn upas, with some of the poisonous gum, was
+brought to England in 1806 by Dr. Roxburgh, who informed Mr. Lambert that
+a plant of it which he had procured from Sumatra was growing rapidly in
+the Company's Botanic Garden at Calcutta. A specimen of the gum, by the
+favour of the latter gentleman, is in my possession.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 6.
+
+BEASTS.
+REPTILES.
+FISH.
+BIRDS.
+INSECTS.
+
+BEASTS.
+
+The animal kingdom claims attention, but, the quadrupeds of the island
+being in general the same as are found elsewhere throughout the East,
+already well described, I shall do little more than furnish a list of
+those which have occurred to my notice; adding a few observations on such
+as may appear to require them.
+
+BUFFALO.
+
+The karbau, or buffalo, constituting a principal part of the food of the
+natives, and, being the only animal employed in their domestic labours,
+it is proper that I should enter into some detail of its qualities and
+uses; although it may be found not to differ materially from the buffalo
+of Italy, and to be the same with that of Bengal. The individuals of the
+species, as is the case with other domesticated cattle, differ extremely
+from each other in their degree of perfection, and a judgment is not to
+be formed of the superior kinds, from such as are usually furnished as
+provision to the ships from Europe. They are distinguished into two
+sorts; the black and the white. Both are equally employed in work, but
+the latter is seldom killed for food, being considered much inferior in
+quality, and by many as unwholesome, occasioning the body to break out in
+blotches. If such be really the effect, it may be presumed that the light
+flesh-colour is itself the consequence of some original disorder, as in
+the case of those of the human species who are termed white negroes. The
+hair upon this sort is extremely thin, scarcely serving to cover the
+hide; nor have the black buffaloes a coat like the cattle of England. The
+legs are shorter than those of the ox, the hoofs larger, and the horns
+are quite peculiar, being rather square or flat than round, excepting
+near the extremities; and whether pointing backward, as in general, or
+forwards, as they often do, are always in the plane of the forehead, and
+not at an angle, as those of the cow-kind. They contain much solid
+substance, and are valuable in manufacture. The tail hangs down to the
+middle joint of the leg only, is small, and terminates in a bunch of
+hair. The neck is thick and muscular, nearly round, but somewhat flatted
+at top, and has little or no dewlap dependant from it. The organ of
+generation in the male has an appearance as if the extremity were cut
+off. It is not a salacious animal. The female goes nine months with calf,
+which it suckles during six, from four teats. When crossing a river it
+exhibits the singular sight of carrying its young one on its back. It has
+a weak cry, in a sharp tone, very unlike the lowing of oxen. The most
+part of the milk and butter required for the Europeans (the natives not
+using either) is supplied by the buffalo, and its milk is richer than
+that of the cow, but not yielded in equal quantity. What these latter
+produce is also very small compared with the dairies of Europe. At
+Batavia, likewise, we are told that their cows are small and lean, from
+the scantiness of good pasture, and do not give more than about an
+English quart of milk, sixteen of which are required to make a pound of
+butter.
+
+The inland people, where the country is tolerably practicable, avail
+themselves of the strength of this animal to draw timber felled in the
+woods: the Malays and other people on the coast train them to the draft,
+and in many places to the plough. Though apparently of a dull, obstinate,
+capricious nature, they acquire from habit a surprising docility, and are
+taught to lift the shafts of the cart with their horns, and to place the
+yoke, which is a curved piece of wood attached to the shafts, across
+their necks; needing no further harness than a breast-band, and a string
+that is made to pass through the cartilage of the nostrils. They are
+also, for the service of Europeans, trained to carry burdens suspended
+from each side of a packsaddle, in roads, or rather paths, where
+carriages cannot be employed. It is extremely slow, but steady in its
+work. The labour it performs, however, falls short of what might be
+expected from its size and apparent strength, any extraordinary fatigue,
+particularly during the heat of the day, being sufficient to put a period
+to its life, which is at all times precarious. The owners frequently
+experience the loss of large herds, in a short space of time, by an
+epidemic distemper, called bandung (obstruction), that seizes them
+suddenly, swells their bodies, and occasions, as it is said, the serum of
+the blood to distil through the tubes of the hairs.
+
+The luxury of the buffalo consists in rolling itself in a muddy pool,
+which it forms, in any spot, for its convenience, during the rainy
+season. This it enjoys in a high degree, dexterously throwing with its
+horn the water and slime, when not of a sufficient depth to cover it,
+over its back and sides. Their blood is perhaps of a hot temperature,
+which may render this indulgence, found to be quite necessary to their
+health, so desirable to their feelings; and the mud, at the same time,
+forming a crust upon their bodies, preserves them from the attack of
+insects, which otherwise prove very troublesome. Their owners light fires
+for them in the evening, in order that the smoke may have the same
+effect, and they have the instinctive sagacity to lay themselves down to
+leeward, that they may enjoy its full benefit.
+
+Although common in every part of the country, they are not understood to
+exist in the proper wild or indigenous state, those found in the woods
+being termed karbau jalang, or stray buffaloes, and considered as the
+subject of property; or if originally wild, they may afterwards, from
+their use in labour and food, have been all caught and appropriated by
+degrees. They are gregarious, and usually found in large numbers
+together, but sometimes met with singly, when they are more dangerous to
+passengers. Like the turkey and some other animals they have an antipathy
+to a red colour, and are excited by it to mischief. When in a state of
+liberty they run with great swiftness, keeping pace with the speed of an
+ordinary horse. Upon an attack or alarm they fly to a short distance, and
+then suddenly face about and draw up in battle-array with surprising
+quickness and regularity; their horns being laid back, and their muzzles
+projecting. Upon the nearer approach of the danger that presses on them
+they make a second flight, and a second time halt and form; and this
+excellent mode of retreat, which but few nations of the human race have
+attained to such a degree of discipline as to adopt, they continue till
+they gain the fastnesses of a neighbouring wood. Their principal foe,
+next to man, is the tiger; but only the weaker sort, and the females fall
+a certain prey to this ravager, as the sturdy male buffalo can support
+the first vigorous stroke from the tiger's paw, on which the fate of the
+battle usually turns.
+
+COW.
+
+The cow, called sapi (in another dialect sampi) and jawi, is obviously a
+stranger to the country, and does not appear to be yet naturalized. The
+bull is commonly of what is termed the Madagascar breed, with a large
+hump upon the shoulders, but from the general small size of the herds I
+apprehend that it degenerates, from the want of good pasture, the
+spontaneous production of the soil being too rank.
+
+THE HORSE.
+
+The horse, kuda: the breed is small, well made, and hardy. The country
+people bring them down in numbers for sale in nearly a wild state;
+chiefly from the northward. In the Batta country they are eaten as food;
+which is a custom also amongst the people of Celebes.
+
+SHEEP, ETC.
+
+Sheep, biri-biri and domba: small breed, introduced probably from Bengal.
+
+
+(PLATE 11a. n.2.
+1. SKULL OF THE KAMBING-UTAN.
+2. SKULL OF THE KIJANG.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.)
+
+
+(PLATE 14. n.1. THE KAMBING-UTAN, OR WILD-GOAT.
+W. Bell delt.)
+
+
+Goat, kambing: beside the domestic species, which is in general small and
+of a light brown colour, there is the kambing utan, or wild goat. One
+which I examined was three feet in height, and four in the length of the
+body. It had something of the gazelle in its appearance, and, with the
+exception of the horns, which were about six inches long and turned back
+with an arch, it did not much resemble the common goat. The hinder parts
+were shaped like those of a bear, the rump sloping round off from the
+back; the tail was very small, and ended in a point; the legs clumsy; the
+hair along the ridge of the back rising coarse and strong, almost like
+bristles; no beard; over the shoulder was a large spreading tuft of
+greyish hair; the rest of the hair black throughout; the scrotum
+globular. Its disposition seemed wild and fierce, and it is said by the
+natives to be remarkably swift.
+
+Hog, babi: that breed we call Chinese.
+
+The wild hog, babi utan.
+
+Dog, anjing: those brought from Europe lose in a few years their
+distinctive qualities, and degenerate at length into the cur with erect
+ears, kuyu, vulgarly called the pariah dog. An instance did not occur of
+any one going mad during the period of my residence. Many of them are
+affected with a kind of gonorrhoea.
+
+
+(PLATE 11. n.1. THE ANJING-AYER, Mustela lutra.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.)
+
+
+(PLATE 13a. n.2. THE ANJING-AYER.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+Otter, anjing ayer (Mustela lutra).
+
+Cat, kuching: these in every respect resemble our common domestic cat,
+excepting that the tails of all are more or less imperfect, with a knob
+or hardness at the end, as if they had been cut or twisted off. In some
+the tail is not more than a few inches in length, whilst in others it is
+so nearly perfect that the defect can be ascertained only by the touch.
+
+Rat, tikus: of the grey kind.
+
+Mouse, tikus kechil.
+
+ELEPHANT.
+
+Elephant, gajah: these huge animals abound in the woods, and from their
+gregarious habits usually traversing the country in large troops
+together, prove highly destructive to the plantations of the inhabitants,
+obliterating the traces of cultivation by merely walking through the
+grounds; but they are also fond of the produce of their gardens,
+particularly of plantain-trees and the sugar-cane, which they devour with
+eagerness. This indulgence of appetite often proves fatal to them, for
+the owners, knowing their attachment to these vegetables, have a practice
+of poisoning some part of the plantation, by splitting the canes and
+putting yellow arsenic into the clefts which the animal unwarily eats of,
+and dies. Not being by nature carnivorous, the elephants are not fierce,
+and seldom attack a man but when fired at or otherwise provoked.
+Excepting a few kept for state by the king of Achin, they are not tamed
+in any part of the island.
+
+RHINOCEROS.
+
+The rhinoceros, badak, both that with a single horn and the double-horned
+species, are natives of these woods. The latter has been particularly
+described by the late ingenious Mr. John Bell (one of the pupils of Mr.
+John Hunter) in a paper printed in Volume 83 of the Philosophical
+Transactions for 1793. The horn is esteemed an antidote against poison,
+and on that account formed into drinking cups. I do not know anything to
+warrant the stories told of the mutual antipathy and the desperate
+encounters of these two enormous beasts.
+
+HIPPOPOTAMUS.
+
+Hippopotamus, kuda ayer: the existence of this quadruped in the island of
+Sumatra having been questioned by M. Cuvier, and not having myself
+actually seen it, I think it necessary to state that the immediate
+authority upon which I included it in the list of animals found there was
+a drawing made by Mr. Whalfeldt, an officer employed on a survey of the
+coast, who had met with it at the mouth of one of the southern rivers,
+and transmitted the sketch along with his report to the government, of
+which I was then secretary. Of its general resemblance to that well-known
+animal there could be no doubt. M. Cuvier suspects that I may have
+mistaken for it the animal called by naturalists the dugong, and vulgarly
+the sea-cow, which will be hereafter mentioned; and it would indeed be a
+grievous error to mistake for a beast with four legs, a fish with two
+pectoral fins serving the purposes of feet; but, independently of the
+authority I have stated, the kuda ayer, or river-horse, is familiarly
+known to the natives, as is also the duyong (from which Malayan word the
+dugong of naturalists has been corrupted); and I have only to add that,
+in a register given by the Philosophical Society of Batavia in the first
+Volume of their Transactions for 1799, appears the article "couda aijeer,
+rivier paard, hippopotamus" amongst the animals of Java.
+
+BEAR, ETC.
+
+Bear, bruang: generally small and black: climbs the coconut-trees in
+order to devour the tender part or cabbage.
+
+
+(PLATE 12. n.1. THE PALANDOK, A DIMINUTIVE SPECIES OF MOSCHUS.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.)
+
+
+(PLATE 12a. n.2. THE KIJANG OR ROE, Cervus muntjak.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+Of the deer kind there are several species: rusa, the stag, of which some
+are very large; kijang, the roe, with unbranched horns, the emblem of
+swiftness and wildness with the Malayan poets; palandok, napu, and
+kanchil, three varieties, of which the last is the smallest, of that most
+delicate animal, termed by Buffon the chevrotin, but which belong to the
+moschus. Of a kanchil measured at Batavia the extreme length was sixteen
+inches, and the height ten behind, and eight at the shoulder.
+
+Babi-rusa, or hog-deer: an animal of the hog kind, with peculiar tusks
+resembling horns. Of this there is a representation in Valentyn, Volume 3
+page 268 fig. c., and also in the very early travels of Cosmas, published
+in Thevenot's Collect. Volume 1 page 2 of the Greek Text.
+
+The varieties of the monkey tribe are innumerable: among them the best
+known are the muniet, karra, bru, siamang (or simia gibbon of Buffon),
+and lutong. With respect to the appellation of orang utan, or wild man,
+it is by no means specific, but applied to any of these animals of a
+large size that occasionally walks erect, and bears the most resemblance
+to the human figure.
+
+Sloth, ku-kang, ka-malas-an (Lemur tardigradus).
+
+Squirrel, tupei; usually small and dark-coloured.
+
+Teleggo, stinkard.
+
+TIGER.
+
+Tiger, arimau, machang: this beast is here of a very large size, and
+proves a destructive foe to man as well as to most other animals. The
+heads being frequently brought in to receive the reward given by the East
+India Company for killing them, I had an opportunity of measuring one,
+which was eighteen inches across the forehead. Many circumstances
+respecting their ravages, and the modes of destroying them, will occur in
+the course of the work.
+
+Tiger-cat, kuching-rimau (said to feed on vegetables as well as flesh).
+
+Civet-cat, tanggalong (Viverra civetta): the natives take the civet, as
+they require it for use, from a peculiar receptacle under the tail of the
+animal. It appears from the Ayin Akbari (Volume 1 page 103) that the
+civet used at Delhi was imported from Achin.
+
+
+(PLATE 9a. THE MUSANG, A SPECIES OF VIVERRA.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+Polecat, musang (Viverra fossa, or a new species).
+
+
+(PLATE 13. n.1. THE LANDAK, Hystrix longicauda.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+Porcupine (Hystrix longicauda) landak, and, for distinction, babi landak.
+
+Hedgehog (erinaceus) landak.
+
+
+(PLATE 10. THE TANGGILING OR PENG-GOLING-SISIK, A SPECIES OF MANIS.
+W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+PENG-GOLING.
+
+Peng-goling, signifying the animal which rolls itself up; or pangolin of
+Buffon: this is distinguished into the peng-goling rambut, or hairy sort
+(myrmophaga), and the peng-goling sisik, or scaly sort, called more
+properly tanggiling (species of manis); the scales of this are esteemed
+by the natives for their medicinal properties. See Asiatic Researches
+Volume 1 page 376 and Volume 2 page 353.
+
+
+(PLATE 9. A SPECIES OF Lemur volans, SUSPENDED FROM THE RAMBEH-TREE.
+Sinensis delt. N. Cardon fct.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+BATS.
+
+Of the bat kind there is an extraordinary variety: the churi-churi is the
+smallest species, called vulgarly burong tikus, or the mouse-bird; next
+to these is the kalalawar; then the kalambit; and the kaluwang (noctilio)
+is of considerable size; of these I have observed very large flights
+occasionally passing at a great height in the air, as if migrating from
+one country to another, and Captain Forrest notices their crossing the
+Straits of Sunda from Java Head to Mount Pugong; they are also seen
+hanging by hundreds upon trees. The flying-foxes and flying-squirrels
+(Lemur volans), which by means of a membrane extending from what may be
+termed the forelegs to those behind, are enabled to take short flights,
+are also not uncommon.
+
+ALLIGATORS AND OTHER LIZARDS.
+
+Alligators, buaya (Crocodilus biporcatus of Cuvier), abound in most of
+the rivers, grow to a large Size, and do much mischief.
+
+The guana, or iguana, biawak (Lacerta iguana) is another animal of the
+lizard kind, about three or four feet in length, harmless, excepting to
+the poultry and young domestic cattle, and sometimes itself eaten as
+food. The bingkarong is next in size, has hard, dark scales on the back,
+and is often found under heaps of decayed timber; its bite venomous.
+
+The koke, goke, or toke, as it is variously called, is a lizard, about
+ten or twelve inches long, frequenting old buildings, and making a very
+singular noise. Between this and the small house-lizard (chichak) are
+many gradations in size, chiefly of the grass-lizard kind, which is
+smooth and glossy. The former are in length from about four inches down
+to an inch or less, and are the largest reptiles that can walk in an
+inverted situation: one of these, of size sufficient to devour a
+cockroach, runs on the ceiling of a room, and in that situation seizes
+its prey with the utmost facility. This they seem to be enabled to do
+from the rugose structure of their feet, with which they adhere strongly
+to the smoothest surface. Sometimes however, on springing too eagerly at
+a fly, they lose their hold, and drop to the floor, on which occasions a
+circumstance occurs not undeserving of notice. The tail being frequently
+separated from the body by the shock (as it may be at any of the
+vertebrae by the slightest force, without loss of blood or evident pain
+to the animal, and sometimes, as it would seem, from the effect of fear
+alone) within a little time, like the mutilated claw of a lobster, begins
+to renew itself. They are produced from eggs about the size of the
+wren's, of which the female carries two at a time, one in the lower, and
+one in the upper part of the abdomen, on opposite sides; they are always
+cold to the touch, and yet the transparency of their bodies gives an
+opportunity of observing that their fluids have as brisk a circulation as
+those of warm-blooded animals: in none have I seen the peristaltic motion
+so obvious as in these. It may not be useless to mention that these
+phenomena were best observed at night when the lizard was on the outside
+of a pane of glass, with a candle on the inside. There is, I believe, no
+class of living creatures in which the gradations can be traced with such
+minuteness and regularity as in this; where, from the small animal just
+described, to the huge alligator or crocodile, a chain may be traced
+containing almost innumerable links, of which the remotest have a
+striking resemblance to each other, and seem, at first view, to differ
+only in bulk.
+
+CHAMELEON.
+
+The chameleon, gruning: these are about a foot and half long, including
+the tail; the colour, green with brown spots, as I had it preserved; when
+alive in the woods they are generally green, but not from the reflection
+of the leaves, as some have supposed. When first caught they usually turn
+brown, apparently the effect of fear or anger, as men become pale or red;
+but if undisturbed soon resume a deep green on the back, and a yellow
+green on the belly, the tail remaining brown. Along the spine, from the
+head to the middle of the back, little membranes stand up like the teeth
+of a saw. As others of the genus of lacerta they feed on flies and
+grasshoppers, which the large size of their mouths and peculiar structure
+of their bony tongues are well adapted for catching.
+
+
+(PLATE 14a. n.2. THE KUBIN, Draco volans.
+Sinensis delt. A. Cardon sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+The flying lizard, kubin, or chachak terbang (Draco volans), is about
+eight inches in its extreme length, and the membranes which constitute
+the wings are about two or three inches in extent. These do not connect
+with the fore and hind legs, as in the bat tribe, but are supported by an
+elongation of the alternate ribs, as pointed out by my friend Mr. Everard
+Home. They have flapped ears, and a singular kind of pouch or alphorges,
+under the jaws. In other respects they much resemble the chameleon in
+appearance. They do not take distant flights, but merely from tree to
+tree, or from one bough to another. The natives take them by springs
+fastened to the stems.
+
+FROGS. SNAKES.
+
+With animals of the frog kind (kodok) the swamps everywhere teem; and
+their noise upon the approach of rain is tremendous. They furnish prey to
+the snakes, which are found here of all sizes and in great variety of
+species; the larger proportion harmless, but of some, and those generally
+small and dark-coloured, the bite is mortal. If the cobra capelo, or
+hooded snake, be a native of the island, as some assert, it must be
+extremely rare. The largest of the boa kind (ular sauh) that I had an
+opportunity of observing was no more than twelve feet long. This was
+killed in a hen-house where it was devouring the poultry. It is very
+surprising, but not less true, that snakes will swallow animals of twice
+or three times their own apparent circumference; having in their jaws or
+throat a compressive force that gradually and by great efforts reduces
+the prey to a convenient dimension. I have seen a small snake (ular sini)
+with the hinder legs of a frog sticking out of its mouth, each of them
+nearly equal to the smaller parts of its own body, which in the thickest
+did not exceed a man's little finger. The stories told of their
+swallowing deer, and even buffaloes, in Ceylon and Java, almost choke
+belief, but I cannot take upon me to pronounce them false; for if a snake
+of three inches diameter can gorge a fowl of six, one of thirty feet in
+length and proportionate bulk and strength might well be supposed capable
+of swallowing a beast of the size of a goat; and I have respectable
+authority for the fact that the fawn of a kijang or roe was cut out of
+the body of a very large snake killed at one of the southern settlements.
+The poisonous kinds are distinguished by the epithet of ular bisa, among
+which is the biludak or viper. The ular garang, or sea-snake, is coated
+entirely with scales, both on the belly and tail, not differing from
+those on the back, which are small and hexagonal; the colour is grey,
+with here and there shades of brown. The head and about one-third of the
+body from thence is the smallest part, and it increases in bulk towards
+the tail, which resembles that of the eel. It has not any dog-fangs.
+
+TORTOISE.
+
+The tortoise, kura-kura, and turtle, katong, are both found in these
+seas; the former valuable for its scales, and the latter as food; the
+land-tortoise (Testudo graeca) is brought from the Seychelles Islands.
+
+There is also an extensive variety of shellfish. The crayfish, udang laut
+(Cancer homarus or ecrevisse-de-mer), is as large as the lobster, but
+wants its biting claws. The small freshwater crayfish, the prawns and
+shrimps (all named udang, with distinctive epithets), are in great
+perfection.
+
+The crab, kapiting and katam (cancer), is not equally fine, but exhibits
+many extraordinary varieties.
+
+The kima, or gigantic cockle (chama), has been already mentioned.
+
+The oysters, tiram, are by no means so good as those of Europe. The
+smaller kind are generally found adhering to the roots of the mangrove,
+in the wash of the tide.
+
+The mussel, kupang (mytilus), rimis (donax), kapang (Teredo navalis),
+sea-egg, bulu babi (echinus), bia papeda (nautilus), ruma gorita
+(argonauta), bia unam (murex), bia balang (cuprea), and many others may
+be added to the list. The beauty of the madrepores and corallines, of
+which the finest specimens are found in the recesses of the Bay of
+Tappanuli, is not to be surpassed in any country. Of these a superb
+collection is in the possession of Mr. John Griffiths, who has given, in
+Volume 96 of the Philosophical Transactions, the Description of a rare
+species of Worm-Shells, discovered at an island lying off the North-west
+coast of Sumatra. In the same volume is also a Paper by Mr. Everard Home,
+containing Observations on the Shell of the Sea Worm found on the Coast
+of Sumatra, proving it to belong to a species of Teredo; with an Account
+of the Anatomy of the Teredo navalis. The former he proposes to call the
+Teredo gigantea. The sea-grass, or ladang laut, concerning which Sir
+James Lancaster tells some wonderful stories, partakes of the nature of a
+sea-worm and of a coralline; in its original state it is soft and shrinks
+into the sand from the touch; but when dry it is quite hard, straight,
+and brittle.
+
+FISH.
+
+The duyong is a very large sea-animal or fish, of the order of mammalia,
+with two large pectoral fins serving the purposes of feet. By the early
+Dutch voyagers it was, without any obvious analogy, called the sea-cow;
+and from the circumstance of the head being covered with a kind of shaggy
+hair, and the mammae of the female being placed immediately under the
+pectus, it has given rise to the stories of mermaids in the tropical
+seas. The tusks are applied to the same uses as ivory, especially for the
+handles of krises, and being whiter are more prized. It has much general
+resemblance to the manatee or lamantin of the West Indies, and has been
+confounded with it; but the distinction between them has been ascertained
+by M. Cuvier, Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle 22 cahier page 308.*
+
+(*Footnote. "Some time ago (says Captain Forrest) a large fish, with
+valuable teeth, being cast ashore in the Illana districts, there arose a
+dispute who should have the teeth, but the Magindanoers carried it."
+Voyage to New Guinea page 272. See also Valentyn Volume 3 page 341.)
+
+WHALE.
+
+The grampus whale (species of delphinus) is well known to the natives by
+the names of pawus and gajah mina; but I do not recollect to have heard
+any instance of their being thrown upon the coast.
+
+VOILIER.
+
+Of the ikan layer (genus novum schombro affine) a grand specimen is
+preserved in the British Museum, where it was deposited by Sir Joseph
+Banks;* and a description of it by the late M. Brousonet, under the name
+of le Voilier, is published in the Mem. de l'Acad. de Scien. de Paris for
+1786 page 450 plate 10. It derives its appellation from the peculiarity
+of its dorsal fin, which rises so high as to suggest the idea of a sail;
+but it is most remarkable for what should rather be termed its snout than
+its horn, being an elongation of the frontal bone, and the prodigious
+force with which it occasionally strikes the bottoms of ships, mistaking
+them, as we may presume, for its enemy or prey. A large fragment of one
+of these bones, which had transfixed the plank of an East India ship, and
+penetrated about eighteen inches, is likewise preserved in the same
+national collection, together with the piece of plank, as it was cut out
+of the ship's bottom upon her being docked in England. Several accidents
+of a similar nature are known to have occurred. There is an excellent
+representation of this fish, under the name of fetisso, in Barbot's
+Description of the Coasts of Guinea, plate 18, which is copied in
+Astley's Collection of Voyages, Volume 2 plate 73.
+
+(*Footnote. This fish was hooked by Mr. John Griffiths near the southern
+extremity of the west coast of Sumatra, and was given to Captain Cumming
+of the Britannia indiaman, by whom it was presented to Sir Joseph Banks.)
+
+VARIOUS FISH.
+
+To attempt an enumeration of the species of fish with which these seas
+abound would exceed my power, and I shall only mention briefly some of
+the most obvious; as the shark, hiyu (squalus); skate, ikan pari (raya);
+ikan mua (muraena); ikan chanak (gymnotus); ikan gajah (cepole); ikan
+karang or bonna (chaetodon), described by Mr. John Bell in Volume 82 of
+the Philosophical Transactions. It is remarkable for certain tumours
+filled with oil, attached to its bones. There are also the ikan krapo, a
+kind of rock-cod or sea-perch; ikan marrang or kitang (teuthis), commonly
+named the leather fish, and among the best brought to table; jinnihin, a
+rock-fish shaped like a carp; bawal or pomfret (species of chaetodon);
+balanak, jumpul, and marra, three fish of the mullet kind (mugil); kuru
+(polynemus); ikan lidah, a kind of sole; tingeri, resembles the mackerel;
+gagu, catfish; summa, a river fish, resembling the salmon; ringkis,
+resembles the trout, and is noted for the size of its roe; ikan tambarah,
+I believe the shad of Siak River; ikan gadis, good river fish, about the
+size of a carp; ikan bada, small, like white bait; ikan gorito, sepia;
+ikan terbang, flying-fish (exocoetus). The little seahorse (Syngnathus
+hippocampus) is commonly found here.
+
+BIRDS.
+
+Of birds the variety is considerable, and the following list contains but
+a small portion of those that might be discovered in the island by a
+qualified person who should confine his researches to that branch of
+natural history.
+
+KUWAU.
+
+The kuwau, or Sumatran pheasant (Phasianus argus), is a bird of uncommon
+magnificence and beauty; the plumage being perhaps the most rich, without
+any mixture of gaudiness, of all the feathered race. It is found
+extremely difficult to keep it alive for any considerable time after
+catching it in the woods, yet it has in one instance been brought to
+England; but, having lost its fine feathers by the voyage, it did not
+excite curiosity, and died unnoticed. There is now a good specimen in the
+Liverpool Museum. It has in its natural state an antipathy to the light,
+and in the open day is quite moped and inanimate. When kept in a darkened
+place it seems at its ease, and sometimes makes use of the note or call
+from which it takes its name, and which is rather plaintive than harsh.
+The flesh, of which I have eaten, perfectly resembles that of the common
+pheasant (tugang), also found in the woods, but the body is of much
+larger size. I have reason to believe that it is not, as supposed, a
+native of the North or any part of China. From the Malayan Islands, of
+which it is the boast, it must be frequently carried thither.
+
+PEACOCK, ETC.
+
+The peacock, burong marak (pavo), appears to be well known to the
+natives, though I believe not common.
+
+I should say the same of the eagle and the vulture (coracias), to the one
+or the other of which the name of raja wali is familiarly applied.
+
+The kite, alang (falco), is very common, as is the crow, gadak (corvus),
+and jackdaw, pong (gracula), with several species of the woodpecker.
+
+The kingfisher (alcedo) is named burong buaya, or the alligator-bird.
+
+The bird-of-paradise, burong supan, or elegant-bird, is known here only
+in the dried state, as brought from the Moluccas and coast of New Guinea
+(tanah papuah).
+
+
+(PLATE 15. BEAKS OF THE BUCEROS OR HORN-BILL.
+M. de Jonville delt. Swaine sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+The rhinoceros bird, hornbill, or calao (buceros), called by the natives
+anggang and burong taun, is chiefly remarkable for what is termed the
+horn, which in the most common species extends halfway down the upper
+mandible of its large beak, and then turns up; but the varieties of shape
+are numerous. The length of one I measured whilst alive was ten inches
+and a half; the breadth, including the horn, six and a half; length from
+beak to tail four feet; wings four feet six inches; height one foot;
+length of neck one foot; the beak whitish; the horn yellow and red; the
+body black; the tail white ringed with black; rump, and feathers on the
+legs down to the heel, white; claws three before and one behind; the iris
+red. In a hen chick there was no appearance of a horn, and the iris was
+whitish. They eat either boiled rice or tender fresh meat. Of the use of
+such a singular cavity I could not learn any plausible conjecture. As a
+receptacle for water, it must be quite unnecessary in the country of
+which it is a native.
+
+STORK, ETC.
+
+Of the stork kind there are several species, some of great height and
+otherwise curious, as the burong kambing and burong ular, which frequent
+the rice plantations in wet ground.
+
+We find also the heron, burong kuntul (ardea); the snipe, kandidi
+(scolopax); the coot, or water-hen, ayam ayer (fulica); and the plover,
+cheruling (charadrius).
+
+The cassowary, burong rusa, is brought from the island of Java.
+
+The domestic hen is as common as in most other countries. In some the
+bones (or the periostea) are black, and these are at least equally good
+as food. The hen of the woods, ayam barugo, or ayam utan (which latter
+name is in some places applied to the pheasant), differs little from the
+common sort, excepting in the uniformity of its brown colour. In the
+Lampong country of Sumatra and western part of Java lying opposite to it
+there is a very large breed of fowls, called ayam jago; of these I have
+seen a cock peck from off of a common dining table; when inclined to rest
+they sit on the first joint of the leg and are then taller than the
+ordinary fowls. It is singular if the same country produces likewise the
+diminutive breed that goes by the name of bantam.
+
+A species of partridge is called ayam gunong, or mountain hen.
+
+DOVES.
+
+Beside the pigeon, merapeti and burong darah (columba), and two common
+species of doves, the one of a light brown or dove-colour, called ballum,
+and the other green, called punei, there are of the latter some most
+exquisite varieties: the punei jambu is smaller than the usual size of
+doves; the back, wings, and tail are green; the breast and crop are
+white, but the front of the latter has a slight shade of pink; the
+forepart of the head is of a deep pink, resembling the blossom of the
+jambu fruit, from whence its name; the white of the breast is continued
+in a narrow streak, having the green on one side and the pink on the
+other, half round the eye, which is large, full, and yellow; of which
+colour is also the beak. It will live upon boiled rice and padi; but its
+favourite food, when wild, is the berry of the rumpunnei (Ardisia
+coriacea), perhaps from this circumstance so called. The selaya, or punei
+andu, another variety, has the body and wings of deep crimson, with the
+head, and extremity of its long indented tail, white; the legs red. It
+lives on the worms generated in the decayed part of old trees, and is
+about the size of a blackbird. Of the same size is the burong sawei, a
+bird of a bluish black colour, with a dove-tail, from which extend two
+very long feathers, terminating circularly. It seems to be what is called
+the widow-bird, and is formidable to the kite.
+
+The burong pipit resembles the sparrow in its appearance, habits,
+numbers, and the destruction it causes to the grain.
+
+The quail, puyuh (coturnix); but whether a native or a bird of passage, I
+cannot determine.
+
+The starling (sturnus), of which I know not the Malayan name.
+
+The swallow, layang-layang (hirundo), one species of which, called layang
+buhi, from its being supposed to collect the froth of the sea, is that
+which constructs the edible nests.
+
+The mu-rei, or dial-bird, resembling a small magpie, has a pretty but
+short note. There is not any bird in the country that can be said to
+sing. The ti-yong, or mino, a black bird with yellow gills, has the
+faculty of imitating human speech in greater perfection than any other of
+the feathered tribe. There is also a yellow species, but not loquacious.
+
+Of the parrot kind the variety is not so great as might be expected, and
+consists chiefly of those denominated parakeets. The beautiful luri,
+though not uncommon, is brought from the eastward. The kakatua is an
+inhabitant chiefly of the southern extremity of the island.
+
+The Indian goose, angsa and gangsa (anser); the duck, bebek and itik
+(anas); and the teal, belibi, are common.
+
+INSECTS.
+
+With insects the island may truly be said to swarm; and I doubt whether
+there is any part of the world where greater variety is to be found. Of
+these I shall only attempt to enumerate a few:
+
+The kunang, or firefly, larger than the common fly, (which it resembles),
+with the phosphoric matter in the abdomen, regularly and quickly
+intermitting its light, as if by respiration; by holding one of them in
+my hand I could see to read at night;
+
+Lipas, the cockroach (blatta); chingkarek, the cricket (gryllus);
+
+Lebah, taun, the bee (apis), whose honey is gathered in the woods;
+kumbang, a species of apis, that bores its nest in timber, and thence
+acquires the name of the carpenter;
+
+Sumut, the ant (formica), the multitudes of which overrun the country,
+and its varieties are not less extraordinary than its numbers. The
+following distinctions are the most obvious: the krangga, or great red
+ant, about three-fourths of an inch long, bites severely, and usually
+leaves its head, as a bee its sting, in the wound; it is found mostly on
+trees and bushes, and forms its nest by fastening together, with a
+glutinous matter, a collection of the leaves of a branch, as they grow;
+the common red ant; the minute red ant; the large black ant, not equal in
+size to the krangga, but with a head of disproportioned bulk; the common
+black ant; and the minute black ant: they also differ from each other in
+a circumstance which I believe has not been attended to; and that is the
+sensation with which they affect the taste when put into the mouth, as
+frequently happens unintentionally: some are hot and acrid, some bitter,
+and some sour. Perhaps this will be attributed to the different kinds of
+food they have accidentally devoured; but I never found one which tasted
+sweet, though I have caught them in the fact of robbing a sugar or
+honey-pot. Each species of ant is a declared enemy of the other, and
+never suffers a divided empire. Where one party effects a settlement the
+other is expelled; and in general they are powerful in proportion to
+their bulk, with the exception of the white-ant, sumut putih (termes),
+which is beaten from the field by others of inferior size; and for this
+reason it is a common expedient to strew sugar on the floor of a
+warehouse in order to allure the formicae to the spot, who do not fail to
+combat and overcome the ravaging but unwarlike termites. Of this insect
+and its destructive qualities I had intended to give some description,
+but the subject is so elaborately treated (though with some degree of
+fancy) by Mr. Smeathman, in Volume 71 of the Philosophical Transactions
+for 1781, who had an opportunity of observing them in Africa, that I omit
+it as superfluous.
+
+Of the wasp kind there are several curious varieties. One of them may be
+observed building its nest of moistened clay against a wall, and
+inclosing in each of its numerous compartments a living spider; thus
+revenging upon this bloodthirsty race the injuries sustained by harmless
+flies, and providently securing for its own young a stock of food.
+
+Lalat, the common fly (musca); lalat kuda (tabanus); lalat karbau
+(oestrus);
+
+Niamok, agas, the gnat or mosquito (culex), producing a degree of
+annoyance equal to the sum of all the other physical plagues of a hot
+climate, but even to these I found that habit rendered me almost
+indifferent;
+
+Kala-jingking, the scorpion (scorpio), the sting of which is highly
+inflammatory and painful, but not dangerous;
+
+Sipasan, centipede (scholopendra), not so venomous as the preceding;
+
+Alipan (jules);
+
+Alintah, water-leech (hirudo); achih, small land-leech, dropping from the
+leaves of trees whilst moist with dew, and troublesome to travellers in
+passing through the woods.
+
+To this list I shall only add the suala, tripan, or sea-slug
+(holothurion), which, being collected from the rocks and dried in the
+sun, is exported to China, where it is an article of food.
+
+
+CHAPTER 7.
+
+VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF THE ISLAND CONSIDERED AS ARTICLES OF COMMERCE.
+PEPPER.
+CULTIVATION OF PEPPER.
+CAMPHOR.
+BENZOIN.
+CASSIA, ETC.
+
+
+(PLATE 1. THE PEPPER-PLANT, PIPER NIGRUM.
+E.W. Marsden delt. Engraved by J. Swaine, Queen Street, Golden Square.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+PEPPER.
+
+OF those productions of Sumatra, which are regarded as articles of
+commerce, the most important and most abundant is pepper. This is the
+object of the East India Company's trade thither, and this alone it keeps
+in its own hands; its servants, and merchants under its protection, being
+free to deal in every other commodity.
+
+ESTABLISHMENT OF THE TRADE.
+
+Many of the princes or chiefs in different parts of the island having
+invited the English to form settlements in their respective districts,
+factories were accordingly established, and a permanency and regularity
+thereby given to the trade, which was very uncertain whilst it depended
+upon the success of occasional voyages to the coast; disappointments
+ensuing not only from failure of adequate quantities of pepper to furnish
+cargoes when required, but also from the caprices and chicanery of the
+chiefs with whom the disposal of it lay, the motives of whose conduct
+could not be understood by those who were unacquainted with the language
+and manners of the people. These inconveniencies were obviated when the
+agents of the Company were enabled, by their residence on the spot, to
+obtain an influence in the country, to inspect the state of the
+plantations, secure the collection of the produce, and make an estimate
+of the tonnage necessary for its conveyance to Europe.
+
+In order to bind the chiefs to the observance of their original promises
+and professions, and to establish a plausible and legal claim, in
+opposition to the attempts of rival European powers to interfere in the
+trade of the same country, written contracts, attended with much form and
+solemnity, were entered into with the former; by which they engaged to
+oblige all their dependants to cultivate pepper, and to secure to us the
+exclusive purchase of it; in return for which they were to be protected
+from their enemies, supported in the rights of sovereignty, and to be
+paid a certain allowance or custom on the produce of their respective
+territories.
+
+PRICE.
+
+The price for many years paid to the cultivators for their produce was
+ten Spanish dollars or fifty shillings per bahar of five hundredweight or
+five hundred and sixty pounds. About the year 1780, with a view to their
+encouragement and the increase of investment, as it is termed, the sum
+was augmented to fifteen dollars. To this cost is to be added the custom
+above mentioned, varying in different districts according to specific
+agreements, but amounting in general to one dollar and a half, or two
+dollars on each bahar, which is distributed amongst the chiefs at an
+annual entertainment; and presents are made at the same time to planters
+who have distinguished themselves by their industry. This low price, at
+which the natives submit to cultivate the plantations, affording to each
+man an income of not more than from eight to twelve dollars yearly, and
+the undisturbed monopoly we have so long possessed of the trade, from
+near Indrapura northward to Flat Point southward, are doubtless in a
+principal degree to be attributed to the peculiar manner in which this
+part of the island is shut up, by the surfs which prevail along the
+south-west coast, from communication with strangers, whose competition
+would naturally produce the effect of enhancing the price of the
+commodity. The general want of anchorage too, for so many leagues to the
+northward of the Straits of Sunda, has in all ages deterred the Chinese
+and other eastern merchants from attempting to establish an intercourse
+that must be attended with imminent risk to unskilful navigators; indeed
+I understand it to be a tradition among the natives who border on the
+sea-coast that it is not many hundred years since these parts began to be
+inhabited, and they speak of their descent as derived from the more
+inland country. Thus it appears that those natural obstructions, which we
+are used to lament as the greatest detriment to our trade, are in fact
+advantages to which it in a great measure owes its existence. In the
+northern countries of the island, where the people are numerous and their
+ports good, they are found to be more independent also, and refuse to
+cultivate plantations upon any other terms than those on which they can
+deal with private traders.
+
+CULTIVATION OF PEPPER.
+
+In the cultivation of pepper (Piper nigrum, L.)* the first circumstance
+that claims attention, and on which the success materially depends, is
+the choice of a proper site for the plantation. A preference is usually
+given to level ground lying along the banks of rivers or rivulets,
+provided they are not so low as to be inundated, both on account of the
+vegetable mould commonly found there, and the convenience of
+water-carriage for the produce. Declivities, unless very gentle, are to
+be avoided, because the soil loosened by culture is liable in such
+situations to be washed away by heavy rains. When these plains however
+are naked, or covered with long grass only, they will not be found to
+answer without the assistance of the plough and of manure, their
+fertility being exhausted by exposure to the sun. How far the returns in
+general might be increased by the introduction of these improvements in
+agriculture I cannot take upon me to determine; but I fear that, from the
+natural indolence of the natives, and their want of zeal in the business
+of pepper-planting, occasioned by the smallness of the advantage it
+yields to them, they will never be prevailed upon to take more pains than
+they now do. The planters therefore, depending more upon the natural
+qualities of the soil than on any advantage it might receive from their
+cultivation, find none to suit their purpose better than those spots
+which, having been covered with old woods and long fertilized by decaying
+foliage and trunks, have recently been cleared for ladangs or
+padi-fields, in the manner already described; where it was also observed
+that, being allured by the certainty of abundant produce from a virgin
+soil, and having land for the most part at will, they renew their toil
+annually, and desert the ground so laboriously prepared after occupying
+it for one, or at the furthest for two, seasons. Such are the most usual
+situations chosen for the pepper plantations (kabun) or gardens, as they
+are termed; but, independently of the culture of rice, land is very
+frequently cleared for the pepper in the first instance by felling and
+burning the trees.
+
+(*Footnote. See Remarks on the Species of Pepper (and on its Cultivation)
+at Prince of Wales Island, by Dr. William Hunter, in the Asiatic
+Researches Volume 9 page 383.)
+
+FORMATION OF THE GARDEN.
+
+The ground is then marked out in form of a regular square or oblong, with
+intersections throughout at the distance of six feet (being equal to five
+cubits of the measure of the country), the intended interval between the
+plants, of which there are commonly either one thousand or five hundred
+in each garden; the former number being required from those who are heads
+of families (their wives and children assisting them in their work), and
+the latter from single men. Industrious or opulent persons sometimes have
+gardens of two or three thousand vines. A border twelve feet in width,
+within which limit no tree is suffered to grow, surrounds each garden,
+and it is commonly separated from others by a row of shrubs or irregular
+hedge. Where the nature of the country admits of it the whole or greater
+part of the gardens of a dusun or village lie adjacent to each other,
+both for the convenience of mutual assistance in labour and mutual
+protection from wild beasts; single gardens being often abandoned from
+apprehension of their ravages, and where the owner has been killed in
+such a situation none will venture to replace him.
+
+VEGETATING PROPS.
+
+After lining out the ground and marking the intersections by slight
+stakes the next business is to plant the trees that are to become props
+to the pepper, as the Romans planted elms, and the modern Italians more
+commonly plant poplars and mulberries, for their grape-vines. These are
+cuttings of the chungkariang (Erythrina corallodendron), usually called
+chinkareens, put into the ground about a span deep, sufficiently early to
+allow time for a shoot to be strong enough to support the young
+pepper-plant when it comes to twine about it. The cuttings are commonly
+two feet in length, but sometimes a preference is given to the length of
+six feet, and the vine is then planted as soon as the chinkareen has
+taken root: but the principal objections to this method are that in such
+state they are very liable to fail and require renewal, to the prejudice
+of the garden; and that their shoots are not so vigorous as those of the
+short cuttings, frequently growing crooked, or in a lateral instead of a
+perpendicular direction. The circumstances which render the chinkareen
+particularly proper for this use are its readiness and quickness of
+growth, even after the cuttings have been kept some time in bundles,* if
+put into the ground with the first rains; and the little thorns with
+which it is armed enabling the vine to take a firmer hold. They are
+distinguished into two sorts, the white and red, not from the colour of
+the flowers (as might be supposed) for both are red, but from the tender
+shoots of the one being whitish and of the other being of a reddish hue.
+The bark of the former is of a pale ash colour, of the latter brown; the
+former is sweet, and the food of elephants, for which reason it is not
+much used in parts frequented by those animals; the latter is bitter and
+unpalatable to them; but they are not deterred by the short prickles
+which are common to the branches of both sorts.
+
+(*Footnote. It is a common and useful practice to place these bundles of
+cuttings in water about two inches deep and afterwards to reject such of
+them as in that state do not show signs of vegetation.)
+
+Trial has frequently been made of other trees, and particularly of the
+bangkudu or mangkudu (Morinda citrifolia), but none have been found to
+answer so well for these vegetating props. It has been doubted indeed
+whether the growth and produce of the pepper-vine are not considerably
+injured by the chinkareen, which may rob it of its proper nourishment by
+exhausting the earth; and on this principle, in other of the eastern
+islands (Borneo, for instance), the vine is supported by poles in the
+manner of hops in England. Yet it is by no means clear to me that the
+Sumatran method is so disadvantageous in the comparison as it may seem;
+for, as the pepper-plant lasts many years, whilst the poles, exposed to
+sun and rain, and loaded with a heavy weight, cannot be supposed to
+continue sound above two seasons, there must be a frequent renewal,
+which, notwithstanding the utmost care, must lacerate and often destroy
+the vines. It is probable also that the shelter from the violence of the
+sun's rays afforded by the branches of the vegetating prop, and which,
+during the dry monsoon, is of the utmost consequence, may counterbalance
+the injury occasioned by their roots; not to insist on the opinion of a
+celebrated writer that trees, acting as siphons, derive from the air and
+transmit to the earth as much of the principle of vegetation as is
+expended in their nourishment.
+
+When the most promising shoot of the chinkareen reserved for rearing has
+attained the height of twelve to fifteen feet (which latter it is not to
+exceed), or in the second year of its growth, it must be headed or
+topped; and the branches that then extend themselves laterally, from the
+upper part only, so long as their shade is required, are afterwards
+lopped annually at the commencement of the rainy season (about November),
+leaving little more than the stem; from whence they again shoot out to
+afford their protection during the dry weather. By this operation also
+the damage to the plant that would ensue from the droppings of rain from
+the leaves is avoided.
+
+DESCRIPTION OF THE PEPPER-VINE.
+
+The pepper-vine is, in its own climate, a hardy plant, growing readily
+from cuttings or layers, rising in several knotted stems, twining round
+any neighbouring support, and adhering to it by fibres that shoot from
+every joint at intervals of six to ten inches, and from which it probably
+derives a share of its nourishment. If suffered to run along the ground
+these fibres would become roots; but in this case (like the ivy) it would
+never exhibit any appearance of fructification, the prop being necessary
+for encouraging it to throw out its bearing shoots. It climbs to the
+height of twenty or twenty-five feet, but thrives best when restrained to
+twelve or fifteen, as in the former case the lower part of the vine bears
+neither leaves nor fruit, whilst in the latter it produces both from
+within a foot of the ground. The stalk soon becomes ligneous, and in time
+acquires considerable thickness. The leaves are of a deep green and
+glossy surface, heart-shaped, pointed, not pungent to the taste, and have
+but little smell. The branches are short and brittle, not projecting
+above two feet from the stem, and separating readily at the joints. The
+blossom is small and white, the fruit round, green when young and
+full-grown, and turning to a bright red when ripe and in perfection. It
+grows abundantly from all the branches in long small clusters of twenty
+to fifty grains, somewhat resembling bunches of currants, but with this
+difference, that every grain adheres to the common stalk, which occasions
+the cluster of pepper to be more compact, and it is also less pliant.
+
+MODES OF PROPAGATING IT.
+
+The usual mode of propagating the pepper is by cuttings, a foot or two in
+length, of the horizontal shoots that run along the ground from the foot
+of the old vines (called lado sulur), and one or two of these are planted
+within a few inches of the young chinkareen at the same time with it if
+of the long kind, or six months after if of the short kind, as before
+described. Some indeed prefer an interval of twelve months; as in good
+soil the luxuriancy of the vine will often overpower and bear down the
+prop, if it has not first acquired competent strength. In such soil the
+vine rises two or three feet in the course of the first year, and four or
+five more in the second, by which time, or between the second and third
+year of its growth, it begins to show its blossom (be-gagang), if in fact
+it can be called such, being nothing more than the germ of the future
+bunch of fruit, of a light straw colour, darkening to green as the fruit
+forms. These germs or blossoms are liable to fall untimely (gugur) in
+very dry weather, or to be shaken off in high winds (although from this
+accident the gardens are in general well sheltered by the surrounding
+woods), when, after the fairest promise, the crop fails.
+
+TURNING DOWN THE VINES.
+
+In the rainy weather that succeeds the first appearance of the fruit the
+whole vine is loosened from the chinkareen and turned down again into the
+earth, a hole being dug to receive it, in which it is laid circularly or
+coiled, leaving only the extremity above ground, at the foot of the
+chinkareen, which it now reascends with redoubled vigour, attaining in
+the following season the height of eight or ten feet, and bearing a full
+crop of fruit. There is said to be a great nicety in hitting the exact
+time proper for this operation of turning down; for if it be done too
+soon, the vines have been known not to bear till the third year, like
+fresh plants; and on the other hand the produce is ultimately retarded
+when they omit to turn them down until after the first fruit has been
+gathered; to which avarice of present, at the expense of future
+advantage, sometimes inclines the owners. It is not very material how
+many stems the vine may have in its first growth, but now one only, if
+strong, or two at the most, should be suffered to rise and cling to the
+prop: more would be superfluous and only weaken the whole. The
+supernumerary shoots however are usefully employed, being either
+conducted through narrow trenches to adjacent chinkareens whose vines
+have failed, or taken off at the root and transplanted to others more
+distant, where, coiled round and buried as the former, they rise with the
+same vigour, and the garden is completed of uniform growth, although many
+of its original vines have not succeeded. With these offsets or layers
+(called anggor and tettas) new gardens may be at once formed; the
+necessary chinkareens being previously planted, and of sufficient growth
+to receive them.
+
+This practice of turning down the vines, which appears singular but
+certainly contributes to the duration as well as strength of the plants,
+may yet amount to nothing more than a substitute for transplantation. Our
+people observing that vegetables often fail to thrive when permitted to
+grow up in the same beds where they were first set or sown, find it
+advantageous to remove them, at a certain period of their growth, to
+fresh situations. The Sumatrans observing the same failure have had
+recourse to an expedient nearly similar in its principle but effected in
+a different and perhaps more judicious mode.
+
+In order to lighten the labour of the cultivator, who has also the
+indispensable task of raising grain for himself and his family, it is a
+common practice, and not attended with any detriment to the gardens, to
+sow padi in the ground in which the chinkareens have been planted, and
+when this has become about six inches high, to plant the cuttings of the
+vines, suffering the shoots to creep along the ground until the crop has
+been taken off, when they are trained to the chinkareens, the shade of
+the corn being thought favourable to the young plants.
+
+PROGRESS OF BEARING.
+
+The vines, as has been observed, generally begin to bear in the course of
+the third year from the time of planting, but the produce is retarded for
+one or two seasons by the process just described; after which it
+increases annually for three years, when the garden (about the seventh or
+eighth year) is esteemed in its prime, or at its utmost produce; which
+state it maintains, according to the quality of the soil, from one to
+four years, when it gradually declines for about the same period until it
+is no longer worth the labour of keeping it in order. From some, in good
+ground, fruit has been gathered at the age of twenty years; but such
+instances are uncommon. On the first appearance of decline it should be
+renewed, as it is termed; but, to speak more properly, another garden
+should be planted to succeed it, which will begin to bear before the old
+one ceases.
+
+MODE OF PRUNING.
+
+The vine having acquired its full growth, and being limited by the height
+of the chinkareen, sometimes grows bushy and overhangs at top, which,
+being prejudicial to the lower parts, must be corrected by pruning or
+thinning the top branches, and this is done commonly by hand, as they
+break readily at every joint. Suckers too, or superfluous side-shoots
+(charang), which spring luxuriantly, are to be plucked away. The ground
+of the garden must be kept perfectly clear of weeds, shrubs, and whatever
+might injure or tend to choke the plants. During the hot months of June,
+July, and August the finer kinds of grass may be permitted to cover the
+ground, as it contributes to mitigate the effects of the sun's power, and
+preserves for a longer time the dews, which at that season fall
+copiously; but the rank species, called lalang, being particularly
+difficult to eradicate, should not be suffered to fix itself, if it can
+be avoided. As the vines increase in size and strength less attention to
+the ground is required, and especially as their shade tends to check the
+growth of weeds. In lopping the branches of the chinkareens preparatory
+to the rains, some dexterity is required that they may fall clear of the
+vine, and the business is performed with a sharp prang or bill that
+generally separates at one stroke the light pithy substance of the bough.
+For this purpose, as well as that of gathering the fruit, light
+triangular ladders made of bamboo are employed.
+
+TIME OF GATHERING.
+
+As soon as any of the berries or corns redden, the bunch is reckoned fit
+for gathering, the remainder being then generally full-grown, although
+green; nor would it answer to wait for the whole to change colour, as the
+most mature would drop off.
+
+MODE OF DRYING AND CLEANSING.
+
+It is collected in small baskets slung over the shoulder, and with the
+assistance of the women and children conveyed to a smooth level spot of
+clean hard ground near the garden or the village, where it is spread,
+sometimes upon mats, to dry in the sun, but exposed at the same time to
+the vicissitudes of the weather, which are not much regarded nor thought
+to injure it. In this situation it becomes black and shrivelled, as we
+see it in Europe, and as it dries is hand-rubbed occasionally to separate
+the grains from the stalk. It is then winnowed in large round shallow
+sieves called nyiru, and put in large vessels made of bark (kulitkayu)
+under their houses until the whole of the crop is gathered, or a
+sufficient quantity for carrying (usually by water) to the European
+factory or gadong at the mouth of the river. That which has been gathered
+at the properest stage of maturity will shrivel the least; but, if
+plucked too soon, it will in a short time, by removal from place to
+place, become mere dust. Of this defect trial may be made by the hand;
+but as light pepper may have been mixed with the sound it becomes
+necessary that the whole should be garbled at the scale by machines
+constructed for the purpose. Pepper that has fallen to the ground
+overripe and been gathered from thence will be known by being stripped of
+its outer coat, and in that state is an inferior kind of white pepper.
+
+WHITE PEPPER.
+
+This was for centuries supposed in Europe to be the produce of a
+different plant, and to possess qualities superior to those of the common
+black pepper; and accordingly it sold at a considerably higher price. But
+it has lost in some measure that advantage since it has been known that
+the secret depended merely upon the art of blanching the grains of the
+other sort, by depriving it of the exterior pellicle. For this purpose
+the ripest red grains are picked out and put in baskets to steep, either
+in running water (which is preferred), in pits dug for the occasion near
+the banks of rivers, or in stagnant pools. Sometimes it is only buried in
+the ground. In any of these situations it swells, and in the course of a
+week or ten days bursts its tegument, from which it is afterwards
+carefully separated by drying in the sun, rubbing between the hands, and
+winnowing. It has been much disputed, and is still undetermined, to which
+sort the preference ought to be given. The white pepper has this obvious
+recommendation, that it can be made of no other than the best and
+soundest grains, taken at their most perfect stage of maturity: but on
+the other hand it is argued that, by being suffered to remain the
+necessary time in water, its strength must be considerably diminished;
+and that the outer husk, which is lost by the process, has a peculiar
+flavour distinct from that of the heart, and though not so pungent, more
+aromatic. For the white pepper the planter receives the fourth part of a
+dollar, or fifteen pence, per bamboo or gallon measure, equal to about
+six pounds weight. At the sales in England the prices are at this time in
+the proportion of seventeen to ten or eleven, and the quantity imported
+has for some years been inconsiderable.
+
+APPEARANCE OF THE GARDENS.
+
+The gardens being planted in even rows, running parallel, and at right
+angles with each other, their symmetrical appearance is very beautiful,
+and rendered more striking by the contrast they exhibit to the wild
+scenes of nature which surround them. In highly cultivated countries such
+as England, where landed property is all lined out and bounded and
+intersected with walls and hedges, we endeavour to give our gardens and
+pleasure-grounds the charm of variety and novelty by imitating the
+wildness of nature, in studied irregularities. Winding walks, hanging
+woods, craggy rocks, falls of water, are all looked upon as improvements;
+and the stately avenues, the canals, and rectangular lawns of our
+ancestors, which afforded the beauty of contrast in ruder times are now
+exploded. This difference of taste is not merely the effect of caprice,
+nor entirely of refinement, but results from the change of circumstances.
+A man who should attempt to exhibit in Sumatra the modern or irregular
+style of laying out grounds would attract but little attention, as the
+unimproved scenes adjoining on every side would probably eclipse his
+labours. Could he, on the contrary, produce, amidst its magnificent
+wilds, one of those antiquated parterres, with its canals and fountains,
+whose precision he has learned to despise, his work would create
+admiration and delight. A pepper-garden cultivated in England would not
+in point of external appearance be considered as an object of
+extraordinary beauty, and would be particularly found fault with for its
+uniformity; yet in Sumatra I never entered one, after travelling many
+miles, as is usually the case, through the woods, that I did not find
+myself affected with a strong sensation of pleasure. Perhaps the simple
+view of human industry, so scantily presented in that island, might
+contribute to this pleasure, by awakening those social feelings that
+nature has inspired us with, and which make our breasts glow on the
+perception of whatever indicates the prosperity and happiness of our
+fellow-creatures.
+
+SURVEYS.
+
+Once in every year a survey of all the pepper-plantations is taken by the
+Company's European servants resident at the various settlements, in the
+neighbourhood of which that article is cultivated. The number of vines in
+each particular garden is counted; accurate observation is made of its
+state and condition; orders are given where necessary for further care,
+for completion of stipulated quantity, renewals, changes of situation for
+better soil; and rewards and punishments are distributed to the planters
+as they appear, from the degree of their industry or remissness,
+deserving of either. Minutes of all these are entered in the survey-book,
+which, beside giving present information to the chief, and to the
+governor and council, to whom a copy is transmitted, serves as a guide
+and check for the survey of the succeeding year. An abstract of the form
+of the book is as follows. It is divided into sundry columns, containing
+the name of the village; the names of the planters; the number of
+chinkareens planted; the number of vines just planted; of young vines,
+not in a bearing state, three classes or years; of young vines in a
+bearing state, three classes; of vines in prime; of those on decline; of
+those that are old, but still productive; the total number; and lastly
+the quantity of pepper received during the year. A space is left for
+occasional remarks, and at the conclusion is subjoined a comparison of
+the totals of each column, for the whole district or residency, with
+those of the preceding year. This business the reader will perceive to be
+attended with considerable trouble, exclusive of the actual fatigue of
+the surveys, which from the nature of the country must necessarily be
+performed on foot, in a climate not very favourable to such excursions.
+The journeys in few places can be performed in less than a month, and
+often require a much longer time.
+
+The arrival of the Company's Resident at each dusun is considered as a
+period of festivity. The chief, together with the principal inhabitants,
+entertain him and his attendants with rustic hospitality, and when he
+retires to rest, his slumbers are soothed, or interrupted, by the songs
+of young females, who never fail to pay this compliment to the respected
+guest; and receive in return some trifling ornamental and useful presents
+(such as looking-glasses, fans, and needles) at his departure.
+
+SUCCESSION OF GARDENS.
+
+The inhabitants, by the original contracts of the headmen with the
+Company, are obliged to plant a certain number of vines; each family one
+thousand, and each young unmarried man five hundred; and, in order to
+keep up the succession of produce, so soon as their gardens attain to
+their prime state, they are ordered to prepare others, that they may
+begin to bear as the old ones fall off; but as this can seldom be
+enforced till the decline becomes evident, and as young gardens are
+liable to various accidents which older ones are exempt from, the
+succession is rendered incomplete, and the consequence is that the annual
+produce of each district fluctuates, and is greater or less in the
+proportion of the quantity of bearing vines to the whole number. To enter
+minutely into the detail of this business will not afford much
+information or entertainment to the generality of readers, who will
+however be surprised to hear that pepper-planting, though scarcely an
+art, so little skill appears to be employed in its cultivation, has
+nevertheless been rendered an abstruse science by the investigations
+which able men have bestowed upon the subject. These took their rise from
+censures conveyed for supposed mismanagement, when the investment, or
+annual provision of pepper, decreased in comparison with preceding years,
+and which was not satisfactorily accounted for by unfavourable seasons.
+To obviate such charges it became necessary for those who superintended
+the business to pay attention to and explain the efficient causes which
+unavoidably occasioned this fluctuation, and to establish general
+principles of calculation by which to determine at any time the probable
+future produce of the different residencies. These will depend upon a
+knowledge of the medium produce of a determinate number of vines, and the
+medium number to which this produce is to be applied; both of which are
+to be ascertained only from a comprehensive view of the subject, and a
+nice discrimination. Nothing general can be determined from detached
+instances. It is not the produce of one particular plantation in one
+particular stage of bearing and in one particular season, but the mean
+produce of all the various classes of bearing vines collectively, drawn
+from the experience of several years, that can alone be depended on in
+calculations of this nature. So in regard to the median number of vines
+presumed to exist at any residency in a future year, to which the medium
+produce of a certain number, one thousand, for instance, is to be
+applied, the quantity of young vines of the first, second, and third year
+must not be indiscriminately advanced, in their whole extent, to the next
+annual stage, but a judicious allowance founded on experience must be
+made for the accidents to which, in spite of a resident's utmost care,
+they will be exposed. Some are lost by neglect or death of the owner;
+some are destroyed by inundations, others by elephants and wild
+buffaloes, and some by unfavourable seasons, and from these several
+considerations the number of vines will ever be found considerably
+decreased by the time they have arrived at a bearing state. Another
+important object of consideration in these matters is the comparative
+state of a residency at any particular period with what may be justly
+considered as its medium state. There must exist a determinate proportion
+between any number of bearing vines and such a number of young as are
+necessary to replace them when they go off and keep up a regular
+succession. This will depend in general upon the length of time before
+they reach a bearing state and during which they afterwards continue in
+it. If this certain proportion happens at any time to be disturbed the
+produce must become irregular. Thus, if at any period the number of
+bearing vines shall be found to exceed their just proportion to the total
+number, the produce at such period is to be considered as above the mean,
+and a subsequent decrease may with certainty be predicted, and vice
+versa. If then this proportion can be known, and the state of population
+in a residency ascertained, it becomes easy to determine the true medium
+number of bearing vines in that residency.
+
+There are, agreeably to the form of the survey book, eleven stages or
+classes of vines, each advanced one year. Of these classes six are
+bearing and five young. If therefore the gardens were not liable to
+accidents, but passed on from column to column undiminished, the true
+proportion of the bearing vines to the young would be as six to five, or
+to the total, as six to eleven. But the various contingencies above
+hinted at must tend to reduce this proportion; while, on the other hand,
+if any of the gardens should continue longer than is necessary to pass
+through all the stages on the survey-book, or should remain more than one
+year in a prime state, these circumstances would tend to increase the
+proportion. What then is the true medium proportion can only be
+determined from experience, and by comparing the state of a residency at
+various successive periods. In order to ascertain this point a very
+ingenious gentleman and able servant of the East India Company, Mr. John
+Crisp, to whom I am indebted for the most part of what I have laid before
+the reader on this part of the subject, drew out in the year 1777 a
+general comparative view of Manna residency, from the surveys of twelve
+years, annexing the produce of each year. From the statement it appeared
+that the proportion of the bearing vines to the whole number in that
+district was no more than 5.1 to 11, instead of 6 to 11, which would be
+the proportion if not reduced by accidents; and further that, when the
+whole produce of the twelve years was diffused over the whole number of
+bearing vines during that period, the produce of one thousand vines came
+out to be four hundred and fifty-three pounds, which must therefore be
+estimated as the medium produce of that residency. The same principle of
+calculation being applied to the other residencies, it appeared that the
+mean annual produce of one thousand vines, in all the various stages of
+bearing, taken collectively throughout the country, deduced from the
+experience of twelve years, was four hundred and four pounds. It likewise
+became evident from the statements drawn out by that gentleman that the
+medium annual produce of the Company's settlements on the west coast of
+Sumatra ought to be estimated at twelve hundred tons, of sixteen hundred
+weight; which is corroborated by an average of the actual receipts for
+any considerable number of years.
+
+Thus much will be sufficient to give the reader an idea of
+pepper-planting as a kind of science. How far in a commercial light this
+produce answers the Company's views in supporting the settlements, is
+foreign from my purpose to discuss, though it is a subject on which not a
+little might be said. It is the history of the island and its
+inhabitants, and not of the European interests, that I attempt to lay
+before the public.
+
+SPECIES OF PEPPER.
+
+The natives distinguish three species of pepper, which are called at
+different places by different names. At Laye, in the Rejang country, they
+term them lado kawur, lado manna, and lado jambi, from the parts where
+each sort is supposed to prevail, or from whence it was first brought to
+them. The lado kawur, or Lampong pepper, is the strongest plant, and
+bears the largest leaf and fruit; is slower in coming to perfection than
+the second, but of much longer duration. The leaf and fruit of the lado
+manna are somewhat smaller, and it has this peculiarity, that it bears
+soon and in large quantities, but seldom passes the third or fourth
+year's crop. The jambi, which has deservedly fallen into disrepute, is of
+the smallest leaf and fruit, very short-lived, and not without difficulty
+trained to the chinkareen. In some places to the southward they
+distinguish two kinds only, lado sudul and lado jambi. Lado sulur and
+lado anggor are not distinctions of species; the former denoting the
+cuttings of young creeping shoots commonly planted, in opposition to the
+latter, which is the term for planting by layers.
+
+SEASONS.
+
+The season of the pepper-vines bearing, as well as that of most other
+fruit-trees on Sumatra, is subject to great irregularities, owing perhaps
+to the uncertainty of the monsoons, which are not there so strictly
+periodical as on the western side of India. Generally speaking however
+the pepper produces two crops in the year; one called the greater crop
+(pupul agung) between the months of October and March; the other called
+the lesser or half crop (buah sello) between the months of April and
+September, which is small in proportion as the former has been
+considerable, and vice versa. Sometimes in particular districts they will
+be employed in gathering it in small quantities during the whole year
+round, whilst perhaps in others the produce of that year is confined to
+one crop; for, although the regular period between the appearance of the
+blossom and maturity is about four months, the whole does not ripen at
+once, and blossoms are frequently found on the same vine with green and
+ripe fruit. In Laye residency the principal harvest of pepper in the year
+1766 was gathered between the months of February and May; in 1767 and
+1768 about September and October; in 1778 between June and August; and
+for the four succeeding years was seldom received earlier than November
+and December. Long-continued droughts, which sometimes happen, stop the
+vegetation of the vines and retard the produce. This was particularly
+experienced in the year 1775, when, for a period of about eight months,
+scarcely a shower of rain fell to moisten the earth. The vines were
+deprived of their foliage, many gardens perished and a general
+destruction was expected. But this apparent calamity was attended with a
+consequence not foreseen, though analogous to the usual operations of
+nature in that climate. The natives, when they would force a tree that is
+backward to produce fruit, strip it of its leaves, by which means the
+nutritive juices are reserved for that more important use, and the
+blossoms soon begin to show themselves in abundance. A similar effect was
+displayed in the pepper gardens by the inclemency of the season. The
+vines, as soon as the rains began to descend, threw out blossoms in a
+profusion unknown before; old gardens which had been unprolific for two
+or three years began to bear; and accordingly the crop of 1776/1777
+considerably surpassed that of many preceding years.
+
+TRANSPORTATION OF PEPPER.
+
+The pepper is mostly brought down from the country on rafts (rakit),
+which are sometimes composed of rough timbers, but usually of large
+bamboos, with a platform of split bamboos to keep the cargo dry. They are
+steered at both head and stern, in the more rapid rivers with a kind of
+rudder, or scull rather, having a broad blade fixed in a fork or crutch.
+Those who steer are obliged to exert the whole strength of the body in
+those places especially where the fall of water is steep, and the course
+winding; but the purchase of the scull is of so great power that they can
+move the raft bodily across the river when both ends are acted upon at
+the same time. But, notwithstanding their great dexterity and their
+judgment in choosing the channel, they are liable to meet with
+obstruction in large trees and rocks, which, from the violence of the
+stream, occasion their rafts to be overset, and sometimes dashed to
+pieces.
+
+It is a generally received opinion that pepper does not sustain any
+damage by an immersion in seawater; a circumstance that attends perhaps a
+fourth part of the whole quantity shipped from the coast. The surf,
+through which it is carried in an open boat, called a sampan lonchore,
+renders such accidents unavoidable. This boat, which carries one or two
+tons, being hauled up on the beach and there loaded, is shoved off, with
+a few people in it, by a number collected for that purpose, who watch the
+opportunity of a lull or temporary intermission of the swell. A
+tambangan, or long narrow vessel, built to contain from ten to twenty
+tons, (peculiar to the southern part of the coast), lies at anchor
+without to receive the cargoes from the sampans. At many places, where
+the kwallas, or mouths of the rivers, are tolerably practicable, the
+pepper is sent out at once in the tambangans over the bar; but this,
+owing to the common shallowness of the water and violence of the surfs,
+is attended with considerable risk. Thus the pepper is conveyed either to
+the warehouses at the head-settlement or to the ship from Europe lying
+there to receive it. About one-third part of the quantity of black pepper
+collected, but none of the white, is annually sent to China. Of the
+extent and circumstances of the trade in pepper carried on by private
+merchants (chiefly American) at the northern ports of Nalabu, Susu, and
+Mukki, where it is managed by the subjects of Achin, I have not any
+accurate information, and only know that it has increased considerably
+during the last twelve years.
+
+NUTMEGS AND CLOVES.
+
+It is well known with what jealousy and rigour the Batavian government
+has guarded against the transplantation of the trees producing nutmegs
+and cloves from the islands of Banda and Amboina to other parts of India.
+To elude its vigilance many attempts have been made by the English, who
+considered Sumatra to be well adapted, from its local circumstances, to
+the cultivation of these valuable spices; but all proved ineffectual,
+until the reduction of the eastern settlements in 1796 afforded the
+wished for opportunity, which was eagerly seized by Mr. Robert Broff, at
+that period chief of the Residency of Fort Marlborough. As the culture is
+now likely to become of importance to the trade of this country, and the
+history of its introduction may hereafter be thought interesting, I shall
+give it in Mr. Broff's own words:
+
+The acquisition of the nutmeg and clove plants became an object of my
+solicitude the moment I received by Captain Newcombe, of his Majesty's
+ship Orpheus, the news of the surrender of the islands where they are
+produced; being convinced, from the information I had received, that the
+country in the neighbourhood of Bencoolen, situated as it is in the same
+latitude with the Moluccas, exposed to the same periodical winds, and
+possessing the same kind of soil, would prove congenial to their culture.
+Under this impression I suggested to the other members of the Board the
+expediency of freighting a vessel for the twofold purpose of sending
+supplies to the forces at Amboina, for which they were in distress, and
+of bringing in return as many spice-plants as could be conveniently
+stowed. The proposition was acceded to, and a vessel, of which I was the
+principal owner (no other could be obtained), was accordingly dispatched
+in July 1806; but the plan was unfortunately frustrated by the imprudent
+conduct of a person on the civil establishment to whom the execution was
+entrusted. Soon afterwards however I had the good fortune to be more
+successful, in an application I made to Captain Hugh Moore, who commanded
+the Phoenix country ship, to undertake the importation, stipulating with
+him to pay a certain sum for every healthy plant he should deliver.
+
+FIRST INTRODUCTION.
+
+Complete success attended the measure: he returned in July 1798, and I
+had the satisfaction of planting myself, and distributing for that
+purpose, a number of young nutmeg and a few clove trees in the districts
+of Bencoolen and Silebar, and other more distant spots, in order to
+ascertain from experience the situations best adapted to their growth. I
+particularly delivered to Mr. Charles Campbell, botanist, a portion to be
+under his own immediate inspection; and another to Mr. Edward Coles, this
+gentleman having in his service a family who were natives of a spice
+island and had been used to the cultivation. When I quitted the coast in
+January 1799 I had the gratification of witnessing the prosperous state
+of the plantations, and of receiving information from the quarters where
+they had been distributed of their thriving luxuriantly; and since my
+arrival in England various letters have reached me to the same effect. To
+the merit therefore of introducing this important article, and of forming
+regulations for its successful culture, I put in my exclusive claim; and
+am fully persuaded that if a liberal policy is adopted it will become of
+the greatest commercial advantage to the Company and to the nation.
+
+...
+
+Further light will be thrown upon this subject and the progress of the
+cultivation by the following extract of a letter to me from Mr. Campbell,
+dated in November 1803:
+
+Early in the year 1798 Mr. Broff, to whom the highest praise is due for
+his enterprising and considerative scheme of procuring the spice trees
+from our newly-conquered islands (after experiencing much disappointment
+and want of support) overcame every obstacle, and we received, through
+the agency of Mr. Jones, commercial resident at Amboina, five or six
+hundred nutmeg plants, with about fifty cloves; but these latter were not
+in a vigorous state. They were distributed and put generally under my
+inspection. Their culture was attended with various success, but Mr.
+Coles, from the situation of his farm, near Silebar River but not too
+close to the seashore, and from, I believe, bestowing more personal
+attention than any of us, has outstripped his competitors. Some trees
+which I planted as far inland as the Sugar-loaf Mountain blossomed with
+his, but the fruit was first perfected in his ground. The plants were
+dispatched from Amboina in March 1798, just bursting from the shell, and
+two months ago I plucked the perfect fruit, specimens of which I now send
+you; being a period of five years and nine months only; whereas in their
+native land eight years at least are commonly allowed. Having early
+remarked the great promise of the trees I tried by every means in my
+power to interest the Bengal government in our views, and at length, by
+the assistance of Dr. Roxburgh, I succeeded.
+
+SECOND IMPORTATION OF PLANTS.
+
+A few months ago his son arrived here from Amboina, with twenty-two
+thousand nutmeg plants, and upwards of six thousand cloves, which are
+already in my nurseries, and flourishing like those which preceded them.
+About the time the nutmegs fruited one clove tree flowered. Only three of
+the original importation had survived their transit and the accidents
+attending their planting out. Its buds are now filling, and I hope to
+transmit specimens of them also. The Malay chiefs have eagerly engaged in
+the cultivation of their respective shares. I have retained eight
+thousand nutmegs as a plantation from which the fruit may hereafter be
+disseminated. Every kind of soil and every variety of situation has been
+tried. The cloves are not yet widely dispersed, for, being a tender
+plant, I choose to have them under my own eye.
+
+...
+
+Since the death of Mr. Campbell Mr. Roxburgh has been appointed to the
+superintendence, and the latest accounts from thence justify the sanguine
+expectations formed of the ultimate importance of the trade; there being
+at that period upwards of twenty thousand nutmeg trees in full bearing,
+capable of yielding annually two hundred thousand pounds weight of
+nutmegs, and fifty thousand pounds of mace. The clove plants have proved
+more delicate, but the quality of their spice equal to any produced in
+the Moluccas.
+
+CULTURE LEFT TO INDIVIDUALS.
+
+It is understood that the Company has declined the monopoly of the trade
+and left the cultivation to individual exertion; directing however that
+its own immediate plantations be kept up by the labour of convicts from
+Bengal, and reserving to itself an export duty of ten per cent on the
+value of the spices.
+
+CAMPHOR.
+
+Among the valuable productions of the island as articles of commerce a
+conspicuous place belongs to the camphor.
+
+This peculiar substance, called by the natives kapur-barus,* and
+distinguished by the epithet of native camphor from another sort which
+shall be mentioned hereafter, is a drug for which Sumatra and Borneo have
+been celebrated from the earliest times, and with the virtues of which
+the Arabian physicians appear to have been acquainted. Chemists formerly
+entertained opinions extremely discordant in regard to the nature and the
+properties of camphor; and even at this day they seem to be but
+imperfectly known. It is considered however as a sedative and powerful
+diaphoretic: but my province is to mention such particulars of its
+history as have come within my knowledge, leaving to others to
+investigate its most beneficial uses.
+
+(*Footnote. The word kapur appears to be derived from the Sanskrit
+karpura, and the Arabic and Persian kafur (from whence our camphor) to
+have been adopted from the language of the country where the article is
+produced. Barus is the name of a place in Sumatra.)
+
+PLACE OF GROWTH.
+
+The tree is a native of the northern parts of the island only, not being
+found to the southward of the line, nor yet beyond the third degree of
+north latitude. It grows without cultivation in the woods lying near to
+the sea-coast, and is equal in height and bulk to the largest timber
+trees, being frequently found upwards of fifteen feet in circumference.
+
+WOOD.
+
+For carpenters' purposes the wood is in much esteem, being easy to work,
+light, durable, and not liable to be injured by insects, particularly by
+the kumbang, a species of the bee, whose destructive perforations have
+been already mentioned; but is also said to be more affected than most
+others by the changes of the atmosphere. The leaf is small, of a roundish
+oval, the fibres running straight and parallel to each other, and
+terminates in a remarkably long and slender point. The flower has not yet
+been brought to England. The fruit is described by C.F. Gaertner (De
+Seminibus Volume 3 page 49 tab. 186) by the name of Dryobalanops
+aromatica, from specimens in the collection of Sir Joseph Banks; but he
+has unaccountably mistaken it for the cinnamon tree, and spoken of it as
+a native of Ceylon. It is also described, from the same specimens, by M.
+Correa de Serra (Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle Tome 10 page 159
+plate 8) by the name of Pterigium teres; without any reference whatever
+to the nature of the tree as yielding this valuable drug. A beautiful
+engraving of its very peculiar foliage has been made under the direction
+of Mr. A.B. Lambert.
+
+CAMPHOR FOUND IN THE FISSURES.
+
+The camphor is found in the concrete state in which we see it, in natural
+fissures or crevices of the wood, but does not exhibit any exterior
+appearance by which its existence can be previously ascertained, and the
+persons whose employment it is to collect it usually cut down a number of
+trees, almost at random, before they find one that contains a sufficient
+quantity to repay their labour, although always assisted in their
+research by a professional conjurer, whose skill must be chiefly employed
+in concealing or accounting for his own mistakes. It is said that not a
+tenth part of the number felled is productive either of camphor or of
+camphor-oil (meniak kapur), although the latter is less rare; and that
+parties of men are sometimes engaged for two or three months together in
+the forests, with very precarious success. This scarcity tends to enhance
+the price. The tree when cut down is divided transversely into several
+blocks, and these again are split with wedges into small pieces, from the
+interstices of which the camphor, if any there be, is extracted. That
+which comes away readily in large flakes, almost transparent, is esteemed
+the prime sort or head; the smaller, clean pieces are considered as
+belly, and the minute particles, chiefly scraped from the wood, and often
+mixed with it, are called foot; according to the customary terms adopted
+in the assortment of drugs. The mode of separating it from these and
+other impurities is by steeping and washing it in water, and sometimes
+with the aid of soap. It is then passed through sieves or screens of
+different apertures in order to make the assortment, so far as that
+depends upon the size of the grains; but much of the selection is also
+made by hand, and particular care is taken to distinguish from the more
+genuine kinds that which is produced by an artificial concretion of the
+essential oil.
+
+CAMPHOR OIL.
+
+The inquiries I formerly made on the subject (not having been myself in
+the district where the tree grows) led me to believe with confidence that
+the oil and the dry crystallized resin were not procured from the same
+individual tree; but in this I was first undeceived by Mr. R. Maidman,
+who in June 1788 wrote to me from Tappanuli, where he was resident, to
+the following effect:
+
+I beg your acceptance of a piece of camphor-wood, the genuine quality of
+which I can answer for, being cut by one of my own people, who was
+employed in making charcoal, of which the best for smiths' work is made
+from this wood. On cutting deep into a pretty large tree the fine oil
+suddenly gushed out and was lost for want of a receiver. He felled the
+tree, and, having split it, brought me three or four catties (four or
+five pounds) of the finest camphor I ever saw, and also this log, which
+is very rich. My reason for being thus particular is that the country
+people have a method of pouring oil of inferior camphor-trees into a log
+of wood that has natural cracks, and, by exposing this to the sun every
+day for a week, it appears like genuine camphor; but is the worst sort.
+
+...
+
+This coexistence of the two products has been since confirmed to me by
+others, and is particularly stated by Mr. Macdonald in his ingenious
+paper on certain Natural Productions of Sumatra, published in the Asiatic
+Researches Volume 4 Calcutta 1795. It seems probable on the whole that,
+as the tree advances in age, a greater proportion of this essential oil
+takes a concrete form, and it has been observed to me that, when the
+fresh oil has been allowed to stand and settle, a sediment of camphor is
+procured; but the subject requires further examination by well-informed
+persons on the spot.
+
+PRICE.
+
+Head camphor is usually purchased from those who procure it at the rate
+of six Spanish dollars the pound, or eight dollars the catty, and sells
+in the China market at Canton for nine to twelve dollars the pound, or
+twelve to fifteen hundred dollars the pekul of a hundred catties or one
+hundred thirty-three pounds and a third, avoirdupois. When of superior
+quality it sells for two thousand dollars, and I have been assured that
+some small choice samples have produced upwards of thirty dollars per
+catty.* It is estimated that the whole quantity annually brought down for
+sale on the western side of the island does not exceed fifty pekul. The
+trade is chiefly in the hands of the Achinese settled at Sinkell, who buy
+the article from the Batta people and dispose of it to the Europeans and
+Chinese settlers.
+
+(*Footnote. See Price Currents of the China trade. Camphor was purchased
+in Sumatra by Commodore Beaulieu in 1622 at the rate of fifteen Spanish
+dollars for twenty-eight ounces, which differs but little from the modern
+price. In the Transactions of the Society at Batavia it appears that the
+camphor of Borneo sells in their market for 3200 rix dollars, and that of
+Japan for 50 rix dollars the pekul.)
+
+JAPAN CAMPHOR.
+
+It has been commonly supposed that the people of China or Japan prepare a
+factitious substance resembling native camphor, and impregnated with its
+virtues by the admixture of a small quantity of the genuine, which is
+sold to the Dutch factory for thirty or forty dollars the pekul, sent to
+Holland, and afterwards refined to the state in which we see it in our
+shops, where it is sold at eight to twelve shillings the pound. It
+appears however an extraordinary circumstance that any article could
+possibly be so adulterated, bearing at the same time the likeness and
+retaining the sensible qualities of its original, as that the dealers
+should be enabled, with profit to themselves to resell it for the
+fiftieth part of the price they gave. But, upon inquiry of an ingenious
+person long resident in China, I learned that the Japan camphor is by no
+means a factitious substance, but the genuine produce of a tree growing
+in abundance in the latter country, different in every character from
+that of Sumatra or Borneo, and well known to our botanists by the name of
+Laurus camphora, L. He further informed me that the Chinese never mix the
+Sumatran camphor with that from Japan, but purchase the former for their
+own use, at the before-mentioned extravagant price, from an idea of its
+efficacy, probably superstitious, and export the latter as a drug not
+held in any particular estimation. Thus we buy the leaves of their
+tea-plant at a high rate and neglect herbs, the natives of our own soil,
+possessing perhaps equal virtues. It is known also that the Japan
+camphor, termed factitious, will evaporate till it wholly disappears, and
+at all stages of its diminution retain its full proportion of strength;
+which does not seem the property of an adulterated or compounded body.
+Kaempfer informs us that it is prepared from a decoction of the wood and
+roots of the tree cut into small pieces; and the form of the lumps in
+which it is brought to us shows that it has undergone a process. The
+Sumatran sort, though doubtless from its extreme volatility it must be
+subject to decrease, does not lose any very sensible quantity from being
+kept, as I find from the experience of many years that it has been in my
+possession. It probably may not be very easy to ascertain its superiority
+over the other in the materia medica, not being brought for sale to this
+country, nor generally administered; but from a medical person who
+practised at Bencoolen I learned that the usual dose he gave was from
+half a grain to one or two grains at the most. The oil, although hitherto
+of little importance as an article of commerce, is a valuable domestic
+medicine, and much used by the natives as well as Europeans in cases of
+strains, swellings, and rheumatic pains; its particles, from their
+extreme subtlety, readily entering the pores. It undergoes no
+preparation, and is used in the state in which, upon incision, it has
+distilled from the tree. The kayu putih (Melaleuca leucadendron) oil,
+which is somewhat better known in England, is obtained in the same
+manner; but to procure the meniak kayu or common wood-oil, used for
+preserving timber or boards exposed to the weather, from decay, and for
+boiling with dammar to pay the bottoms of ships and boats, the following
+method is practised. They make a transverse incision into the tree to the
+depth of some inches, and then cut sloping down from the notch, till they
+leave a flat superficies. This they hollow out to a capacity to receive
+about a quart. They then put into the hollow a bit of lighted reed, and
+let it remain for about ten minutes, which, acting as a stimulus, draws
+the fluid to that part. In the space of a night the liquor fills the
+receptacle prepared for it, and the tree continues to yield a lesser
+quantity for three successive nights, when the fire must be again
+applied: but on a few repetitions it is exhausted.
+
+BENZOIN.
+
+Benzoin or Benjamin (Styrax benzoin*) called by the Malays kami-nian, is,
+like the camphor, found almost exclusively in the Batta country, to the
+northward of the equator, but not in the Achinese dominions immediately
+beyond that district. It is also met with, though rarely, south of the
+line, but there, either from natural inferiority or want of skill in
+collecting it, the small quantity produced is black and of little value.
+The tree does not grow to any considerable size, and is of no value as
+timber. The seeds or nuts, which are round, of a brown colour, and about
+the size of a moderate bolus, are sown in the padi-fields and afterwards
+require no other cultivation than to clear away the shrubs from about the
+young plants. In some places, especially near the sea-coast, large
+plantations of it are formed, and it is said that the natives, sensible
+of the great advantage accruing to them from the trade, in a national
+point of view, oblige the proprietors, by legal regulation, to keep up
+the succession.
+
+(*Footnote. See a Botanical Description of this tree by my friend Mr.
+Jonas Dryander, with a plate, in Volume 77 page 307 of the Philosophical
+Transactions for the year 1787.)
+
+MODE OF PROCURING IT.
+
+When the trees have attained the age of about seven years, and are six or
+eight inches in diameter, incisions are made in the bark, from whence the
+balsam or gum (as it is commonly termed, although being soluble in
+spirits and not in water, it is rather a resin) exudes, which is
+carefully pared off. The purest of the gum, or Head benzoin, is that
+which comes from these incisions during the first three years, and is
+white, inclining to yellow, soft, and fragrant; after which it gradually
+changes to the second sort, which is of a reddish yellow, degenerating to
+brown; and at length when the tree, which will not bear a repetition of
+the process for more than ten or twelve years, is supposed to be worn
+out, they cut it down, and when split in pieces procure, by scraping, the
+worst sort, or Foot benzoin, which is dark coloured, hard, and mixed more
+or less with parings of the wood and other impurities. The Head is
+further distinguished into Europe and India-head, of which the first is
+superior, and is the only sort adapted to the home market: the latter,
+with most of the inferior sorts, is exported to Arabia,* Persia, and some
+parts of India, where it is burned to perfume with its smoke their
+temples and private houses, expel troublesome insects, and obviate the
+pernicious effects of unwholesome air or noxious exhalations; in addition
+to which uses, in the Malayan countries, it is always considered as a
+necessary part of the apparatus in administering an oath. It is brought
+down from the country for sale in large cakes, called tampang, covered
+with mats; and these, as a staple commodity, are employed in their
+dealings for a standard of value, to which the price of other things have
+reference, as in most parts of the world to certain metals. In order to
+pack it in chests it is necessary to soften the coarser sorts with
+boiling water; for the finer it is sufficient to break the lumps and to
+expose it to the heat of the sun. The greater part of the quantity
+brought to England is re-exported from thence to countries where the
+Roman Catholic and Mahometan religions prevail, to be there burnt as
+incense in the churches and temples.** The remainder is chiefly employed
+in medicine, being much esteemed as an expectorant and styptic, and
+constitutes the basis of that valuable balsam distinguished by the name
+of Turlington, whose very salutary effects, particularly in healing green
+and other wounds, is well known to persons abroad who cannot always
+obtain surgical assistance. It is also employed, if I am not misinformed,
+in the preparation of court sticking-plaster. The gum or resin called
+dulang is named by us scented benzoin from its peculiar fragrance. The
+rasamala (Lignum papuanum of Rumphius, and Altingia excelsa of the
+Batavian Transactions) is a sort of wild benzoin, of little value, and
+not, in Sumatra, considered as an object of commerce.
+
+(*Footnote. Les Arabes tirent beaucoup d'autres sortes d'encens de
+l'Habbesch, de Sumatra, Siam, Java, etc. et parmi celles-la une qu'ils
+appellent Bachor (bakhor) Java, et que les Anglois nomment Benzoin, est
+tres semblable a l'Oliban. On en exporte en grande quantite en Turquie
+parles golfes d'Arabie et de Perse, et la moindre des trois especes de
+Benzoin, que les marchands vendent, est estimee meilleure que l'Oliban
+d'Arabie. Niebuhr, Description de l'Arabie page 126.)
+
+(**Footnote. According to Mr. Jackson the annual importation of Benzoin
+at Mogodor from London is about 13,000 pounds annually.)
+
+CASSIA.
+
+Cassia or kulit manis (Laurus cassia) is a coarse species of cinnamon
+which flourishes chiefly, as well as the two foregoing articles, in the
+northern part of the island; but with this difference, that the camphor
+and benzoin grow only near the coast, whereas the cassia is a native of
+the central parts of the country. It is mostly procured in those
+districts which lie inland of Tapanuli, but it is also found in Musi,
+where Palembang River takes its rise. The leaves are about four inches
+long, narrower than the bay (to which tribe it belongs) and more pointed;
+deep green; smooth surface, and plain edge. The principal fibres take
+their rise from the peduncle. The young leaves are mostly of reddish hue.
+The blossoms grow six in number upon slender foot-stalks, close to the
+bottom of the leaf. They are monopetalous, small, white, stellated in six
+points. The stamina are six, with one stile, growing from the germen,
+which stands up in three brownish segments, resembling a cup. The trees
+grow from fifty to sixty feet high, with large, spreading, horizontal
+branches, almost as low as the earth. The root is said to contain much
+camphor that may be obtained by boiling or other processes unknown on
+Sumatra. No pains is bestowed on the cultivation of the cassia. The bark,
+which is the part in use, is commonly taken from such of the trees as are
+a foot or eighteen inches diameter, for when they are younger it is said
+to be so thin as to lose all its qualities very soon. The difference of
+soil and situation alters considerably the value of the bark. Those trees
+which grow in a high rocky soil have red shoots, and the bark is superior
+to that which is produced in a moist clay, where the shoots are green. I
+have been assured by a person of extensive knowledge that the cassia
+produced on Sumatra is from the same tree which yields the true cinnamon,
+and that the apparent difference arises from the less judicious manner of
+quilling it. Perhaps the younger and more tender branches should be
+preferred; perhaps the age of the tree or the season of the year ought to
+be more nicely attended to; and lastly I have known it to be suggested
+that the mucilaginous slime which adheres to the inside of the fresh
+peeled rind does, when not carefully wiped off, injure the flavour of the
+cassia and render it inferior to that of the cinnamon. I am informed that
+it has been purchased by Dutch merchants at our India sales, where it
+sometimes sold to much loss, and afterwards by them shipped for Spain as
+cinnamon, being packed in boxes which had come from Ceylon with that
+article. The price it bears in the island is about ten or twelve dollars
+the pecul.
+
+RATTANS.
+
+Rattans or rotan (Calamus rotang) furnish annually many large cargoes,
+chiefly from the eastern side of the island, where the Dutch buy them to
+send to Europe; and the country traders for the western parts of India.
+Walking-canes, or tongkat, of various kinds, are also produced near the
+rivers which open to the straits of Malacca.
+
+COTTON.
+
+In almost every part of the country two species of cotton are cultivated,
+namely, the annual sort named kapas (Gossypium herbaceum), and the shrub
+cotton named kapas besar (Gossypium herboreum). The cotton produced from
+both appears to be of very good quality, and might, with encouragement,
+be procured in any quantities; but the natives raise no more than is
+necessary for their own domestic manufactures. The silk cotton or kapok
+(bombax) is also to be met with in every village. This is, to appearance,
+one of the most beautiful raw materials the hand of nature has presented.
+Its fineness, gloss, and delicate softness render it, to the sight and
+touch, much superior to the labour of the silkworm; but owing to the
+shortness and brittleness of the staple it is esteemed unfit for the reel
+and loom, and is only applied to the unworthy purpose of stuffing pillows
+and mattresses. Possibly it has not undergone a fair trial in the hands
+of our ingenious artists, and we may yet see it converted into a valuable
+manufacture. It grows in pods, from four to six inches long, which burst
+open when ripe. The seeds entirely resemble the black pepper, but are
+without taste. The tree is remarkable from the branches growing out
+perfectly straight and horizontal, and being always three, forming equal
+angles, at the same height: the diminutive shoots likewise grow flat; and
+the several gradations of branches observe the same regularity to the
+top. Some travellers have called it the umbrella tree, but the piece of
+furniture called a dumb-waiter exhibits a more striking picture of it.
+
+BETEL-NUT.
+
+The betel-nut or pinang (Areca catechu) before mentioned is a
+considerable article of traffic to the coast of Coromandel or Telinga,
+particularly from Achin.
+
+COFFEE.
+
+The coffee-trees are universally planted, but the fruit produced here is
+not excellent in quality, which is probably owing entirely to the want of
+skill in the management of them. The plants are disposed too close to
+each other, and are so much overshaded by other trees that the sun cannot
+penetrate to the fruit; owing to which the juices are not well ripened,
+and the berries, which become large, do not acquire a proper flavour. Add
+to this that the berries are gathered whilst red, which is before they
+have arrived at a due degree of maturity, and which the Arabs always
+permit them to attain to, esteeming it essential to the goodness of the
+coffee. As the tree is of the same species with that cultivated in Arabia
+there is little doubt but with proper care this article might be produced
+of a quality equal, perhaps superior, to that imported from the West
+Indies; though probably the heavy rains on Sumatra may prevent its
+attaining to the perfection of the coffee of Mocha.*
+
+(*Footnote. For these observations on the growth of the coffee, as well
+as many others on the vegetable productions of the island, I am indebted
+to the letters of Mr. Charles Miller, entered on the Company's records at
+Bencoolen, and have to return him my thanks for many communications since
+his return to England. On the subject of this article of produce I have
+since received the following interesting information from the late Mr.
+Charles Campbell in a letter dated November 1803. "The coffee you
+recollect on this coast I found so degenerated from want of culture and
+care as not to be worth the rearing. But this objection has been removed,
+for more than three years ago I procured twenty-five plants from Mocha;
+they produced fruit in about twenty months, are now in their second crop,
+and loaded beyond any fruit-trees I ever saw. The average produce is
+about eight pounds a tree; but so much cannot be expected in extensive
+plantations, nor in every soil. The berries are in no respect inferior in
+flavour to those of the parent country." This cultivation, I am happy to
+hear, has since been carried to a great extent.)
+
+
+(PLATE 2. THE DAMMAR, A SPECIES OF PINUS.
+Sinensis delt. Swaine Sc.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+DAMMAR.
+
+The dammar is a kind of turpentine or resin from a species of pine, and
+used for the same purposes to which that and pitch are applied. It is
+exported in large quantities to Bengal and elsewhere. It exudes, or
+flows rather, spontaneously from the tree in such plenty that there is no
+need of making incisions to procure it. The natives gather it in lumps
+from the ground where it has fallen, or collect it from the shores of
+bays and rivers whither it has floated. It hangs from the bough of the
+tree which produces it in large pieces, and hardening in the air it
+becomes brittle and is blown off by the first high wind. When a quantity
+of it has fallen in the same place it appears like a rock, and thence,
+they say, or more probably from its hardness, it is called dammar batu;
+by which name it is distinguished from the dammar kruyen. This is another
+species of turpentine, yielded by a tree growing in Lampong, called
+kruyen, the wood of which is white and porous. It differs from the common
+sort, or dammar batu, in being soft and whitish, having the consistence
+and somewhat the appearance of putty. It is in much estimation for paying
+the bottoms of vessels, for which use, to give it firmness and duration,
+it ought to be mixed with some of the hard kind, of which it corrects the
+brittleness. The natives, in common, do not boil it, but rub or smear it
+on with their hands; a practice which is probably derived from indolence,
+unless, as I have been informed, that boiling it, without oil, renders it
+hard. To procure it, an incision is made in the tree.
+
+DRAGONS-BLOOD.
+
+Dragons-blood, Sanguis draconis, or jaranang, is a drug obtained from a
+large species of rattan, called rotan jaranang, growing abundantly in the
+countries of Palembang and Jambi, where it is manufactured and exported,
+in the first instance to Batavia, and from thence to China, where it is
+held in much estimation; but whether it be precisely the drug of our
+shops, so named, I cannot take upon me to determine. I am informed that
+it is prepared in the following manner: the stamina and other parts of
+fructification of this plant, covered with the farina, are mixed with a
+certain proportion of white dammar, and boiled in water until the whole
+is well incorporated, and the water evaporated; by which time the
+composition has acquired a red colour, and, when rubbed between the
+fingers, comes off in a dry powder. Whilst soft, it is usually poured
+into joints of small bamboo, and shipped in that state. According to this
+account, which I received from my friend Mr. Philip Braham, who had an
+opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of the process, the resinous quality
+of the drug belongs only to the dammar, and not to the rotan.
+
+GAMBIR.
+
+Gambir, or gatah gambir, is a juice extracted from the leaves of a plant
+of that name, inspissated by decoction, strained, suffered to cool and
+harden, and then cut into cakes of different shapes, or formed into
+balls. It is very generally eaten by the natives with their sirih or
+betel, and is supposed to have the property of cleansing and sweetening
+the mouth; for which reason it is also rubbed to the gums of infants. For
+a minute detail of the culture and manufacture of this article at Malacca
+see the Batavian Transactions Volume 2 page 356, where the plant is
+classed between the portlandia and roella of L. In other places it is
+obtained from a climbing or trailing plant, evidently the Funis uncatus
+of Rumphius.* See also Observations on the Nauclea Gambir, by Mr. W.
+Hunter, in the Linnean Transactions Volume 9 page 218. At Siak, Kampar,
+and Indragiri, on the eastern side of Sumatra, it is an important article
+of commerce.
+
+(*Footnote. Hoc unum adhuc addendum est, in Sumatra nempe ac forte in
+Java aliam quoque esse plantam repentem gatta gambir akar dictam, qum
+forte unae eaedemque erunt plantae; ac verbum akar Malaiensibus denotat
+non tantum radicem, sed repentem quoque fruticem. Volume 5 page 64.)
+
+LIGNUM ALOES.
+
+The agallochin, agila-wood, or lignum aloes, called by the natives
+kalambak and kayu gahru, is highly prized in all parts of the East, for
+the fragrant scent it emits in burning. I find these two names used
+indiscriminately in Malayan writings, and sometimes coupled together; but
+Valentyn pronounces the gahru to be an inferior species, and the Batavian
+Catalogue describes it as the heart of the rasamala, and different from
+the genuine kalambak. This unctuous substance, which burns like a resin,
+is understood to be the decayed, and probably disordered, part of the
+tree. It is described by Kaempfer (Amaenit page 903) under the Chinese
+name of sinkoo, and by Dr. Roxburgh under that of Aquillaria agallocha.
+
+TIMBER.
+
+The forests contain an inexhaustible store and endless variety of timber
+trees, many sorts of which are highly valuable and capable of being
+applied to ship-building and other important purposes. On the western
+coast the general want of navigable rivers has materially hindered both
+the export and the employment of timber; but those on the eastern side,
+particularly Siak, have heretofore supplied the city of Batavia with
+great abundance, and latterly the naval arsenal at Pulo Pinang with what
+is required for the construction of ships of war.
+
+TEAK.
+
+The teak however, the pride of Indian forests, called by the Malays jati
+(Tectona grandis, L.), does not appear to be indigenous to this island,
+although flourishing to the northward and southward of it, in Pegu and
+Java; and I believe it is equally a stranger to the Malayan peninsula.
+Attempts have been made by the servants of the Company to promote its
+cultivation. Mr. Robert Hay had a plantation near Bencoolen, but the
+situation seemed unfavourable. Mr. John Marsden, when resident of Laye in
+the year 1776, sowed some seeds of it, and distributed a quantity amongst
+the inhabitants of his district. The former, at least, throve
+exceedingly, as if in their natural soil. The appearance of the tree is
+stately, the leaves are broad and large, and they yield, when squeezed, a
+red juice. The wood is well known to be, in many respects, preferable to
+oak, working more kindly, surpassing it in durability, and having the
+peculiar property of preserving the iron bolts driven into it from rust;
+a property that may be ascribed to the essential oil or tar contained in
+it, and which has lately been procured from it in large quantities by
+distillation at Bombay. Many ships built at that place have continued to
+swim so long that none could recollect the period at which they were
+launched.
+
+POON, ETC.
+
+For masts and yards the wood preferred is the red bintangur (a species of
+uvaria), which in all the maritime parts of India has obtained the name
+of poon or puhn, from the Malayan word signifying tree in general; as
+puhn upas, the poison-tree, puhn kayu, a timber-tree, etc.
+
+The camphor-wood, so useful for carpenters' purposes, has been already
+mentioned.
+
+Kayu pindis or kapini (species of metrosideros), is named also kayu besi,
+or iron-wood, on account of its extraordinary hardness, which turns the
+edge of common tools.
+
+Marbau (Metrosideros amboinensis, R.) grows to a large size, and is used
+for beams both in ship and house-building, as well as for other purposes
+to which oak is applied in Europe. Pinaga is valuable as crooked timber,
+and used for frames and knees of ships, being also very durable. It
+frequently grows in the wash of the sea.
+
+Juar, ebony, called in the Batavian Catalogue kayu arang, or
+charcoal-wood, is found here in great plenty.
+
+Kayu gadis, a wood possessing the flavour and qualities of the sassafras,
+and used for the same purposes in medicine, but in the growth of the tree
+resembling rather our elm than the laurus (to which latter tribe the
+American sassafras belongs), is very common in the plains near Bencoolen.
+
+Kayu arau (Casuarina littorea) is often termed a bastard-pine, and as
+such gave name to the Isle of Pines discovered by Captain Cook. By the
+Malays it is usually called kayu chamara, from the resemblance of its
+branches to the ornamental cowtails of Upper India. It has been already
+remarked of this tree, whose wood is not particularly useful, that it
+delights in a low sandy soil, and is ever the first that springs up from
+land relinquished by the sea.
+
+The rangas or rungi, commonly supposed to be the manchineel of the West
+Indies, but perhaps only from the noxious quality of its juices, is the
+Arbor vernicis of Rumphius, and particularly described in the Batavian
+Transactions Volume 5 under the name of Manga deleteria sylvestris,
+fructu parvo cordiformi. In a list of plants in the same volume, by F.
+Norona, it is termed Anacardium encardium. The wood has some resemblance
+to mahogany, is worked up into articles of furniture, and resists the
+destructive ravages of the white ant, but its hardness and acrid sap,
+which blisters the hands of those employed about it, are objections to
+its general use. I am not aware of the natives procuring a varnish from
+this tree.
+
+Of the various sorts of tree producing dammar, some are said to be
+valuable as timber, particularly the species called dammar laut, not
+mentioned by Rumphius, which is employed at Pulo Pinang for frame timbers
+of ships, beams, and knees.
+
+Kamuning (camunium, R. chalcas paniculata, Lour.) is a light-coloured
+wood, close, and finely grained, takes an exquisite polish, and is used
+for the sheaths of krises. There is also a red-grained sort, in less
+estimation. The appearance of the tree is very beautiful, resembling in
+its leaves the larger myrtle, with a white flower.
+
+The langsani likewise is a wood handsomely veined, and is employed for
+cabinet and carved work.
+
+Beside these the kinds of wood most in use are the madang, ballam,
+maranti, laban, and marakuli. The variety is much greater, but many, from
+their porous nature and proneness to decay, are of very little value, and
+scarcely admit of seasoning before they become rotten.
+
+I cannot quit the vegetable kingdom without noticing a tree which,
+although of no use in manufacture or commerce, not peculiar to the
+island, and has been often described, merits yet, for its extreme
+singularity, that it should not be passed over in silence. This is the
+jawi-jawi and ulang-ulang of the Malays, the banyan tree of the
+continent, the Grossularia domestica of Rumphius, and the Ficus indica or
+Ficus racemosa of Linnaeus. It possesses the uncommon property of
+dropping roots or fibres from certain parts of its boughs, which, when
+they touch the earth, become new stems, and go on increasing to such an
+extent that some have measured, in circumference of the branches, upwards
+of a thousand feet, and have been said to afford shelter to a troop of
+horse.* These fibres, that look like ropes attached to the branches, when
+they meet with any obstruction in their descent conform themselves to the
+shape of the resisting body, and thus occasion many curious
+metamorphoses. I recollect seeing them stand in the perfect shape of a
+gate long after the original posts and cross piece had decayed and
+disappeared; and I have been told of their lining the internal
+circumference of a large bricked well, like the worm in a distiller's
+tub; there exhibiting the view of a tree turned inside out, the branches
+pointing to the centre, instead of growing from it. It is not more
+extraordinary in its manner of growth than whimsical and fantastic in its
+choice of situations. From the side of a wall or the top of a house it
+seems to spring spontaneously. Even from the smooth surface of a wooden
+pillar, turned and painted, I have seen it shoot forth, as if the
+vegetative juices of the seasoned timber had renewed their circulation
+and begun to produce leaves afresh. I have seen it flourish in the centre
+of a hollow tree of a very different species, which however still
+retained its verdure, its branches encompassing those of the adventitious
+plant whilst its decayed trunk enclosed the stem, which was visible, at
+interstices, from nearly the level of the plain on which they grew. This
+in truth appeared so striking a curiosity that I have often repaired to
+the spot to contemplate the singularity of it. How the seed from which it
+is produced happens to occupy stations seemingly so unnatural is not
+easily determined. Some have imagined the berries carried thither by the
+wind, and others, with more appearance of truth, by the birds; which,
+cleansing their bills where they light, or attempt to light, leave, in
+those places, the seeds adhering by the viscous matter which surrounds
+them. However this be, the jawi-jawi, growing on buildings without earth
+or water, and deriving from the genial atmosphere its principle of
+nourishment, proves in its increasing growth highly destructive to the
+fabric where it is harboured; for the fibrous roots, which are at first
+extremely fine, penetrate common cements, and, overcoming as their size
+enlarges the most powerful resistance, split, with the force of the
+mechanic wedge, the most substantial brickwork. When the consistence is
+such as not to admit the insinuation of the fibres the root extends
+itself along the outside, and to an extraordinary length, bearing not
+unfrequently to the stem the proportion of eight to one when young. I
+have measured the former sixty inches, when the latter, to the extremity
+of the leaf, which took up a third part, was no more than eight inches. I
+have also seen it wave its boughs at the apparent height of two hundred
+feet, of which the roots, if we may term them such, occupied at least one
+hundred; forming by their close combination the appearance of a venerable
+gothic pillar. It stood near the plains of Krakap, but, like other
+monuments of antiquity, it had its period of existence, and is now no
+more.
+
+(*Footnote. The following is an account of the dimensions of a remarkable
+banyan or burr tree, near Manjee, twenty miles west of Patna in Bengal.
+Diameter 363 to 375 feet. Circumference of shadow at noon 1116 feet.
+Circumference of the several stems, in number fifty or sixty, 921 feet.
+Under this tree sat a naked Fakir, who had occupied that situation for
+twenty-five years; but he did not continue there the whole year through,
+for his vow obliged him to lie, during the four cold months, up to his
+neck in the waters of the river Ganges.)
+
+
+(PLATE 18. ENTRANCE OF PADANG RIVER.
+With Buffaloes.)
+
+
+(PLATE 18A. VIEW OF PADANG HILL.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+
+CHAPTER 8.
+
+GOLD, TIN, AND OTHER METALS.
+BEESWAX.
+IVORY.
+BIRDS-NEST, ETC.
+IMPORT-TRADE.
+
+GOLD.
+
+Beside those articles of trade afforded by the vegetable kingdom Sumatra
+produces many others, the chief of which is gold. This valuable metal is
+found mostly in the central parts of the island; none (or with few
+exceptions) being observed to the southward of Limun, a branch of Jambi
+River, nor to the northward of Nalabu, from which port Achin is
+principally supplied. Menangkabau has always been esteemed the richest
+seat of it; and this consideration probably induced the Dutch to
+establish their head factory at Padang, in the immediate neighbourhood of
+that kingdom. Colonies of Malays from thence have settled themselves in
+almost all the districts where gold is procured, and appear to be the
+only persons who dig for it in mines, or collect it in streams; the
+proper inhabitants or villagers confining their attention to the raising
+of provisions, with which they supply those who search for the metal.
+Such at least appears to be the case in Limun, Batang Asei, and Pakalang
+jambu, where a considerable gold trade is carried on.
+
+It has been generally understood at the English settlements that earth
+taken up from the beds of rivers, or loosened from the adjacent banks,
+and washed by means of rivulets diverted towards the newly-opened ground,
+furnishes the greater proportion of the gold found in the island, and
+that the natives are not accustomed to venture upon any excavation that
+deserves the name of mining; but our possession, during the present war,
+of the settlements that belonged to the Dutch, has enabled us to form
+juster notions on the subject, and the following account, obtained from
+well-informed persons on the spot, will show the methods pursued in both
+processes, and the degree of enterprise and skill employed by the
+workmen.
+
+In the districts situated inland of Padang, which is the principal mart
+for this article, little is collected otherwise than from mines (tambang)
+by people whose profession it is to work them, and who are known by the
+appellation of orang gulla. The metal brought down for sale is for the
+most part of two sorts, distinguished by the terms amas supayang and amas
+sungei-abu, from the names of places where they are respectively
+procured. The former is what we usually call rock-gold, consisting of
+pieces of quartz more or less intermixed with veins of gold, generally of
+fine quality, running through it in all directions, and forming beautiful
+masses, which, being admired by Europeans, are sometimes sold by weight
+as if the whole were solid metal. The mines yielding this sort are
+commonly situated at the foot of a mountain, and the shafts are driven
+horizontally to the extent of from eight to twenty fathoms. The gold to
+which sungei-abu gives name is on the contrary found in the state of
+smooth solid lumps, in shape like gravel, and of various sizes, the
+largest lump that I have seen weighing nine ounces fifteen grains, and
+one in my possession (for which I am indebted to Mr. Charles Holloway)
+weighing eight grains less than nine ounces. This sort is also termed
+amas lichin or smooth gold, and appears to owe that quality to its having
+been exposed, in some prior state of the soil or conformation of the
+earth, to the action of running water, and deprived of its sharp and
+rough edges by attrition. This form of gravel is the most common in which
+gold is discovered. Gold-dust or amas urei is collected either in the
+channels of brooks running over ground rich in the metal, in standing
+pools of water occasioned by heavy rains, or in a number of holes dug in
+a situation to which a small rapid stream can be directed.
+
+The tools employed in working the mines are an iron crow three feet in
+length, called tabah, a shovel called changkul, and a heavy iron mallet
+or hammer, the head of which is eighteen inches in length and as thick as
+a man's leg, with a handle in the middle. With this they beat the lumps
+of rock till they are reduced to powder, and the pounded mass is then put
+into a sledge or tray five or six feet long and one and a half broad, in
+the form of a boat, and thence named bidu. To this vessel a rope of iju
+is attached, by which they draw it when loaded out of the horizontal mine
+to the nearest place where they can meet with a supply of water, which
+alone is employed to separate the gold from the pulverized quartz.
+
+In the perpendicular mines the smooth or gravel-gold is often found near
+the surface, but in small quantities, improving as the workmen advance,
+and again often vanishing suddenly. This they say is most likely to be
+the case when after pursuing a poor vein they suddenly come to large
+lumps. When they have dug to the depth of four, six, or sometimes eight
+fathoms (which they do at a venture, the surface not affording any
+indications on which they can depend), they work horizontally, supporting
+the shaft with timbers; but to persons acquainted with the berg-werken of
+Germany or Hungary, these pits would hardly appear to merit the
+appellation of mines.* In Siberia however, as in Sumatra, the hills yield
+their gold by slightly working them. Sand is commonly met with at the
+depth of three or four fathoms, and beneath this a stratum of napal or
+steatite, which is considered as a sign that the metal is near; but the
+least fallible mark is a red stone, called batu kawi, lying in detached
+pieces. It is mostly found in red and white clay, and often adhering to
+small stones, as well as in homogeneous lumps. The gold is separated from
+the clay by means of water poured on a hollow board, in the management of
+which the persons employed are remarkably expert.
+
+(*Footnote. It has been observed to me that it is not so much the want of
+windlasses or machines (substitutes for which they are ready enough at
+contriving) that prevents excavation to a great depth as the apprehension
+of earthquakes, the effect of which has frequently been to overwhelm them
+before they could escape even from their shallow mines.)
+
+In these perpendicular mines the water is drawn off by hand in pails or
+buckets. In the horizontal they make two shafts or entries in a direction
+parallel to each other, as far as they mean to extend the work, and there
+connect them by a cross trench. One of these, by a difference in their
+respective levels, serves as a drain to carry off the water, whilst the
+other is kept dry. They work in parties of from four or five to forty or
+fifty in number; the proprietor of the ground receiving one half of the
+produce and the undertakers the other; and it does not appear that the
+prince receives any established royalty. The hill people affect a kind of
+independence or equality which they express by the term of sama rata.
+
+It may well be imagined that mines of this description are very numerous,
+and in the common estimation of the natives they amount to no fewer than
+twelve hundred in the dominions of Menangkabau. A considerable proportion
+of their produce (perhaps one half) never comes into the hands of
+Europeans but is conveyed to the eastern side of the island, and yet I
+have been assured on good authority that from ten to twelve thousand
+ounces have annually been received, on public and private account, at
+Padang alone; at Nalabu about two thousand, Natal eight hundred, and
+Moco-moco six hundred. The quality of the gold collected in the Padang
+districts is inferior to that purchased at Natal and Moco-moco, in
+consequence of the practice of blending together the unequal produce of
+such a variety of mines which in other parts it is customary to keep
+distinct. The gold from the former is of the fineness of from nineteen to
+twenty-one, and from the latter places is generally of from twenty-two to
+twenty-three carats. The finest that has passed through my hands was
+twenty-three carats, one grain and a half, assayed at the Tower of
+London. Gold of an inferior touch, called amas muda from the paleness of
+its colour, is found in the same countries where the other is produced. I
+had some assayed which was two carats three grains worse than standard,
+and contained an alloy of silver, but not in a proportion to be affected
+by the acids. I have seen gold brought from Mampawah in Borneo which was
+in the state of a fine uniform powder, high-coloured, and its degree of
+fineness not exceeding fifteen or sixteen carats. The natives suppose
+these differences to proceed from an original essential inferiority of
+the metal, not possessing the art of separating it from the silver or
+copper. In this island it is never found in the state of ore, but is
+always completely metallic. A very little pale gold is now and then found
+in the Lampong country.
+
+Of those who dig for it the most intelligent, distinguished by the name
+of sudagar or merchants, are intrusted by the rest with their
+collections, who carry the gold to the places of trade on the great
+eastern rivers, or to the settlements on the west coast, where they
+barter it for iron (of which large quantities are consumed in tools for
+working the mines), opium, and the fine piece-goods of Madras and Bengal
+with which they return heavily loaded to their country. In some parts of
+the journey they have the convenience of water-carriage on lakes and
+rivers; but in others they carry on their backs a weight of about eighty
+pounds through woods, over streams, and across mountains, in parties
+generally of one hundred or more, who have frequent occasion to defend
+their property against the spirit of plunder and extortion which prevails
+among the poorer nations through whose districts they are obliged to
+pass. Upon the proposal of striking out any new road the question always
+asked by these intermediate people is, apa ontong kami, what is to be our
+advantage?
+
+PRICE.
+
+When brought to our settlements it was formerly purchased at the rate of
+eighteen Spanish dollars the tail, or about three pounds five shillings
+the ounce, but in later times it has risen to twenty-one dollars, or to
+three pounds eighteen shillings the ounce. Upon exportation to Europe
+therefore it scarcely affords a profit to the original buyer, and others
+who employ it as a remittance incur a loss when insurance and other
+incidental charges are deducted. A duty of five per cent which it had
+been customary to charge at the East India-house was, about twenty years
+ago, most liberally remitted by the Company upon a representation made by
+me to the Directors of the hardship sustained in this respect by its
+servants at Fort Marlborough, and the public benefit that would accrue
+from giving encouragement to the importation of bullion. The long
+continuance of war and peculiar risk of Indian navigation resulting from
+it may probably have operated to counteract these good effects.
+
+It has generally been thought surprising that the European Companies who
+have so long had establishments in Sumatra should not have considered it
+an object to work these mines upon a regular system, with proper
+machinery, and under competent inspection; but the attempt has in fact
+been made, and experience and calculation may have taught them that it is
+not a scheme likely to be attended with success, owing among other causes
+to the dearness of labour, and the necessity it would occasion for
+keeping up a force in distant parts of the country for the protection of
+the persons engaged and the property collected. Europeans cannot be
+employed upon such work in that climate, and the natives are unfit for
+(nor would they submit to) the laborious exertion required to render the
+undertaking profitable. A detailed and in many respects interesting
+account of the working a gold mine at Sileda, with a plate representing a
+section of the mine, is given by Elias Hesse,* who in the year 1682
+accompanied the Bergh-Hoofdman, Benj. Olitzsch, and a party of miners
+from Saxony, sent out by the Dutch East India Company for that purpose.
+The superintendent, with most of his people, lost their lives, and the
+undertaking failed. It is said at Padang that the metal proved to be
+uncommonly poor. Many years later trial was made of a vein running close
+to that settlement; but the returns not being adequate to the expense it
+was let to farm, and in a few years fell into such low repute as to be at
+length disposed of by public auction at a rent of two Spanish dollars.**
+The English company, also having intelligence of a mine said to be
+discovered near Fort Marlborough, gave orders for its being worked; but
+if it ever existed no trace now remains.
+
+(*Footnote. Ost-Indische Reise-beschreibung oder Diarium. Leipzig 1690
+octavo. See also J.W. Vogel's Ost-Indianische Reise-beschreibung.
+Altenburg 1704 octavo.)
+
+(**Footnote. The following is an extract of a letter from Mr. James
+Moore, a servant of the Company, dated from Padang in 1778. "They have
+lately opened a vein of gold in the country inland of this place, from
+which the governor at one time received a hundred and fifty tials (two
+hundred ounces). He has procured a map to be made of a particular part of
+the gold country, which points out the different places where they work
+for it; and also the situation of twenty-one Malay forts, all inhabited
+and in repair. These districts are extremely populous compared to the
+more southern part of the island. They collect and export annually to
+Batavia about two thousand five hundred tials of gold from this place:
+the quantity never exceeds three thousand tials nor falls short of two
+thousand." This refers to the public export on the Company's account,
+which agrees with what is stated in the Batavian Transactions. "In een
+goed Jaar geeven de Tigablas cottas omtrent 3000 Thail, zynde 6 Thail een
+Mark, dus omtrent 500 Mark Goud, van 't gchalte van 19 tot 20 carat.")
+
+Before the gold dust is weighed for sale, in order to cleanse it from all
+impurities and heterogeneous mixtures, whether natural or fraudulent,
+(such as filings of copper or of iron) a skilful person is employed who,
+by the sharpness of his eye and long practice, is able to effect this to
+a surprising degree of nicety. The dust is spread out on a kind of wooden
+platter, and the base particles (lanchong) are touched out from the mass
+and put aside one by one with an instrument, if such it may be termed,
+made of cotton cloth rolled up to a point. If the honesty of these
+gold-cleaners can be depended upon their dexterity is almost infallible;
+and as some check upon the former it is usual to pour the contents of
+each parcel when thus cleansed into a vessel of aqua-fortis, which puts
+their accuracy to the test. The parcels or bulses in which the gold is
+packed up are formed of the integument that covers the heart of the
+buffalo. This has the appearance of bladder, but is both tougher and more
+pliable. In those parts of the country where the traffic in the article
+is considerable it is generally employed as currency instead of coin;
+every man carries small scales about him, and purchases are made with it
+so low as to the weight of a grain or two of padi. Various seeds are used
+as gold weights, but more especially these two: the one called rakat or
+saga-timbangan (Glycine abrus L. or Abrus maculatus of the Batavian
+Transactions) being the well-known scarlet pea with a black spot,
+twenty-four of which constitute a mas, and sixteen mas a tail: the other
+called saga-puhn and kondori batang (Adenanthera pavonia, L.), a scarlet
+or rather coral bean, much larger than the former and without the black
+spot. It is the candarin-weight of the Chinese, of which a hundred make a
+tail, and equal, according to the tables published by Stevens, to 5.7984
+gr. troy; but the average weight of those in my possession is 10.50
+grains. The tail differs however in the northern and southern parts of
+the island, being at Natal twenty-four pennyweights nine grains, and at
+Padang, Bencoolen, and elsewhere, twenty-six pennyweights twelve grains.
+At Achin the bangkal of thirty pennyweights twenty-one grains, is the
+standard. Spanish dollars are everywhere current, and accounts are kept
+in dollars, sukus (imaginary quarter-dollars) and kepping or copper cash,
+of which four hundred go to the dollar. Beside these there are silver
+fanams, single, double, and treble (the latter called tali) coined at
+Madras, twenty-four fanams or eight talis being equal to the Spanish
+dollar, which is always valued in the English settlements at five
+shillings sterling. Silver rupees have occasionally been struck in Bengal
+for the use of the settlements on the coast of Sumatra, but not in
+sufficient quantities to become a general currency; and in the year 1786
+the Company contracted with the late Mr. Boulton of Soho for a copper
+coinage, the proportions of which I was desired to adjust, as well as to
+furnish the inscriptions; and the same system, with many improvements
+suggested by Mr. Charles Wilkins, has since been extended to the three
+Presidencies of India. At Achin small thin gold and silver coins were
+formerly struck and still are current; but I have not seen any of the
+pieces that bore the appearance of modern coinage; nor am I aware that
+this right of sovereignty is exercised by any other power in the island.
+
+TIN.
+
+Tin, called timar, is a very considerable article of trade, and many
+cargoes of it are yearly carried to China, where the consumption is
+chiefly for religious purposes. The mines are situated in the island of
+Bangka, lying near Palembang, and are said to have been accidentally
+discovered there in 1710, by the burning of a house. They are worked by a
+colony of Chinese (said in the Batavian Transactions to consist of
+twenty-five thousand persons) under the nominal direction of the king of
+Palembang, but for the account and benefit of the Dutch Company, which
+has endeavoured to monopolize the trade, and actually obtained two
+millions of pounds yearly; but the enterprising spirit of private
+merchants, chiefly English and American, finds means to elude the
+vigilance of its cruisers, and the commerce is largely participated by
+them. It is exported for the most part in small pieces or cakes called
+tampang, and sometimes in slabs. M. Sonnerat reports that this tin (named
+calin by the French writers), was analysed by M. Daubenton, who found it
+to be the same metal as that produced in England; but it sells something
+higher than our grain-tin. In different parts of Sumatra, there are
+indications of tin-earth, or rather sand, and it is worked at the
+mountain of Sungei-pagu, but not to any great extent. Of this sand, at
+Bangka, a pikul, or 133 pounds is said to yield about 75 pounds of the
+metal.
+
+COPPER.
+
+A rich mine of copper is worked at Mukki near Labuan-haji, by the
+Achinese. The ore produces half its original weight in pure metal, and is
+sold at the rate of twenty dollars the pikul. A lump which I deposited in
+the Museum of the East India Company is pronounced to be native copper.
+The Malays are fond of mixing this metal with gold in equal quantities,
+and using the composition, which they name swasa, in the manufacture of
+buttons, betel-boxes, and heads of krises. I have never heard silver
+spoken of as a production of this part of the East.
+
+IRON.
+
+Iron ore is dug at a place named Turawang, in the eastern part of
+Menangkabau, and there smelted, but not, I apprehend, in large
+quantities, the consumption of the natives being amply supplied with
+English and Swedish bar-iron, which they are in the practice of
+purchasing by measure instead of weight.
+
+SULPHUR.
+
+Sulphur (balerang), as has been mentioned, is abundantly procured from
+the numerous volcanoes, and especially from that very great one which is
+situated about a day's journey inland from Priaman. Yellow Arsenic
+(barangan) is also an article of traffic.
+
+SALTPETRE.
+
+In the country of Kattaun, near the head of Urei River, there are
+extensive caves (goha) from the soil of which saltpetre (mesiyu mantah)
+is extracted. M. Whalfeldt, who was employed as a surveyor, visited them
+in March 1773. Into one he advanced seven hundred and forty-three feet,
+when his lights were extinguished by the damp vapour. Into a second he
+penetrated six hundred feet, when, after getting through a confined
+passage about three feet wide and five in height, an opening in the rock
+led to a spacious place forty feet high. The same caves were visited by
+Mr. Christopher Terry and Mr. Charles Miller. They are the habitation of
+innumerable birds, which are perceived to abound the more the farther you
+proceed. Their nests are formed about the upper parts of the cave, and it
+is thought to be their dung simply that forms the soil (in many places
+from four to six feet deep, and from fifteen to twenty broad) which
+affords the nitre. A cubic foot of this earth, measuring seven gallons,
+produced on boiling seven pounds fourteen ounces of saltpetre, and a
+second experiment gave a ninth part more. This I afterwards saw refined
+to a high degree of purity; but I conceive that its value would not repay
+the expense of the process.
+
+BIRDS-NEST.
+
+The edible birds-nest, so much celebrated as a peculiar luxury of the
+table, especially amongst the Chinese, is found in similar caves in
+different parts of the island, but chiefly near the sea-coast, and in the
+greatest abundance at its southern extremity. Four miles up the river
+Kroi there is one of considerable size. The birds are called
+layang-layang, and resemble the common swallow, or perhaps rather the
+martin. I had an opportunity of giving to the British Museum some of
+these nests with the eggs in them. They are distinguished into white and
+black, of which the first are by far the more scarce and valuable, being
+found in the proportion of one only to twenty-five. The white sort sells
+in China at the rate of a thousand to fifteen hundred dollars the pikul
+(according to the Batavian Transactions for nearly its weight in silver),
+the black is usually disposed of at Batavia at about twenty or thirty
+dollars for the same weight, where I understand it is chiefly converted
+into a kind of glue. The difference between the two sorts has by some
+been supposed to be owing to the mixture of the feathers of the birds
+with the viscous substance of which the nests are formed; and this they
+deduce from the experiment of steeping the black nests for a short time
+in hot water, when they are said to become white to a certain degree.
+Among the natives I have heard a few assert that they are the work of a
+different species of bird. It was also suggested to me that the white
+might probably be the recent nests of the season in which they were
+taken, and the black such as had been used for several years
+successively. This opinion appearing plausible, I was particular in my
+inquiries as to that point, and learned what seems much to corroborate
+it. When the natives prepare to take the nests they enter the cave with
+torches, and, forming ladders of bamboos notched according to the usual
+mode, they ascend and pull down the nests, which adhere in numbers
+together, from the sides and top of the rock. I was informed that the
+more regularly the cave is thus stripped the greater proportion of white
+nests they are sure to find, and that on this experience they often make
+a practice of beating down and destroying the old nests in larger
+quantities than they trouble themselves to carry away, in order that they
+may find white nests the next season in their room. The birds, I am
+assured, are seen, during the building time, in large flocks upon the
+beach, collecting in their beaks the foam thrown up by the surf, of which
+there appears little doubt of their constructing their gelatinous nests,
+after it has undergone, perhaps, some preparation from commixture with
+their saliva or other secretion in the beak or the craw; and that this is
+the received opinion of the natives appears from the bird being very
+commonly named layang-buhi, the foam-swallow. Linnaeus however has
+conjectured, and with much plausibility, that it is the animal substance
+frequently found on the beach which fishermen call blubber or jellies,
+and not the foam of the sea, that these birds collect; and it is proper
+to mention that, in a Description of these Nests by M. Hooyman, printed
+in Volume 3 of the Batavian Transactions, he is decidedly of opinion that
+the substance of them has nothing to do with the sea-foam but is
+elaborated from the food of the bird. Mr. John Crisp informed me that he
+had seen at Padang a common swallow's nest, built under the eaves of a
+house, which was composed partly of common mud and partly of the
+substance that constitutes the edible nests. The young birds themselves
+are said to be very delicate food, and not inferior in richness of
+flavour to the beccafico.
+
+TRIPAN.
+
+The swala, tripan, or sea-slug (holothurion), is likewise an article of
+trade to Batavia and China, being employed, as birds-nest or vermicelli,
+for enriching soups and stews, by a luxurious people. It sells at the
+former place for forty-five dollars per pikul, according to the degree of
+whiteness and other qualities.
+
+WAX.
+
+Beeswax is a commodity of great importance in all the eastern islands,
+from whence it is exported in large oblong cakes to China, Bengal, and
+other parts of the continent. No pains are taken with the bees, which are
+left to settle where they list (generally on the boughs of trees) and are
+never collected in hives. Their honey is much inferior to that of Europe,
+as might be expected from the nature of the vegetation.
+
+GUM-LAC.
+
+Gum-lac, called by the natives ampalu or ambalu, although found upon
+trees and adhering strongly to the branches, is known to be the work of
+insects, as wax is of the bee. It is procured in small quantities from
+the country inland of Bencoolen; but at Padang is a considerable article
+of trade. Foreign markets however are supplied from the countries of Siam
+and Camboja. It is chiefly valued in Sumatra for the animal part, found
+in the nidus of the insect, which is soluble in water, and yields a very
+fine purple dye, used for colouring their silks and other webs of
+domestic manufacture. Like the cochineal it would probably, with the
+addition of a solution of tin, become a good scarlet. I find in a Bisayan
+dictionary that this substance is employed by the people of the
+Philippine Islands for staining their teeth red. For an account of the
+lac insect see in the Philosophical Transactions Volume 71 page 374 a
+paper by Mr. James Kerr.
+
+IVORY.
+
+The forests abounding with elephants, ivory (gading) is consequently
+found in abundance, and is carried both to the China and Europe markets.
+The animals themselves were formerly the objects of a considerable
+traffic from Achin to the coast of Coromandel, or kling country, and
+vessels were built expressly for their transport; but it has declined, or
+perhaps ceased altogether, from the change which the system of warfare
+has undergone, since the European tactics have been imitated by the
+princes of India.
+
+FISH-ROES.
+
+The large roes of a species of fish (said to be like the shad, but more
+probably of the mullet-kind) taken in great quantities at the mouth of
+Siak River, are salted and exported from thence to all the Malayan
+countries, where they are eaten with boiled rice, and esteemed a
+delicacy. This is the botarga of the Italians, and here called trobo and
+telur-trobo.
+
+IMPORT-TRADE.
+
+The most general articles of import-trade are the following:
+
+From the coast of Coromandel various cotton goods, as long-cloth, blue
+and white, chintz, and coloured handkerchiefs, of which those
+manufactured at Pulicat are the most prized; and salt.
+
+From Bengal muslins, striped and plain, and several other kinds of cotton
+goods, as cossaes, baftaes, hummums, etc., taffetas and some other silks;
+and opium in considerable quantities.
+
+From the Malabar coast various cotton goods, mostly of a coarse raw
+fabric.
+
+From China coarse porcelain, kwalis or iron pans, in sets of various
+sizes, tobacco shred very fine, gold thread, fans, and a number of small
+articles.
+
+From Celebes (known here by the names of its chief provinces, Mangkasar,
+Bugis, and Mandar), Java, Balli, Ceram, and other eastern islands, the
+rough, striped cotton cloth called kain-sarong, or vulgarly
+bugis-clouting, being the universal body-dress of the natives; krises and
+other weapons, silken kris-belts, tudongs or hats, small pieces of
+ordnance, commonly of brass, called rantaka, spices, and also salt of a
+large grain, and sometimes rice, chiefly from Balli.
+
+From Europe silver, iron, steel, lead, cutlery, various sorts of
+hardware, brass wire, and broadcloths, especially scarlet.
+
+It is not within my plan to enlarge on this subject by entering into a
+detail of the markets for, or prices of, the several articles, which are
+extremely fluctuating, according to the more or less abundant or scanty
+supply. Most of the kinds of goods above enumerated are incidentally
+mentioned in other parts of the work, as they happen to be connected with
+the account of the natives who purchase them.
+
+
+CHAPTER 9.
+
+ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
+ART OF MEDICINE.
+SCIENCES.
+ARITHMETIC.
+GEOGRAPHY.
+ASTRONOMY.
+MUSIC, ETC.
+
+ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
+
+I shall now take a view of those arts and manufactures which the
+Sumatrans are skilled in, and which are not merely domestic but
+contribute rather to the conveniences, and in some instances to the
+luxuries, than to the necessaries of life. I must remind the reader that
+my observations on this subject are mostly drawn from the Rejangs, or
+those people of the island who are upon their level of improvement. We
+meet with accounts in old writers of great foundries of cannon in the
+dominion of Achin, and it is certain that firearms as well as krises are
+at this day manufactured in the country of Menangkabau; but my present
+description does not go to these superior exertions of art, which
+certainly do not appear among those people of the island whose manners,
+more immediately, I am attempting to delineate.
+
+FILIGREE.
+
+What follows, however, would seem an exception to this limitation; there
+being no manufacture in that part of the world, and perhaps I might be
+justified in saying, in any part of the world, that has been more admired
+and celebrated than the fine gold and silver filigree of Sumatra. This
+indeed is, strictly speaking, the work of the Malayan inhabitants; but as
+it is in universal use and wear throughout the country, and as the
+goldsmiths are settled everywhere along the coast, I cannot be guilty of
+much irregularity in describing here the process of their art.
+
+MODE OF WORKING IT.
+
+There is no circumstance that renders the filigree a matter of greater
+curiosity than the coarseness of the tools employed in the workmanship,
+and which, in the hands of a European, would not be thought sufficiently
+perfect for the most ordinary purposes. They are rudely and
+inartificially formed by the goldsmith (pandei) from any old iron he can
+procure. When you engage one of them to execute a piece of work his first
+request is usually for a piece of iron hoop to make his wire-drawing
+instrument; an old hammer head, stuck in a block, serves for an anvil;
+and I have seen a pair of compasses composed of two old nails tied
+together at one end. The gold is melted in a piece of a priuk or earthen
+rice-pot, or sometimes in a crucible of their own making, of common clay.
+In general they use no bellows but blow the fire with their mouths
+through a joint of bamboo, and if the quantity of metal to be melted is
+considerable three or four persons sit round their furnace, which is an
+old broken kwali or iron pot, and blow together. At Padang alone, where
+the manufacture is more considerable, they have adopted the Chinese
+bellows. Their method of drawing the wire differs but little from that
+used by European workmen. When drawn to a sufficient fineness they
+flatten it by beating it on their anvil; and when flattened they give it
+a twist like that in the whalebone handle of a punch-ladle, by rubbing it
+on a block of wood with a flat stick. After twisting they again beat it
+on the anvil, and by these means it becomes flat wire with indented
+edges. With a pair of nippers they fold down the end of the wire, and
+thus form a leaf or element of a flower in their work, which is cut off.
+The end is again folded and cut off till they have got a sufficient
+number of leaves, which are all laid on singly. Patterns of the flowers
+or foliage, in which there is not very much variety, are prepared on
+paper, of the size of the gold plate on which the filigree is to be laid.
+According to this they begin to dispose on the plate the larger
+compartments of the foliage, for which they use plain flat wire of a
+larger size, and fill them up with the leaves before mentioned. To fix
+their work they employ a glutinous substance made of the small red pea
+with a black spot before mentioned, ground to a pulp on a rough stone.
+This pulp they place on a young coconut about the size of a walnut, the
+top and bottom being cut off. I at first imagined that caprice alone
+might have directed them to the use of the coconut for this purpose; but
+I have since reflected on the probability of the juice of the young fruit
+being necessary to keep the pulp moist, which would otherwise speedily
+become dry and unfit for the work. After the leaves have been all placed
+in order and stuck on, bit by bit, a solder is prepared of gold filings
+and borax, moistened with water, which they strew or daub over the plate
+with a feather, and then putting it in the fire for a short time the
+whole becomes united. This kind of work on a gold plate they call karrang
+papan: when the work is open, they call it karrang trus. In executing the
+latter the foliage is laid out on a card, or soft kind of wood covered
+with paper, and stuck on, as before described, with the paste of the red
+seed; and the work, when finished, being strewed over with their solder,
+is put into the fire, when, the card or soft wood burning away, the gold
+remains connected. The greatest skill and attention is required in this
+operation as the work is often made to run by remaining too long or in
+too hot a fire. If the piece be large they solder it at several times.
+When the work is finished they give it that fine high colour they so much
+admire by an operation which they term sapoh. This consists in mixing
+nitre, common salt, and alum, reduced to powder and moistened, laying the
+composition on the filigree and keeping it over a moderate fire until it
+dissolves and becomes yellow. In this situation the piece is kept for a
+longer or shorter time according to the intensity of colour they wish the
+gold to receive. It is then thrown into water and cleansed. In the
+manufacture of baju buttons they first make the lower part flat, and,
+having a mould formed of a piece of buffalo's horn, indented to several
+sizes, each like one half of a bullet mould, they lay their work over one
+of these holes, and with a horn punch they press it into the form of the
+button. After this they complete the upper part. The manner of making the
+little balls with which their works are sometimes ornamented is as
+follows. They take a piece of charcoal, and, having cut it flat and
+smooth, they make in it a small hole, which they fill with gold dust, and
+this melted in the fire becomes a little ball. They are very inexpert at
+finishing and polishing the plain parts, hinges, screws, and the like,
+being in this as much excelled by the European artists as these fall
+short of them in the fineness and minuteness of the foliage. The Chinese
+also make filigree, mostly of silver, which looks elegant, but wants
+likewise the extraordinary delicacy of the Malayan work. The price of the
+workmanship depends upon the difficulty or novelty of the pattern. In
+some articles of usual demand it does not exceed one-third of the value
+of the gold; but, in matters of fancy, it is generally equal to it. The
+manufacture is not now (1780) held in very high estimation in England,
+where costliness is not so much the object of luxury as variety; but, in
+the revolution of taste, it may probably be again sought after and
+admired as fashionable.
+
+IRON MANUFACTURES.
+
+But little skill is shown amongst the country people in forging iron.
+They make nails however, though not much used by them in building, wooden
+pins being generally substituted; also various kinds of tools, as the
+prang or bill, the banchi, rembe, billiong, and papatil, which are
+different species of adzes, the kapak or axe, and the pungkur or hoe.
+Their fire is made with charcoal; the fossil coal which the country
+produces being rarely, if ever, employed, except by the Europeans; and
+not by them of late years, on the complaint of its burning away too
+quickly: yet the report made of it in 1719 was that it gave a surer heat
+than the coal from England. The bed of it (described rather as a large
+rock above ground) lies four days' journey up Bencoolen River, from
+whence quantities are washed down by the floods. The quality of coal is
+rarely good near the surface. Their bellows are thus constructed: two
+bamboos, of about four inches diameter and five feet in length, stand
+perpendicularly near the fire, open at the upper end and stopped below.
+About an inch or two from the bottom a small joint of bamboo is inserted
+into each, which serve as nozzles, pointing to, and meeting at, the fire.
+To produce a stream of air bunches of feathers or other soft substance,
+being fastened to long handles, are worked up and down in the upright
+tubes, like the piston of a pump. These, when pushed downwards, force the
+air through the small horizontal tubes, and, by raising and sinking each
+alternately, a continual current or blast is kept up; for which purpose a
+boy is usually placed on a high seat or stand. I cannot retrain from
+remarking that the description of the bellows used in Madagascar, as
+given by Sonnerat, Volume 2 page 60, so entirely corresponds with this
+that the one might almost pass for a copy of the other.
+
+CARPENTER'S WORK.
+
+The progress they have made in carpenter's work has been already pointed
+out, where there buildings were described.
+
+TOOLS.
+
+They are ignorant of the use of the saw, excepting where we have
+introduced it among them. Trees are felled by chopping at the stems, and
+in procuring boards they are confined to those the direction of whose
+grain or other qualities admit of their being easily split asunder. In
+this respect the species called maranti and marakuli have the preference.
+The tree, being stripped of its branches and its bark, is cut to the
+length required, and by the help of wedges split into boards. These being
+of irregular thickness are usually dubbed upon the spot. The tool used
+for this purpose is the rembe, a kind of adze. Most of their smaller
+work, and particularly on the bamboo, is performed with the papatil,
+which resembles in shape as much as in name the patupatu of the New
+Zealanders, but has the vast superiority of being made of iron. The
+blade, which is fastened to the handle with a nice and curious kind of
+rattan-work, is so contrived as to turn in it, and by that means can be
+employed either as an adze or small hatchet. Their houses are generally
+built with the assistance of this simple instrument alone. The billiong
+is no other than a large papatil, with a handle of two or three feet in
+length, turning, like that, in its socket.
+
+CEMENTS.
+
+The chief cement they employ for small work is the curd of buffalo-milk,
+called prakat. It is to be observed that butter is made (for the use of
+Europeans only; the words used by the Malays, for butter and cheese,
+monteiga and queijo, being pure Portuguese) not as with us, by churning,
+but by letting the milk stand till the butter forms of itself on the top.
+It is then taken off with a spoon, stirred about with the same in a flat
+vessel, and well washed in two or three waters. The thick sour milk left
+at the bottom, when the butter or cream is removed, is the curd here
+meant. This must be well squeezed, formed into cakes, and left to dry,
+when it will grow nearly as hard as flint. For use you must scrape some
+of it off, mix it with quick lime, and moisten it with milk. I think
+there is no stronger cement in the world, and it is found to hold,
+particularly in a hot and damp climate, much better than glue; proving
+also effectual in mending chinaware. The viscous juice of the saga-pea
+(abrus) is likewise used in the country as a cement.
+
+INK.
+
+Ink is made by mixing lamp-black with the white of egg. To procure the
+former they suspend over a burning lamp an earthen pot, the bottom of
+which is moistened, in order to make the soot adhere to it.
+
+DESIGNING.
+
+Painting and drawing they are quite strangers to. In carving, both in
+wood and ivory, they are curious and fanciful, but their designs are
+always grotesque and out of nature. The handles of the krises are the
+most common subjects of their ingenuity in this art, which usually
+exhibit the head and beak of a bird, with the folded arms of a human
+creature, not unlike the representation of one of the Egyptian deities.
+In cane and basketwork they are particularly neat and expert; as well as
+in mats, of which some kinds are much prized for their extreme fineness
+and ornamental borders.
+
+LOOMS.
+
+Silk and cotton cloths, of varied colours, manufactured by themselves,
+are worn by the natives in all parts of the country; especially by the
+women. Some of their work is very fine, and the patterns prettily
+fancied. Their loom or apparatus for weaving (tunun) is extremely
+defective, and renders their progress tedious. One end of the warp being
+made fast to a frame, the whole is kept tight, and the web stretched out
+by means of a species of yoke, which is fastened behind the body, when
+the person weaving sits down. Every second of the longitudinal threads,
+or warp, passes separately through a set of reeds, like the teeth of a
+comb, and the alternate ones through another set. These cross each other,
+up and down, to admit the woof, not from the extremities, as in our
+looms, nor effected by the feet, but by turning edgeways two flat sticks
+which pass between them. The shuttle (turak) is a hollow reed about
+sixteen inches long, generally ornamented on the outside, and closed at
+one end, having in it a small bit of stick, on which is rolled the woof
+or shoot. The silk cloths have usually a gold head. They use sometimes
+another kind of loom, still more simple than this, being no more than a
+frame in which the warp is fixed, and the woof darned with a long
+small-pointed shuttle. For spinning the cotton they make use of a machine
+very like ours. The women are expert at embroidery, the gold and silver
+thread for which is procured from China, as well as their needles. For
+common work their thread is the pulas before mentioned, or else filaments
+of the pisang (musa).
+
+EARTHENWARE.
+
+Different kinds of earthenware, I have elsewhere observed, are
+manufactured in the island.
+
+PERFUMES.
+
+They have a practice of perfuming their hair with oil of benzoin, which
+they distil themselves from the gum by a process doubtless of their own
+invention. In procuring it a priuk, or earthen rice-pot, covered close,
+is used for a retort. A small bamboo is inserted in the side of the
+vessel, and well luted with clay and ashes, from which the oil drops as
+it comes over. Along with the benzoin they put into the retort a mixture
+of sugar-cane and other articles that contribute little or nothing to the
+quantity or quality of the distillation; but no liquid is added. This oil
+is valued among them at a high price, and can only be used by the
+superior rank of people.
+
+OIL.
+
+The oil in general use is that of the coconut, which is procured in the
+following manner. The fleshy part being scraped out of the nut, which for
+this use must be old, is exposed for some time to the heat of the sun. It
+is then put into a mat bag and placed in the press (kampahan) between two
+sloping timbers, which are fixed together in a socket in the lower part
+of the frame, and forced towards each other by wedges in a groove at top,
+compressing by this means the pulp of the nut, which yields an oil that
+falls into a trough made for its reception below. In the farther parts of
+the country this oil also, owing to the scarcity of coconuts, is dear;
+and not so much used for burning as that from other vegetables, and the
+dammar or rosin, which is always at hand.
+
+TORCHES.
+
+When travelling at night they make use of torches or links, called suluh,
+the common sort of which are nothing more than dried bamboos of a
+convenient length, beaten at the joints till split in every part, without
+the addition of any resinous or other inflammable substance. A superior
+kind is made by filling with dammar a young bamboo, about a cubit long,
+well dried, and having the outer skin taken off.
+
+These torches are carried with a view, chiefly, to frighten away the
+tigers, which are alarmed at the appearance of fire; and for the same
+reason it is common to make a blaze with wood in different parts round
+their villages. The tigers prove to the inhabitants, both in their
+journeys and even their domestic occupations, most fatal and destructive
+enemies. The number of people annually slain by these rapacious tyrants
+of the woods is almost incredible. I have known instances of whole
+villages being depopulated by them. Yet, from a superstitious prejudice,
+it is with difficulty they are prevailed upon, by a large reward which
+the India Company offers, to use methods of destroying them till they
+have sustained some particular injury in their own family or kindred, and
+their ideas of fatalism contribute to render them insensible to the risk.
+
+TIGER-TRAPS.
+
+Their traps, of which they can make variety, are very ingeniously
+contrived. Sometimes they are in the nature of strong cages, with falling
+doors, into which the beast is enticed by a goat or dog enclosed as a
+bait; sometimes they manage that a large timber shall fall, in a groove,
+across his back; he is noosed about the loins with strong rattans, or he
+is led to ascend a plank, nearly balanced, which, turning when he is past
+the centre, lets him fall upon sharp stakes prepared below. Instances
+have occurred of a tiger being caught by one of the former modes, which
+had many marks in his body of the partial success of this last expedient.
+The escapes, at times, made from them by the natives are surprising, but
+these accounts in general carry too romantic an air to admit of being
+repeated as facts. The size and strength of the species which prevails on
+this island are prodigious. They are said to break with a stroke of their
+forepaw the leg of a horse or a buffalo; and the largest prey they kill
+is without difficulty dragged by them into the woods. This they usually
+perform on the second night, being supposed, on the first, to gratify
+themselves with sucking the blood only. Time is by this delay afforded to
+prepare for their destruction; and to the methods already enumerated,
+beside shooting them, I should add that of placing a vessel of water,
+strongly impregnated with arsenic, near the carcase, which is fastened to
+a tree to prevent its being carried off: The tiger having satiated
+himself with the flesh, is prompted to assuage his thirst with the
+tempting liquor at hand, and perishes in the indulgence. Their chief
+subsistence is most probably the unfortunate monkeys with which the woods
+abound. They are described as alluring them to their fate, by a
+fascinating power, similar to what has been supposed of the snake, and I
+am not incredulous enough to treat the idea with contempt, having myself
+observed that when an alligator, in a river, comes under an overhanging
+bough of a tree, the monkeys, in a state of alarm and distraction, crowd
+to the extremity, and, chattering and trembling, approach nearer and
+nearer to the amphibious monster that waits to devour them as they drop,
+which their fright and number renders almost unavoidable. These
+alligators likewise occasion the loss of many inhabitants, frequently
+destroying the people as they bathe in the river, according to their
+regular custom, and which the perpetual evidence of the risk attending it
+cannot deter them from. A superstitious idea of their sanctity also (or,
+perhaps, of consanguinity, as related in the journal of the Endeavour's
+voyage) preserves these destructive animals from molestation, although,
+with a hook of sufficient strength, they may be taken without much
+difficulty. A musket-ball appears to have no effect upon their
+impenetrable hides.
+
+FISHING.
+
+Besides the common methods of taking fish, of which the seas that wash
+the coasts of Sumatra afford an extraordinary variety and abundance, the
+natives employ a mode, unpractised, I apprehend, in any part of Europe.
+They steep the root of a certain climbing plant, called tuba, of strong
+narcotic qualities, in the water where the fish are observed, which
+produces such an effect that they become intoxicated and to appearance
+dead, float on the surface of the water, and are taken with the hand.
+This is generally made use of in the basins of water formed by the ledges
+of coral rock which, having no outlet, are left full when the tide has
+ebbed.* In the manufacture and employment of the casting-net they are
+particularly expert, and scarcely a family near the sea-coast is without
+one. To supply this demand great quantities of the pulas twine are
+brought down from the hill-country to be there worked up; and in this
+article we have an opportunity of observing the effect of that
+conformation which renders the handiwork of orientals (unassisted by
+machinery) so much more delicate than that of the western people. Mr.
+Crisp possessed a net of silk, made in the country behind Padang, the
+meshes of which were no wider than a small fingernail, that opened
+sixteen feet in diameter. With such they are said to catch small fish in
+the extensive lake situated on the borders of Menangkabau.
+
+(*Footnote. In Captain Cook's second voyage is a plate representing a
+plant used for the same purpose at Otaheite, which is the exact
+delineation of one whose appearance I was well acquainted with in
+Sumatra, and which abounds in many parts of the sea-beach, but which is a
+different plant from the tuba-akar, but may be another kind, named
+tuba-biji. In South America also, we are informed, the inhabitants
+procure fish after this extraordinary manner, employing three different
+kinds of plants; but whether any of them be the same with that of
+Otaheite or Sumatra I am ignorant. I have lately been informed that this
+practice is not unknown in England, but has been prohibited. It is termed
+foxing: the drug made use of was the Coculus indicus.)
+
+BIRD-CATCHING.
+
+Birds, particularly the plover (cheruling) and quails (puyu) are caught
+by snares or springs laid for them in the grass. These are of iju, which
+resembles horsehair, many fathoms in length, and disposed in such a
+manner as to entangle their feet; for which purpose they are gently
+driven towards the snares. In some parts of the country they make use of
+clasp-nets. I never observed a Sumatran to fire a shot at a bird, though
+many of them, as well as the more eastern people, have a remarkably fine
+aim; but the mode of letting off the matchlocks, which are the pieces
+most habitual to them, precludes the possibility of shooting flying.
+
+GUNPOWDER.
+
+Gunpowder is manufactured in various parts of the island, but less in the
+southern provinces than amongst the people of Menangkabau, the Battas,
+and Achinese, whose frequent wars demand large supplies. It appears
+however, by an agreement upon record, formed in 1728, that the
+inhabitants of Anak-sungei were restricted from the manufacture, which
+they are stated to have carried to a considerable extent. It is made, as
+with us, of proportions of charcoal, sulphur, and nitre, but the
+composition is very imperfectly granulated, being often hastily prepared
+in small quantities for immediate use. The last article, though found in
+the greatest quantity in the saltpetre-caves before spoken of, is most
+commonly procured from goat's dung, which is always to be had in plenty.
+
+SUGAR.
+
+Sugar (as has already been observed) is commonly made for domestic use
+from the juice of a species of palm, boiled till a consistence is formed,
+but scarcely at all granulated, being little more than a thick syrup.
+This spread upon leaves to dry, made into cakes, and afterwards folded up
+in a peculiar vegetable substance called upih, which is the sheath that
+envelopes the branch of the pinang tree where it is inserted in the stem.
+In this state it is called jaggri, and, beside its ordinary uses as
+sugar, it is mixed with chunam in making cement for buildings, and that
+exquisite plaster for walls which, on the coast of Coromandel, equals
+Parian marble in whiteness and polish. But in many parts of the island
+sugar is also made from the sugar-cane. The rollers of the mill used for
+this purpose are worked by the endless screw instead of cogs, and are
+turned with the hand by means of a bar passing through one of the rollers
+which is higher than the other. As an article of traffic amongst the
+natives it is not considerable, nor have they the art of distilling
+arrack, the basis of which is molasses, along with the juice of the anau
+or of the coconut palm in a state of fermentation. Both however are
+manufactured by Europeans.*
+
+(*Footnote. Many attempts have been made by the English to bring to
+perfection the manufacture of sugar and arrack from the canes; but the
+expenses, particularly of the slaves, were always found to exceed the
+advantages. Within these few years (about 1777) that the plantations and
+works were committed to the management of Mr. Henry Botham, it has
+manifestly appeared that the end is to be obtained by employing the
+Chinese in the works of the field and allowing them a proportion of the
+produce for their labour. The manufacture had arrived at considerable
+perfection when the breaking out of war gave a check to its progress; but
+the path is pointed out, and it may be worth pursuing. The sums of money
+thrown into Batavia for arrack and sugar have been immense.)
+
+SALT.
+
+Salt is here, as in most other countries, an article of general
+consumption. The demand for it is mostly supplied by cargoes imported,
+but they also manufacture it themselves. The method is tedious. They
+kindle a fire close to the sea-beach, and gradually pour upon it sea
+water. When this has been continued for a certain time, the water
+evaporating, and the salt being precipitated among the ashes, they gather
+these in baskets, or in funnels made of the bark or leaves of trees, and
+again pour seawater on them till the particles of salt are well
+separated, and pass with the water into a vessel placed below to receive
+them. This water, now strongly impregnated, is boiled till the salt
+adheres in a thick crust to the bottom and sides of the vessel. In
+burning a square fathom of firewood a skilful person procures about five
+gallons of salt. What is thus made has so considerable a mixture of the
+salt of the wood that it soon dissolves, and cannot be carried far into
+the country. The coarsest grain is preferred.
+
+ART OF MEDICINE.
+
+The art of medicine among the Sumatrans consists almost entirely in the
+application of simples, in the virtues of which they are well skilled.
+Every old man and woman is a physician, and their rewards depend upon
+their success; but they generally procure a small sum in advance under
+the pretext of purchasing charms.* The mode of practice is either by
+administering the juices of certain trees and herbs inwardly, or by
+applying outwardly a poultice of leaves chopped small upon the breast or
+part affected, renewing it as soon as it becomes dry. For internal pains
+they rub oil on a large leaf of a stimulant quality, and, heating it
+before the fire, clap it on the body of the patient as a blister, which
+produces very powerful effects. Bleeding they never use, but the people
+of the neighbouring island of Nias are famous for their skill in cupping,
+which they practise in a manner peculiar to themselves.
+
+(*Footnote. Charms are there hung about the necks of children, as in
+Europe, and also worn by persons whose situations expose them to risk.
+They are long narrow scrolls of paper, filled with incoherent scraps of
+verse, which are separated from each other by a variety of fanciful
+drawings. A charm against an ague I once accidentally met with, which
+from circumstances I conclude to be a translation of such as are employed
+by the Portuguese Christians in India. Though not properly belonging to
+my subject, I present it to the reader. "(Sign of the cross). When Christ
+saw the cross he trembled and shaked; and they said unto him hast thou an
+ague? and he said unto them, I have neither ague nor fever; and whosoever
+bears these words, either in writing or in mind, shall never be troubled
+with ague or fever. So help thy servants, O Lord, who put their trust in
+thee!" From the many folds that appear in the original I have reason to
+apprehend that it had been worn, and by some Englishmen, whom frequent
+sickness and the fond love of life had rendered weak and superstitious
+enough to try the effects of this barbarous and ridiculous quackery.)
+
+FEVERS.
+
+In fevers they give a decoction of the herb lakun, and bathe the patient,
+for two or three mornings, in warm water. If this does not prove
+effectual, they pour over him, during the paroxysm, a quantity of cold
+water, rendered more chilly by the daun sedingin (Cotyledon laciniata)
+which, from the sudden revulsion it causes, brings on a copious
+perspiration. Pains and swellings in the limbs are likewise cured by
+sweating; but for this purpose they either cover themselves over with
+mats and sit in the sunshine at noon, or, if the operation be performed
+within doors, a lamp, and sometimes a pot of boiling herbs, is enclosed
+in the covering with them.
+
+LEPROSY.
+
+There are two species of leprosy known in these parts. The milder sort,
+or impetigo, as I apprehend it to be, is very common among the
+inhabitants of Nias, great numbers of whom are covered with a white scurf
+or scales that renders them loathsome to the sight. But this distemper,
+though disagreeable from the violent itching and other inconveniences
+with which it is attended, does not appear immediately to affect the
+health, slaves in that situation being bought and sold for field and
+other outdoor work. It is communicated from parents to their offspring,
+but though hereditary it is not contagious. I have sometimes been induced
+to think it nothing more than a confirmed stage of the serpigo or
+ringworm, or it may be the same with what is elsewhere termed the
+shingles. I have known a Nias man who has effected a temporary removal of
+this scurf by the frequent application of the golinggang or daun kurap
+(Cassia alata) and such other herbs as are used to cure the ringworm, and
+sometimes by rubbing gunpowder and strong acids to his skin; but it
+always returned after some time. The other species with which the country
+people are in some instances affected is doubtless, from the description
+given of its dreadful symptoms, that severe kind of leprosy which has
+been termed elephantiasis, and is particularly described in the Asiatic
+Researches Volume 2, the skin coming off in flakes, and the flesh falling
+from the bones, as in the lues venerea. This disorder being esteemed
+highly infectious, the unhappy wretch who labours under it is driven from
+the village he belonged to into the woods, where victuals are left for
+him from time to time by his relations. A prang and a knife are likewise
+delivered to him, that he may build himself a hut, which is generally
+erected near to some river or lake, continual bathing being supposed to
+have some effect in removing the disorder, or alleviating the misery of
+the patient. Few instances of recovery have been known. There is a
+disease called the nambi which bears some affinity to this, attacking the
+feet chiefly, the flesh of which it eats away. As none but the lowest
+class of people seem to suffer from this complaint I imagine it proceeds
+in a great degree from want of cleanliness.
+
+SMALLPOX.
+
+The smallpox (katumbuhan) sometimes visits the island and makes terrible
+ravages. It is regarded as a plague, and drives from the country
+thousands whom the infection spares. Their method of stopping its
+progress (for they do not attempt a cure) is by converting into a
+hospital or receptacle for the rest that village where lie the greatest
+number of sick, whither they send all who are attacked by the disorder
+from the country round. The most effectual methods are pursued to prevent
+any person's escape from this village, which is burnt to the ground as
+soon as the infection has spent itself or devoured all the victims thus
+offered to it. Inoculation was an idea long unthought of, and, as it
+could not be universal, it was held to be a dangerous experiment for
+Europeans to introduce it partially, in a country where the disorder
+makes its appearance at distant intervals only, unless those periods
+could be seized and the attempts made when and where there might be
+well-founded apprehension of its being communicated in the natural way.
+Such an opportunity presented itself in 1780, when great numbers of
+people (estimated at a third of the population) were swept away in the
+course of that and the two following years; whilst upon those under the
+immediate influence of the English and Dutch settlements inoculation was
+practised with great success. I trust that the preventive blessing of
+vaccination has or will be extended to a country so liable to be
+afflicted with this dreadful scourge. A distemper called chachar, much
+resembling the smallpox, and in its first stages mistaken for it, is not
+uncommon. It causes an alarm but does not prove mortal, and is probably
+what we term the chickenpox.
+
+VENEREAL DISEASE.
+
+The venereal disease, though common in the Malay bazaars, is in the
+inland country almost unknown. A man returning to his village with the
+infection is shunned by the inhabitants as an unclean and interdicted
+person. The Malays are supposed to cure it with the decoction of a
+china-root, called by them gadong, which causes a salivation.
+
+INSANITY.
+
+When a man is by sickness or otherwise deprived of his reason, or when
+subject to convulsion fits, they imagine him possessed by an evil spirit,
+and their ceremony of exorcism is performed by putting the unfortunate
+wretch into a hut, which they set fire to about his ears, suffering him
+to make his escape through the flames in the best manner he can. The
+fright, which would go nigh to destroy the intellects of a reasonable
+man, may perhaps have under contrary circumstances an opposite effect.
+
+SCIENCES.
+
+The skill of the Sumatrans in any of the sciences, is, as may be
+presumed, very limited.
+
+ARITHMETIC.
+
+Some however I have met with who, in arithmetic, could multiply and
+divide, by a single multiplier or divisor, several places of figures.
+Tens of thousands (laksa) are the highest class of numbers the Malay
+language has a name for. In counting over a quantity of small articles
+each tenth, and afterwards each hundredth piece is put aside; which
+method is consonant with the progress of scientific numeration, and
+probably gave it origin. When they may have occasion to recollect at a
+distance of time the tale of any commodities they are carrying to market,
+or the like, the country people often assist their memory by tying knots
+on a string, which is produced when they want to specify the number. The
+Peruvian quipos were I suppose an improvement upon this simple invention.
+
+MEASURES.
+
+They estimate the quantity of most species of merchandise by what we call
+dry measure, the use of weights, as applied to bulky articles, being
+apparently introduced among them by foreigners; for the pikul and catti
+are used only on the sea-coast and places which the Malays frequent. The
+kulah or bamboo, containing very nearly a gallon, is the general standard
+of measure among the Rejangs: of these eight hundred make a koyan: the
+chupah is one quarter of a bamboo. By this measure almost all articles,
+even elephants' teeth, are bought and sold; but by a bamboo of ivory they
+mean so much as is equal in weight to a bamboo of rice. This still
+includes the idea of weight, but is not attended with their principal
+objection to that mode of ascertaining quantity which arises, as they
+say, from the impossibility of judging by the eye of the justness of
+artificial weights, owing to the various materials of which they may be
+composed, and to which measurement is not liable. The measures of length
+here, as perhaps originally among every people upon earth, are taken from
+the dimensions of the human body. The deppa, or fathom, is the extent of
+the arms from each extremity of the fingers: the etta, asta, or cubit, is
+the forearm and hand; kaki is the foot; jungka is the span; and jarri,
+which signifies a finger, is the inch. These are estimated from the
+general proportions of middle-sized men, others making an allowance in
+measuring, and not regulated by an exact standard.
+
+GEOGRAPHY.
+
+The ideas of geography among such of them as do not frequent the sea are
+perfectly confined, or rather they entertain none. Few of them know that
+the country they inhabit is an island, or have any general name for it.
+Habit renders them expert in travelling through the woods, where they
+perform journeys of weeks and months without seeing a dwelling. In places
+little frequented, where they have occasion to strike out new paths (for
+roads there are none), they make marks on trees for the future guidance
+of themselves and others. I have heard a man say, "I will attempt a
+passage by such a route, for my father, when living, told me that he had
+left his tokens there." They estimate the distance of places from each
+other by the number of days, or the proportion of the day, taken up in
+travelling it, and not by measurement of the space. Their journey, or
+day's walk, may be computed at about twenty miles; but they can bear a
+long continuance of fatigue.
+
+ASTRONOMY.
+
+The Malays as well as the Arabs and other Mahometan nations fix the
+length of the year at three hundred and fifty-four days, or twelve lunar
+months of twenty-nine days and a half; by which mode of reckoning each
+year is thrown back about eleven days. The original Sumatrans rudely
+estimate their annual periods from the revolution of the seasons, and
+count their years from the number of their crops of grain (taun padi); a
+practice which, though not pretending to accuracy, is much more useful
+for the general purposes of life than the lunar period, which is merely
+adapted to religious observances. They as well as the Malays compute time
+by lunations, but do not attempt to trace any relation or correspondence
+between these smaller measures and the solar revolution. Whilst more
+polished nations were multiplying mistakes and difficulties in their
+endeavours to ascertain the completion of the sun's course through the
+ecliptic, and in the meanwhile suffering their nominal seasons to become
+almost the reverse of nature, these people, without an idea of
+intercalation, preserved in a rude way the account of their years free
+from essential, or at least progressive, error and the confusion which
+attends it. The division of the month into weeks I believe to be unknown
+except where it has been taught with Mahometanism; the day of the moon's
+age being used instead of it where accuracy is required; nor do they
+subdivide the day into hours. To denote the time of day at which any
+circumstance they find it necessary to speak of happened, they point with
+their finger to the height in the sky at which the sun then stood. And
+this mode is the more general and precise as the sun, so near the
+equator, ascends and descends almost perpendicularly, and rises and sets
+at all seasons of the year within a few minutes of six o'clock. Scarcely
+any of the stars or constellations are distinguished by them. They notice
+however the planet Venus, but do not imagine her to be the same at the
+different periods of her revolution when she precedes the rising, and
+follows the setting sun. They are aware of the night on which the new
+moon should make its appearance, and the Malays salute it with the
+discharge of guns. They also know when to expect the returns of the
+tides, which are at their height, on the south-western coast of the
+island, when that luminary is in the horizon, and ebb as it rises. When
+they observe a bright star near the moon (or rubbing against her, as they
+express it), they are apprehensive of a storm, as European sailors
+foretell a gale from the sharpness of her horns. These are both, in part,
+the consequence of an unusual clearness in the air, which, proceeding
+from an extraordinary alteration of the state of the atmosphere, may
+naturally be followed by a violent rushing of the circumjacent parts to
+restore the equilibrium, and thus prove the prognostic of high wind.
+During an eclipse they make a loud noise with sounding-instruments to
+prevent one luminary from devouring the other, as the Chinese, to
+frighten away the dragon, a superstition that has its source in the
+ancient systems of astronomy (particularly the Hindu) where the nodes of
+the moon are identified with the dragon's head and tail. They tell of a
+man in the moon who is continually employed in spinning cotton, but that
+every night a rat gnaws his thread and obliges him to begin his work
+afresh. This they apply as an emblem of endless and ineffectual labour,
+like the stone of Sisyphus, and the sieves of the Danaides.
+
+With history and chronology the country people are but little acquainted,
+the memory of past events being preserved by tradition only.
+
+MUSIC.
+
+They are fond of music and have many instruments in use among them, but
+few, upon inquiry, appear to be original, being mostly borrowed from the
+Chinese and other more eastern people; particularly the kalintang, gong,
+and sulin. The violin has found its way to them from the westward. The
+kalintang resembles the sticcado and the harmonica; the more common ones
+having the cross-pieces, which are struck with two little hammers, of
+split bamboo, and the more perfect of a certain composition of metal
+which is very sonorous. The gongs, a kind of bell, but differing much in
+shape and struck on the outside, are cast in sets regularly tuned to
+thirds, fourth, fifth, and octave, and often serve as a bass, or under
+part, to the kalintang. They are also sounded for the purpose of calling
+together the inhabitants of the village upon any particular occasion; but
+the more ancient and still common instrument for this use is a hollowed
+log of wood named katut. The sulin is the Malayan flute. The country
+flute is called serdum. It is made of bamboo, is very imperfect, having
+but few stops, and resembles much an instrument described as found among
+the people of Otaheite. A single hole underneath is covered with the
+thumb of the left hand, and the hole nearest the end at which it is
+blown, on the upper side, with a finger of the same hand. The other two
+holes are stopped with the right-hand fingers. In blowing they hold it
+inclined to the right side. They have various instruments of the drum
+kind, particularly those called tingkah, which are in pairs and beaten
+with the hands at each end. They are made of a certain kind of wood
+hollowed out, covered with dried goat-skins, and laced with split
+rattans. It is difficult to obtain a proper knowledge of their division
+of the scale, as they know nothing of it in theory. The interval we call
+an octave seems to be divided with them into six tones, without any
+intermediate semitones, which must confine their music to one key. It
+consists in general of but few notes, and the third is the interval that
+most frequently occurs. Those who perform on the violin use the same
+notes as in our division, and they tune the instrument by fifths to a
+great nicety. They are fond of playing the octave, but scarcely use any
+other chord. The Sumatran tunes very much resemble, to my ear, those of
+the native Irish, and have usually, like them, a flat third: the same has
+been observed of the music of Bengal, and probably it will be found that
+the minor key obtains a preference amongst all people at a certain stage
+of civilization.
+
+
+CHAPTER 10.
+
+LANGUAGES.
+MALAYAN.
+ARABIC CHARACTER USED.
+LANGUAGES OF THE INTERIOR PEOPLE.
+PECULIAR CHARACTERS.
+SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES AND OF ALPHABETS.
+
+LANGUAGES.
+
+Before I proceed to an account of the laws, customs, and manners of the
+people of the island it is necessary that I should say something of the
+different languages spoken on it, the diversity of which has been the
+subject of much contemplation and conjecture.
+
+MALAYAN.
+
+The Malayan language, which has commonly been supposed original in the
+peninsula of Malayo, and from thence to have extended itself throughout
+the eastern islands, so as to become the lingua franca of that part of
+the globe, is spoken everywhere along the coasts of Sumatra, prevails
+without the mixture of any other in the inland country of Menangkabau and
+its immediate dependencies, and is understood in almost every part of the
+island. It has been much celebrated, and justly, for the smoothness and
+sweetness of its sound, which have gained it the appellation of the
+Italian of the East. This is owing to the prevalence of vowels and
+liquids in the words (with many nasals which may be thought an objection)
+and the infrequency of any harsh combination of mute consonants. These
+qualities render it well adapted to poetry, which the Malays are
+passionately addicted to.
+
+SONGS.
+
+They amuse all their leisure hours, including the greater portion of
+their lives, with the repetition of songs which are, for the most part,
+proverbs illustrated, or figures of speech applied to the occurrences of
+life. Some that they rehearse, in a kind of recitative, at their bimbangs
+or feasts, are historical love tales like our old English ballads, and
+are often extemporaneous productions. An example of the former species is
+as follows:
+
+Apa guna passang palita,
+Kallo tidah dangan sumbu'nia?
+Apa guna bermine matta,
+Kalla tidah dangan sunggu'nia?
+
+What signifies attempting to light a lamp,
+If the wick be wanting?
+What signifies playing with the eyes,
+If nothing in earnest be intended?
+
+It must be observed however that it often proves a very difficult matter
+to trace the connexion between the figurative and the literal sense of
+the stanza. The essentials in the composition of the pantun, for such
+these little pieces are called, the longer being called dendang, are the
+rhythmus and the figure, particularly the latter, which they consider as
+the life and spirit of the poetry. I had a proof of this in an attempt
+which I made to impose a pantun of my own composing on the natives as a
+work of their countrymen. The subject was a dialogue between a lover and
+a rich coy mistress: the expressions were proper to the occasion, and in
+some degree characteristic. It passed with several, but an old lady who
+was a more discerning critic than the others remarked that it was "katta
+katta saja"--mere conversation; meaning that it was destitute of the
+quaint and figurative expressions which adorn their own poetry. Their
+language in common speaking is proverbial and sententious. If a young
+woman prove with child before marriage they observe it is daulu buah,
+kadian bunga--the fruit before the flower. Hearing of a person's death
+they say, nen matti, matti; nen idup, bekraja: kallo sampi janji'nia, apa
+buli buat?--Those who are dead, are dead; those who survive must work: if
+his allotted time was expired, what resource is there? The latter phrase
+they always make use of to express their sense of inevitability, and has
+more force than any translation of it I can employ.
+
+ARABIC CHARACTER USED BY MALAYS.
+
+Their writing is in the Arabic character, with modifications to adapt
+that alphabet to their language, and, in consequence of the adoption of
+their religion from the same quarter, a great number of Arabic words are
+incorporated with the Malayan. The Portuguese too have furnished them
+with several terms, chiefly for such ideas as they have acquired since
+the period of European discoveries to the eastward. They write on paper,
+using ink of their own composition, with pens made of the twig of the
+anau tree. I could never discover that the Malays had any original
+written characters peculiar to themselves before they acquired those now
+in use; but it is possible that such might have been lost, a fate that
+may hereafter attend the Batta, Rejang, and others of Sumatra, on which
+the Arabic daily makes encroachments. Yet I have had frequent occasion to
+observe the former language written by inland people in the country
+character; which would indicate that the speech is likely to perish
+first. The Malayan books are very numerous, both in prose and verse. Many
+of them are commentaries on the koran, and others romances or heroic
+tales.
+
+The purest or most elegant Malayan is said, and with great appearance of
+reason, to be spoken at Malacca. It differs from the dialect used in
+Sumatra chiefly in this, that words, in the latter, made to terminate in
+"o," are in the former, sounded as ending in "a." Thus they pronounce
+lada (pepper) instead of lado. Those words which end with "k" in writing,
+are, in Sumatra, always softened in speaking, by omitting it; as tabbe
+bannia, many compliments, for tabbek banniak; but the Malaccans, and
+especially the more eastern people, who speak a very broad dialect, give
+them generally the full sound. The personal pronouns also differ
+materially in the respective countries.
+
+Attempts have been made to compose a grammar of this tongue upon the
+principles on which those of the European languages are formed. But the
+inutility of such productions is obvious. Where there is no inflexion of
+either nouns or verbs there can be no cases, declensions, moods, or
+conjugations. All this is performed by the addition of certain words
+expressive of a determinate meaning, which should not be considered as
+mere auxiliaries, or as particles subservient to other words. Thus, in
+the instance of rumah, a house; deri pada rumah signifies from a house;
+but it would be talking without use or meaning to say that deri pada is
+the sign of the ablative case of that noun, for then every preposition
+should equally require an appropriate case, and as well as of, to, and
+from, we should have a case for deatas rumah, on top of the house. So of
+verbs: kallo saya buli jalan, If I could walk: this may be termed the
+preter-imperfect tense of the subjunctive or potential mood of the verb
+jalan; whereas it is in fact a sentence of which jalan, buli, etc. are
+constituent words. It is improper, I say, to talk of the case of a noun
+which does not change its termination, or the mood of a verb which does
+not alter its form. A useful set of observations might be collected for
+speaking the language with correctness and propriety, but they must be
+independent of the technical rules of languages founded on different
+principles.*
+
+(*Footnote. I have ventured to make this attempt, and have also prepared
+a Dictionary of the language which it is my intention to print with as
+little delay as circUmstances will admit.)
+
+INTERIOR PEOPLE USE LANGUAGES DIFFERENT FROM THE MALAYAN.
+
+Beside the Malayan there are a variety of languages spoken in Sumatra
+which however have not only a manifest affinity among themselves, but
+also to that general language which is found to prevail in, and to be
+indigenous to all the islands of the eastern sea; from Madagascar to the
+remotest of Captain Cook's discoveries; comprehending a wider extent than
+the Roman or any other tongue has yet boasted. Indisputable examples of
+this connexion and similarity I have exhibited in a paper which the
+Society of Antiquaries have done me the honour to publish in their
+Archaeologia, Volume 6. In different places it has been more or less
+mixed and corrupted, but between the most dissimilar branches an evident
+sameness of many radical words is apparent, and in some, very distant
+from each other in point of situation, as for instance the Philippines
+and Madagascar, the deviation of the words is scarcely more than is
+observed in the dialects of neighbouring provinces of the same kingdom.
+To render this comparison of languages more extensive, and if possible to
+bring all those spoken throughout the world into one point of view, is an
+object of which I have never lost sight, but my hopes of completing such
+a work are by no means sanguine.
+
+PECULIAR WRITTEN CHARACTERS.
+
+The principal of these Sumatran languages are the Botta, the Rejang, and
+the Lampong, whose difference is marked not so much by the want of
+correspondence in the terms as by the circumstance of their being
+expressed in distinct and peculiar written characters. But whether this
+apparent difference be radical and essential, or only produced by
+accident and the lapse of time, may be thought to admit of doubt; and, in
+order that the reader may be enabled to form his own judgment, a plate
+containing the Alphabetical characters of each, with the mode of applying
+the orthographical marks to those of the Rejang language in particular,
+is annexed. It would indeed be extraordinary, and perhaps singular in the
+history of human improvement, that divisions of people in the same
+island, with equal claims to originality, in stages of civilization
+nearly equal, and speaking languages derived from the same source, should
+employ characters different from each other, as well as from the rest of
+the world. It will be found however that the alphabet used in the
+neighbouring island of Java (given by Corneille Le Brun), that used by
+the Tagala people of the Philippines (given by Thevenot), and by the
+Bugis people of Celebes (given by Captain Forrest), vary at least as much
+from these and from each other as the Rejang from the Batta. The Sanskrit
+scholar will at the same time perceive in several of them an analogy to
+the rhythmical arrangement, terminating with a nasal, which distinguishes
+the alphabet of that ancient language whose influence is known to have
+been extensive in this quarter. In the country of Achin, where the
+language differs considerably from the Malayan, the Arabic character has
+nevertheless been adopted, and on this account it has less claim to
+originality.
+
+ON BARK OF TREES AND BAMBOO.
+
+Their manuscripts of any bulk and importance are written with ink of
+their own making on the inner bark of a tree cut into slips of several
+feet in length and folded together in squares; each square or fold
+answering to a page or leaf. For more common occasions they write on the
+outer coat of a joint of bamboo, sometimes whole but generally split into
+pieces of two or three inches in breadth, with the point of the weapon
+worn at their side, which serves the purpose of a stylus; and these
+writings, or scratchings rather, are often performed with a considerable
+degree of neatness. Thus the Chinese also are said by their historians to
+have written on pieces of bamboo before they invented paper. Of both
+kinds of manuscript I have many specimens in my possession. The lines are
+formed from the left hand towards the right, contrary to the practice of
+the Malays and the Arabians.
+
+In Java, Siam, and other parts of the East, beside the common language of
+the country, there is established a court language spoken by persons of
+rank only; a distinction invented for the purpose of keeping the vulgar
+at a distance, and inspiring them with respect for what they do not
+understand. The Malays also have their bhasa dalam, or courtly style,
+which contains a number of expressions not familiarly used in common
+conversation or writing, but yet by no means constituting a separate
+language, any more than, in English, the elevated style of our poets and
+historians. Amongst the inhabitants of Sumatra in general disparity of
+condition is not attended with much ceremonious distance of behaviour
+between the persons.
+
+(TABLE OF SUMATRAN ALPHABETS.)
+
+(TABLE OF SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES SPOKEN IN SUMATRA.)
+
+
+CHAPTER 11.
+
+COMPARATIVE STATE OF THE SUMATRANS IN CIVIL SOCIETY.
+DIFFERENCE OF CHARACTER BETWEEN THE MALAYS AND OTHER INHABITANTS.
+GOVERNMENT.
+TITLES AND POWER OF THE CHIEFS AMONG THE REJANGS.
+INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEANS.
+GOVERNMENT IN PASSUMMAH.
+
+COMPARATIVE STATE OF SUMATRANS IN SOCIETY.
+
+Considered as a people occupying a certain rank in the scale or civil
+society, it is not easy to determine the proper situation of the
+inhabitants of this island. Though far distant from that point to which
+the polished states of Europe have aspired, they yet look down, with an
+interval almost as great, on the savage tribes of Africa and America.
+Perhaps if we distinguish mankind summarily into five classes; but of
+which each would admit of numberless subdivisions; we might assign a
+third place to the more civilized Sumatrans, and a fourth to the
+remainder. In the first class I should of course include some of the
+republics of ancient Greece, in the days of their splendour; the Romans,
+for some time before and after the Augustan age; France, England, and
+other refined nations of Europe, in the latter centuries; and perhaps
+China. The second might comprehend the great Asiatic empires at the
+period of their prosperity; Persia, the Mogul, the Turkish, with some
+European kingdoms. In the third class, along with the Sumatrans and a few
+other states of the eastern archipelago, I should rank the nations on the
+northern coast of Africa, and the more polished Arabs. The fourth class,
+with the less civilized Sumatrans, will take in the people of the new
+discovered islands in the South Sea; perhaps the celebrated Mexican and
+Peruvian empires; the Tartar hordes, and all those societies of people in
+various parts of the globe, who, possessing personal property, and
+acknowledging some species of established subordination, rise one step
+above the Caribs, the New Hollanders, the Laplanders, and the Hottentots,
+who exhibit a picture of mankind in its rudest and most humiliating
+aspect.
+
+FEW IMPROVEMENTS ADOPTED FROM EUROPEANS.
+
+As mankind are by nature so prone to imitation it may seem surprising
+that these people have not derived a greater share of improvement in
+manners an arts from their long connection with Europeans, particularly
+with the English, who have now been settled among them for a hundred
+years. Though strongly attached to their own habits they are nevertheless
+sensible of their inferiority, and readily admit the preference to which
+our attainments in science, and especially in mechanics, entitle us. I
+have heard a man exclaim, after contemplating the structure and uses of a
+house-clock, "Is it not fitting that such as we should be slaves to
+people who have the ingenuity to invent, and the skill to construct, so
+wonderful a machine as this?" "The sun," he added, "is a machine of this
+nature." "But who winds it up?" said his companion. "Who but Allah," he
+replied. This admiration of our superior attainments is however not
+universal; for, upon an occasion similar to the above, a Sumatran
+observed, with a sneer, "How clever these people are in the art of
+getting money."
+
+Some probable causes of this backwardness may be suggested. We carry on
+few or no species of manufacture at our settlements; everything is
+imported ready wrought to its highest perfection; and the natives
+therefore have no opportunity of examining the first process, or the
+progress of the work. Abundantly supplied with every article of
+convenience from Europe, and prejudiced in their favour because from
+thence, we make but little use of the raw materials Sumatra affords. We
+do not spin its cotton; we do not rear its silkworms; we do not smelt its
+metals; we do not even hew its stone: neglecting these, it is in vain we
+exhibit to the people, for their improvement in the arts, our rich
+brocades, our timepieces, or display to them in drawings the elegance of
+our architecture. Our manners likewise are little calculated to excite
+their approval and imitation. Not to insist on the licentiousness that
+has at times been imputed to our communities; the pleasures of the table;
+emulation in wine; boisterous mirth; juvenile frolics, and puerile
+amusements, which do not pass without serious, perhaps contemptuous,
+animadversion--setting these aside it appears to me that even our best
+models are but ill adapted for the imitation of a rude, incurious, and
+unambitious people. Their senses, not their reason, should be acted on,
+to rouse them from their lethargy; their imaginations must be warmed; a
+spirit of enthusiasm must pervade and animate them before they will
+exchange the pleasures of indolence for those of industry. The
+philosophical influence that prevails and characterizes the present age
+in the western world is unfavourable to the producing these effects. A
+modern man of sense and manners despises, or endeavours to despise,
+ceremony, parade, attendance, superfluous and splendid ornaments in his
+dress or furniture: preferring ease and convenience to cumbrous pomp, the
+person first in rank is no longer distinguished by his apparel, his
+equipage, or his number of servants, from those inferior to him; and
+though possessing real power is divested of almost every external mark of
+it. Even our religious worship partakes of the same simplicity. It is far
+from my intention to condemn or depreciate these manners, considered in a
+general scale of estimation. Probably, in proportion as the prejudices of
+sense are dissipated by the light of reason, we advance towards the
+highest degree of perfection our natures are capable of; possibly
+perfection may consist in a certain medium which we have already stepped
+beyond; but certainly all this refinement is utterly incomprehensible to
+an uncivilized mind which cannot discriminate the ideas of humility and
+meanness. We appear to the Sumatrans to have degenerated from the more
+splendid virtues of our predecessors. Even the richness of their laced
+suits and the gravity of their perukes attracted a degree of admiration;
+and I have heard the disuse of the large hoops worn by the ladies
+pathetically lamented. The quick, and to them inexplicable, revolutions
+of our fashions, are subject of much astonishment, and they naturally
+conclude that those modes can have but little intrinsic merit which we
+are so ready to change; or at least that our caprice renders us very
+incompetent to be the guides of their improvement. Indeed in matters of
+this kind it is not to be supposed that an imitation should take place,
+owing to the total incongruity of manners in other respects, and the
+dissimilarity of natural and local circumstances. But perhaps I am
+superfluously investigating minute and partial causes of an effect which
+one general one may be thought sufficient to produce. Under the frigid,
+and more especially the torrid zone, the inhabitants will naturally
+preserve an uninterrupted similarity and consistency of manners, from the
+uniform influence of their climate. In the temperate zones, where this
+influence is equivocal, the manners will be fluctuating, and dependent
+rather on moral than physical causes.
+
+DIFFERENCE IN CHARACTER BETWEEN THE MALAYS AND OTHER SUMATRANS.
+
+The Malays and the other native Sumatrans differ more in the features of
+their mind than in those of their person. Although we know not that this
+island, in the revolutions of human grandeur, ever made a distinguished
+figure in the history of the world (for the Achinese, though powerful in
+the sixteenth century, were very low in point of civilization) yet the
+Malay inhabitants have an appearance of degeneracy, and this renders
+their character totally different from that which we conceive of a
+savage, however justly their ferocious spirit of plunder on the eastern
+coast may have drawn upon them that name. They seem rather to be sinking
+into obscurity, though with opportunities of improvement, than emerging
+from thence to a state of civil or political importance. They retain a
+strong share of pride, but not of that laudable kind which restrains men
+from the commission of mean and fraudulent actions. They possess much low
+cunning and plausible duplicity, and know how to dissemble the strongest
+passions and most inveterate antipathy beneath the utmost composure of
+features till the opportunity of gratifying their resentment offers.
+Veracity, gratitude, and integrity are not to be found in the list of
+their virtues, and their minds are almost strangers to the sentiments of
+honour and infamy. They are jealous and vindictive. Their courage is
+desultory, the effect of a momentary enthusiasm which enables them to
+perform deeds of incredible desperation; but they are strangers to that
+steady magnanimity, that cool heroic resolution in battle, which
+constitutes in our idea the perfection of this quality, and renders it a
+virtue.* Yet it must be observed that, from an apathy almost paradoxical,
+they suffer under sentence of death, in cases where no indignant passions
+could operate to buoy up the mind to a contempt of punishment, with
+astonishing composure and indifference; uttering little more on these
+occasions than a proverbial saying, common among them, expressive of the
+inevitability of fate--apa buli buat? To this stoicism, their belief in
+predestination, and very imperfect ideas of a future, eternal existence,
+doubtless contribute.
+
+(*Footnote. In the history of the Portuguese wars in this part of the
+East there appear some exceptions to this remark, and particularly in the
+character of Laksamanna (his title of commander-in-chief being mistaken
+for his proper name), who was truly a great man and most consummate
+warrior.)
+
+Some writer has remarked that a resemblance is usually found between the
+disposition and qualities of the beasts proper to any country and those
+of the indigenous inhabitants of the human species, where an intercourse
+with foreigners has not destroyed the genuineness of their character. The
+Malay may thus be compared to the buffalo and the tiger. In his domestic
+state he is indolent, stubborn, and voluptuous as the former, and in his
+adventurous life he is insidious, bloodthirsty, and rapacious as the
+latter. Thus also the Arab is said to resemble his camel, and the placid
+Hindu his cow.
+
+CHARACTER OF NATIVE SUMATRANS.
+
+The Sumatran of the interior country, though he partakes in some degree
+of the Malayan vices, and this partly from the contagion of example,
+possesses many exclusive virtues; but they are more properly of the
+negative than the positive kind. He is mild, peaceable, and forbearing,
+unless his anger be roused by violent provocation, when he is implacable
+in his resentments. He is temperate and sober, being equally abstemious
+in meat and drink. The diet of the natives is mostly vegetable; water is
+their only beverage; and though they will kill a fowl or a goat for a
+stranger, whom perhaps they never saw before, nor ever expect to see
+again, they are rarely guilty of that extravagance for themselves; nor
+even at their festivals (bimbang), where there is a plenty of meat, do
+they eat much of anything but rice. Their hospitality is extreme, and
+bounded by their ability alone. Their manners are simple; they are
+generally, except among the chiefs, devoid of the Malay cunning and
+chicane; yet endued with a quickness of apprehension, and on many
+occasions discovering a considerable degree of penetration and sagacity.
+In respect to women they are remarkably continent, without any share of
+insensibility. They are modest; particularly guarded in their
+expressions; courteous in their behaviour; grave in their deportment,
+being seldom or never excited to laughter; and patient to a great degree.
+On the other hand, they are litigious; indolent; addicted to gaming;
+dishonest in their dealings with strangers, which they esteem no moral
+defect; suspicious; regardless of truth; mean in their transactions;
+servile; though cleanly in their persons, dirty in their apparel, which
+they never wash. They are careless and improvident of the future, because
+their wants are few, for though poor they are not necessitous; nature
+supplying, with extraordinary facility, whatever she has made requisite
+for their existence. Science and the arts have not, by extending their
+views, contributed to enlarge the circle of their desires; and the
+various refinements of luxury, which in polished societies become
+necessaries of life, are totally unknown to them. The Makassar and Bugis
+people, who come annually in their praws from Celebes to trade at
+Sumatra, are looked up to by the inhabitants as their superiors in
+manners. The Malays affect to copy their style of dress, and frequent
+allusions to the feats and achievements of these people are made in their
+songs. Their reputation for courage, which certainly surpasses that of
+all other people in the eastern seas, acquires them this flattering
+distinction. They also derive part of the respect paid them from the
+richness of the cargoes they import, and the spirit with which they spend
+the produce in gaming, cock-fighting, and opium-smoking.
+
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+Having endeavoured to trace the character of these people with as much
+fidelity and accuracy as possible, I shall now proceed to give an account
+of their government, laws, customs, and manners; and, in order to convey
+to the reader the clearest ideas in my power, I shall develop the various
+circumstances in such order and connection as shall appear best to answer
+this intent, without confining myself, in every instance, to a rigid and
+scrupulous arrangement under distinct heads.
+
+REJANGS DIVIDED INTO TRIBES.
+
+The Rejang people, whom, for reasons before assigned, I have fixed upon
+for a standard of description, but which apply generally to the orang
+ulu, or inhabitants of the inland country, are distinguished into tribes,
+the descendants of different ancestors. Of these there are four
+principal, who are said to trace their origin to four brothers, and to
+have been united from time immemorial in a league offensive and
+defensive; though it may be presumed that the permanency of this bond of
+union is to be attributed rather to considerations of expediency
+resulting from their situation than to consanguinity or any formal
+compact.
+
+THEIR GOVERNMENT.
+
+The inhabitants live in villages, called dusun, each under the government
+of a headman or magistrate, styled dupati, whose dependants are termed
+his ana-buah, and in number seldom exceed one hundred. The dupatis
+belonging to each river (for here, the villages being almost always
+situated by the waterside, the names we are used to apply to countries or
+districts are properly those of the rivers) meet in a judicial capacity
+at the kwalo, where the European factory is established, and are then
+distinguished by the name of proattin.
+
+PANGERAN.
+
+The pangeran (a Javanese title), or feudal chief of the country, presides
+over the whole. It is not an easy matter to describe in what consists the
+fealty of a dupati to his pangeran, or of his ana-buah to himself, so
+very little in either case is practically observed. Almost without arts,
+and with but little industry, the state of property is nearly equal among
+all the inhabitants, and the chiefs scarcely differ but in title from the
+bulk of the people.
+
+HIS AUTHORITY.
+
+Their authority is no more than nominal, being without that coercive
+power necessary to make themselves feared and implicitly obeyed. This is
+the natural result of poverty among nations habituated to peace; where
+the two great political engines of interest and military force are
+wanting. Their government is founded in opinion, and the submission of
+the people is voluntary. The domestic rule of a private family beyond a
+doubt suggested first the idea of government in society, and, this people
+having made but small advances in civil policy, theirs continues to
+retain a strong resemblance of its original. It is connected also with
+the principle of the feudal system, into which it would probably settle
+should it attain to a greater degree of refinement. All the other
+governments throughout the island are likewise a mixture of the
+patriarchal and feudal; and it may be observed that, where a spirit of
+conquest has reduced the inhabitants under the subjection of another
+power, or has added foreign districts to their dominion, there the feudal
+maxims prevail: where the natives, from situation or disposition, have
+long remained undisturbed by revolutions, there the simplicity of
+patriarchal rule obtains; which is not only the first and natural form of
+government of all rude nations rising from imperceptible beginnings, but
+is perhaps also the highest state of perfection at which they can
+ultimately arrive. It is not in this art alone that we perceive the next
+step from consummate refinement, leading to simplicity.
+
+MUCH LIMITED.
+
+The foundation of right to government among these people seems, as I
+said, to be the general consent. If a chief exerts an undue authority, or
+departs from their long established customs and usages, they conceive
+themselves at liberty to relinquish their allegiance. A commanding
+aspect, an insinuating manner, a ready fluency in discourse, and a
+penetration and sagacity in unravelling the little intricacies of their
+disputes, are qualities which seldom fail to procure to their possessor
+respect and influence, sometimes perhaps superior to that of an
+acknowledged chief. The pangean indeed claims despotic sway, and as far
+as he can find the means scruples not to exert it; but, his revenues
+being insufficient to enable him to keep up any force for carrying his
+mandates into execution, his actual powers are very limited, and he has
+seldom found himself able to punish a turbulent subject any otherwise
+than by private assassination. In appointing the heads of dusuns he does
+little more than confirm the choice already made among the inhabitants,
+and, were he arbitrarily to name a person of a different tribe or from
+another place, he would not be obeyed. He levies no tax, nor has any
+revenue (what he derives from the India Company being out of the
+question), or other emolument from his subjects than what accrues to him
+from the determination of causes. Appeals lie to him in all cases, and
+none of the inferior courts or assemblies of proattins are competent to
+pronounce sentence of death. But, all punishments being by the laws of
+the country commutable for fines, and the appeals being attended with
+expense and loss of time, the parties generally abide by the first
+decision. Those dusuns which are situated nearest to the residence of the
+pangeran, at Sungey-lamo, acknowledge somewhat more of subordination than
+the distant ones, which even in case of war esteem themselves at liberty
+to assist or not, as they think proper, without being liable to
+consequences. In answer to a question on this point, "we are his
+subjects, not his slaves," replied one of the proattins. But from the
+pangeran you hear a tale widely different. He has been known to say, in a
+political conversation, "such and such dusuns there will be no trouble
+with; they are my powder and shot;" explaining himself by adding that he
+could dispose of the inhabitants, as his ancestors had done, to purchase
+ammunition in time of war.
+
+ORIGIN OF THE PANGERAN IN RAJANG.
+
+The father of Pangeran Mangko Raja (whose name is preserved from oblivion
+by the part he took in the expulsion of the English from Fort Marlborough
+in the year 1719) was the first who bore the title of pangeran of
+Sungey-lamo. He had before been simply Baginda Sabyam. Until about a
+hundred years ago the southern coast of Sumatra as far as Urei River was
+dependant on the king of Bantam, whose Jennang (lieutenant or deputy)
+came yearly to Silebar or Bencoolen, collected the pepper and filled up
+the vacancies by nominating, or rather confirming in their appointments,
+the proattins. Soon after that time, the English having established a
+settlement at Bencoolen, the jennang informed the chiefs that he should
+visit them no more, and, raising the two headmen of Sungey-lamo and
+Sungey-itam (the latter of whom is chief of the Lemba country in the
+neighbourhood of Bencoolen River; on which however the former possesses
+some villages, and is chief of the Rejang tribes), to the dignity of
+pangeran, gave into their hands the government of the country, and
+withdrew his master's claim. Such is the account given by the present
+possessors of the origin of their titles, which nearly corresponds with
+the recorded transactions of the period. It followed naturally that the
+chief thus invested should lay claim to the absolute authority of the
+king whom he represented, and on the other hand that the proattins should
+still consider him but as one of themselves, and pay him little more than
+nominal obedience. He had no power to enforce his plea, and they retain
+their privileges, taking no oath of allegiance, nor submitting to be
+bound by any positive engagement. They speak of him however with respect,
+and in any moderate requisition that does not affect their adat or
+customs they are ready enough to aid him (tolong, as they express it),
+but rather as matter of favour than acknowledged obligation.
+
+The exemption from absolute subjection, which the dupatis contend for,
+they allow in turn to their ana-buahs, whom they govern by the influence
+of opinion only. The respect paid to one of these is little more than as
+to an elder of a family held in esteem, and this the old men of the dusun
+share with him, sitting by his side in judgment on the little differences
+that arise among themselves. If they cannot determine the cause, or the
+dispute be with one of a separate village, the neighbouring proattins of
+the same tribe meet for the purpose. From these litigations arise some
+small emoluments to the dupati, whose dignity in other respects is rather
+an expense than an advantage. In the erection of public works, such as
+the ballei or town hall, he contributes a larger share of materials. He
+receives and entertains all strangers, his dependants furnishing their
+quotas of provision on particular occasions; and their hospitality is
+such that food and lodging are never refused to those by whom they are
+required.
+
+SUCCESSION OF DUPATIS.
+
+Though the rank of dupati is not strictly hereditary the son, when of age
+and capable, generally succeeds the father at his decease: if too young,
+the father's brother, or such one of the family as appears most
+qualified, assumes the post; not as a regent but in his own right; and
+the minor comes in perhaps at the next vacancy. If this settlement
+happens to displease any portion of the inhabitants they determine
+amongst themselves what chief they will follow, and remove to his
+village, or a few families, separating themselves from the rest, elect a
+chief, but without contesting the right of him whom they leave. The
+chiefs, when nominated, do not however assume the title of dupati until
+confirmed by the pangeran, or by the Company's Resident. On every river
+there is at least one superior proattin, termed a pambarab, who is chosen
+by the rest and has the right or duty of presiding at those suits and
+festivals in which two or more villages are concerned, with a larger
+allotment of the fines, and (like Homer's distinguished heroes) of the
+provisions also. If more tribes than one are settled on the same river
+each has usually its pambarab. Not only the rivers or districts but
+indeed each dusun is independent of, though not unconnected with, its
+neighbours, acting in concert with them by specific consent.
+
+INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEANS.
+
+The system of government among the people near the sea-coast, who,
+towards the southern extreme of the island, are the planters of pepper,
+is much influenced by the power of the Europeans, who are virtually the
+lords paramount, and exercise in fact many of the functions of
+sovereignty. The advantages derived to the subject from their sway, both
+in a political and civil sense, are infinitely greater than persons at a
+distance are usually inclined to suppose. Oppressions may be some times
+complained of at the hands of individuals, but, to the honour of the
+Company's service let me add, they have been very rare and of
+inconsiderable magnitude. Where a degree of discretionary power is
+intrusted to single persons abuses will, in the nature of things, arise
+in some instances; cases may occur in which the private passions of the
+Resident will interfere with his public duty; but the door has ever been
+open for redress, and examples have been made. To destroy this influence
+and authority in order to prevent these consequences were to cut off a
+limb in order to remove a partial complaint. By the Company's power the
+districts over which it extends are preserved in uninterrupted peace.
+Were it not for this power every dusun of every river would be at war
+with its neighbour. The natives themselves allow it, and it was evinced,
+even in the short space of time during which the English were absent from
+the coast, in a former war with France. Hostilities of district against
+district, so frequent among the independent nations to the northward,
+are, within the Company's jurisdiction, things unheard of; and those
+dismal catastrophes which in all the Malayan islands are wont to attend
+on private feuds but very rarely happen. "I tell you honestly," said a
+dupati, much irritated against one of his neighbours, "that it is only
+you," pointing to the Resident of Laye, "that prevents my plunging this
+weapon into his breast." The Resident is also considered as the protector
+of the people from the injustice and oppression of the chiefs. This
+oppression, though not carried on in the way of open force, which the
+ill-defined nature of their authority would not support, is scarcely less
+grievous to the sufferer. Expounders of the law, and deeply versed in the
+chicanery of it, they are ever lying in wait to take advantage of the
+necessitous and ignorant, till they have stripped them of their property,
+their family, and their personal liberty. To prevent these practices the
+partial administration of justice in consequence of bribes, the
+subornation of witnesses, and the like iniquities, a continual exertion
+of the Resident's attention and authority is required, and, as that
+authority is accidentally relaxed, the country falls into confusion.
+
+It is true that this interference is not strictly consonant with the
+spirit of the original contracts entered into by the Company with the
+native chiefs, who, in consideration of protection from their enemies,
+regular purchase of the produce of their country, and a gratuity to
+themselves proportioned to the quantity of that produce, undertake on
+their part to oblige their dependants to plant pepper, to refrain from
+the use of opium, the practice of gaming, and other vicious excesses, and
+to punish them in case of non-compliance. But, however prudent or equal
+these contracts might have been at the time their form was established, a
+change of circumstances, the gradual and necessary increase of the
+Company's sway which the peace and good of the country required, and the
+tacit consent of the chiefs themselves (among whom the oldest living have
+never been used to regard the Company, who have conferred on them their
+respective dignities, as their equals, or as trading in their districts
+upon sufferance), have long antiquated them; and custom and experience
+have introduced in their room an influence on one side, and a
+subordination on the other, more consistent with the power of the Company
+and more suitable to the benefits derived from the moderate and humane
+exercise of that power. Prescription has given its sanction to this
+change, and the people have submitted to it without murmuring, as it was
+introduced not suddenly but with the natural course of events, and
+bettered the condition of the whole while it tended to curb the rapacity
+of the few. Then let not short-sighted or designing persons, upon false
+principles of justice, or ill-digested notions of liberty, rashly
+endeavour to overturn a scheme of government, doubtless not perfect, but
+which seems best adapted to the circumstances it has respect to, and
+attended with the fewest disadvantages. Let them not vainly exert
+themselves to procure redress of imaginary grievances, for persons who
+complain not, or to infuse a spirit of freedom and independence, in a
+climate where nature possibly never intended they should flourish, and
+which, if obtained, would apparently be attended with effects that all
+their advantages would badly compensate.
+
+GOVERNMENT IN PASSUMMAH.
+
+In Passummah, which nearly borders upon Rejang, to the southward, there
+appears some difference in the mode of government, though the same spirit
+pervades both; the chiefs being equally without a regular coercive power,
+and the people equally free in the choice of whom they will serve. This
+is an extensive and comparatively populous country, bounded on the north
+by that of Lamattang, and on the south-east by that of Lampong, the river
+of Padang-guchi marking the division from the latter, near the sea-coast.
+It is distinguished into Passummah lebbar, or the broad, which lies
+inland, extending to within a day's journey of Muaro Mulang, on Palembang
+River; and Passummah ulu Manna, which is on the western side of the range
+of hills, whither the inhabitants are said to have mostly removed in
+order to avoid the government of Palembang.
+
+It is governed by four pangerans, who are independent of each other but
+acknowledge a kind of sovereignty in the sultan of Palembang, from whom
+they hold a chap (warrant) and receive a salin (investiture) on their
+accession. This subordination is the consequence of the king of Bantam's
+former influence over this part of the island, Palembang being a port
+anciently dependent on him, and now on the Dutch, whose instrument the
+sultan is. There is an inferior pangeran in almost every dusun (that
+title being nearly as common in Passummah as dupati towards the
+sea-coast) who are chosen by the inhabitants, and confirmed by the
+superior pangeran, whom they assist in the determination of causes. In
+the low country, where the pepper-planters reside, the title of kalippah
+prevails; which is a corruption of the Arabic word khalifah, signifying a
+vicegerent. Each of these presides over various tribes, which have been
+collected at different times (some of them being colonists from Rejang,
+as well as from a country to the eastward of them, named Haji) and have
+ranged themselves, some under one and some under another chief; having
+also their superior proattin, or pambarab, as in the northern districts.
+On the rivers of Peeno, Manna, and Bankannon are two kalippahs
+respectively, some of whom are also pangerans, which last seems to be
+here rather a title of honour, or family distinction, than of magistracy.
+They are independent of each other, owning no superior; and their number,
+according to the ideas of the people, cannot be increased.
+
+
+CHAPTER 12.
+
+LAWS AND CUSTOMS.
+MODE OF DECIDING CAUSES.
+CODE OF LAWS.
+
+LAWS OR CUSTOMS.
+
+There is no word in the languages of the island which properly and
+strictly signifies law; nor is there any person or class of persons among
+the Rejangs regularly invested with a legislative power. They are
+governed in their various disputes by a set of long-established customs
+(adat), handed down to them from their ancestors, the authority of which
+is founded on usage and general consent. The chiefs, in pronouncing their
+decisions, are not heard to say, "so the law directs," but "such is the
+custom." It is true that, if any case arises for which there is no
+precedent on record (of memory), they deliberate and agree on some mode
+that shall serve as a rule in future similar circumstances. If the affair
+be trifling that is seldom objected to; but when it is a matter of
+consequence the pangeran, or kalippah (in places where such are present),
+consults with the proattins, or lower order of chiefs, who frequently
+desire time to consider of it, and consult with the inhabitants of their
+dusun. When the point is thus determined the people voluntarily submit to
+observe it as an established custom; but they do not acknowledge a right
+in the chiefs to constitute what laws they think proper, or to repeal or
+alter their ancient usages, of which they are extremely tenacious and
+jealous. It is notwithstanding true that, by the influence of the
+Europeans, they have at times been prevailed on to submit to innovations
+in their customs; but, except when they perceived a manifest advantage
+from the change, they have generally seized an opportunity of reverting
+to the old practice.
+
+MODE OF DECIDING CAUSES.
+
+All causes, both civil and criminal, are determined by the several chiefs
+of the district, assembled together at stated times for the purpose of
+distributing justice. These meetings are called becharo (which signifies
+also to discourse or debate), and among us, by an easy corruption,
+bechars. Their manner of settling litigations in points of property is
+rather a species of arbitration, each party previously binding himself to
+submit to the award, than the exertion of a coercive power possessed by
+the court for the redress of wrongs.
+
+The want of a written criterion of the laws and the imperfect stability
+of traditionary usage must frequently, in the intricacies of their suits,
+give rise to contradictory decisions; particularly as the interests and
+passions of the chiefs are but too often concerned in the determination
+of the causes that come before them.
+
+COMPILATION OF LAWS.
+
+This evil had long been perceived by the English Residents, who, in the
+countries where we are settled, preside at the bechars, and, being
+instigated by the splendid example of the Governor-general of Bengal (Mr.
+Hastings), under whose direction a code of the laws of that empire was
+compiled (and translated by Mr. Halhed), it was resolved that the
+servants of the Company at each of the subordinates should, with the
+assistance of the ablest and most experienced of the natives, attempt to
+reduce to writing and form a system of the usages of the Sumatrans in
+their respective residencies. This was accordingly executed in some
+instances, and, a translation of that compiled in the residency of Laye
+coming into my possession, I insert it here, in the original form, as
+being attended with more authority and precision than any account
+furnished from my own memorandums could pretend to.
+
+REJANG LAWS.
+
+For the more regular and impartial administration of justice in the
+Residency of Laye, the laws and customs of the Rejangs, hitherto
+preserved by tradition, are now, after being discussed, amended, and
+ratified, in an assembly of the pangeran, pambarabs, and proattins,
+committed to writing in order that they may not be liable to alteration;
+that those deserving death or fine may meet their reward; that causes may
+be brought before the proper judges, and due amends made for defaults;
+that the compensation for murder may be fully paid; that property may be
+equitably divided; that what is borrowed may be restored; that gifts may
+become the undoubted property of the receiver; that debts may be paid and
+credits received agreeably to the customs that have been ever in force
+beneath the heavens and on the face of the earth. By the observance of
+the laws a country is made to flourish, and where they are neglected or
+violated ruin ensues.
+
+BECHARS, SUITS, OR TRIALS.
+
+PROCESS IN SUITS.
+
+The plaintiff and defendant first state to the bench the general
+circumstances of the case. If their accounts differ, and they consent to
+refer the matter to the decision of the proattins or bench, each party is
+to give a token, to the value of a suku, that he will abide by it, and to
+find security for the chogo, a sum stated to them, supposed to exceed the
+utmost probable damages.
+
+If the chogo do not exceed 30 dollars the bio or fee paid by each is
+  1 1/4 dollars.
+If the chogo do not exceed 30 to 50 dollars the bio or fee paid by each
+  is 2 1/2 dollars.
+If the chogo do not exceed 50 to 100 dollars the bio or fee paid by each
+  is 5 dollars.
+If the chogo do not exceed 100 dollars and upwards the bio or fee paid by
+  each is 9 dollars.
+
+All chiefs of dusuns, or independent tallangs, are entitled to a seat on
+the bench upon trials.
+
+If the pangeran sits at the bechar he is entitled to one half of all bio,
+and of such fines, or shares of fines, as fall to the chiefs, the
+pambarabs, and other proattins dividing the remainder.
+
+If the pangeran be not present the pambarabs have one-third, and the
+other proattins two-thirds of the foregoing. Though a single pambarab
+only sit he is equally entitled to the above one-third. Of the other
+proattins five are requisite to make a quorum.
+
+No bechar, the chogo of which exceeds five dollars, to be held by the
+proattins, except in the presence of the Company's Resident, or his
+assistant.
+
+If a person maliciously brings a false accusation and it is proved such,
+he is liable to pay a sum equal to that which the defendant would have
+incurred had his design succeeded; which sum is to be divided between the
+defendant and the proattins, half and half.
+
+The fine for bearing false witness is twenty dollars and a buffalo.
+
+The punishment of perjury is left to the superior powers (orang alus).
+Evidence here is not delivered on previous oath.
+
+LAWS OF INHERITANCE.
+
+If the father leaves a will, or declares before witnesses his intentions
+relative to his effects or estate, his pleasure is to be followed in the
+distribution of them amongst his children.
+
+If he dies intestate and without declaring his intentions the male
+children inherit, share and share alike, except that the house and pusako
+(heirlooms, or effects on which, from various causes, superstitious value
+is placed) devolve invariably to the eldest.
+
+The mother (if by the mode of marriage termed jujur, which, with the
+other legal terms, will be hereafter explained) and the daughters are
+dependant on the sons.
+
+If a man, married by semando, dies, leaving children, the effects remain
+to the wife and children. If the woman dies, the effects remain to the
+husband and children. If either dies leaving no children the family of
+the deceased is entitled to half the effects.
+
+OUTLAWRY.
+
+Any person unwilling to be answerable for the debts or actions of his son
+or other relation under his charge may outlaw him, by which he, from that
+period, relinquishes all family connexion with him, and is no longer
+responsible for his conduct.
+
+The outlaw to be delivered up to the Resident or pangeran, accompanied
+with his writ of outlawry, in duplicate, one copy to be lodged with the
+Resident, and one with the outlaw's pambarab.
+
+The person who outlaws must pay all debts to that day.
+
+On amendment, the outlaw may be recalled to his family, they paying such
+debts as he may have contracted whilst outlawed, and redeeming his writ
+by payment of ten dollars and a goat, to be divided among the pangeran
+and pambarabs.
+
+If an outlaw commits murder he is to suffer death.
+
+If murdered, a bangun, or compensation, of fifty dollars, is to be paid
+for him to the pangeran.
+
+If an outlaw wounds a person he becomes a slave to the Company or
+pangeran for three years. If he absconds and is afterwards killed no
+bangun is to be paid for him.
+
+If an outlaw wounds a person and is killed in the scuffle no bangun is to
+be paid for him.
+
+If the relations harbour an outlaw they are held willing to redeem him,
+and become answerable for his debts.
+
+THEFT.
+
+A person convicted of theft pays double the value of the goods stolen,
+with a fine of twenty dollars and a buffalo, if they exceed the value of
+five dollars: if under five dollars the fine is five dollars and a goat;
+the value of the goods still doubled.
+
+All thefts under five dollars, and all disputes for property, or offences
+to that amount, may be compromised by the proattins whose dependants are
+concerned.
+
+Neither assertion nor oath of the prosecutor are sufficient for
+conviction without token (chino) of the robbery, namely, some article
+recovered of the goods stolen; or evidence sufficient.
+
+If any person, having permission to pass the night in the house of
+another, shall leave it before daybreak, without giving notice to the
+family, he shall be held accountable for any thing that may be that night
+missing.
+
+If a person passing the night in the house of another does not commit his
+effects to the charge of the owner of it, the latter is not accountable
+if they are stolen during the night. If he has given them in charge, and
+the stranger's effects only are lost during the night, the owner of the
+house becomes accountable. If effects both of the owner and lodger are
+stolen, each is to make oath to the other that he is not concerned in the
+robbery, and the parties put up with their loss, or retrieve it as they
+can.
+
+Oaths are usually made on the koran, or at the grave of an ancestor,
+according as the Mahometan religion prevails more or less. The party
+intended to be satisfied by the oath generally prescribes the mode and
+purport of it.
+
+BANGUN, OR COMPENSATION FOR MURDER.
+
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of a pambarab is 500 dollars.
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of an inferior proattin is 250
+  dollars.
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of a common person, man or boy,
+  is 80 dollars.
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of a common person, woman or girl,
+  is 150 dollars.
+The bangun or compensation for the murder of the legitimate children or
+  wife of a pambarab is 250 dollars.
+
+Exclusive of the above, a fine of fifty dollars and a buffalo as tippong
+bumi (expiation), is to be paid on the murder of a pambarab; of twenty
+dollars and a buffalo on the murder of any other; which goes to the
+pambarab and proattins.
+
+The bangun of an outlaw is fifty dollars without tippong bumi.
+
+No bangun is to be paid for a person killed in the commission of a robbery.
+
+The bangun of pambarabs and proattins is to be divided between the pangeran
+and pambarabs one half; and the family of the deceased the other half.
+
+The bangun of private persons is to be paid to their families; deducting
+the adat ulasan of ten per cent to the pambarabs and proattins.
+
+If a man kills his slave he pays half his price as bangun to the
+pangeran, and the tippong bumi to the proattins.
+
+If a man kills his wife by jujur he pays her bangun to her family, or to
+the proattins, according as the tali kulo subsists or not.
+
+If a man kills or wounds his wife by semando he pays the same as for a
+stranger.
+
+If a man wounds his wife by jujur slightly he pays one tail or two
+dollars.
+
+If a man wounds his wife by jujur with a weapon and an apparent intention
+of killing her he pays a fine of twenty dollars.
+
+If the tali kulo (tie of relationship) is broken the wife's family can no
+longer claim bangun or fine: they revert to the proattins.
+
+If a pambarab wounds his wife by jujur he pays five dollars and a goat.
+
+If a pambarab's daughter, married by jujur, is wounded by her husband he
+pays five dollars and a goat.
+
+For a wound occasioning the loss of an eye or limb or imminent danger of
+death half the bangun is to be paid.
+
+For a wound on the head the pampas or compensation is twenty dollars.
+
+For other wounds the pampas from twenty dollars downwards.
+
+If a person is carried off and sold beyond the hills the offender, if
+convicted, must pay the bangun. If the person has been recovered previous
+to the trial the offender pays half the bangun.
+
+If a man kills his brother he pays to the proattins the tippong bumi.
+
+If a wife kills her husband she must suffer death.
+
+If a wife by semando wounds her husband her relations must pay what they
+would receive if he wounded her.
+
+DEBTS AND CREDITS.
+
+DEBTS.
+
+On the death of a person in debt (unless he die an outlaw, or married
+byambel-anak) his nearest relation becomes accountable to the creditors.
+
+Of a person married by ambel-anak the family he married into is
+answerable for debts contracted during the marriage: such as were
+previous to it his relations must pay.
+
+A father, or head of a family, has hitherto been in all cases liable to
+the debts of his sons, or younger relations under his care; but to
+prevent as much as possible his suffering by their extravagance it is now
+resolved:
+
+That if a young unmarried man (bujang) borrows money, or purchases goods
+without the concurrence of his father, or of the head of his family, the
+parent shall not be answerable for the debt. Should the son use his
+father's name in borrowing it shall be at the lender's risk if the father
+disavows it.
+
+If any person gives credit to the debtor of another (publicly known as
+such, either in the state of mengiring, when the whole of his labour
+belongs to the creditor, or of be-blah, when it is divided) the latter
+creditor can neither disturb the debtor for the sum nor oblige the former
+to pay it. He must either pay the first debt (membulati, consolidate) or
+let his claim lie over till the debtor finds means to discharge it.
+
+Interest of money has hitherto been three fanams per dollar per month, or
+one hundred and fifty per cent per annum. It is now reduced to one fanam,
+or fifty per cent per annum, and no person is to receive more, under
+penalty of fine, according to the circumstances of the case.
+
+No more than double the principal can in any case be recovered at law. A
+person lending money at interest, and letting it lie over beyond two
+years, loses the surplus.
+
+No pepper-planter to be taken as a debtor mengiring, under penalty of
+forty dollars.
+
+A planter in debt may engage in any work for hire that does not interfere
+with the care of his garden, but must on no account mengiring, even
+though his creditor offers to become answerable for the care of his
+garden.
+
+If a debtor mengiring absconds from his master (or creditor, who has a
+right to his personal service) without leave of absence he is liable to
+an increase of debt at the rate of three fanams per day. Females have
+been hitherto charged six fanams, but are now put upon a footing the same
+as the men.
+
+If a debtor mengiring, without security, runs away, his debt is liable to
+be doubled if he is absent above a week.
+
+If a man takes a person mengiring, without security for the debt, should
+the debtor die in that predicament the creditor loses his money, having
+no claim on the relations for it.
+
+If a person takes up money under promise of mengiring at a certain
+period, should he not perform his agreement he must pay interest for the
+money at one fanam per dollar per month.
+
+If a person, security for another, is obliged to pay the debt he is
+entitled to demand double from the debtor; but this claim to be moderated
+according to circumstances.
+
+If a person sues for a debt which is denied the onus probandi lies with
+the plaintiff. If he fails in proof the defendant, on making oath to the
+justness of his denial, shall be acquitted.
+
+If a debtor taking care of a pepper garden, or one that gives half
+produce to his creditor (be-blah), neglects it, the person in whose debt
+he is must hire a man to do the necessary work; and the hire so paid
+shall be added to the debt. Previous notice shall however be given to the
+debtor, that he may if he pleases avoid the payment of the hire by doing
+the work himself.
+
+If a person's slave, or debtor mengiring, be carried off and sold beyond
+the hills the offender is liable to the bangun, if a debtor, or to his
+price, if a slave. Should the person be recovered the offender is liable
+to a fine of forty dollars, of which the person that recovers him has
+half, and the owner or creditor the remainder. If the offender be not
+secured the reward shall be only five dollars to the person that brings
+the slave, and three dollars the debtor, if on this side the hills; if
+from beyond the hills the reward is doubled.
+
+LAWS REGARDING MARRIAGE.
+
+The modes of marriage prevailing hitherto have been principally by jujur,
+or by ambel-anak, the Malay semando being little used. The obvious ill
+consequences of the two former, from the debt or slavery they entailed
+upon the man that married, and the endless lawsuits they gave rise to,
+have at length induced the chiefs to concur in their being as far as
+possible laid aside; adopting in lieu of them the semando malayo, or
+mardiko, which they now strongly recommend to their dependants as free
+from the encumbrances of the other modes, and tending, by facilitating
+marriage, and the consequent increase of population, to promote the
+welfare of their country. Unwilling, however, to abolish arbitrarily a
+favourite custom of their ancestors, marriage by jujur is still permitted
+to take place, but under such restrictions as will, it is hoped,
+effectually counteract its hitherto pernicious consequences. Marriage by
+ambel-anak, which rendered a man and his descendants the property of the
+family he married into, is now prohibited, and none permitted for the
+future, but, by semando, or jujur, subject to the following regulations.
+
+The jujur of a virgin (gadis) has been hitherto one hundred and twenty
+dollars: the adat annexed to it have been tulis-tanggil, fifteen dollars;
+upah daun kodo, six dollars, and tali kulo, five dollars:
+
+The jujur of a widow, eighty dollars, without the adat; unless her
+children by the former marriage went with her, in which case the jujur
+gadis was paid in full.
+
+It is now determined that, on a man's giving his daughter in marriage by
+jujur for the future, there shall, in lieu of the above, be fixed a sum
+not exceeding one hundred and fifty dollars, to be in full for jujur and
+all adat whatever. That this sum shall, when the marriage takes place, be
+paid upon the spot; that if credit is given for the whole, or any part,
+it shall not be recoverable by course of law; and as the sum includes the
+tali kulo, or bond of relationship, the wife thereby becomes the absolute
+property of the husband. The marriage by jujur being thus rendered
+equivalent to actual sale, and the difficulty enhanced by the necessity
+of paying the full price upon the spot, it is probable that the custom
+will in a great measure cease, and, though not positively, be virtually
+abolished. Nor can a lawsuit follow from any future jujur.
+
+The adat, or custom, of the semando malayo or mardiko, to be paid by the
+husband to the wife's family upon the marriage taking place, is fixed at
+twenty dollars and a buffalo, for such as can afford it; and at ten
+dollars and a goat, for the poorer class of people.
+
+Whatever may be acquired by either party during the subsistence of the
+marriage becomes joint property, and they are jointly liable to debts
+incurred, if by mutual consent. Should either contract debts without the
+knowledge and consent of the other the party that contracts must alone
+bear them in case of a divorce.
+
+If either party insists upon, or both agree in it, a divorce must follow.
+No other power can separate them. The effects, debts, and credits in all
+cases to be equally divided. If the man insists upon the divorce he pays
+a charo of twenty dollars to the wife's family, if he obtained her a
+virgin; if a widow, ten dollars. If the woman insists on the divorce no
+charo is to be paid. If both agree in it the man pays half the charo.
+
+If a man married by semando dies--Vide Inheritance.
+
+If a man carries off a woman with her consent, and is willing either to
+pay her price at once by jujur, or marry her by semando, as the father or
+relations please, they cannot reclaim the woman, and the marriage takes
+place.
+
+If a man carries off a girl under age (which is determined by her not
+having her ears bored and teeth filed--bulum bertinde berdabong), though
+with her own consent, he pays, exclusive of the adat jujur, or semando,
+twenty dollars if she be the daughter of a pambarab, and ten dollars for
+the daughter of any other, whether the marriage takes place or not.
+
+If a risau, or person without property and character, carries off a woman
+(though with her own consent) and can neither pay the jujur, nor adat
+semando, the marriage shall not take place, but the man be fined five
+dollars and a goat for misdemeanour. If she be under age, his fine ten
+dollars and a goat.
+
+If a man has but one daughter, whom, to keep her near him, he wishes to
+give in marriage by semando; should a man carry her off, he shall not be
+allowed to keep her by jujur, though he offer the money upon the spot. If
+he refuses to marry her by semando, no marriage takes place, and he
+incurs a fine to the father of ten dollars and a goat.
+
+If a man carries off a woman under pretence of marriage he must lodge her
+immediately with some reputable family. If he carries her elsewhere, for
+a single night he incurs a fine of fifty dollars, payable to her parents
+or relations.
+
+If a man carries off a virgin against her inclination (me-ulih) he incurs
+a fine of twenty dollars and a buffalo: if a widow, ten dollars and a
+goat, and the marriage does not take place. If he commits a rape, and the
+parents do not choose to give her to him in marriage, he incurs a fine of
+fifty dollars.
+
+The adat libei, or custom of giving one woman in exchange for another
+taken in marriage, being a modification of the jujur, is still admitted
+of; but if the one be not deemed an equivalent for the other the
+necessary compensation (as the pangalappang, for nonage) must be paid
+upon the spot, or it is not recoverable by course of law. If a virgin is
+carried off (te-lari gadis) and another is given in exchange for her, by
+adat libei, twelve dollars must be paid with the latter as adat ka-salah.
+
+A man married by ambel-anak may redeem himself and family on payment of
+the jujur and adat of a virgin before-mentioned.
+
+The charo of a jujur marriage is twenty-five dollars. If the jujur be not
+yet paid in full and the man insists on a divorce he receives back what
+he has paid, less twenty-five dollars. If the woman insists no charo can
+be claimed by her relations. If the tali kulo is putus (broken) the wife
+is the husband's property and he may sell her if he pleases.
+
+If a man compels a female debtor of his to cohabit with him her debt, if
+the fact be proved, is thereby discharged, if forty dollars and upwards:
+if under forty the debt is cleared and he pays the difference. If she
+accuses her master falsely of this offence her debt is doubled. If he
+cohabits with her by her consent her parents may compel him to marry her,
+either by jujur or semando, as they please.
+
+If an unmarried woman proves with child the man against whom the fact is
+proved must marry her; and they pay to the proattins a joint fine of
+twenty dollars and a buffalo. This fine, if the parties agree to it, may
+be levied in the country by the neighbouring proattins (without bringing
+it before the regular court).
+
+If a woman proves with child by a relation within the prohibited degrees
+they pay to the proattins a joint fine of twice fifty dollars and two
+buffaloes (hukum duo akup).
+
+A marriage must not take place between relations within the third degree,
+or tungal nene. But there are exceptions for the descendants of females
+who, passing into other families, become as strangers. Of two brothers,
+the children may not intermarry. A sister's son may marry a brother's
+daughter; but a brother's son may not marry a sister's daughter.
+
+If relations within the prohibited degrees intermarry they incur a fine
+of twice fifty dollars and two buffaloes, and the marriage is not valid.
+
+On the death of a man married by jujur or purchase, any of his brothers,
+the eldest in preference, if he pleases, may succeed to his bed. If no
+brother chooses it they may give the woman in marriage to any relation on
+the father's side, without adat, the person who marries her replacing the
+deceased (mangabalu). If no relation takes her and she is given in
+marriage to a stranger he may be either adopted into the family to
+replace the deceased, without adot, or he may pay her jujur, or take her
+by semando, as her relations please.
+
+If a person lies with a man's wife by force he is deserving of death; but
+may redeem his head by payment of the bangun, eighty dollars, to be
+divided between the husband and proattins.
+
+If a man surprises his wife in the act of adultery he may put both man
+and woman to death upon the spot, without being liable to any bangun. If
+he kills the man and spares his wife he must redeem her life by payment
+of fifty dollars to the proattins. If the husband spares the offender, or
+has only information of the fact from other persons, he may not
+afterwards kill him, but has his remedy at law, the fine for adultery
+being fifty dollars, to be divided between the husband and the proattins.
+If he divorces his wife on this account he pays no charo.
+
+If a younger sister be first married, the husband pays six dollars, adat
+pelalu, for passing over the elder.
+
+GAMING.
+
+All gaming, except cock-fighting at stated periods, is absolutely
+prohibited. The fine for each offence is fifty dollars. The person in
+whose house it is carried on, if with his knowledge, is equally liable to
+the fine with the gamesters. A proattin knowing of gaming in his dusun
+and concealing it incurs a fine of twenty dollars. One half of the fines
+goes to the informer, the other to the Company, to be distributed among
+the industrious planters at the yearly payment of the customs.
+
+OPIUM FARM.
+
+The fine for the retailing of opium by any other than the person who
+farms the license is fifty dollars for each offence: one half to the
+farmer, and the other to the informer.
+
+EXECUTIVE POWER.
+
+The executive power for enforcing obedience to these laws and customs,
+and for preserving the peace of the country, is, with the concurrence of
+the pangeran and proattins, vested in the Company's Resident.
+
+Done at Laye, in the month Rabia-al akhir, in the year of the Hejra 1193,
+answering to April 1779.
+
+JOHN MARSDEN, Resident.
+
+...
+
+LAWS OR ADAT OF MANNA.
+
+Having procured likewise a copy of the regulations sanctioned by the
+chiefs of the Passummah country assembled at Manna, I do not hesitate to
+insert it, not only as varying in many circumstances from the preceding,
+but because it may eventually prove useful to record the document.
+
+INHERITANCE.
+
+If a person dies having children these inherit his effects in equal
+portions, and become answerable for the debts of the deceased. If any of
+his brothers survive they may be permitted to share with their nephews,
+but rather as matter of courtesy than of right, and only when the effects
+of the deceased devolved to him from his father or grandfather. If he was
+a man of rank it is common for the son who succeeds him in title to have
+a larger share. This succession is not confined to the eldest born but
+depends much on private agreement in the family. If the deceased person
+leaves no kindred behind him the tribe to which he belonged shall inherit
+his effects, and be answerable for his debts.
+
+DEBTS.
+
+When a debt becomes due and the debtor is unable to pay his creditors, or
+has no effects to deposit, he shall himself, or his wife, or his
+children, live with the creditor as a bond-slave or slaves until redeemed
+by the payment of the debt.
+
+If a debt is contracted without any promise of interest none shall be
+demanded, although the debt be not paid until some time after it first
+became due. The rate of interest is settled at twenty per cent per annum;
+but in all suits relating to debts on interest, how long soever they may
+have been outstanding, the creditor shall not be entitled to more
+interest than may amount to a sum equal to the capital: if the debt is
+recent it shall be calculated as above. If any person lends to another a
+sum exceeding twenty-five dollars and sues for payment before the chiefs
+he shall be entitled only to one year's interest on the sum lent. If
+money is lent to the owner of a padi-plantation, on an agreement to pay
+interest in grain, and after the harvest is over the borrower omits to
+pay the stipulated quantity, the lender shall be entitled to receive at
+the rate of fifteen dollars for ten lent; and if the omission should be
+repeated another season the lender shall be entitled to receive double
+the principal. In all cases of debt contested the onus probandi lies with
+the demandant, who must make good his claim by creditable evidence, or in
+default thereof the respondent may by oath clear himself from the debt.
+On the other hand, if the respondent allows such a debt to have existed
+but asserts a previous payment, it rests with him to prove such payment
+by proper evidence, or in defect the demandant shall by oath establish
+his debt.
+
+EVIDENCE AND OATHS.
+
+EVIDENCE.
+
+In order to be deemed a competent and unexceptionable evidence person
+must be of a different family and dusun from the person in whose behalf
+he gives evidence, of good character, and a free man: but if the dispute
+be between two inhabitants of the same dusun persons of such dusun are
+allowed to be complete evidence. In respect to the oath taken by the
+principals in a dispute the hukuman (or comprehensive quality of the
+oath) depends on the nature of the property in dispute: if it relates to
+the effects of the grandfather the hukuman must extend to the descendants
+from the grandfather; if it relates to the effects of the father it
+extends to the descendants of the father, etc. If any of the parties
+proposed to be included in the operation of the oath refuse to subject
+themselves to the oath the principal in the suit loses his cause.
+
+PAWNS OR PLEDGES.
+
+If any person holding a pawn or pledge such as wearing-apparel, household
+effects, or krises, swords, or kujur (lances), shall pledge it for a
+larger sum than he advanced for it, he shall be answerable to the owner
+for the full value of it, on payment of the sum originally advanced. If
+any person holding as a pledge man, woman, or child shall pledge them to
+any other at an advanced sum, or without the knowledge of the owner, and
+by these means the person pledged should be sold as a slave, he shall
+make good to the owner the full value of such slave, and pay a fine of
+twenty-eight dollars. If any person whatever holding man, woman, or child
+as a pawn, either with janji lalu (term expired) or not, or with or
+without the consent of the original owner, shall sell such person as a
+slave without the knowledge of the Resident and Chiefs, he shall be fined
+twenty-eight dollars.
+
+BUFFALOES.
+
+CATTLE.
+
+All persons who keep buffaloes shall register at the godong
+(factory-house) their tingas or mark; and, in case any dispute shall
+arise about a marked buffalo, no person shall be allowed to plead a mark
+that is not registered. If any wild (stray) buffalo or buffaloes,
+unmarked, shall be taken in a kandang (staked inclosure) they shall be
+adjudged the property of any who takes upon himself to swear to them;
+and, if it should happen that two or more persons insist upon swearing to
+the same buffaloes, they shall be divided among them equally. If no
+individual will swear to the property the buffaloes are to be considered
+as belonging to the kalippah or magistrate of the district where they
+were caught. The person who takes any buffaloes in his kandang shall be
+entitled to a gratuity of two dollars per head. If any buffaloes get into
+a pepper-garden, either by day or night, the owner of the garden shall
+have liberty to kill them, without being answerable to the owner of the
+buffaloes: yet, if it shall appear on examination that the garden was not
+properly fenced, and from this defect suffers damage, the owner shall be
+liable to such fine as the Resident and Chiefs shall judge it proper to
+impose.
+
+THEFT.
+
+A person convicted of stealing money, wearing-apparel, household effects,
+arms, or the like shall pay the owner double the value of the goods
+stolen and be fined twenty-eight dollars. A person convicted of stealing
+slaves shall pay to the owner at the rate of eighty dollars per head,
+which is estimated to be double the value, and fined twenty-eight
+dollars. A person convicted of stealing betel, fowls, or coconuts shall
+pay the owner double the value and be fined seven dollars, half of which
+fine is to be received by the owner. If buffaloes are stolen they shall
+be valued at twelve dollars per head: padi at four bakul (baskets) for
+the dollar. If the stolen goods be found in the possession of a person
+who is not able to account satisfactorily how he came by them he shall be
+deemed the guilty person. If a person attempting to seize a man in the
+act of thieving shall get hold of any part of his clothes which are
+known, or his kris or siwah, this shall be deemed a sufficient token of
+the theft. If two witnesses can be found who saw the stolen goods in
+possession of a third person such person shall be deemed guilty unless he
+can account satisfactorily how he became possessed of the goods. The oath
+taken by such witnesses shall either include the descendants of their
+father, or simply their own descendants, according to the discretion of
+the chiefs who sit as judges. If several people sleep in one house, and
+one of them leaves the house in the night without giving notice to any of
+the rest, and a robbery be committed in the house that night, the person
+so leaving the house shall be deemed guilty of the crime, provided the
+owner of the stolen goods be willing to subject himself to an oath on the
+occasion; and provided the other persons sleeping in the house shall
+clear themselves by oath from being concerned in the theft: but if it
+should happen that a person so convicted, being really innocent, should
+in after time discover the person actually guilty, he shall have liberty
+to bring his suit and recover. If several persons are sleeping in a house
+and a robbery is committed that night, although none leave the house the
+whole shall be obliged to make oath that they had no knowledge of, or
+concern in, the theft, or on refusal shall be deemed guilty. In all cases
+of theft where only a part of the stolen goods is found the owner must
+ascertain upon oath the whole amount of his loss.
+
+MURDER, WOUNDING, AND ASSAULT.
+
+A person convicted of murder shall pay to the relations of the deceased a
+bangun of eighty-eight dollars, one suku, and seventy-five cash; to the
+chiefs a fine of twenty-eight dollars; the bhasa lurah, which is a
+buffalo and one hundred bamboos of rice; and the palantan, which is
+fourteen dollars. If a son kills his father, or a father his son, or a
+man kills his brother, he shall pay a fine of twenty-eight dollars, and
+the bhasa lurah as above. If a man kills his wife the relations of the
+deceased shall receive half a bangun: if any other kills a man's wife the
+husband is entitled to the bangun, but shall pay out of it to the
+relations of the wife ten dollars. In wounds a distinction is made in the
+parts of the body. A wound in any part from the hips upward is esteemed
+more considerable than in the lower parts. If a person wounds another
+with sword, kris, kujur, or other weapon, and the wound is considerable,
+so as to maim him, he shall pay to the person wounded a half-bangun, and
+to the chiefs half of the fine for murder, with half of the bhasa lurah,
+etc. If the wound is trifling but fetches blood he shall pay the person
+wounded the tepong of fourteen dollars, and be fined fourteen dollars. If
+a person wounds another with a stick, bamboo, etc., he shall simply pay
+the tepong of fourteen dollars. If in any dispute between two people
+krises are drawn the person who first drew his kris shall be fined
+fourteen dollars. If any person having a dispute assembles together his
+friends with arms, he shall be fined twenty-eight dollars.
+
+MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, ETC.
+
+MARRIAGE.
+
+There are two modes of marriage used here: one by purchase, called jujur
+or kulu, the other by adoption, called ambel anak. First of jujur.
+
+JUJUR.
+
+When a person is desirous of marrying he deposits a sum of money in the
+hands of the father of the virgin, which is called the pagatan. This sum
+is not esteemed part of the purchase, but as an equivalent for the
+dandanan (paraphernalia, or ornamental apparel) of the bride, and is not
+fixed but varies according to the circumstances and rank of the father.
+The amount of the jujur is fixed at seventy dollars, including the hurup
+niawa (price of life), forty dollars, a kris with gold about the head and
+silver about the sheath, valued at ten dollars, and the meniudakan billi
+or putus kulo (completion of purchase) at twenty. If a young man runs
+away with a gadis or virgin without the consent of the father he does not
+act contrary to the laws of the country; but if he refuses to pay the
+full jujur on demand he shall be fined twenty-eight dollars. If the
+father, having received the pagatan of one man, marries his daughter to
+another before he returns the money to the first, he shall be fined
+fourteen dollars, and the man who marries the daughter shall also be
+fined fourteen dollars. In case of divorce (which may take place at the
+will of either party) the dandanan brought by the wife is to be valued
+and to be deducted from the purchase-money. If a divorce originates from
+the man, and before the whole purchase-money is paid, the man shall
+receive back what he has advanced after deducting the dandanan as above,
+and fourteen dollars, called penusutan. If the divorce originates with
+the woman the whole purchase-money shall be returned, and the children,
+if any, remain with the father. If a divorce originates with the man,
+when the whole purchase-money has been paid, or kulo sudah putus, he
+shall not be entitled to receive back the purchase-money, but may recall
+his wife whenever it shall be agreeable to him. An exact estimation is
+made of the value of the woman's ornaments, and what are not restored
+with her must be made good by the husband. If there are children they are
+in this case to be divided, or if there be only one the husband is to
+allow the woman fifteen dollars, and to take the child. Secondly, of
+ambel anak.
+
+AMBEL ANAK.
+
+When a man marries after the custom called ambel anak he pays no money to
+the father of the bride, but becomes one of his family, and is entirely
+upon the footing of a son, the father of his wife being thenceforward
+answerable for his debts, etc., in the same manner as for his own
+children. The married man becomes entirely separate from his original
+family, and gives up his right of inheritance. It is however in the power
+of the father of the wife to divorce from her his adopted son whenever he
+thinks proper, in which case the husband is not entitled to any of the
+children, nor to any effects other than simply the clothes on his back:
+but if the wife is willing still to live with him, and he is able to
+redeem her and the children by paying the father a hundred dollars, it is
+not at the option of the father to refuse accepting this sum; and in that
+case the marriage becomes a kulo or jujur, and is subject to the same
+rules. If any unmarried woman is convicted of incontinence, or a married
+woman of adultery, they shall pay to the chiefs a fine of forty dollars,
+or in defect thereof become slaves, and the man with whom the crime was
+committed shall pay a fine of thirty dollars, or in like manner become a
+slave; and the parties between them shall also be at the expense of a
+buffalo and a hundred bamboos of rice. This is called the gawe pati or
+panjingan. If an unmarried woman proves with child and refuses to name
+the man with whom she was guilty she shall pay the whole fine of seventy
+dollars, and furnish the buffalo, etc. If a woman after marriage brings
+forth a child before the due course of nature she shall be fined
+twenty-eight dollars. If a man keeps a young woman in his house for any
+length of time, and has a child by her without being regularly married,
+he shall be fined twenty-eight dollars, and furnish a buffalo and a
+hundred bamboos of rice. If a person detects the offenders in the act of
+adultery, and, attempting to seize the man, is obliged to kill him in
+self-defence, he shall not pay the bangun, nor be fined, but only pay the
+bhasa lurah, which is a buffalo and a hundred bamboos of rice. On the
+other hand, if the guilty person kills the one who attempts to seize him,
+he shall be deemed guilty of murder and pay the bangun and fine
+accordingly. If a man holding a woman as a pawn, or in the condition of
+mengiring shall commit fornication with her, he shall forfeit his claim
+to the debt, and the woman become free.
+
+OUTLAWRY.
+
+If the members of a family have suffered inconvenience from the ill
+conduct of any of their relations by having been rendered answerable for
+their debts, etc., it shall be in their power to clear themselves from
+all future responsibility on his account by paying to the chiefs the sum
+of thirty dollars, a buffalo, and a hundred bamboos of rice. This is
+termed buang surat. Should the person so cast out be afterwards murdered
+the relations have forfeited their right to the bangun, which devolves to
+the chiefs.
+
+Dated at Manna, July 1807.
+
+JOHN CRISP, Resident.
+
+
+CHAPTER 13.
+
+REMARKS ON, AND ELUCIDATION OF, THE VARIOUS LAWS AND CUSTOMS.
+MODES OF PLEADING.
+NATURE OF EVIDENCE.
+OATHS.
+INHERITANCE.
+OUTLAWRY.
+THEFT, MURDER, AND COMPENSATION FOR IT.
+ACCOUNT OF A FEUD.
+DEBTS.
+SLAVERY.
+
+REMARKS ON THE FOREGOING LAWS.
+
+The foregoing system of the adat, or customs of the country, being
+digested chiefly for the use of the natives, or of persons well
+acquainted with their manners in general, and being designed, not for an
+illustration of the customs, but simply as a standard of right, the
+fewest and concisest terms possible have been made use of, and many parts
+must necessarily be obscure to the bulk of readers. I shall therefore
+revert to those particulars that may require explanation, and endeavour
+to throw a light upon the spirit and operation of such of their laws
+especially as seem most to clash with our ideas of distributive justice.
+This comment is the more requisite as it appears that some of their
+regulations, which were judged to be inconsistent with the prosperity of
+the people, were altered and amended through the more enlightened reason
+of the persons who acted as the representatives of the English company;
+and it may be proper to recall the idea of the original institutions.
+
+MODE OF PLEADING.
+
+The plaintiff and defendant usually plead their own cause, but if
+circumstances render them unequal to it they are allowed to pinjam mulut
+(borrow a mouth). Their advocate may be a proattin, or other person
+indifferently; nor is there any stated compensation for the assistance,
+though if the cause be gained a gratuity is generally given, and too apt
+to be rapaciously exacted by these chiefs from their clients, when their
+conduct is not attentively watched. The proattin also, who is security
+for the damages, receives privately some consideration; but none is
+openly allowed of. A refusal on his part to become security for his
+dependant or client is held to justify the latter in renouncing his civil
+dependence and choosing another patron.
+
+EVIDENCE.
+
+Evidence is used among these people in a manner very different from the
+forms of our courts of justice. They rarely admit it on both sides of the
+question; nor does the witness first make a general oath to speak the
+truth, and nothing but the truth. When a fact is to be established,
+either on the part of the plaintiff or of the defendant, he is asked if
+he can produce any evidence to the truth of what he asserts. On answering
+in the affirmative he is directed to mention the person. This witness
+must not be a relation, a party concerned, nor even belong to the same
+dusun. He must be a responsible man, having a family, and a determinate
+place of residence. Thus qualified, his evidence may be admitted. They
+have a settled rule in respect to the party that is to produce evidence.
+For instance; A. sues B. for a debt: B. denies the debt: A. is now to
+bring evidence to the debt, or, on failure thereof, it remains with B. to
+clear himself of the debt by swearing himself not indebted. Had B.
+acknowledged that such a debt had formerly subsisted but was since paid,
+it would be incumbent on B. to prove the payment by evidence, or on
+failure it would rest with A. to confirm the debt's being still due, by
+his oath. This is an invariable mode, observed in all cases of property.
+
+OATHS.
+
+As their manner of giving evidence differs from ours so also does the
+nature of an oath among them differ from our idea of it. In many cases it
+is requisite that they should swear to what it is not possible in the
+nature of things they should know to be true. A. sues B. for a debt due
+from the father or grandfather of B. to the father or grandfather of A.
+The original parties are dead and no witness of the transaction survives.
+How is the matter to be decided? It remains with B. to make oath that his
+father or grandfather never was indebted to those of A.; or that if he
+was indebted the debt had been paid. This, among us, would be esteemed a
+very strange method of deciding causes; but among these people something
+of the kind is absolutely necessary. As they have no sort of written
+accounts, nor anything like records or registers among them, it would be
+utterly impossible for the plaintiff to establish the debt by a positive
+proof in a multitude of cases; and were the suit to be dismissed at once,
+as with us, for want of such proof, numbers of innocent persons would
+lose the debts really due to them through the knavery of the persons
+indebted, who would scarce ever fail to deny a debt. On the side of the
+defendant again; if he was not permitted to clear himself of the debt by
+oath, but that it rested with the plaintiff only to establish the fact by
+a single oath, there would be a set of unprincipled fellows daily
+swearing debts against persons who never were indebted to any of their
+generation. In such suits, and there are many of them, it requires no
+small discernment to discover, by the attendant circumstances, where the
+truth lies; but this may be done in most instances by a person who is
+used to their manners and has a personal knowledge of the parties
+concerned. But what they mean by their oath, in those cases where it is
+impossible they should be acquainted with the facts they design to prove,
+is no more than this; that they are so convinced of the truth of the
+matter as to be willing to subject themselves to the paju sumpah
+(destructive consequences of perjury) if what they assert is believed by
+them to be false. The form of words used is nearly as follows: "If what I
+now declare, namely" (here the fact is recited) "is truly and really so,
+may I be freed and clear from my oath: if what I assert is wittingly
+false, may my oath be the cause of my destruction." But it may be easily
+supposed that, where the punishment for a false oath rests altogether
+with the invisible powers, where no direct infamy, no corporal punishment
+is annexed to the perjury, there cannot fail to be many who would makan
+sumpah (swallow an oath), and willingly incur the guilt, in order to
+acquire a little of their neighbour's property.
+
+Although an oath, as being an appeal to the superior powers, is supposed
+to come within their cognizance alone, and that it is contrary to the
+spirit of the customs of these people to punish a perjury by human means,
+even if it were clearly detected; yet, so far prevalent is the opinion of
+their interposition in human affairs that it is very seldom any man of
+substance, or who has a family that he fears may suffer by it, will
+venture to forswear himself; nor are there wanting apparent examples to
+confirm them in this notion. Any accident that happens to a man who has
+been known to take a false oath, or to his children or grandchildren, is
+carefully recorded in memory, and attributed to this sole cause. The
+dupati of Gunong Selong and his family have afforded an instance that is
+often quoted among the Rejangs, and has evidently had great weight. It
+was notorious that he had, about the year 1770, taken in the most solemn
+manner a false oath. He had at that time five sons grown up to manhood.
+One of them, soon after, in a scuffle with some bugis (country soldiers)
+was wounded and died. The dupati the next year lost his life in the issue
+of a disturbance he had raised in the district. Two of the sons died
+afterwards, within a week of each other. Mas Kaddah, the fourth, is
+blind; and Treman, the fifth, lame. All this is attributed to, and firmly
+believed to be the consequence of, the father's perjury.
+
+COLLATERAL OATHS.
+
+In administering an oath, if the matter litigated respects the property
+of the grandfather, all the collateral branches of the family descended
+from him are understood to be included in its operation: if the father's
+effects only are concerned, or the transaction happened in his lifetime,
+his descendants are included: if the affair regards only the present
+parties and originated with them, they and their immediate descendants
+only are comprehended in the consequences of the oath; and if any single
+one of these descendants refuses to join in the oath it vitiates the
+whole; that is, it has the same effect as if the party himself refused to
+swear; a case that not unfrequently occurs. It may be observed that the
+spirit of this custom tends to the requiring a weight of evidence and an
+increase of the importance of the oath in proportion as the distance of
+time renders the fact to be established less capable of proof in the
+ordinary way.
+
+Sometimes the difficulty of the case alone will induce the court to
+insist on administering the oath to the relations of the parties,
+although they are nowise concerned in the transaction. I recollect an
+instance where three people were prosecuted for a theft. There was no
+positive proof against them, yet the circumstances were so strong that it
+appeared proper to put them to the test of one of these collateral oaths.
+They were all willing, and two of them swore. When it came to the turn of
+the third he could not persuade his relations to join with him, and he
+was accordingly brought in for the whole amount of the goods stolen, and
+penalties annexed.
+
+These customs bear a strong resemblance to the rules of proof established
+among our ancestors, the Anglo-Saxons, who were likewise obliged, in the
+case of oaths taken for the purpose of exculpation, to produce a certain
+number of compurgators; but, as these might be any indifferent persons,
+who would take upon them to bear testimony to the truth of what their
+neighbour swore, from an opinion of his veracity, there seems to be more
+refinement and more knowledge of human nature in the Sumatran practice.
+The idea of devoting to destruction, by a wilful perjury, not himself
+only, but all, even the remotest branches, of a family which constitutes
+his greatest pride, and of which the deceased heads are regarded with the
+veneration that was paid to the dii lares of the ancients, has doubtless
+restrained many a man from taking a false oath, who without much
+compunction would suffer thirty or a hundred compurgators of the former
+description to take their chance of that fate. Their strongest prejudices
+are here converted to the most beneficial purposes.
+
+CEREMONY OF TAKING AN OATH.
+
+The place of greatest solemnity for administering an oath is the krammat
+or burying-ground of their ancestors, and several superstitious
+ceremonies are observed on the occasion. The people near the sea-coast,
+in general, by long intercourse with the Malays, have an idea of the
+Koran, and usually employ this in swearing, which the priests do not fail
+to make them pay for; but the inland people keep, laid up in their
+houses, certain old reliques, called in the Rejang language pesakko, and
+in Malayan, sactian, which they produce when an oath is to be taken. The
+person who has lost his cause, and with whom it commonly rests to bind
+his adversary by an oath, often desires two or three days' time to get
+ready these his swearing apparatus, called on such occasions sumpahan, of
+which some are looked upon as more sacred and of greater efficacy than
+others. They consist of an old rusty kris, a broken gun barrel, or any
+ancient trumpery, to which chance or caprice has annexed an idea of
+extraordinary virtue. These they generally dip in water, which the person
+who swears drinks off, after having pronounced the form of words before
+mentioned.* The pangeran of Sungei-lamo has by him certain copper bullets
+which had been steeped in water drunk by the Sungei-etam chiefs, when
+they bound themselves never to molest his districts: which they have only
+done since as often as they could venture it with safety, from the
+relaxation of our government. But these were political oaths. The most
+ordinary sumpahan is a kris, and on the blade of this they sometimes drop
+lime-juice, which occasions a stain on the lips of the person performing
+the ceremony; a circumstance that may not improbably be supposed to make
+an impression on a weak and guilty mind. Such would fancy that the
+external stain conveyed to the beholders an image of the internal. At
+Manna the sumpahan most respected is a gun barrel. When produced to be
+sworn on it is carried to the spot in state, under an umbrella, and
+wrapped in silk. This parade has an advantageous effect by influencing
+the mind of the party with a high idea of the importance and solemnity of
+the business. In England the familiarity of the object and the summary
+method of administering oaths are well known to diminish their weight,
+and to render them too often nugatory. They sometimes swear by the earth,
+laying their hands upon it and wishing that it may never produce aught
+for their nourishment if they speak falsely. In all these ceremonies they
+burn on the spot a little gum benzoin--Et acerra thuris plena, positusque
+carbo in cespite vivo.
+
+(*Footnote. The form of taking an oath among the people of Madagascar
+very nearly resembles the ceremonies used by the Sumatrans. There is a
+strong similarity in the articles they swear on and in the circumstance
+of their drinking the consecrated water.)
+
+It is a striking circumstance that practices which boast so little of
+reason in their foundation, which are in fact so whimsical and childish,
+should yet be common to nations the most remote in situation, climate,
+language, complexion, character, and everything that can distinguish one
+race of people from another. Formed of like materials, and furnished with
+like original sentiments, the uncivilized tribes of Europe and of
+India trembled from the same apprehensions, excited by similar ideas, at
+a time when they were ignorant, or even denied the possibility of each
+other's existence. Mutual wrong and animosity, attended with disputes and
+accusations, are not by nature confined to either description of people.
+Each, in doubtful litigations, might seek to prove their innocence by
+braving, on the justice of their cause, those objects which inspired
+amongst their countrymen the greatest terror. The Sumatran, impressed
+with an idea of invisible powers, but not of his own immortality, regards
+with awe the supposed instruments of their agency, and swears on krises,
+bullets, and gun barrels; weapons of personal destruction. The German
+Christian of the seventh century, more indifferent to the perils of this
+life, but not less superstitious, swore on bits of rotten wood and rusty
+nails, which he was taught to revere as possessing efficacy to secure him
+from eternal perdition.
+
+INHERITANCE.
+
+When a man dies his effects, in common course, descend to his male
+children in equal shares; but if one among them is remarkable for his
+abilities above the rest, though not the eldest, he usually obtains the
+largest proportion, and becomes the head of the tungguan or house; the
+others voluntarily yielding him the superiority. A pangeran of Manna left
+several children; none of them succeeded to the title, but a name of
+distinction was given to one of the younger, who was looked upon as chief
+of the family after the father's decease. Upon asking the eldest how it
+happened that the name of distinction passed over him and was conferred
+on his younger brother, he answered with great naivete, "because I am
+accounted weak and silly." If no male children are left and a daughter
+only remains they contrive to get her married by the mode of ambel anak,
+and thus the tungguan of the father continues. An equal distribution of
+property among children is more natural and conformable to justice than
+vesting the whole in the eldest son, as prevails throughout most part of
+Europe; but where wealth consists in landed estate the latter mode,
+beside favouring the pride of family, is attended with fewest
+inconveniences. The property of the Sumatrans being personal merely, this
+reason does not operate with them. Land is so abundant in proportion to
+the population that they scarcely consider it as the subject of right any
+more than the elements of air and water; excepting so far as in
+speculation the prince lays claim to the whole. The ground however on
+which a man plants or builds, with the consent of his neighbours, becomes
+a species of nominal property, and is transferable; but as it costs him
+nothing beside his labour it is only the produce which is esteemed of
+value, and the compensation he receives is for this alone. A temporary
+usufruct is accordingly all that they attend to, and the price, in case
+of sale, is generally ascertained by the coconut, durian, and other
+fruit-trees that have been planted on it; the buildings being for the
+most part but little durable. Whilst any of those subsist the descendants
+of the planter may claim the ground, though it has been for years
+abandoned. If they are cut down he may recover damages; but if they have
+disappeared in the course of nature the land reverts to the public.
+
+They have a custom of keeping by them a sum of money as a resource
+against extremity of distress, and which common exigencies do not call
+forth. This is a refined antidote against despair, because, whilst it
+remains possible to avoid encroaching on that treasure, their affairs are
+not at the worst, and the idea of the little hoard serves to buoy up
+their spirits and encourage them to struggle with wretchedness. It
+usually therefore continues inviolate and descends to the heir, or is
+lost to him by the sudden exit of the parent. From their apprehension of
+dishonesty and insecurity of their houses their money is for the most
+part concealed in the ground, the cavity of an old beam, or other secret
+place; and a man on his death-bed has commonly some important discovery
+of this nature to make to his assembled relations.
+
+OUTLAWRY.
+
+The practice of outlawing an individual of a family by the head of it
+(called lepas or buang dangan surat, to let loose, or cast out with a
+writing) has its foundation in the custom which obliges all the branches
+to be responsible for the debts contracted by any one of the kindred.
+When an extravagant and unprincipled spendthrift is running a career that
+appears likely to involve his family in ruinous consequences, they have
+the right of dissolving the connexion and clearing themselves of further
+responsibility by this public act, which, as the writ expresses it, sends
+forth the outcast, as a deer into the woods, no longer to be considered
+as enjoying the privileges of society. This character is what they term
+risau, though it is sometimes applied to persons not absolutely outlawed,
+but of debauched and irregular manners.
+
+In the Saxon law we find a strong resemblance to this custom; the kindred
+of a murderer being exempt from the feud if they abandoned him to his
+fate. They bound themselves in this case neither to converse with him nor
+to furnish him with meat or other necessaries. This is precisely the
+Sumatran outlawry, in which it is always particularly specified (beside
+what relates to common debts) that if the outlaw kills a person the
+relations shall not pay the compensation, nor claim it if he is killed.
+But the writ must have been issued before the event, and they cannot free
+themselves by a subsequent process, as it would seem the Saxons might. If
+an outlaw commits murder the friends of the deceased may take personal
+revenge on him, and are not liable to be called to an account for it; but
+if such be killed, otherwise than in satisfaction for murder, although
+his family have no claim, the prince of the country is entitled to a
+certain compensation, all outlaws being nominally his property, like
+other wild animals.
+
+COMPENSATION FOR MURDER.
+
+It seems strange to those who are accustomed to the severity of penal
+laws, which in most instances inflict punishment exceeding by many
+degrees the measure of the offence, how a society can exist in which the
+greatest of all crimes is, agreeably to established custom, expiated by
+the payment of a certain sum of money; a sum not proportioned to the rank
+and ability of the murderer, nor to the premeditation, or other
+aggravating circumstances of the fact, but regulated only by the quality
+of the person murdered. The practice had doubtless its source in the
+imbecility of government, which, being unable to enforce the law of
+retaliation, the most obvious rule of punishment, had recourse to a
+milder scheme of retribution as being preferable to absolute indemnity.
+The latter it was competent to carry into execution because the guilty
+persons readily submit to a penalty which effectually relieves them from
+the burden of anxiety for the consequences of their action. Instances
+occur in the history of all states, particularly those which suffer from
+internal weakness, of iniquities going unpunished, owing to the rigour of
+the pains denounced against them by the law, which defeats its own
+purpose. The original mode of avenging a murder was probably by the arm
+of the person nearest in consanguinity, or friendship, to the deceased;
+but this was evidently destructive of the public tranquillity, because
+thereby the wrong became progressive, each act of satisfaction, or
+justice, as it was called, being the source of a new revenge, till the
+feud became general in the community; and some method would naturally be
+suggested to put a stop to such confusion. The most direct step is to
+vest in the magistrate or the law the rights of the injured party, and to
+arm them with a vindictive power; which principle the policy of more
+civilized societies has refined to that of making examples in terrorem,
+with a view of preventing future, not of revenging past crimes. But this
+requires a firmness of authority to which the Sumatran governments are
+strangers. They are without coercive power, and the submission of the
+people is little other than voluntary; especially of the men of
+influence, who are held in subjection rather by the sense of general
+utility planted in the breast of mankind, attachment to their family and
+connexions, and veneration for the spot in which their ancestors were
+interred, than by the apprehension of any superior authority. These
+considerations however they would readily forego, renounce their fealty,
+and quit their country, if in any case they were in danger of paying with
+life the forfeit of their crimes; to lesser punishments those ties induce
+them to submit; and to strengthen this hold their customs wisely enjoin
+that every the remotest branch of the family shall be responsible for the
+payment of their adjudged and other debts; and in cases of murder the
+bangun, or compensation, may be levied on the inhabitants of the village
+the culprit belonged to, if it happens that neither he nor any of his
+relations can be found.
+
+The equality of punishment, which allows to the rich man the faculty of
+committing, with small inconvenience, crimes that bring utter destruction
+on the poor man and his family, and which is in fact the greatest
+inequality, originates certainly from the interested design of those
+through whose influence the regulation came to be adopted. Its view was
+to establish a subordination of persons. In Europe the absolute
+distinction between rich and poor, though too sensibly felt, is not
+insisted upon in speculation, but rather denied or explained away in
+general reasoning. Among the Sumatrans it is coolly acknowledged, and a
+man without property, family, or connexions never, in the partiality of
+self-love, considers his own life as being of equal value with that of a
+man of substance. A maxim, though not the practice, of their law, says,
+"that he who is able to pay the bangun for murder must satisfy the
+relations of the deceased; he who is unable, must suffer death." But the
+avarice of the relations prefers selling the body of the delinquent for
+what his slavery will fetch them (for such is the effect of imposing a
+penalty that cannot be paid) to the satisfaction of seeing the murder
+revenged by the public execution of a culprit of that mean description.
+Capital punishments are therefore almost totally out of use among them;
+and it is only par la loi du plus fort that the Europeans take the
+liberty of hanging a notorious criminal now and then, whom however their
+own chiefs always condemn, and formally sentence.
+
+CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.
+
+Corporal punishment of any kind is rare. The chain, and a sort of stocks,
+made of the pinang tree, are adopted from us; the word pasong, now
+commonly used to denote the latter, originally signifying and being still
+frequently applied to confinement in general. A kind of cage made use of
+in the country is probably their own invention. "How do you secure a
+prisoner (a man was asked) without employing a chain or our stocks?" "We
+pen him up," said he, "as we would a bear!" The cage is made of bamboos
+laid horizontally in a square, piled alternately, secured by timbers at
+the corners, and strongly covered in at top. To lead a runaway they
+fasten a rattan round his neck, and, passing it through a bamboo somewhat
+longer than his arms, they bring his hands together and make them fast to
+the bamboo, in a state rather of constraint than of pain, which I believe
+never is wantonly or unnecessarily inflicted. If the offender is of a
+desperate character they bind him hands and feet and sling him on a pole.
+When they would convey a person from accident or otherwise unable to walk
+they make a palanquin by splitting a large bamboo near the middle of its
+length, where they contrive to keep it open so that the cavity forms a
+bed, the ends being preserved whole, to rest upon their shoulders.
+
+The custom of exacting the bangun for murder seems only designed with a
+view of making a compensation to the injured family, and not of punishing
+the offender. The word signifies awaking or raising up, and the deceased
+is supposed to be replaced, or raised again to his family, in the payment
+of a sum proportioned to his rank, or equivalent to his or her personal
+value. The price of a female slave is generally more than that of a male,
+and therefore, I heard a chief say, is the bangun of a woman more than
+that of a man. It is upon this principle that their laws take no
+cognizance of the distinction between a wilful murder and what we term
+manslaughter. The loss is the same to the family, and therefore the
+compensations are alike. A dupati of Laye, in an ill hour, stepped
+unwarily across the mouth of a cannon at the instant it was fired off for
+a salute, and was killed by the explosion, upon which his relations
+immediately sued the sergeant of the country-guard, who applied the
+match, for the recovery of the bangun; but they were cast, and upon these
+grounds: that the dupati was instrumental in his own death, and that the
+Company's servants, being amenable to other laws for their crimes, were
+not, by established custom, subject to the bangun or other penalties
+inflicted by the native chiefs, for accidents resulting from the
+execution of their duty. The tippong bumi, expiation, or purification of
+the earth from the stain it has received, was however gratuitously paid.
+No plea was set up that the action was unpremeditated, and the event
+chance-medley.
+
+The introduction of this custom is beyond the extent of Sumatran
+tradition, and has no connexion with, or dependence on, Mahometanism,
+being established amongst the most inland people from time immemorial. In
+early ages it was by no means confined to that part of the world. The
+bangun is perfectly the same as the compensation for murder in the rude
+institutions of our Saxon ancestors and other northern nations. It is the
+eric of Ireland, and the apoinon of the Greeks. In the compartments of
+the shield of Achilles Homer describes the adjudgment of a fine for
+homicide. It would seem then to be a natural step in the advances from
+anarchy to settled government, and that it can only take place in such
+societies as have already a strong idea of the value of personal
+property, who esteem its possession of the next importance to that of
+life, and place it in competition with the strongest passion that seizes
+the human soul.
+
+The compensation is so regularly established among the Sumatrans that any
+other satisfaction is seldom demanded. In the first heat of resentment
+retaliation is sometimes attempted, but the spirit soon evaporates, and
+application is usually made, upon the immediate discovery of the fact, to
+the chiefs of the country for the exertion of their influence to oblige
+the criminal to pay the bangun. His death is then not thought of unless
+he is unable, and his family unwilling, to raise the established sum.
+Instances, it is true, occur in which the prosecutor, knowing the
+European law in such case, will, from motives of revenge, urge to the
+Resident the propriety of executing the offender rather than receive the
+money; but if the latter is ready to pay it it is contrary to their laws
+to proceed further. The degree of satisfaction that attends the payment
+of the bangun is generally considered as absolute to the parties
+concerned; they receive it as full compensation, and pretend to no
+farther claim upon the murderer and his family. Slight provocations
+however have been sometimes known to renew the feud, and there are not
+wanting instances of a son's revenging his father's murder and willingly
+refunding the bangun. When in an affray there happen to be several
+persons killed on both sides, the business of justice is only to state
+the reciprocal losses, in the form of an account current, and order the
+balance to be discharged, if the numbers be unequal. The following is a
+relation of the circumstances of one of these bloody feuds, which
+happened whilst I was in the island, but which become every year more
+rare where the influence of our government extends.
+
+ACCOUNT OF A FEUD.
+
+Raddin Siban was the head of a tribe in the district of Manna, of which
+Pangeran Raja-Kalippah was the official chief; though by the customs of
+the country he had no right of sovereignty over him. The pangeran's not
+allowing him what he thought an adequate share of fines, and other
+advantages annexed to his rank, was the foundation of a jealousy and ill
+will between them, which an event that happened a few years since raised
+to the highest pitch of family feud. Lessut, a younger brother of the
+pangeran, had a wife who was very handsome, and whom Raddin Siban had
+endeavoured to procure, whilst a virgin, for HIS younger brother, who was
+in love with her: but the pangeran had contrived to circumvent him, and
+obtained the girl for Lessut. However it seems the lady herself had
+conceived a violent liking for the brother of Raddin Siban, who found
+means to enjoy her after she was married, or was violently suspected so
+to have done. The consequence was that Lessut killed him to revenge the
+dishonour of his bed. Upon this the families were presently up in arms,
+but the English Resident interfering preserved the peace of the country,
+and settled the affair agreeably to the customs of the place by bangun
+and fine. But this did not prove sufficient to extinguish the fury which
+raged in the hearts of Raddin Siban's family, whose relation was
+murdered. It only served to delay the revenge until a proper opportunity
+offered of gratifying it. The people of the country being called together
+on a particular occasion, the two inimical families were assembled, at
+the same time, in Manna bazaar. Two younger brothers (they had been five
+in all) of Raddin Siban, going to the cockpit, saw Raja Muda the next
+brother of the pangeran, and Lessut his younger brother, in the open part
+of a house which they passed. They quickly returned, drew their krises,
+and attacked the pangeran's brothers, calling to them, if they were men,
+to defend themselves. The challenge was instantly accepted, Lessut, the
+unfortunate husband, fell; but the aggressors were both killed by Raja
+Muda, who was himself much wounded. The affair was almost over before the
+scuffle was perceived. The bodies were lying on the ground, and Raja Muda
+was supporting himself against a tree which stood near the spot, when
+Raddin Siban, who was in a house on the opposite side of the bazaar at
+the time the affray happened, being made acquainted with the
+circumstances, came over the way, with his lance in his hand. He passed
+on the contrary side of the tree, and did not see Raja Muda, but began to
+stab with his weapon the dead body of Lessut, in excess of rage, on
+seeing the bloody remains of his two brothers. Just then, Raja Muda, who
+was half dead, but had his kris in his hand, still unseen by Raddin
+Siban, crawled a step or two and thrust the weapon into his side, saying
+"Matti kau"--"die thou!" Raddin Siban spoke not a word, but put his hand
+on the wound and walked across to the house from whence he came, at the
+door of which he dropped down and expired. Such was the catastrophe. Raja
+Muda survived his wounds, but being much deformed by them lives a
+melancholy example of the effects of these barbarous feuds.
+
+PROOF OF THEFT.
+
+In cases of theft the swearing a robbery against a person suspected is of
+no effect, and justly, for were it otherwise nothing would be more common
+than the prosecution of innocent persons. The proper proofs are either
+seizure of the person in the fact before witnesses, or discovery of the
+goods stolen in possession of one who can give no satisfactory account
+how he came by them. As it frequently happens that a man finds part only
+of what he had lost it remains with him, when the robbery is proved, to
+ascertain the whole amount, by oath, which in that point is held
+sufficient.
+
+LAW RESPECTING DEBTS.
+
+The law which renders all the members of a family reciprocally bound for
+the security of each others' debts forms a strong connexion among them,
+and occasions the elder branches to be particularly watchful of the
+conduct of those for whose imprudence they must be answerable.
+
+When a debtor is unable to pay what he owes, and has no relation or
+friends capable of doing it for him, or when the children of a deceased
+person do not find property enough to discharge the debts of their
+parent, they are forced to the state which is called mengiring, which
+simply means to follow or be dependent on, but here implies the becoming
+a species of bond-slaves to the creditor, who allows them subsistence and
+clothing but does not appropriate the produce of their labour to the
+diminution of their debt. Their condition is better than that of pure
+slavery in this, that the creditor cannot strike them, and they can
+change their masters by prevailing on another person to pay their debt
+and accept of their labour on the same terms. Of course they may obtain
+their liberty if they can by any means procure a sum equal to their debt;
+whereas a slave, though possessing ever so large property, has not the
+right of purchasing his liberty. If however the creditor shall demand
+formally the amount of his debt from a person mengiring, at three several
+times, allowing a certain number of days between each demand, and the
+latter is not able to persuade anyone to redeem him, he becomes, by the
+custom of the country, a pure slave, upon the creditor's giving notice to
+the chief of the transaction. This is the resource he has against the
+laziness or untoward behaviour of his debtor, who might otherwise, in the
+state of mengiring, be only a burden to him. If the children of a
+deceased debtor are too young to be of service the charge of their
+maintenance is added to the debt. This opens a door for many iniquitous
+practices, and it is in the rigorous and frequently perverted exertion of
+these rights which a creditor has over his debtor that the chiefs are
+enabled to oppress the lower class of people, and from which abuses the
+English Residents find it necessary to be the most watchful to restrain
+them. In some cases one half of the produce of the labour is applied to
+the reduction of the debt, and this situation of the insolvent debtor is
+termed be-blah. Meranggau is the condition of a married woman who remains
+as a pledge for a debt in the house of the creditor of her husband. If
+any attempt should be made upon her person the proof of it annuls the
+debt; but should she bring an accusation of that nature, and be unable to
+prove it to the satisfaction of the court, and the man takes an oath in
+support of his innocence, the debt must be immediately paid by the
+family, or the woman be disposed of as a slave.
+
+When a man of one district or country has a debt owing to him from the
+inhabitant of a neighbouring country, of which he cannot recover payment,
+an usual resource is to seize on one or more of his children and carry
+them off; which they call andak. The daughter of a Rejang dupati was
+carried off in this manner by the Labun people. Not hearing for some time
+from her father, she sent him cuttings of her hair and nails, by which
+she intimated a resolution of destroying herself if not soon released.
+
+SLAVERY.
+
+The right of slavery is established in Sumatra, as it is throughout the
+East, and has been all over the world; yet but few instances occur of the
+country people actually having slaves; though they are common enough in
+the Malayan, or sea-port towns. Their domestics and labourers are either
+dependant relations, or the orang mengiring above described, who are
+usually called debtors, but should be distinguished by the term of
+insolvent debtors. The simple manners of the people require that their
+servants should live, in a great measure, on a footing of equality with
+the rest of the family, which is inconsistent with the authority
+necessary to be maintained over slaves who have no principle to restrain
+them but that of personal fear,* and know that their civil condition
+cannot be altered for the worse.
+
+(*Footnote. I do not mean to assert that all men in the condition of
+slaves are devoid of principle: I have experienced the contrary, and
+found in them affection and strict honesty: but that there does not
+result from their situation as slaves any principle of moral rectitude;
+whereas every other condition of society has annexed to it ideas of duty
+and mutual obligation arising from a sense of general utility. That
+sublime species of morality derived from the injunctions of religion it
+is almost universally their fate to be likewise strangers to, because
+slavery is found inconsistent with the spirit of the gospel, not merely
+as inculcating philanthropy but inspiring a principle of equality amongst
+mankind.)
+
+There is this advantage also, that when a debtor absconds they have
+recourse to his relations for the amount of his debt, who, if unable to
+pay it, must mengiring in his room; whereas when a slave makes his escape
+the law can give no redress, and his value is lost to the owner. These
+people moreover are from habit backward to strike, and the state of
+slavery unhappily requires the frequent infliction of punishment in that
+mode. A slave cannot possess independently any property; yet it rarely
+happens that a master is found mean and sordid enough to despoil them of
+the fruits of their industry; and their liberty is generally granted them
+when in a condition to purchase it, though they cannot demand it of
+right. It is nothing uncommon for those belonging to the Europeans to
+possess slaves of their own, and to acquire considerable substance. Their
+condition is here for the most part less unhappy than that of persons in
+other situations of life. I am far from wishing to diminish the horror
+that should ever accompany the general idea of a state which, whilst it
+degrades the species, I am convinced is not necessary among mankind; but
+I cannot help remarking, as an extraordinary fact, that if there is one
+class of people eminently happy above all others upon earth it is the
+body of Caffres, or negro slaves belonging to the India Company at
+Bencoolen. They are well clothed and fed, and supplied with a proper
+allowance of liquor; their work is by no means severe; the persons
+appointed as their immediate overseers are chosen for their merit from
+amongst themselves; they have no occasion of care or anxiety for the past
+or future, and are naturally of a lively and open temper. The
+contemplation of the effects which such advantages produce must afford
+the highest gratification to a benevolent mind. They are usually seen
+laughing or singing whilst at work, and the intervals allowed them are
+mostly employed in dancing to their rude instrumental music, which
+frequently begins at sunset and ceases only with the daylight that
+recalls them to their labour. Since they were first carried thither, from
+different parts of Africa and Madagascar, to the present hour, not so
+much as the rumour of disturbance or discontent has ever been known to
+proceed from them. They hold the natives of the island in contempt, have
+a degree of antipathy towards them, and enjoy any mischief they can do
+them; and these in their turn regard the Caffres as devils half
+humanized.
+
+The practice said to prevail elsewhere of men selling themselves for
+slaves is repugnant to the customs of the Sumatrans, as it seems to
+reason. It is an absurdity to barter anything valuable, much more civil
+existence, for a sum which, by the very act of receiving, becomes again
+the property of the buyer. Yet if a man runs in debt without a prospect
+of paying, he does virtually the same thing, and this in cases of
+distress is not uncommon, in order to relieve, perhaps, a beloved wife,
+or favourite child, from similar bondage. A man has even been known to
+apply in confidence to a friend to sell him to a third person, concealing
+from the purchaser the nature of the transaction till the money was
+appropriated.
+
+Ignorant stragglers are often picked up in the country by lawless knaves
+in power and sold beyond the hills. These have sometimes procured their
+liberty again, and prosecuting their kidnappers have recovered large
+damages. In the district of Allas a custom prevails by which, if a man
+has been sold to the hill people, however unfairly, he is restricted on
+his return from associating with his countrymen as their equal unless he
+brings with him a sum of money and pays a fine for his re-enfranchisement
+to his kalippah or chief. This regulation has taken its rise from an idea
+of contamination among the people, and from art and avarice among the
+chiefs.
+
+
+CHAPTER 14.
+
+MODES OF MARRIAGE, AND CUSTOMS RELATIVE THERETO.
+POLYGAMY.
+FESTIVALS.
+GAMES.
+COCK-FIGHTING.
+USE AND EFFECTS OF OPIUM.
+
+MOTIVES FOR ALTERING SOME OF THEIR MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.
+
+By much the greater number of the legal disputes among these people have
+their source in the intricacy attending their marriage contracts. In most
+uncivilized countries these matters are very simple, the dictates of
+nature being obeyed, or the calls of appetite satisfied, with little
+ceremony or form of convention; but with the Sumatrans the difficulties,
+both precedent and subsequent, are increased to a degree unknown even in
+the most refined states. To remedy these inconveniences, which might be
+supposed to deter men from engaging in marriage, was the view of the
+Resident of Laye, before mentioned, who prevailed upon them to simplify
+their engagements, as the means of preventing litigation between
+families, and of increasing the population of the country. How far his
+liberal views will be answered by having thus influenced the people to
+change their customs, whether they will not soon relapse into the ancient
+track; and whether in fact the cause that he supposed did actually
+contribute to retard population, I shall not pretend to determine; but as
+the last is a point on which a difference of opinion prevails I shall
+take the liberty of quoting here the sentiments of another servant of the
+Company (the late Mr. John Crisp) who possessed an understanding highly
+enlightened.
+
+REASONS AGAINST THIS ALTERATION.
+
+This part of the island is in a low state of population, but it is an
+error to ascribe this to the mode of obtaining wives by purchase. The
+circumstance of children constituting part of the property of the parents
+proves a most powerful incentive to matrimony, and there is not perhaps
+any country on the face of the earth where marriage is more general than
+here, instances of persons of either sex passing their lives in a state
+of celibacy being extremely rare. The necessity of purchasing does not
+prove such an obstacle to matrimony as is supposed. Was it indeed true
+that every man was obliged to remain single till he had accumulated, from
+the produce of his pepper-garden, a sum adequate to the purchase of a
+wife, married pairs would truly be scarce. But the people have other
+resources; there are few families who are not in possession of some small
+substance; they breed goats and buffaloes, and in general keep in reserve
+some small sum for particular purposes. The purchase-money of the
+daughter serves also to provide wives for the sons. Certain it is that
+the fathers are rarely at a loss for money to procure them wives so soon
+as they become marriageable. In the districts under my charge are about
+eight thousand inhabitants, among whom I do not conceive it would be
+possible to find ten instances of men of the age of thirty years
+unmarried. We must then seek for other causes of the paucity of
+inhabitants, and indeed they are sufficiently obvious; among these we may
+reckon that the women are by nature unprolific, and cease gestation at an
+early age; that, almost totally unskilled in the medical art, numbers
+fall victims to the endemic diseases of a climate nearly as fatal to its
+indigenous inhabitants as to the strangers who settle among them: to
+which we may add that the indolence and inactivity of the natives tend to
+relax and enervate the bodily frame, and to abridge the natural period of
+their lives.
+
+...
+
+MODES OF MARRIAGE.
+
+The modes of marriage, according to the original institutions of these
+people, are by jujur, by ambel anak, or by semando. The jujur is a
+certain sum of money given by one man to another as a consideration for
+the person of his daughter, whose situation, in this case, differs not
+much from that of a slave to the man she marries, and to his family. His
+absolute property in her depends however upon some nice circumstances.
+Beside the batang jujur (or main sum) there are certain appendages or
+branches, one of which, the tali kulo, of five dollars, is usually, from
+motives of delicacy or friendship, left unpaid, and so long as that is
+the case a relationship is understood to subsist between the two
+families, and the parents of the woman have a right to interfere on
+occasions of ill treatment: the husband is also liable to be fined for
+wounding her, with other limitations of absolute right. When that sum is
+finally paid, which seldom happens but in cases of violent quarrel, the
+tali kulo (tie of relationship) is said to be putus (broken), and the
+woman becomes to all intents the slave of her lord.*
+
+(*Footnote. I cannot omit to remark here that, however apposite the word
+tali, which in Malayan signifies a cord, may be to the subject of the
+marriage tie, there is very strong evidence of the term, as applied to
+this ceremony, having been adopted from the customs of the Hindu
+inhabitants of the peninsula of India, in whose language it has a
+different meaning. Among others who have described their rites is M.
+Sonnerat. In speaking of the mode of marriage called pariam, which, like
+the jujur, n'est autre chose qu'un achat que le mari fait de sa femme, he
+says, le mari doit aussi fournir le tali, petit joyau d'or, qu'il attache
+avec un cordon au col de la fille; c'est la derniere ceremonie; elle
+donne la sanction au marriage, qui ne peut plus etre rompu des que le
+tali est attache. Voyage aux Indes etc. tome 1 page 70. The reader will
+also find the Sumatran mode of marriage by ambel anak, or adoption,
+exactly described at page 72. An engraving of the tali is given by P.
+Paolino, Systema Brahmanicum tab. 22. This resemblance is not confined to
+the rites of marriage, for it is remarked by Sir W. Jones that, "among
+the laws of the Sumatrans two positive rules concerning sureties and
+interest appear to be taken word for word from the Indian legislators."
+Asiatic Researches Volume 3 page 9.)
+
+She has then no title to claim a divorce in any predicament; and he may
+sell her, making only the first offer to her relations. The other
+appendages as already mentioned are the tulis tanggil (the meaning of
+which I cannot satisfactorily ascertain, this and many other of the legal
+terms being in the Rejang or the Passummah and not the Malayan language)
+and the upah daun kodo, which is a consideration for the expense of the
+marriage feast, paid to the girl's parent, who provides it. But sometimes
+it is deposited at the wedding, when a distribution is made of it amongst
+the old people present. The words allude to the leaf in which the rice is
+served up. These additional sums are seldom paid or claimed before the
+principal is defrayed, of which a large proportion, as fifty, eighty, and
+sometimes a hundred and four dollars, is laid down at the time of
+marriage, or in the first visit (after the parties are determined in
+their regards) made by the father of the young man, or the bujang
+himself, to the father of the woman. Upon opening his design this money
+is tendered as a present, and the other's acceptance of it is a token
+that he is inclined to forward the match. It lies often in his hands
+three, six, or twelve months before the marriage is consummated. He
+sometimes sends for more, and is seldom refused. Until at least fifty
+dollars are thus deposited the man cannot take his wife home; but so long
+as the matter continues dalam rasa-an (under consideration) it would be
+deemed scandalous in the father to listen to any other proposals. When
+there is a difficulty in producing the necessary sum it is not uncommon
+to resort to an expedient termed mengiring jujur, that is, to continue a
+debtor with the family until he can raise money sufficient to redeem
+himself; and after this long credit is usually given for the remainder.
+Years often elapse, if the families continue on good terms, without the
+debt being demanded, particularly when a hundred and four dollars have
+been paid, unless distress obliges them to it. Sometimes it remains
+unadjusted to the second and third generation, and it is not uncommon to
+see a man suing for the jujur of the sister of his grandfather. These
+debts constitute in fact the chief part of their substance; and a person
+is esteemed rich who has several of them due to him for his daughters,
+sisters, aunts, and great aunts. Debts of this nature are looked upon as
+sacred, and are scarcely ever lost. In Passummah, if the race of a man is
+extinct, and some of these remain unpaid, the dusun or village to which
+the family belonged must make it good to the creditor; but this is not
+insisted upon amongst the Rejangs.
+
+In lieu of paying the jujur a barter transaction, called libei, sometimes
+takes place, where one gadis (virgin) is given in exchange for another;
+and it is not unusual to borrow a girl for this purpose from a friend or
+relation, the borrower binding himself to replace her or pay her jujur
+when required, A man who has a son and daughter gives the latter in
+exchange for a wife to the former. The person who receives her disposes
+of her as his own child or marries her himself. A brother will give his
+sister in exchange for a wife, or, in default of such, procure a cousin
+for the purpose. If the girl given in exchange be under age a certain
+allowance per annum is made till she becomes marriageable. Beguppok is a
+mode of marriage differing a little from the common jujur, and probably
+only taking place where a parent wants to get off a child labouring under
+some infirmity or defect. A certain sum is in this case fixed below the
+usual custom, which, when paid, is in full for her value, without any
+appendages. In other cases likewise the jujur is sometimes lessened and
+sometimes increased by mutual agreement; but on trials it is always
+estimated at a hundred and twenty dollars. If a wife dies soon after
+marriage, or at any time without children, the full jujur cannot be
+claimed; it is reduced to eighty dollars; but should more than that have
+been laid down in the interim there is no refunding. The jujur of a
+widow, which is generally eighty dollars, without appendages, is again
+reduced upon a third marriage, allowances being made for dilapidation. A
+widow being with child cannot marry again till she is delivered, without
+incurring a penalty. In divorces it is the same. If there be no
+appearance of pregnancy she must yet abstain from making another choice
+during the period of three months and ten days.
+
+When the relations and friends of the man go in form to the parents of
+the girl to settle the terms of the marriage they pay at that time the
+adat besasala, or earnest, of six dollars generally; and these kill a
+goat or a few fowls to entertain them. It is usually some space of time
+(except in cases of telari gadis or elopement) after the payment of the
+besasala, before the wedding takes place; but, when the father has
+received that, he cannot give his daughter to any other person without
+incurring a fine, which the young lady sometimes renders him liable to;
+for whilst the old folk are planning a match by patutan, or regular
+agreement between families, it frequently happens that miss disappears
+with a more favoured swain and secures a match of her own choice. The
+practice styled telari gadis is not the least common way of determining a
+marriage, and from a spirit of indulgence and humanity, which few codes
+can boast, has the sanction of the laws. The father has only the power
+left of dictating the mode of marriage, but cannot take his daughter away
+if the lover is willing to comply with the custom in such cases. The girl
+must be lodged, unviolated, in the house of some respectable family till
+the relations are advised of the enlevement and settle the terms. If
+however upon immediate pursuit they are overtaken on the road, she may be
+forced back, but not after she has taken sanctuary.
+
+By the Mosaic law, if a man left a widow without children his brother was
+to marry her. Among the Sumatrans, with or without children, the brother,
+or nearest male relation of the deceased, unmarried (the father
+excepted), takes the widow. This is practised both by Malays and country
+people. The brother, in taking the widow to himself, becomes answerable
+for what may remain due of her purchase money, and in every respect
+represents the deceased. This is phrased ganti tikar
+bantal'nia--supplying his place on his mat and pillow.
+
+CHASTITY OF THE WOMEN.
+
+Chastity prevails more perhaps among these than any other people. It is
+so materially the interest of the parents to preserve the virtue of their
+daughters unsullied, as they constitute the chief of their substance,
+that they are particularly watchful in this respect. But as marriages in
+general do not take place so early as the forwardness of nature in that
+climate would admit, it will sometimes happen, notwithstanding their
+precaution, that a young woman, not choosing to wait her father's
+pleasure, tastes the fruit by stealth. When this is discovered he can
+oblige the man to marry her, and pay the jujur; or, if he chooses to keep
+his daughter, the seducer must make good the difference he has occasioned
+in her value, and also pay the fine, called tippong bumi, for removing
+the stain from the earth. Prostitution for hire is I think unknown in the
+country, and confined to the more polite bazaars, where there is usually
+a concourse of sailors and others who have no honest settlement of their
+own, and whom, therefore, it is impossible to restrain from promiscuous
+concubinage. At these places vice generally reigns in a degree
+proportioned to the number and variety of people of different nations who
+inhabit them or occasionally resort thither. From the scenes which these
+sea-ports present travellers too commonly form their judgment, and
+imprudently take upon them to draw, for the information of the world, a
+picture of the manners of a people.
+
+The different species of horrid and disgustful crimes, which are
+emphatically denominated, against nature, are unknown on Sumatra; nor
+have any of their languages terms to express such ideas.
+
+INCEST.
+
+Incest, or the intermarriage of persons within a certain degree of
+consanguinity, which is, perhaps (at least after the first degree),
+rather an offence against the institutions of human prudence than a
+natural crime, is forbidden by their customs and punishable by fine: yet
+the guilt is often expiated by a ceremony, and the marriages in many
+instances confirmed.
+
+ADULTERY.
+
+Adultery is punishable by fine; but the crime is rare, and suits on the
+subject still less frequent. The husband, it is probable, either conceals
+his shame or revenges it with his own hand.
+
+DIVORCES.
+
+If a man would divorce a wife he has married by jujur he may claim back
+what he has paid in part, less twenty-five dollars, the adat charo, for
+the damage he has done her; but if he has paid the jujur in full the
+relations may choose whether they will receive her or not; if not he may
+sell her. If a man has paid part of a jujur but cannot raise the
+remainder, though repeatedly dunned for it, the parents of the girl may
+obtain a divorce; but if it is not with the husband's concurrence they
+lose the advantage of the charo, and must refund all they have received.
+A woman married by jujur must bring with her effects to the amount of ten
+dollars, or, if not, it is deducted from the sum; if she brings more the
+husband is accountable for the difference. The original ceremony of
+divorce consists in cutting a rattan-cane in two, in presence of the
+parties, their relations, and the chiefs of the country.
+
+SECOND MODE OF MARRIAGE.
+
+In the mode of marriage by ambel anak the father of a virgin makes choice
+of some young man for her husband, generally from an inferior family,
+which renounces all further right to, or interest in, him, and he is
+taken into the house of his father-in-law, who kills a buffalo on the
+occasion, and receives twenty dollars from the son's relations. After
+this the buruk baik'nia (the good and bad of him) is vested in the wife's
+family. If he murders or robs they pay the bangun, or the fine. If he is
+murdered they receive the bangun. They are liable to any debts he may
+contract after marriage; those prior to it remaining with his parents. He
+lives in the family in a state between that of a son and a debtor. He
+partakes as a son of what the house affords, but has no property in
+himself. His rice plantation, the produce of his pepper-garden, with
+everything that he can gain or earn, belong to the family. He is liable
+to be divorced at their pleasure, and, though he has children, must leave
+all, and return naked as he came. The family sometimes indulge him with
+leave to remove to a house of his own, and take his wife with him; but
+he, his children, and effects are still their property. If he has not
+daughters by the marriage he may redeem himself and wife by paying her
+jujur; but if there are daughters before they become emancipated the
+difficulty is enhanced, because the family are likewise entitled to their
+value. It is common however when they are upon good terms to release him
+on the payment of one jujur, or at most with the addition of an adat of
+fifty dollars. With this addition he may insist upon a release whilst his
+daughters are not marriageable. If the family have paid any debts for him
+he must also make them good. Should he contract more than they approve
+of, and they fear his adding to them, they procure a divorce, and send
+him back to his parents; but must pay his debts to that time. If he is a
+notorious spendthrift they outlaw him by means of a writ presented to the
+magistrate. These are inscribed on slips of bamboo with a sharp
+instrument, and I have several of them in my possession. They must banish
+him from home, and if they receive him again, or assist him with the
+smallest sum, they are liable to all his debts. On the prodigal son's
+return, and assurance of amendment, this writ may be redeemed on payment
+of five dollars to the proattins, and satisfying the creditors. This kind
+of marriage is productive of much confusion, for till the time it takes
+place the young man belongs to one dusun and family, and afterwards to
+another, and as they have no records to refer to there is great
+uncertainty in settling the time when debts were contracted, and the
+like. Sometimes the redemption of the family and their return to the
+former dusun take place in the second or third generation; and in many
+cases it is doubtful whether they ever took place or not; the two parties
+contradicting each other, and perhaps no evidence to refer to. Hence
+arise various and intricate bechars.
+
+THIRD, OR MALAYAN MODE OF MARRIAGE.
+
+Besides the modes of marriage above described, a third form, called
+semando, has been adopted from the Malays, and thence termed semando
+malayo or mardika (free). This marriage is a regular treaty between the
+parties, on the footing of equality. The adat paid to the girl's friends
+has usually been twelve dollars. The agreement stipulates that all
+effects, gains, or earnings are to be equally the property of both, and
+in case of divorce by mutual consent the stock, debts, and credits are to
+be equally divided. If the man only insists on the divorce he gives the
+woman her half of the effects, and loses the twelve dollars he has paid.
+If the woman only claims the divorce she forfeits her right to the
+proportion of the effects, but is entitled to keep her tikar, bantal, and
+dandan (paraphernalia), and her relations are liable to pay back the
+twelve dollars; but it is seldom demanded. This mode, doubtless the most
+conformable to our ideas of conjugal right and felicity, is that which
+the chiefs of the Rejang country have formally consented to establish
+throughout their jurisdiction, and to their orders the influence of the
+Malayan priests will contribute to give efficacy.
+
+In the ambel anak marriage, according to the institutions of Passummah,
+when the father resolves to dismiss the husband of his daughter and send
+him back to his dusun the sum for which he can redeem his wife and family
+is a hundred dollars: and if he can raise that, and the woman is willing
+to go with him, the father cannot refuse them; and now the affair is
+changed into a kulo marriage; the man returns to his former tungguan
+(settlement or family) and becomes of more consequence in society. These
+people are no strangers to that sentiment which we call a regard to
+family. There are some families among them more esteemed than others,
+though not graced with any title or employment in the state. The origin
+of this distinction it is difficult to trace; but it may have arisen from
+a succession of men of abilities, or from the reputation for wisdom or
+valour of some ancestor. Everyone has a regard to his race; and the
+probability of its being extinct is esteemed a great unhappiness. This is
+what they call tungguan putus, and the expression is used by the lowest
+member of the community. To have a wife, a family, collateral relations,
+and a settled place of residence is to have a tungguan, and this they are
+anxious to support and perpetuate. It is with this view that, when a
+single female only remains of a family, they marry her by ambel anak; in
+which mode the husband's consequence is lost in the wife's, and in her
+children the tungguan of her father is continued. They find her a husband
+that will menegga tungguan, or, as it is expressed amongst the Rejangs
+menegga rumah, set up the house again.
+
+The semando marriage is little known in Passummah. I recollect that a
+pangeran of Manna, having lost a son by a marriage of this kind with a
+Malay woman, she refused upon the father's death to let the boy succeed
+to his dignities, and at the same time become answerable for his debts,
+and carried him with her from the country; which was productive of much
+confusion. The regulations there in respect to incontinence have much
+severity, and fall particularly hard on the girl's father, who not only
+has his daughter spoiled but must also pay largely for her frailty. To
+the northward the offence is not punished with so much rigour, yet the
+instances are there said to be rarer, and marriage is more usually the
+consequence. In other respects the customs of Passummah and Rejang are
+the same in these matters.
+
+RITES OF MARRIAGE.
+
+The rites of marriage, nikah (from the Arabian), consist simply in
+joining the hands of the parties and pronouncing them man and wife,
+without much ceremony excepting the entertainment which is given on the
+occasion. This is performed by one of the fathers or the chief of the
+dusun, according to the original customs of the country; but where
+Mahometanism has found its way, a priest or imam executes the business.
+
+COURTSHIP.
+
+But little apparent courtship precedes their marriages. Their manners do
+not admit of it, the bujang and gadis (youth of each sex) being carefully
+kept asunder, and the latter seldom trusted from under the wing of their
+mothers. Besides, courtship with us includes the idea of humble entreaty
+on the man's side, and favour and condescension on the part of the woman,
+who bestows person and property for love. The Sumatran on the contrary,
+when he fixes his choice and pays all that he is worth for the object of
+it, may naturally consider the obligation on his side. But still they are
+not without gallantry. They preserve a degree of delicacy and respect
+towards the sex, which might justify their retorting on many of the
+polished nations of antiquity the epithet of barbarians. The
+opportunities which the young people have of seeing and conversing with
+each other are at the bimbangs, or public festivals, held at the balei,
+or town hall of the dusun. On these occasions the unmarried people meet
+together and dance and sing in company. It may be supposed that the young
+ladies cannot be long without their particular admirers. The men, when
+determined in their regards, generally employ an old woman as their
+agent, by whom they make known their sentiments and send presents to the
+female of their choice. The parents then interfere and, the preliminaries
+being settled, a bimbang takes place.
+
+MARRIAGE FESTIVALS.
+
+At these festivals a goat, a buffalo, or several, according to the rank
+of the parties, are killed, to entertain not only the relations and
+invited guests but all the inhabitants of the neighbouring country who
+choose to repair to them. The greater the concourse the more is the
+credit of the host, who is generally on these occasions the father of the
+girl; but the different branches of the family, and frequently all the
+people of the dusun, contribute a quota of rice.
+
+ORDER OBSERVED.
+
+The young women proceed in a body to the upper end of the balei where
+there is a part divided off for them by a curtain. The floor is spread
+with their best mats, and the sides and ceiling of that extremity of the
+building are hung with pieces of chintz, palampores, and the like. They
+do not always make their appearance before dinner; that time, with part
+of the afternoon, previous to a second or third meal, being appropriated
+to cock-fighting and other diversions peculiar to the men. Whilst the
+young are thus employed the old men consult together upon any affair that
+may be at the time in agitation; such as repairing a public building or
+making reprisals upon the cattle of a neighbouring people. The bimbangs
+are often given on occasions of business only, and, as they are apt to be
+productive of cabals, the Europeans require that they shall not be held
+without their knowledge and approbation. To give authority to their
+contracts and other deeds, whether of a public or private nature, they
+always make one of these feasts. Writings, say they, may be altered or
+counterfeited, but the memory of what is transacted and concluded in the
+presence of a thousand witnesses
+must remain sacred. Sometimes, in token of the final determination of an
+affair, they cut a notch in a post, before the chiefs, which they call
+taka kayu.
+
+AMUSEMENT OF DANCING.
+
+In the evening their softer amusements take place, of which the dances
+are the principal. These are performed either singly or by two women, two
+men, or with both mixed. Their motions and attitudes are usually slow,
+and too much forced to be graceful; approaching often to the lascivious,
+and not unfrequently the ludicrous. This is I believe the general opinion
+formed of them by Europeans, but it may be the effect of prejudice.
+Certain I am that our usual dances are in their judgment to the full as
+ridiculous. The minuets they compare to the fighting of two game-cocks,
+alternately approaching and receding. Our country dances they esteem too
+violent and confused, without showing grace or agility. The stage dances
+I have not a doubt would please them. Part of the female dress, called
+the salendang, which is usually of silk with a gold head, is tied round
+the waist, and the ends of this they at times extend behind them with
+their hands. They bend forward as they dance, and usually carry a fan,
+which they close and strike smartly against their elbows at particular
+cadences. They keep time well, and the partners preserve a consistency
+with each other though the figure and steps are ad libitum. A brisker
+movement is sometimes adopted which proves more conformable to the taste
+of the English spectators.
+
+SINGING.
+
+Dancing is not the only amusement on these occasions. A gadis sometimes
+rises and, leaning her face on her arm, supporting herself against a
+pillar, or the shoulder of one of her companions, with her back to the
+audience, begins a tender song. She is soon taken up and answered by one
+of the bujangs in company, whose greatest pretensions to gallantry and
+fashion are founded on an adroitness at this polite accomplishment. The
+uniform subject on such occasions is love, and, as the words are
+extempore, there are numberless degrees of merit in the composition,
+which is sometimes surprisingly well turned, quaint, and even witty.
+Professed story-tellers are sometimes introduced, who are raised on a
+little stage and during several hours arrest the attention of their
+audience by the relation of wonderful and interesting adventures. There
+are also characters of humour amongst them who, by buffoonery, mimicry,
+punning, repartee, and satire (rather of the sardonic kind) are able to
+keep the company in laughter at intervals during the course of a night's
+entertainment. The assembly seldom breaks up before daylight, and these
+bimbangs are often continued for several days and nights together till
+their stock of provisions is exhausted. The young men frequent them in
+order to look out for wives, and the lasses of course set themselves off
+to the best advantage.
+
+DRESSES.
+
+They wear their best silken dresses, of their own weaving; as many
+ornaments of filigree as they possess; silver rings upon their arms and
+legs; and earrings of a particular construction. Their hair is variously
+adorned with flowers and perfumed with oil of benzoin. Civet is also in
+repute, but more used by the men.
+
+COSMETIC USED, AND MODE OF PREPARING IT.
+
+To render their skin fine, smooth, and soft they make use of a white
+cosmetic called pupur. The mode of preparing it is as follows. The basis
+is fine rice, which is a long time steeped in water and let to ferment,
+during which process the water becomes of a deep red colour and highly
+putrid, when it is drained off, and fresh added successively until the
+water remains clear, and the rice subsides in the form of a fine white
+paste. It is then exposed to the sun to dry, and, being reduced to a
+powder, they mix with it ginger, the leaves of a plant called by them
+dilam, and by Europeans patch-leaf (Melissa lotoria, R.), which gives to
+it a peculiar smell, and also, as is supposed, a cooling quality. They
+add likewise the flowers of the jagong (maize); kayu chendana
+(sandalwood); and the seeds of a plant called there kapas antu
+(fairy-cotton), which is the Hibiscus abelmoschus, or musk seed. All
+these ingredients, after being moistened and well mixed together, are
+made up into little balls, and when they would apply the cosmetic these
+are diluted with a drop of water, rubbed between the hands, and then on
+the face, neck, and shoulders. They have an apprehension, probably well
+founded, that a too abundant or frequent application will, by stopping
+the pores of the skin, bring on a fever. It is used with good effect to
+remove that troublesome complaint, so well known to Europeans in India,
+by the name of the prickly heat; but it is not always safe for strangers
+thus to check the operations of nature in a warm climate. The Sumatran
+girls, as well as our English maidens, entertain a favourable opinion of
+the virtues of morning dew as a beautifier, and believe that by rubbing
+it to the roots of the hair it will strengthen and thicken it. With this
+view they take pains to catch it before sunrise in vessels as it falls.
+
+CONSUMMATION OF MARRIAGES.
+
+If a wedding is the occasion of the bimbang the couple are married,
+perhaps, the second or third day; but it may be two or three more ere the
+husband can get possession of his bride; the old matrons making it a rule
+to prevent him, as long as possible, and the bride herself holding it a
+point of honour to defend to extremity that jewel which she would yet be
+disappointed in preserving.*
+
+(*Footnote. It is recorded that the jealousy between the English and
+Dutch at Bantam arose from a preference shown to the former by the king
+at a festival which he gave upon obtaining a victory of this nature,
+which his bride had long disputed with him. For a description of a
+Malayan wedding, with an excellent plate representing the conclusion of
+the ceremony and the sleeping apartment, I beg to refer the reader to
+Captain Forrest's Voyage to New Guinea page 286 quarto edition. The
+bed-place is described at page 232 and the processional car (per-arakan)
+at page 241. His whole account of the domestic manners of the people of
+Mindanao, at the court of which he lived on terms of familiarity, will be
+found highly amusing.)
+
+They sit up in state at night on raised cushions, in their best clothes
+and trinkets. They are sometimes loaded on the occasion with all the
+finery of their relations, or even the whole dusun, and carefully eased
+of it when the ceremony is over. But this is not the case with the
+children of persons of rank. I remember being present at the marriage of
+a young woman, whose beauty would not have disgraced any country, with a
+son of Raddin, prince of Madura, to whom the English gave protection from
+the power of the Dutch after his father had fallen a sacrifice.* She was
+decked in unborrowed plumes. Her dress was eminently calculated to do
+justice to a fine person; her hair, in which consists their chief pride,
+was disposed with extreme grace; and an uncommon elegance and taste were
+displayed in the workmanship and adjustment of her ornaments. It must be
+confessed however that this taste is by no means general, especially
+amongst the country people. Simplicity, so essential to the idea, is the
+characteristic of a rude and quite uncivilized people, and is again
+adopted by men in their highest state of refinement. The Sumatrans stand
+removed from both these extremes. Rich and splendid articles of dress and
+furniture, though not often procured, are the objects of their vanity and
+ambition.
+
+(*Footnote. The circumstances of this disgraceful affair are preserved in
+a book entitled A Voyage to the East Indies in 1747 and 1748. This Raddin
+Tamanggung, a most intelligent and respectable man, died at Bencoolen in
+the year 1790. His sons possess the good qualities of their father, and
+are employed in the Company's service.)
+
+The bimbangs are conducted with great decorum and regularity. The old
+women are very attentive to the conduct of the girls, and the male
+relations are highly jealous of any insults that may be shown them. A lad
+at one of these entertainments asked another his opinion of a gadis who
+was then dancing. "If she was plated with gold," replied he, "I would not
+take her for my concubine, much less for my wife." A brother of the girl
+happened to be within hearing, and called him to account for the
+reflection thrown on his sister. Krises were drawn but the bystanders
+prevented mischief. The brother appeared the next day to take the law of
+the defamer, but the gentleman, being of the risau description, had
+absconded, and was not to be found.
+
+NUMBER OF WIVES.
+
+The customs of the Sumatrans permit their having as many wives by jujur
+as they can compass the purchase of or afford to maintain; but it is
+extremely rare that an instance occurs of their having more than one, and
+that only among a few of the chiefs. This continence they in some measure
+owe to their poverty. The dictates of frugality are more powerful with
+them than the irregular calls of appetite, and make them decline an
+indulgence that their law does not restrain them from. In talking of
+polygamy they allow it to be the privilege of the rich, but regard it as
+a refinement which the poor Rejangs cannot pretend to. Some young risaus
+have been known to take wives in different places, but the father of the
+first, as soon as he hears of the second marriage, procures a divorce. A
+man married by semando cannot take a second wife without repudiating the
+first for this obvious reason that two or more persons could not be
+equally entitled to the half of his effects.
+
+QUESTION OF POLYGAMY.
+
+Montesquieu infers that the law which permits polygamy is physically
+conformable to the climate of Asia. The season of female beauty precedes
+that of their reason, and from its prematurity soon decays. The empire of
+their charms is short. It is therefore natural, the president observes,
+that a man should leave one wife to take another: that he should seek a
+renovation of those charms which had withered in his possession. But are
+these the real circumstances of polygamy? Surely not. It implies the
+contemporary enjoyment of women in the same predicament; and I should
+consider it as a vice that has its source in the influence of a warm
+atmosphere upon the passions of men, which, like the cravings of other
+disordered appetites, make them miscalculate their wants. It is probably
+the same influence, on less rigid nerves, that renders their thirst of
+revenge so much more violent than among northern nations; but we are not
+therefore to pronounce murder to be physically conformable to a southern
+climate. Far be it from my intention however to put these passions on a
+level; I only mean to show that the president's reasoning proves too
+much. It must further be considered that the genial warmth which expands
+the desires of the men, and prompts a more unlimited exertion of their
+faculties, does not inspire their constitutions with proportionate
+vigour; but on the contrary renders them in this respect inferior to the
+inhabitants of the temperate zone; whilst it equally influences the
+desires of the opposite sex without being found to diminish from their
+capacity of enjoyment. From which I would draw this conclusion, that if
+nature intended that one woman only should be the companion of one man,
+in the colder regions of the earth it appears also intended a fortiori
+that the same law should be observed in the hotter; inferring nature's
+design, not from the desires, but from the abilities with which she has
+endowed mankind.
+
+Montesquieu has further suggested that the inequality in the comparative
+numbers of each sex born in Asia, which is represented to be greatly
+superior on the female side, may have a relation to the law that allows
+polygamy. But there is strong reason to deny the reality of this supposed
+excess. The Japanese account, taken from Kaempfer, which makes them to be
+in the proportion of twenty-two to eighteen, is very inconclusive, as the
+numbering of the inhabitants of a great city can furnish no proper test;
+and the account of births at Bantam, which states the number of girls to
+be ten to one boy, is not only manifestly absurd, but positively false. I
+can take upon me to assert that the proportion of the sexes throughout
+Sumatra does not sensibly differ from that ascertained in Europe; nor
+could I ever learn from the inhabitants of the many eastern islands whom
+I have conversed with that they were conscious of any disproportion in
+this respect.
+
+CONNEXION BETWEEN POLYGAMY AND PURCHASE OF WIVES.
+
+But from whatever source we derive polygamy its prevalence seems to be
+universally attended with the practice of giving a valuable consideration
+for the woman, instead of receiving a dowry with her. This is a natural
+consequence. Where each man endeavours to engross several, the demand for
+the commodity, as a merchant would express it, is increased, and the
+price of course enhanced. In Europe on the contrary, where the demand is
+small; whether owing to the paucity of males from continual diminution;
+their coldness of constitution, which suffers them rather to play with
+the sentimental than act from the animal passion; their corruption of
+manners leading them to promiscuous concubinage; or, in fine, the
+extravagant luxury of the times, which too often renders a family an
+insupportable burden--whatever may be the cause it becomes necessary, in
+order to counteract it and produce an additional incitement to the
+marriage state, that a premium be given with the females. We find in the
+history of the earliest ages of the world that, where a plurality of
+women was allowed of, by law or custom, they were obtained by money or
+service. The form of marriage by semando among the Malays, which admits
+but of one partner, requires no sum to be paid by the husband to the
+relations of the wife except a trifle, by way of token, or to defray the
+expenses of the wedding-feast. The circumstance of the rejangs confining
+themselves to one, and at the same time giving a price for their wives,
+would seem an exception to the general rule laid down; but this is an
+accidental and perhaps temporary restraint, arising, it may be, from the
+European influence, which tends to make them regular and industrious, but
+keeps them poor: affords the means of subsistence to all, but the
+opportunity of acquiring riches to few or none. In their genuine state
+war and plunder caused a rapid fluctuation of property; the little wealth
+now among them, derived mostly from the India Company's expenditure,
+circulates through the country in an equal stream, returning chiefly,
+like the water exhaled in vapours from the sea, to its original source.
+The custom of giving jujurs had most probably its foundation in polygamy;
+and the superstructure subsists, though its basis is partly mouldered
+away; but, being scarcely tenantable, the inhabitants are inclined to
+quit, and suffer it to fall to the ground. Moderation in point of women
+destroying their principle, the jujurs appear to be devoid of policy.
+Open a new spring of luxury, and polygamy, now confined to a few
+individuals amongst the chiefs, will spread throughout the people. Beauty
+will be in high request; each fair one will be sought for by many
+competitors; and the payment of the jujur be again esteemed a reasonable
+equivalent for possession. Their acknowledging the custom under the
+present circumstances to be a prejudicial one, so contrary to the spirit
+of eastern manners, which is ever marked with a blind veneration for the
+establishments of antiquity, contributes to strengthen considerably the
+opinion I have advanced.
+
+GAMING.
+
+Through every rank of the people there prevails a strong spirit of
+gaming, which is a vice that readily insinuates itself into minds
+naturally indisposed to the avocations of industry; and, being in general
+a sedentary occupation, is more adapted to a warm climate, where bodily
+exertion is in few instances considered as an amusement.
+
+DICE. OTHER MODES.
+
+Beside the common species of gambling with dice, which, from the term
+dadu applied to it, was evidently introduced by the Portuguese, they have
+several others; as the judi, a mode of playing with small shells, which
+are taken up by handfuls, and, being counted out by a given number at a
+time (generally that of the party engaged), the success is determined by
+the fractional number remaining, the amount of which is previously
+guessed at by each of the party.
+
+CHESS.
+
+They have also various games on chequered boards or other delineations,
+and persons of superior rank are in general versed in the game of chess,
+which they term main gajah, or the game of the elephant, naming the
+pieces as follows: king, raja; queen or vizir, mantri; bishop or
+elephant, gajah; knight or horse, kuda; castle, rook, or chariot, ter;
+and pawn or foot-soldier, bidak. For check they use the word sah; and for
+checkmate, mat or mati. Among these names the only one that appears to
+require observation as being peculiar is that for the castle or rook,
+which they have borrowed from the Tamul language of the peninsula of
+India, wherein the word ter (answering to the Sanskrit rat'ha) signifies
+a chariot (particularly such as are drawn in the processions of certain
+divinities), and not unaptly transferred to this military game to
+complete the constituent parts of an army. Gambling, especially with
+dice, is rigorously forbidden throughout the pepper districts, because it
+is not only the child, but the parent of idleness, and by the events of
+play often throws whole villages into confusion. Debts contracted on this
+account are declared to be void.
+
+COCK-FIGHTING.
+
+To cock-fighting they are still more passionately addicted, and it is
+indulged to them under certain regulations. Where they are perfectly
+independent their propensity to it is so great that it resembles rather a
+serious occupation than a sport. You seldom meet a man travelling in the
+country without a cock under his arm, and sometimes fifty persons in a
+company when there is a bimbang in one of the neighbouring villages. A
+country-man coming down, on any occasion, to the bazaar or settlement at
+the mouth of the river, if he boasts the least degree of spirit must not
+be unprovided with this token of it. They often game high at their
+meetings; particularly when a superstitious faith in the invincibility of
+their bird has been strengthened by past success. A hundred Spanish
+dollars is no very uncommon risk, and instances have occurred of a
+father's staking his children or wife, and a son his mother or sisters,
+on the issue of a battle, when a run of ill luck has stripped them of
+property and rendered them desperate. Quarrels, attended with dreadful
+consequences, have often arisen on these occasions.
+
+RULES OF COCKING.
+
+By their customs there are four umpires appointed to determine on all
+disputed points in the course of the battles; and from their decision
+there lies no appeal except the Gothic appeal to the sword. A person who
+loses and has not the ability to pay is immediately proscribed, departs
+with disgrace, and is never again suffered to appear at the galan-gang.
+This cannot with propriety be translated a cockpit, as it is generally a
+spot on the level ground, or a stage erected, and covered in. It is
+inclosed with a railing which keeps off the spectators; none but the
+handlers and heelers being admitted withinside. A man who has a high
+opinion of and regard for his cock will not fight him under a certain
+number of dollars, which he places in order on the floor: his poorer
+adversary is perhaps unable to deposit above one half: the standers-by
+make up the sum, and receive their dividends in proportion if successful.
+A father at his deathbed has been known to desire his son to take the
+first opportunity of matching a certain cock for a sum equal to his whole
+property, under a blind conviction of its being betuah, or invulnerable.
+
+MATCHES.
+
+Cocks of the same colour are never matched but a grey against a pile, a
+yellow against a red, or the like. This might have been originally
+designed to prevent disputes or knavish impositions. The Malay breed of
+cocks is much esteemed by connoisseurs who have had an opportunity of
+trying them. Great pains is taken in the rearing and feeding; they are
+frequently handled and accustomed to spar in public, in order to prevent
+any shyness. Contrary to our laws, the owner is allowed to take up and
+handle his cock during the battle to clear his eye of a feather or his
+mouth of blood. When a cock is killed, or runs, the other must have
+sufficient spirit and vigour left to peck at him three times, on his
+being held to him for that purpose, or it becomes a drawn battle; and
+sometimes an experienced cocker will place the head of his vanquished
+bird in such an uncouth posture as to terrify the other and render him
+unable to give this proof of victory. The cocks are never trimmed, but
+matched in full feather. The artificial spur used in Sumatra resembles in
+shape the blade of a scimitar, and proves a more destructive weapon than
+the European spur. It has no socket but is tied to the leg, and in the
+position of it the nicety of the match is regulated. As in horse-racing
+weight is proportioned to inches, so in cocking a bird of superior weight
+and size is brought to an equality with his adversary by fixing the steel
+spur so many scales of the leg above the natural spur, and thus obliging
+him to fight with a degree of disadvantage. It rarely happens that both
+cocks survive the combat.
+
+In the northern parts of the island, where gold-dust is the common medium
+of gambling, as well as of trade, so much is accidentally dropped in
+weighing and delivering that at some cock-pits, where the resort of
+people is great, the sweepings are said, probably with exaggeration, to
+be worth upwards of a thousand dollars per annum to the owner of the
+ground; beside his profit of two fanams (five pence) for each battle.
+
+QUAIL-FIGHTING.
+
+In some places they match quails, in the manner of cocks. These fight
+with great inveteracy, and endeavour to seize each other by the tongue.
+The Achinese bring also into combat the dial-bird (murei) which resembles
+a small magpie, but has an agreeable though imperfect note. They
+sometimes engage one another on the wing, and drop to the ground in the
+struggle.
+
+FENCING.
+
+They have other diversions of a more innocent nature. Matches of fencing,
+or a species of tournament, are exhibited on particular days; as at the
+breaking up of their annual fast, or month of ramadan, called there the
+puasa. On these occasions they practise strange attitudes, with violent
+contortions of the body, and often work themselves up to a degree of
+frenzy, when the old men step in and carry them off. These exercises in
+some circumstances resemble the idea which the ancients have given us of
+the pyrrhic or war dance; the combatants moving at a distance from each
+other in cadence, and making many turns and springs unnecessary in the
+representation of a real combat. This entertainment is more common among
+the Malays than in the country. The chief weapons of offence used by
+these people are the kujur or lance and the kris. This last is properly
+Malayan, but in all parts of the island they have a weapon equivalent,
+though in general less curious in its structure, wanting that waving in
+the blade for which the kris is remarkable, and approaching nearer to
+daggers or knives.
+
+Among their exercises we never observe jumping or running. They smile at
+the Europeans, who in their excursions take so many unnecessary leaps.
+The custom of going barefoot may be a principal impediment to this
+practice in a country overrun with thorny shrubs, and where no fences
+occur to render it a matter of expediency.
+
+DIVERSION OF TOSSING A BALL.
+
+They have a diversion similar to that described by Homer as practised
+among the Phaeacians, which consists in tossing an elastic wicker ball or
+round basket of split rattans into the air, and from one player to
+another, in a peculiar manner. This game is called by the Malays sipak
+raga, or, in the dialect of Bencoolen, chipak rago, and is played by a
+large party standing in an extended circle, who endeavour to keep up the
+ball by striking it either perpendicularly, in order to receive it again,
+or obliquely to some other person of the company, with the foot or the
+hand, the heel or the toe, the knee, the shoulder, the head, or with any
+other part of the body; the merit appearing to consist in producing the
+effect in the least obvious or most whimsical manner; and in this sport
+many of them attain an extraordinary degree of expertness. Among the
+plates of Lord Macartney's Embassy will be found the representation of a
+similar game, as practised by the natives of Cochin-china.
+
+SMOKING OF OPIUM.
+
+The Sumatrans, and more particularly the Malays, are much attached, in
+common with many other eastern people, to the custom of smoking opium.
+The poppy which produces it not growing on the island, it is annually
+imported from Bengal in considerable quantities, in chests containing a
+hundred and forty pounds each. It is made up in cakes of five or six
+pounds weight, and packed with dried leaves; in which situation it will
+continue good and vendible for two years, but after that period grows
+hard and diminishes considerably in value. It is of a darker colour, and
+is supposed to have less strength than the Turkey opium. About a hundred
+and fifty chests are consumed annually on the west coast of Sumatra,
+where it is purchased, on an average, at three hundred dollars the chest,
+and sold again in smaller quantities at five or six. But on occasions of
+extraordinary scarcity I have known it to sell for its weight in silver,
+and a single chest to fetch upwards of three thousand dollars.
+
+PREPARATION.
+
+The method of preparing it for use is as follows. The raw opium is first
+boiled or seethed in a copper vessel; then strained through a cloth to
+free it from impurities; and then a second time boiled. The leaf of the
+tambaku, shred fine, is mixed with it, in a quantity sufficient to absorb
+the whole; and it is afterwards made up into small pills, about the size
+of a pea, for smoking. One of these being put into the small tube that
+projects from the side of the opium pipe, that tube is applied to a lamp,
+and the pill being lighted is consumed at one whiff or inflation of the
+lungs, attended with a whistling noise. The smoke is never emitted by the
+mouth, but usually receives vent through the nostrils, and sometimes, by
+adepts, through the passage of the ears and eyes. This preparation of the
+opium is called maddat, and is often adulterated in the process by mixing
+jaggri, or pine sugar, with it; as is the raw opium, by incorporating
+with it the fruit of the pisang or plantain.
+
+EFFECTS OF OPIUM.
+
+The use of opium among these people, as that of intoxicating liquors
+among other nations, is a species of luxury which all ranks adopt
+according to their ability, and which, when once become habitual, it is
+almost impossible to shake off. Being however like other luxuries
+expensive, few only among the lower or middling class of people can
+compass the regular enjoyment of it, even where its use is not
+restrained, as it is among the pepper-planters, to the times of their
+festivals. That the practice of smoking opium must be in some degree
+prejudicial to the health is highly probable; yet I am inclined to think
+that effects have been attributed to it much more pernicious to the
+constitution than it in reality causes. The bugis soldiers and others in
+the Malay bazaars whom we see most attached to it, and who use it to
+excess, commonly appear emaciated; but they are in other respects
+abandoned and debauched. The Limun and Batang Assei gold-traders, on the
+contrary, who are an active, laborious class of men but yet indulge as
+freely in opium as any others whatever, are notwithstanding the most
+healthy and vigorous people to be met with on the island. It has been
+usual also to attribute to the practice destructive consequences of
+another nature from the frenzy it has been supposed to excite in those
+who take it in quantities. But this should probably rank with the many
+errors that mankind have been led into by travellers addicted to the
+marvellous; and there is every reason to believe that the furious
+quarrels, desperate assassinations, and sanguinary attacks, which the use
+of opium is said to give birth to, are idle notions, originally adopted
+through ignorance and since maintained from the mere want of
+investigation, without having any solid foundation. It is not to be
+controverted, that those desperate acts of indiscriminate murder, called
+by us mucks, and by the natives mengamok, do actually take place, and
+frequently too in some parts of the East (in Java in particular) but it
+is not equally evident that they proceed from any intoxication except
+that of their unruly passions. Too often they are occasioned by excess of
+cruelty and injustice in their oppressors. On the west coast of Sumatra
+about twenty thousand pounds weight of this drug are consumed annually,
+yet instances of this crime do not happen (at least within the scope of
+our knowledge) above once in two or three years. During my residence
+there I had an opportunity of being an eyewitness but to one muck. The
+slave of a Portuguese woman, a man of the island of Nias, who in all
+probability had never handled an opium pipe in his life, being treated by
+his mistress with extreme severity for a trifling offence, vowed he would
+have revenge if she attempted to strike him again, and ran down the steps
+of the house with a knife in each hand, as it is said. She cried out,
+mengamok! The civil guard was called, who, having the power in these
+cases of exercising summary justice, fired half a dozen rounds into an
+outhouse where the unfortunate wretch had sheltered himself on their
+approach, and from whence he was at length dragged, covered with wounds.
+Many other mucks might perhaps be found, upon scrutiny, of the nature of
+the foregoing, where a man of strong feelings was driven by excess of
+injury to domestic rebellion.
+
+It is true that the Malays, when in a state of war they are bent on any
+daring enterprise, fortify themselves with a few whiffs of opium to
+render them insensible to danger, as the people of another nation are
+said to take a dram for the same purpose; but it must be observed that
+the resolution for the act precedes, and is not the effect of, the
+intoxication. They take the same precaution previous to being led to
+public execution; but on these occasions show greater signs of stupidity
+than frenzy. Upon the whole it may be reasonably concluded that the
+sanguinary achievements, for which the Malays have been famous, or
+infamous rather, in history, are more justly to be attributed to the
+natural ferocity of their disposition, or to the influence upon their
+manners of a particular state of society, than to the qualities of any
+drug whatever. The pretext of the soldiers of the country-guard for using
+opium is that it may render them watchful on their nightly posts: we on
+the contrary administer it to procure sleep, and according to the
+quantity it has either effect. The delirium it produces is known to be so
+very pleasing that Pope has supposed this to have been designed by Homer
+when he describes the delicious draught prepared by Helen, called
+nepenthe, which exhilarated the spirits and banished from the mind the
+recollection of woe.
+
+It is remarkable that at Batavia, where the assassins just now described,
+when taken alive, are broken on the wheel, with every aggravation of
+punishment that the most rigorous justice can inflict, the mucks yet
+happen in great frequency, whilst at Bencoolen, where they are executed
+in the most simple and expeditious manner, the offence is extremely rare.
+Excesses of severity in punishment may deter men from deliberate and
+interested acts of villainy, but they add fuel to the atrocious
+enthusiasm of desperadoes.
+
+PIRATICAL ADVENTURES.
+
+A further proof of the influence that mild government has upon the
+manners of people is that the piratical adventures so common on the
+eastern coast of the island are unknown on the western. Far from our
+having apprehensions of the Malays, the guards at the smaller English
+settlements are almost entirely composed of them, with a mixture of Bugis
+or Makasar people. Europeans, attended by Malays only, are continually
+travelling through the country. They are the only persons employed in
+carrying treasure to distant places; in the capacity of secretaries for
+the country correspondence; as civil officers in seizing delinquents
+among the planters and elsewhere; and as masters and supercargoes of the
+tambangans, praws, and other small coasting vessels. So great is the
+effect of moral causes and habit upon a physical character esteemed the
+most treacherous and sanguinary.
+
+
+CHAPTER 15.
+
+CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.
+EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.
+ORATORY.
+CHILDREN.
+NAMES.
+CIRCUMCISION.
+FUNERALS.
+RELIGION.
+
+CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.
+
+Whether to blunt the edge of painful reflection, or owing to an aversion
+our natures have to total inaction, most nations have been addicted to
+the practice of enjoying by mastication or otherwise the flavour of
+substances possessing an inebriating quality. The South Americans chew
+the cocoa and mambee, and the eastern people the betel and areca, or, as
+they are called in the Malay language, sirih and pinang. This custom has
+been accurately described by various writers, and therefore it is almost
+superfluous to say more on the subject than that the Sumatrans
+universally use it, carry the ingredients constantly about them, and
+serve it to their guests on all occasions--the prince in a gold stand,
+and the poor man in a brass box or mat bag. The betel-stands of the
+better rank of people are usually of silver embossed with rude figures.
+The Sultan of Moco-moco was presented with one by the India Company, with
+their arms on it; and he possesses beside another of gold filigree. The
+form of the stand is the frustum of a hexagonal pyramid reversed, about
+six or eight inches in diameter. It contains many smaller vessels fitted
+to the angles, for holding the nut, leaf, and chunam, which is quicklime
+made from calcined shells; with places for the instruments (kachip)
+employed in cutting the first, and spatulas for spreading the last.
+
+When the first salutation is over, which consists in bending the body,
+and the inferior's putting his joined hands between those of the
+superior, and then lifting them to his forehead, the betel is presented
+as a token of hospitality and an act of politeness. To omit it on the one
+hand or to reject it on the other would be an affront; as it would be
+likewise in a person of subordinate rank to address a great man without
+the precaution of chewing it before he spoke. All the preparation
+consists in spreading on the sirih leaf a small quantity of the chunam
+and folding it up with a slice of the pinang nut. Some mix with these
+gambir, which is a substance prepared from the leaves of a tree of that
+name by boiling their juices to a consistence, and made up into little
+balls or squares, as before spoken of: tobacco is likewise added, which
+is shred fine for the purpose, and carried between the lip and upper row
+of teeth. From the mastication of the first three proceeds a juice which
+tinges the saliva of a bright red, and which the leaf and nut, without
+the chunam, will not yield. This hue being communicated to the mouth and
+lips is esteemed ornamental; and an agreeable flavour is imparted to the
+breath. The juice is usually (after the first fermentation produced by
+the lime) though not always swallowed by the chewers of betel. We might
+reasonably suppose that its active qualities would injure the coats of
+the stomach, but experience seems to disprove such a consequence. It is
+common to see the teeth of elderly persons stand loose in the gums, which
+is probably the effect of this custom, but I do not think that it affects
+the soundness of the teeth themselves. Children begin to chew betel very
+young, and yet their teeth are always beautifully white till pains are
+taken to disfigure them by filing and staining them black. To persons who
+are not habituated to the composition it causes a strong giddiness,
+astringes and excoriates the tongue and fauces, and deadens for a time
+the faculty of taste. During the puasa, or fast of ramadan, the
+Mahometans among them abstain from the use of betel whilst the sun
+continues above the horizon; but excepting at this season it is the
+constant luxury of both sexes from an early period of childhood, till,
+becoming toothless, they are reduced to the necessity of having the
+ingredients previously reduced to a paste for them, that without further
+effort the betel may dissolve in the mouth. Along with the betel, and
+generally in the chunam, is the mode of conveying philtres, or love
+charms. How far they prove effectual I cannot take upon me to say, but
+suppose that they are of the nature of our stimulant medicines, and that
+the direction of the passion is of course indiscriminate. The practice of
+administering poison in this manner is not followed in latter times; but
+that the idea is not so far eradicated as entirely to prevent suspicion
+appears from this circumstance, that the guest, though taking a leaf from
+the betel-service of his entertainer, not unfrequently applies to it his
+own chunam, and never omits to pass the former between his thumb and
+forefinger in order to wipe off any extraneous matter. This mistrustful
+procedure is so common as not to give offence.
+
+TOBACCO.
+
+Beside the mode before-mentioned of enjoying the flavour of tobacco it is
+also smoked by the natives and for this use--after shredding it fine
+whilst green and drying it well it is rolled up in the thin leaves of a
+tree, and is in that form called roko, a word they appear to have
+borrowed from the Dutch. The rokos are carried in the betel-box, or more
+commonly under the destar or handkerchief which, in imitation of a
+turband, surrounds the head. Much tobacco is likewise imported from China
+and sells at a high price. It seems to possess a greater pungency than
+the Sumatran plant, which the people cultivate for their own use in the
+interior parts of the island.
+
+EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.
+
+The custom of sending emblematical presents in order to make known, in a
+covert manner, the birth, progress, or change of certain affections of
+the mind, prevails here, as in some other parts of the East; and not only
+flowers of various kinds have their appropriate meaning, but also
+cayenne-pepper, betel-leaf, salt, and other articles are understood by
+adepts to denote love, jealousy, resentment, hatred, and other strong
+feelings.
+
+ORATORY.
+
+The Sumatrans in general are good speakers. The gift of oratory seems
+natural to them. I knew many among them whose harangues I have listened
+to with pleasure and admiration. This may be accounted for perhaps from
+the constitution of their government, which being far removed from
+despotism seems to admit, in some degree, every member of the society to
+a share in the public deliberations. Where personal endowments, as has
+been observed, will often raise a private man to a share of importance in
+the community,superior to that of a nominal chief, there is abundant
+inducement for the acquisition of these valuable talents. The forms of
+their judicial proceedings likewise, where there are no established
+advocates and each man depends upon his own or his friend's abilities for
+the management of his cause, must doubtless contribute to this habitual
+eloquence. We may add to these conjectures the nature of their domestic
+manners, which introduce the sons at an early period of life into the
+business of the family, and the counsels of their elders. There is little
+to be perceived among them of that passion for childish sports which
+marks the character of our boys from the seventh to the fourteenth year.
+In Sumatra you may observe infants, not exceeding the former age, full
+dressed and armed with a kris, seated in the circle of the old men of the
+dusun, and attending to their debates with a gravity of countenance not
+surpassed by their grandfathers. Thus initiated they are qualified to
+deliver an opinion in public at a time of life when an English schoolboy
+could scarcely return an answer to a question beyond the limits of his
+grammar or syntax, which he has learned by rote. It is not a little
+unaccountable that this people, who hold the art of speaking in such high
+esteem, and evidently pique themselves on the attainment of it, should
+yet take so much pains to destroy the organs of speech in filing down and
+otherwise disfiguring their teeth; and likewise adopt the uncouth
+practice of filling their mouths with betel whenever they prepare to hold
+forth. We must conclude that it is not upon the graces of elocution they
+value an orator, but his artful and judicious management of the subject
+matter; together with a copiousness of phrase, a perspicuity of thought,
+an advantageous arrangement, and a readiness, especially, at unravelling
+the difficulties and intricacies of their suits.
+
+CHILD-BEARING.
+
+The curse entailed on women in the article of child-bearing does not fall
+so heavy in this as in the northern countries. Their pregnancy scarcely
+at any period prevents their attendance on the ordinary domestic duties;
+and usually within a few hours after their delivery they walk to the
+bathing-place, at a small distance from the house. The presence of a sage
+femme is often esteemed superfluous. The facility of parturition may
+probably be owing to the relaxation of the frame from the warmth of the
+climate; to which cause also may be attributed the paucity of children
+borne by the Sumatran women and the early decay of their beauty and
+strength. They have the tokens of old age at a season of life when
+European women have not passed their prime. They are like the fruits of
+the country, soon ripe and soon decayed. They bear children before
+fifteen, are generally past it at thirty, and grey-headed and shrivelled
+at forty. I do not recollect hearing of any woman who had six children
+except the wife of Raddin of Madura, who had more; and she, contrary to
+the universal custom, did not give suck to hers.
+
+TREATMENT OF CHILDREN.
+
+Mothers carry the children not on the arm, as our nurses do, but
+straddling on the hip, and usually supported by a cloth which ties in a
+knot on the opposite shoulder. This practice I have been told is common
+in some parts of Wales. It is much safer than the other method, less
+tiresome to the nurse, and the child has the advantage of sitting in a
+less constrained posture: but the defensive armour of stays, and
+offensive weapons called pins, might be some objection to the general
+introduction of the fashion in England. The children are nursed but
+little, not confined by any swathing or bandages, and, being suffered to
+roll about the floor, soon learn to walk and shift for themselves. When
+cradles are used they are swung suspended from the ceiling of the rooms.
+
+AGE OF THE PEOPLE.
+
+The country people can very seldom give an account of their age, being
+entirely without any species of chronology. Among those country people
+who profess themselves Mahometans to very few is the date of the Hejra
+known; and even of those who in their writings make use of it not one in
+ten can pronounce in what year of it he was born. After a few taun padi
+(harvests) are elapsed they are bewildered in regard to the date of an
+event, and only guess at it from some contemporary circumstance of
+notoriety, as the appointment of a particular dupati, the incursion of a
+certain enemy, or the like. As far as can be judged from observation it
+would seem that not a great proportion of the men attain to the age of
+fifty, and sixty years is accounted a long life.
+
+NAMES.
+
+The children among the Rejangs have generally a name given to them by
+their parents soon after their birth, which is called namo daging. The
+galar (cognomen), another species of name, or title, as we improperly
+translate it, is bestowed at a subsequent, but not at any determinate,
+period: sometimes as the lads rise to manhood, at an entertainment given
+by the parent, on some particular occasion; and often at their marriage.
+It is generally conferred by the old men of the neighbouring villages,
+when assembled; but instances occur of its being irregularly assumed by
+the persons themselves; and some never obtain any galar. It is also not
+unusual, at a convention held on business of importance, to change the
+galar of one or two of the principal personages to others of superior
+estimation; though it is not easy to discover in what this pre-eminence
+consists, the appellations being entirely arbitrary, at the fancy of
+those who confer them: perhaps in the loftier sound, or more pompous
+allusion in the sense, which latter is sometimes carried to an
+extraordinary pitch of bombast, as in the instance of Pengunchang bumi,
+or Shaker of the World, the title of a pangeran of Manna. But a climax is
+not always perceptible in the change.
+
+FATHER NAMED FROM HIS CHILD.
+
+The father, in many parts of the country, particularly in Passummah, is
+distinguished by the name of his first child, as Pa-Ladin, or Pa-Rindu
+(Pa for bapa, signifying the father of), and loses in this acquired his
+own proper name. This is a singular custom, and surely less conformable
+to the order of nature than that which names the son from the father.
+There it is not usual to give them a galar on their marriage, as with the
+Rejangs, among whom the filionymic is not so common, though sometimes
+adopted, and occasionally joined with the galar; as Radin-pa-Chirano. The
+women never change the name given them at the time of their birth; yet
+frequently they are called, through courtesy, from their eldest child,
+Ma-si-ano, the mother of such a one; but rather as a polite description
+than a name. The word or particle Si is prefixed to the birth-names of
+persons, which almost ever consist of but a single word, as Si Bintang,
+Si Tolong; and we find from Captain Forrest's voyage that in the island
+of Mindanao the infant son of the Raja Muda was named Se Mama.
+
+HESITATE TO PRONOUNCE THEIR OWN NAME.
+
+A Sumatran ever scrupulously abstains from pronouncing his own name; not
+as I understand from any motive of superstition, but merely as a
+punctilio in manners. It occasions him infinite embarrassment when a
+stranger, unacquainted with their customs, requires it of him. As soon as
+he recovers from his confusion he solicits the interposition of his
+neighbour.
+
+ADDRESS IN THE THIRD PERSON.
+
+He is never addressed, except in the case of a superior dictating to his
+dependant, in the second person, but always in the third; using his name
+or title instead of the pronoun; and when these are unknown a general
+title of respect is substituted, and they say, for instance, apa orang
+kaya punia suka, what is his honour's pleasure for what is your, or your
+honour's pleasure? When criminals or other ignominious persons are spoken
+to use is made of the pronoun personal kau (a contraction of angkau)
+particularly expressive of contempt. The idea of disrespect annexed to
+the use of the second person in discourse, though difficult to be
+accounted for, seems pretty general in the world. The Europeans, to avoid
+the supposed indecorum, exchange the singular number for the plural; but
+I think with less propriety of effect than the Asiatic mode; if to take
+off from the bluntness of address be the object aimed at.
+
+CIRCUMCISION.
+
+The boys are circumcised, where Mahometanism prevails, between the sixth
+and tenth year. The ceremony is called krat kulop and buang or lepas malu
+(casting away their shame), and a bimbang is usually given on the
+occasion; as well as at the ceremony of boring the ears and filing the
+teeth of their daughters (before described), which takes place at about
+the age of ten or twelve; and until this is performed they cannot with
+propriety be married.
+
+FUNERALS.
+
+At their funerals the corpse is carried to the place of interment on a
+broad plank, which is kept for the public service of the dusun, and lasts
+for many generations. It is constantly rubbed with lime, either to
+preserve it from decay or to keep it pure. No coffin is made use of; the
+body being simply wrapped in white cloth, particularly of the sort called
+hummums. In forming the grave (kubur), after digging to a convenient
+depth they make a cavity in the side, at bottom, of sufficient dimensions
+to contain the body, which is there deposited on its right side. By this
+mode the earth literally lies light upon it; and the cavity, after
+strewing flowers in it, they stop up by two boards fastened angularly to
+each other, so that the one is on the top of the corpse, whilst the other
+defends it on the open side, the edge resting on the bottom of the grave.
+The outer excavation is then filled up with earth, and little white flags
+or streamers are stuck in order around. They likewise plant a shrub,
+bearing a white flower, called kumbang-kamboja (Plumeria obtusa), and in
+some places wild marjoram. The women who attend the funeral make a
+hideous noise, not much unlike the Irish howl. On the third and seventh
+day the relations perform a ceremony at the grave, and at the end of
+twelve months that of tegga batu, or setting up a few long elliptical
+stones at the head and foot, which, being scarce in some parts of the
+country, bear a considerable price. On this occasion they kill and feast
+on a buffalo, and leave the head to decay on the spot as a token of the
+honour they have done to the deceased, in eating to his memory.* The
+ancient burying-places are called krammat, and are supposed to have been
+those of the holy men by whom their ancestors were converted to the
+faith. They are held in extraordinary reverence, and the least
+disturbance or violation of the ground, though all traces of the graves
+be obliterated, is regarded as an unpardonable sacrilege.
+
+(*Footnote. The above ceremonies (with the exception of the last) are
+briefly described in the following lines, extracted from a Malayan poem.
+
+Setelah sudah de tangisi, nia
+Lalu de kubur de tanamkan 'nia
+De ambel koran de ajikan 'nia
+Sopaya lepas deri sangsara 'nia
+Mengaji de kubur tujuh ari
+Setelah de khatam tiga kali
+Sudah de tegga batu sakali
+Membayer utang pada si-mati.)
+
+RELIGION.
+
+In works descriptive of the manners of people little known to the world
+the account of their religion usually constitutes an article of the first
+importance. Mine will labour under the contrary disadvantage. The ancient
+and genuine religion of the Rejangs, if in fact they ever had any, is
+scarcely now to be traced; and what principally adds to its obscurity,
+and the difficulty of getting information on the subject, is that even
+those among them who have not been initiated in the principles of
+Mahometanism yet regard those who have as persons advanced a step in
+knowledge beyond them, and therefore hesitate to own circumstantially
+that they remain still unenlightened. Ceremonies are fascinating to
+mankind, and without comprehending with what views they were instituted
+the profanum vulgus naturally give them credit for something mysterious
+and above their capacities, and accordingly pay them a tribute of
+respect. With Mahometanism a more extensive field of knowledge (I speak
+in comparison) is open to its converts, and some additional notions of
+science are conveyed. These help to give it importance, though it must be
+confessed they are not the most pure tenets of that religion which have
+found their way to Sumatra; nor are even the ceremonial parts very
+scrupulously adhered to. Many who profess to follow it give themselves
+not the least concern about its injunctions, or even know what they
+require. A Malay at Manna upbraided a countryman with the total ignorance
+of religion his nation laboured under. "You pay a veneration to the tombs
+of your ancestors: what foundation have you for supposing that your dead
+ancestors can lend you assistance?" "It may be true," answered the other,
+"but what foundation have you for expecting assistance from Allah and
+Mahomet?" "Are you not aware, replied the Malay, that it is written in a
+Book? Have you not heard of the Koran?" The native of Passummah, with
+conscious inferiority, submitted to the force of this argument.
+
+If by religion is meant a public or private form of worship of any kind,
+and if prayers, processions, meetings, offerings, images, or priests are
+any of them necessary to constitute it, I can pronounce that the Rejangs
+are totally without religion and cannot with propriety be even termed
+pagans, if that, as I apprehend, conveys the idea of mistaken worship.
+They neither worship God, devil, nor idols. They are not however without
+superstitious beliefs of many kinds, and have certainly a confused
+notion, though perhaps derived from their intercourse with other people,
+of some species of superior beings who have the power of rendering
+themselves visible or invisible at pleasure. These they call orang alus,
+fine, or impalpable beings, and regard them as possessing the faculty of
+doing them good or evil, deprecating their wrath as the sense of present
+misfortunes or apprehension of future prevails in their minds. But when
+they speak particularly of them they call them by the appellations of
+maleikat and jin, which are the angels and evil spirits of the Arabians,
+and the idea may probably have been borrowed at the same time with the
+names. These are the powers they also refer to in an oath. I have heard a
+dupati say, "My grandfather took an oath that he would not demand the
+jujur of that woman, and imprecated a curse on any of his descendants
+that should do it: I never have, nor could I without salah kapada
+maleikat--an offence against the angels." Thus they say also, de talong
+nabi, maleikat, the prophet and angels assisting. This is pure
+Mahometanism.
+
+NO NAME FOR THE DEITY.
+
+The clearest proof that they never entertained an idea of Theism or the
+belief of one supreme power is that they have no word in their language
+to express the person of God, except the Allah tala of the Malays,
+corrupted by them to Ulah tallo. Yet when questioned on the subject they
+assert their ancestors' knowledge of a deity, though their thoughts were
+never employed about him; but this evidently means no more than that
+their forefathers as well as themselves had heard of the Allah of the
+Mahometans (Allah orang islam).
+
+IDEA OF INVISIBLE BEINGS.
+
+They use, both in Rejang and Passummah, the word dewa to express a
+superior invisible class of beings; but each country acknowledges it to
+be of foreign derivation, and they suppose it Javanese. Radin, of Madura,
+an island close to Java, who was well conversant with the religious
+opinions of most nations, asserted to me that dewa was an original word
+of that country for a superior being, which the Javans of the interior
+believed in, but with regard to whom they used no ceremonies or forms of
+worship:* that they had some idea of a future life, but not as a state of
+retribution, conceiving immortality to be the lot of rich rather than of
+good men. I recollect that an inhabitant of one of the islands farther
+eastward observed to me, with great simplicity, that only great men went
+to the skies; how should poor men find admittance there? The Sumatrans,
+where untinctured with Mahometanism, do not appear to have any notion of
+a future state. Their conception of virtue or vice extends no farther
+than to the immediate effect of actions to the benefit or prejudice of
+society, and all such as tend not to either of these ends are in their
+estimation perfectly indifferent.
+
+(*Footnote. In the Transactions of the Batavian Society Volumes 1 and 3
+is to be found a History of these Dewas of the Javans, translated from an
+original manuscript. The mythology is childish and incoherent. The Dutch
+commentator supposes them to have been a race of men held sacred, forming
+a species of Hierarchy, like the government of the Lamas in Tartary.)
+
+Notwithstanding what is asserted of the originality of the word dewa, I
+cannot help remarking its extreme affinity to the Persian word div or
+diw, which signifies an evil spirit or bad genius. Perhaps, long
+antecedent to the introduction of the faith of the khalifs among the
+eastern people, this word might have found its way and been naturalized
+in the islands; or perhaps its progress was in a contrary direction. It
+has likewise a connexion in sound with the names used to express a deity
+or some degree of superior being by many other people of this region of
+the earth. The Battas, inhabitants of the northern end of Sumatra, whom I
+shall describe hereafter, use the word daibattah or daivattah; the
+Chingalese of Ceylon dewiju, the Telingas of India dai-wundu, the Biajus
+of Borneo dewattah, the Papuas of New Guinea 'wat, and the Pampangos of
+the Philippines diuata. It bears likewise an affinity (perhaps
+accidental) to the deus and deitas of the Romans.*
+
+(*Footnote. At the period when the above was written I was little aware
+of the intimate connexion now well understood to have anciently subsisted
+between the Hindus and the various nations beyond the Ganges. The most
+evident proofs appear of the extensive dissemination both of their
+language and mythology throughout Sumatra, Java, Balli (where at this day
+they are best preserved), and the other eastern islands. To the Sanskrit
+words dewa and dewata, signifying divinities in that great mother-tongue,
+we are therefore to look for the source of the terms, more or less
+corrupted, that have been mentioned in the text. See Asiatic Researches
+Volume 4 page 223.)
+
+VENERATION FOR THE MANES AND TOMBS OF THEIR ANCESTORS.
+
+The superstition which has the strongest influence on the minds of the
+Sumatrans, and which approaches the nearest to a species of religion, is
+that which leads them to venerate, almost to the point of worshipping,
+the tombs and manes of their deceased ancestors (nenek puyang). These
+they are attached to as strongly as to life itself, and to oblige them to
+remove from the neighbourhood of their krammat is like tearing up a tree
+by the roots; these the more genuine country people regard chiefly, when
+they take a solemn oath, and to these they apostrophise in instances of
+sudden calamity. Had they the art of making images or other
+representations of them they would be perfect lares, penates, or
+household gods. It has been asserted to me by the natives (conformably to
+what we are told by some of the early travellers) that in very ancient
+times the Sumatrans made a practice of burning the bodies of their dead,
+but I could never find any traces of the custom, or any circumstances
+that corroborated it.
+
+METEMPSYCHOSIS.
+
+They have an imperfect notion of a metempsychosis, but not in any degree
+systematic, nor considered as an article of religious faith. Popular
+stories prevail amongst them of such a particular man being changed into
+a tiger or other beast. They seem to think indeed that tigers in general
+are actuated with the spirits of departed men, and no consideration will
+prevail on a countryman to catch or to wound one but in self-defence, or
+immediately after the act of destroying a friend or relation. They speak
+of them with a degree of awe, and hesitate to call them by their common
+name (rimau or machang), terming them respectfully satwa (the wild
+animals), or even nenek (ancestors), as really believing them such, or by
+way of soothing and coaxing them; as our ignorant country folk call the
+fairies the good people. When a European procures traps to be set, by the
+means of persons less superstitious, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood
+have been known to go at night to the place and practise some forms in
+order to persuade the animal, when caught, or when he shall perceive the
+bait, that it was not laid by them, or with their consent. They talk of a
+place in the country where the tigers have a court and maintain a regular
+form of government, in towns, the houses of which are thatched with
+women's hair. It happened that in one month seven or eight people were
+killed by these prowling beasts in Manna district; upon which a report
+became current that fifteen hundred of them were come down from
+Passummah, of which number four were without understanding (gila), and
+having separated from the rest ran about the country occasioning all the
+mischief that was felt. The alligators also are highly destructive, owing
+to the constant practice of bathing in the rivers, and are regarded with
+nearly the same degree of religious terror. Fear is the parent of
+superstition, by ignorance. Those two animals prove the Sumatran's
+greatest scourge. The mischief the former commit is incredible, whole
+villages being often depopulated by them, and the suffering people learn
+to reverence as supernatural effects the furious ravages of an enemy they
+have not resolution to oppose.
+
+The Sumatrans are firmly persuaded that various particular persons are
+what they term betuah (sacred, impassive, invulnerable, not liable to
+accident), and this quality they sometimes extend to things inanimate, as
+ships and boats. Such an opinion, which we should suppose every man might
+have an opportunity of bringing to the test of truth, affords a
+humiliating proof of the weakness and credulity of human nature, and the
+fallibility of testimony, when a film of prejudice obscures the light of
+the understanding. I have known two men, whose honesty, good faith, and
+reasonableness in the general concerns of life were well established, and
+whose assertions would have weight in transactions of consequence: these
+men I have heard maintain, with the most deliberate confidence and an
+appearance of inward conviction of their own sincerity, that they had
+more than once in the course of their wars attempted to run their weapons
+into the naked body of their adversary, which they found impenetrable,
+their points being continually and miraculously turned without any effort
+on the part of the orang betuah: and that hundreds of instances of the
+like nature, where the invulnerable man did not possess the smallest
+natural means of opposition, had come within their observation. An
+English officer, with more courage and humour than discretion, exposed
+one imposture of this kind. A man having boasted in his presence that he
+was endowed with this supernatural privilege, the officer took an
+opportunity of applying to his arm the point of a sword and drew the
+blood, to the no little diversion of the spectators, and mortification of
+the pretender to superior gifts, who vowed revenge, and would have taken
+it had not means been used to keep him at a distance. But a single
+detection of charlatanerie is not effectual to destroy a prevalent
+superstition. These impostors are usually found among the Malays and not
+the more simple country people.
+
+NO MISSIONARIES.
+
+No attempts, I have reason to think, have ever been made by missionaries
+or others to convert the inhabitants of the island to Christianity, and I
+have much doubt whether the most zealous and able would meet with any
+permanent success in this pious work. Of the many thousands baptized in
+the eastern islands by the celebrated Francis Xavier in the sixteenth
+century not one of their descendants are now found to retain a ray of the
+light imparted to them; and probably, as it was novelty only and not
+conviction that induced the original converts to embrace a new faith, the
+impression lasted no longer than the sentiment which recommended it, and
+disappeared as rapidly as the itinerant apostle. Under the influence
+however of the Spanish government at Manila and of the Dutch at Batavia
+there are many native Christians, educated as such from children. In the
+Malayan language Portuguese and Christians are confounded under the same
+general name; the former being called orang Zerani, by corruption for
+Nazerani. This neglect of missions to Sumatra is one cause that the
+interior of the country has been so little known to the civilized world.
+
+
+CHAPTER 16.
+
+THE COUNTRY OF LAMPONG AND ITS INHABITANTS.
+LANGUAGE.
+GOVERNMENT.
+WARS.
+PECULIAR CUSTOMS.
+RELIGION.
+
+Having thus far spoken of the manners and customs of the Rejangs more
+especially, and adverted, as occasion served, to those of the Passummah
+people, who nearly resemble them, I shall now present a cursory view of
+those circumstances in which their southern neighbours, the inhabitants
+of the Lampong country, differ from them, though this dissimilitude is
+not very considerable; and shall add such information as I have been
+enabled to obtain respecting the people of Korinchi and other tribes
+dwelling beyond the ranges of hills which bound the pepper-districts.
+
+LIMITS OF THE LAMPONG COUNTRY.
+
+By the Lampong country is understood a portion of the southern extreme of
+the island, beginning, on the west coast, at the river of Padang-guchi,
+which divides it from Passummah, and extending across as far as
+Palembang, on the north-east side, at which last place the settlers are
+mostly Javans. On the south and east sides it is washed by the sea,
+having several ports in the Straits of Sunda, particularly Keysers and
+Lampong Bays; and the great river Tulang-bawang runs through the heart of
+it, rising from a considerable lake between the ranges of mountains. That
+division which is included by Padang-guchi, and a place called Nassal, is
+distinguished by the name of Briuran, and from thence southward to Flat
+Point, by that of Laut-Kawur; although Kawur, properly so called, lies in
+the northern division.
+
+TULANG BAWANG RIVER.
+
+Upon the Tulang-bawang, at a place called Mangala, thirty-six leagues
+from its mouth, the Dutch have a fortified post. There also the
+representative of the king of Bantam, who claims the dominion of the
+whole country of Lampong, has his residence, the river Masusi, which runs
+into the former, being the boundary of his territories and those of the
+sultan of Palembang. In the neighbourhood of these rivers the land is so
+low as to be overflowed in the rainy season, or months of January and
+February, when the waters have been known to rise many feet in the course
+of a few hours, the villages, situated on the higher spots, appearing as
+islands. The houses of those immediately on the banks are built on piles
+of ironwood timber, and each has before it a floating raft for the
+convenience of washing. In the western parts, towards Samangka, on the
+contrary, the land is mountainous, and Keyser's Peak, as well as Pugong,
+are visible to a great distance at sea.
+
+INHABITANTS.
+
+The country is best inhabited in the central and mountainous parts, where
+the people live independent, and in some measure secure from the inroads
+of their eastern neighbours, the Javans, who, from about Palembang and
+the Straits, frequently attempt to molest them. It is probably within but
+a very few centuries that the south-west coast of this country has been
+the habitation of any considerable number of people; and it has been
+still less visited by strangers, owing to the unsheltered nature of the
+sea thereabouts, and want of soundings in general, which renders the
+navigation wild and dangerous for country vessels; and to the rivers
+being small and rapid, with shallow bars and almost ever a high surf. If
+you ask the people of these parts from whence they originally came they
+answer, from the hills, and point out an inland place near the great lake
+from whence they say their forefathers emigrated: and further than this
+it is impossible to trace. They of all the Sumatrans have the strongest
+resemblance to the Chinese, particularly in the roundness of face and
+constructure of the eyes. They are also the fairest people of the island,
+and the women are the tallest and esteemed the most handsome.
+
+LANGUAGE.
+
+Their language differs considerably, though not essentially, from that of
+the Rejangs, and the characters they use are peculiar to themselves, as
+may be observed in the specimens exhibited.
+
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+The titles of government are pangeran (from the Javans), kariyer, and
+kiddimong or nebihi; the latter nearly answering to dupati among the
+Rejangs. The district of Kroi, near Mount Pugong, is governed by five
+magistrates called Panggau-limo, and a sixth, superior, called by way of
+eminence Panggau; but their authority is said to be usurped and is often
+disputed. The word in common signifies a gladiator or prizefighter. The
+pangeran of Suko, in the hills, is computed to have four or five thousand
+dependants, and sometimes, on going a journey, he levies a tali, or
+eighth part of a dollar, on each family, which shows his authority to be
+more arbitrary and probably more strictly feudal than among the Rejangs,
+where the government is rather patriarchal. This difference has doubtless
+its source in the wars and invasions to which the former people are
+exposed.
+
+WARS.
+
+The Javanese banditti, as has been observed, often advance into the
+country, and commit depredations on the inhabitants, who are not, in
+general, a match for them. They do not make use of firearms. Beside the
+common weapons of the island they fight with a long lance which is
+carried by three men, the foremost guiding the point and covering himself
+and his companions with a large shield. A compact body thus armed would
+have been a counterpart of the Macedonian phalanx, but can prove, I
+should apprehend, of but little use among a people with whom war is
+carried on in a desultory manner, and more in the way of ambuscade than
+of general engagement, in which alone troops so armed could act with
+effect.
+
+Inland of Samangka, in the Straits of Sunda, there is a district, say the
+Lampongs, inhabited by a ferocious people called orang Abung, who were a
+terror to the neighbouring country until their villages were destroyed
+some years ago by an expedition from the former place. Their mode of
+atoning for offences against their own community, or, according to a
+Malayan narrative in my possession, of entitling themselves to wives, was
+by bringing to their dusuns the heads of strangers. The account may be
+true, but without further authentication such stories are not to be too
+implicitly credited on the faith of a people who are fond of the
+marvellous and addicted to exaggeration. Thus they believed the
+inhabitants of the island Engano to be all females, who were impregnated
+by the wind, like the mares in Virgil's Georgics.
+
+MANNERS.
+
+The manners of the Lampongs are more free, or rather licentious, than
+those of any other native Sumatrans. An extraordinary liberty of
+intercourse is allowed between the young people of different sexes, and
+the loss of female chastity is not a very uncommon consequence. The
+offence is there however thought more lightly of, and instead of
+punishing the parties, as in Passummah and elsewhere, they prudently
+endeavour to conclude a legal match between them. But if this is not
+effected the lady still continues to wear the insignia of virginity, the
+fillet and arm-rings, and takes her place as such at festivals. It is not
+only on these public occasions that the young men and women have
+opportunities of forming arrangements, as in most other parts of the
+island. They frequently associate together at other times; and the former
+are seen gallantly reclining in the maiden's lap, whispering soft
+nonsense, whilst she adjusts and perfumes his hair, or does a friendly
+office of less delicacy to a European apprehension. At bimbangs the women
+often put on their dancing dress in the public hall, letting that garment
+which they mean to lay aside dexterously drop from under, as the other
+passes over the head, but sometimes, with an air of coquetry, displaying
+as if by chance enough to warm youthful imaginations. Both men and women
+anoint themselves before company when they prepare to dance; the women
+their necks and arms, and the men their breasts. They also paint each
+others faces; not, seemingly, with a view of heightening or imitating the
+natural charms, but merely as matter of fashion; making fantastic spots
+with the finger on the forehead, temples, and cheeks, of white, red,
+yellow, and other hues. A brass salver (tallam) covered with little china
+cups, containing a variety of paints, is served up for this purpose.
+
+Instances have happened here, though rarely, of very disagreeable
+conclusions to their feasts. A party of risaus among the young fellows
+have been known suddenly to extinguish the lights for the purpose of
+robbing the girls, not of their chastity, as might be apprehended, but of
+the gold and silver ornaments of their persons. An outrage of this nature
+I imagine could only happen in Lampong, where their vicinity to Java
+affords the culprits easier and surer means of escape, than in the
+central parts of the island; and here too their companies appear to be
+more mixed, collected from greater distances, and not composed, as with
+the Rejang people, of a neighbourly assemblage of the old men and women
+of a few contiguous villages with their sons and daughters, for the sake
+of convivial mirth, of celebrating a particular domestic event, and
+promoting attachments and courtship amongst the young people.
+
+PARTICULAR CUSTOMS.
+
+In every dusun there is appointed a youth, well fitted by nature and
+education for the office, who acts as master of ceremonies at their
+public meetings, arranges the young men and women in their proper places,
+makes choice of their partners, and regulates all other circumstances of
+the assembly except the important economy of the festival part or cheer,
+which comes under the cognizance of one of the elders. Both parts of the
+entertainment are preceded by long complimentary speeches, delivered by
+the respective stewards, who in return are answered and complimented on
+their skill, liberality, and other qualities, by some of the best bred
+amongst the guests. Though the manner of conducting, and the appendages
+of these feasts, are superior in style to the rustic hospitality of some
+of the northern countries, yet they are esteemed to be much behind those
+in the goodness and mode of dressing their food. The Lampongs eat almost
+all kinds of flesh indiscriminately, and their guleis (curries or made
+dishes) are said, by connoisseurs, to have no flavour. They serve up the
+rice divided into portions for each person, contrary to the practice in
+the other countries; the tallam being covered with a handsome crimson
+napkin manufactured for that use. They are wont to entertain strangers
+with much more profusion than is met with in the rest of the island. If
+the guest is of any consequence they do not hesitate to kill, beside
+goats and fowls, a buffalo, or several, according to the period of his
+stay, and the number of his attendants. One man has been known to
+entertain a person of rank and his suite for sixteen days, during which
+time there were not less than a hundred dishes of rice spread each day,
+containing some one, some two bamboos. They have dishes here, of a
+species of china or earthenware, called batu benauang, brought from the
+eastward, remarkably heavy, and very dear, some of them being valued at
+forty dollars a piece. The breaking one of them is a family loss of no
+small importance.
+
+RECEPTION OF STRANGERS.
+
+Abundantly more ceremony is used among these people at interviews with
+strangers than takes place in the countries adjacent to them. Not only
+the chief person of a party travelling, but every one of his attendants,
+is obliged, upon arriving at a town, to give a formal account of their
+business, or occasion of coming that way. When the principal man of the
+dusun is acquainted by the stranger with the motives of his journey he
+repeats his speech at full length before he gives an answer; and if it is
+a person of great consequence, the words must pass through two or three
+mouths before they are supposed to come with sufficient ceremony to his
+ears. This in fact has more the air of adding to his own importance and
+dignity than to that of the guest; but it is not in Sumatra alone that
+respect is manifested by this seeming contradiction.
+
+The terms of the jujur, or equivalent for wives, is the same here,
+nearly, as with the Rejangs. The kris-head is not essential to the
+bargain, as among the people of Passummah. The father of the girl never
+admits of the putus tali kulo, or whole sum being paid, and thereby
+withholds from the husband, in any case, the right of selling his wife,
+who, in the event of a divorce, returns to her relations. Where the putus
+tali is allowed to take place, he has a property in her, little differing
+from that of a slave, as formerly observed. The particular sums which
+constitute the jujur are less complex here than at other places. The
+value of the maiden's golden trinkets is nicely estimated, and her jujur
+regulated according to that and the rank of her parents. The semando
+marriage scarcely ever takes place but among poor people, where there is
+no property on either side, or in the case of a slip in the conduct of
+the female, when the friends are glad to make up a match in this way
+instead of demanding a price for her. Instances have occurred however of
+countrymen of rank affecting a semando marriage in order to imitate the
+Malayan manners; but it has been looked upon as improper and liable to
+create confusion.
+
+The fines and compensation for murder are in every respect the same as in
+the countries already described.
+
+RELIGION.
+
+The Mahometan religion has made considerable progress amongst the
+Lampongs, and most of their villages have mosques in them: yet an
+attachment to the original superstitions of the country induces them to
+regard with particular veneration the ancient burying-places of their
+fathers, which they piously adorn and cover in from the weather.
+
+SUPERSTITIOUS OPINIONS.
+
+In some parts, likewise, they superstitiously believe that certain trees,
+particularly those of a venerable appearance (as an old jawi-jawi or
+banyan tree) are the residence, or rather the material frame of spirits
+of the woods; an opinion which exactly answers to the idea entertained by
+the ancients of the dryads and hamadryads. At Benkunat in the Lampong
+country there is a long stone, standing on a flat one, supposed by the
+people to possess extraordinary power or virtue. It is reported to have
+been once thrown down into the water and to have raised itself again to
+its original position, agitating the elements at the same time with a
+prodigious storm. To approach it without respect they believe to be the
+source of misfortune to the offender.
+
+The inland people of that country are said to pay a kind of adoration to
+the sea, and to make to it an offering of cakes and sweetmeats on their
+beholding it for the first time, deprecating its power of doing them
+mischief. This is by no means surprising when we consider the natural
+proneness of unenlightened mankind to regard with superstitious awe
+whatever has the power of injuring them without control, and particularly
+when it is attended with any circumstances mysterious and inexplicable to
+their understandings. The sea possesses all these qualities. Its
+destructive and irresistible power is often felt, and especially on the
+coasts of India where tremendous surfs are constantly breaking on the
+shore, rising often to their greatest degree of violence without any
+apparent external cause. Add to this the flux and reflux and perpetual
+ordinary motion of that element, wonderful even to philosophers who are
+acquainted with the cause, unaccountable to ignorant men, though long
+accustomed to the effects; but to those who only once or twice in their
+lives have been eyewitnesses to the phenomena, supernatural and divine.
+It must not however be understood that anything like a regular worship is
+paid to the sea by these people, any more than we should conclude that
+people in England worship witches when they nail a horseshoe on the
+threshold to prevent their approach, or break the bottoms of eggshells to
+hinder them from sailing in them. It is with the inhabitants of Lampong
+no more than a temporary sentiment of fear and respect, which a little
+familiarity soon effaces. Many of them indeed imagine it endowed with a
+principle of voluntary motion. They tell a story of an ignorant fellow
+who, observing with astonishment its continual agitation, carried a
+vessel of sea water with him, on his return to the country, and poured it
+into a lake, in full expectation of seeing it perform the same fanciful
+motions he had admired it for in its native bed.*
+
+(*Footnote. The manners of the natives of the Philippine or Luzon Islands
+correspond in so many striking particulars with those of the inland
+Sumatrans, and especially where they differ most from the Malays, that I
+think no doubt can be entertained, if not of a sameness of origin, at
+least of an intercourse and connection in former times which now no
+longer exists. The following instances are taken from an essay preserved
+by Thevenot, entitled Relation des Philippines par un religieux; traduite
+d'un manuscrit Espagnol du cabinet de Monsieur Dom. Carlo del Pezzo
+(without date), and from a manuscript communicated to me by Alex
+Dalrymple, Esquire. "The chief Deity of the Tagalas is called Bathala mei
+Capal, and also Diuata; and their principal idolatry consists in adoring
+those of their ancestors who signalised themselves for courage or
+abilities, calling them Humalagar, i.e. manes: They make slaves of the
+people who do not keep silence at the tombs of their ancestors. They have
+great veneration for the crocodile, which they call nono, signifying
+grandfather, and make offerings to it. Every old tree they look upon as a
+superior being, and think it a crime to cut it down. They worship also
+stones, rocks, and points of land, shooting arrows at these last as they
+pass them. They have priests who, at their sacrifices, make many
+contortions and grimaces, as if possessed with a devil. The first man and
+woman, they say, were produced from a bamboo, which burst in the island
+of Sumatra; and they quarrelled about their marriage. The people mark
+their bodies in various figures, and render them of the colour of ashes,
+have large holes in their ears, blacken and file their teeth, and make an
+opening which they fill up with gold, they used to write from top to
+bottom till the Spaniards taught them to write from left to right,
+bamboos and palm leaves serve them for paper. They cover their houses
+with straw, leaves of trees, or bamboos split in two which serve for
+tiles. They hire people to sing and weep at their funerals, burn benzoin,
+bury their dead on the third day in strong coffins, and sometimes kill
+slaves to accompany their deceased masters.")
+
+The latter account is more particular, and appears of modern date.
+
+They held the caiman, or alligator, in great reverence, and when they saw
+him they called him nono, or grandfather, praying with great tenderness
+that he would do them no harm, and to this end, offered him of whatever
+they had in their boats, throwing it into the water. There was not an old
+tree to which they did not offer divine worship, especially that called
+balete; and even at this time they have some respect for them. Beside
+these they had certain idols inherited from their ancestors, which the
+Tagalas called Anita, and the Bisayans, Divata. Some of these were for
+the mountains and plains, and they asked their leave when they would pass
+them: others for the corn fields, and to these they recommend them, that
+they might be fertile, placing meat and drink in the fields for the use
+of the Anitos. There was one, of the sea, who had care of their fishing
+and navigation; another of the house, whose favour they implored at the
+birth of a child, and under whose protection they placed it. They made
+Anitos also of their deceased ancestors, and to these were their first
+invocations in all difficulties and dangers. They reckoned amongst these
+beings, all those who were killed by lightning or alligators, or had any
+disastrous death, and believed that they were carried up to the happy
+state, by the rainbow, which they call Balan-gao. In general they
+endeavoured to attribute this kind of divinity to their fathers, when
+they died in years, and the old men, vain with this barbarous notion,
+affected in their sickness a gravity and composure of mind, as they
+conceived, more than human, because they thought themselves commencing
+Anitos. They were to be interred at places marked out by themselves, that
+they might be discovered at a distance and worshipped. The missionaries
+have had great trouble in demolishing their tombs and idols; but the
+Indians, inland, still continue the custom of pasing tabi sa nano, or
+asking permission of their dead ancestors, when they enter any wood,
+mountain, or corn field, for hunting or sowing; and if they omit this
+ceremony imagine their nonos will punish them with bad fortune.
+
+Their notions of the creation of the world, and formation of mankind, had
+something ridiculously extravagant. They believed that the world at first
+consisted only of sky and water, and between these two, a glede; which,
+weary with flying about, and finding no place to rest, set the water at
+variance with the sky, which, in order to keep it in bounds, and that it
+should not get uppermost, loaded the water with a number of islands, in
+which the glede might settle and leave them at peace. Mankind, they said,
+sprang out of a large cane with two joints, that, floating about in the
+water, was at length thrown by the waves against the feet of the glede,
+as it stood on shore, which opened it with its bill, and the man came out
+of one joint, and the woman out of the other. These were soon after
+married by consent of their God, Batkala Meycapal, which caused the first
+trembling of the earth; and from thence are descended the different
+nations of the world.")
+
+
+CHAPTER 17.
+
+ACCOUNT OF THE INLAND COUNTRY OF KORINCHI.
+EXPEDITION TO THE SERAMPEI AND SUNGEI-TENANG COUNTRIES.
+
+COUNTRY OF KORINCHI.
+
+At the back of the range of high mountains by which the countries of
+Indrapura and Anak-sungei are bounded lies the district or valley of
+Korinchi, which, from its secluded situation, has hitherto been little
+known to Europeans. In the year 1800 Mr. Charles Campbell, whose name I
+have had frequent occasion to mention, was led to visit this spot, in the
+laudable pursuit of objects for the improvement of natural history, and
+from his correspondence I shall extract such parts as I have reason to
+hope will be gratifying to the reader.
+
+MR. CAMPBELL'S JOURNEY.
+
+Says this indefatigable traveller:
+
+The country of Korinchi first occupied my attention. From the sea-coast
+at Moco-moco to the foot of the mountains cost us three days' weary
+journey, and although our path was devious I cannot estimate the distance
+at less than thirty miles, for it was late on the fourth day when we
+began to ascend. Your conjecture that the ridge is broader betwixt the
+plains of Anak-sungei and valley of Korinchi than that which we see from
+Bencoolen is just. Our route in general lay north-east until we attained
+the summit of the first high range, from which elevated situation,
+through an opening in the wood, the Pagi or Nassau Islands were clearly
+visible. During the next day our course along the ridge of hills was a
+little to the northward of north-west, and for the two following days
+almost due north, through as noble a forest as was ever penetrated by
+man. On the evening of the last we descended by a steep and seemingly
+short path from the summit of the second range (for there are obviously
+two) into the Korinchi country.
+
+SITUATION OF LAKE.
+
+This descent did not occupy us more than twenty minutes, so that the
+valley must lie at a great height above the level of the sea; but it was
+yet a few days march to the inhabited and cultivated land on the border
+of the great lake, which I conjecture to be situated directly behind
+Indrapura, or north-east from the mouth of that river. There are two
+lakes, but one of them is inconsiderable. I sailed for some time on the
+former, which may be nearly as broad as the strait between Bencoolen and
+Rat Island. My companions estimated it at seven miles; but the eye is
+liable to much deception, and, having seen nothing for many days but
+rivulets, the grandeur of the sheet of water, when it first burst upon
+our sight, perhaps induced us to form too high a notion of its extent.
+Its banks were studded with villages; it abounds with fish, particularly
+the summah, a species of cyprinus; its waters are clear and beautiful
+from the reflection of the black and shining sand which covers the bottom
+in many places to the depth of eight or ten inches.
+
+INHABITANTS.
+
+The inhabitants are below the common stature of the Malays, with harder
+visages and higher cheekbones, well knit in their limbs, and active; not
+deficient in hospitality, but jealous of strangers. The women, excepting
+a few of the daughters of the chiefs, were in general ill-favoured, and
+even savage in their aspect. At the village of In-juan on the borders of
+the lake I saw some of them with rings of copper and shells among their
+hair; they wore destars round their heads like the men, and almost all of
+them had siwars or small daggers at their sides. They were not shut up or
+concealed from us, but mixed with our party, on the contrary, with much
+frankness.
+
+BUILDINGS.
+
+The people dwell in hordes, many families being crowded together in one
+long building. That in which I lived gave shelter to twenty-five
+families. The front was one long undivided verandah, where the unmarried
+men slept; the back part was partitioned into small cabins, each of which
+had a round hole with a door to fit it, and through this the female
+inmates crept backwards and forwards in the most awkward manner and
+ridiculous posture. This house was in length two hundred and thirty feet,
+and elevated from the ground. Those belonging to the chiefs were smaller,
+well constructed of timber and plank, and covered with shingles or thin
+plates of board bound on with rattans, about the size and having much the
+appearance of our slates.
+
+DRESSES.
+
+The dresses of the young women of rank were pretty enough. A large blue
+turband, woven with silver chains, which, meeting behind and crossing,
+were fastened to the earrings in festoons, decorated their heads. In this
+was placed a large plume of cock's feathers, bending forward over the
+face. The jacket was blue, of a silky texture, their own work, and
+bordered with small gold chain. The body-dress, likewise of their own
+weaving, was of cotton mingled with silk, richly striped and mixed with
+gold thread; but they wear it no lower than the knees. The youths of
+fashion were in a kind of harlequin habit, the forepart of the trousers
+white, the back-part blue; their jacket after the same fashion. They
+delighted much in an instrument made from some part of the iju palm-tree,
+which resembled and produced a sound like the jews-harp.
+
+COOKERY.
+
+Their domestic economy (I speak of the houses of the chiefs) seemed
+better regulated than it generally is in these countries; they seemed
+tolerably advanced in the art of cookery, and had much variety of food;
+such as the flesh of deer, which they take in rattan snares, wild ducks,
+abounding on the lake; green pigeons, quails innumerable; and a variety
+of fish beside the summah already mentioned, and the ikan gadis, a
+species of carp which attains to a greater size here than in the rivers.
+
+ESCULENT VEGETABLES.
+
+The potato, which was introduced there many years ago, is now a common
+article of food, and cultivated with some attention. Their plantations
+supply many esculent herbs, fruits, and roots; but the coconut, although
+reared as a curiosity, is abortive in these inland regions, and its place
+is supplied by the buah kras (Juglans camirium), of which they also make
+their torches. Excellent tobacco is grown there, also cotton and indigo,
+the small leafed kind. They get some silk from Palembang, and rear a
+little themselves. The communication is more frequent with the north-west
+shore than with the eastern, and of late, since the English have been
+settled at Pulo Chinco, they prefer going there for opium to the more
+tedious (though less distant) journey by which they formerly sought it at
+Moco-moco.
+
+GOLD.
+
+In their cockpits the gold-scales are frequent, and I have seen
+considerable quantities weighed out by the losers. This metal, I am
+informed, they get in their own country, although they studiously evaded
+all inquiries on the subject.
+
+GUNPOWDER.
+
+They make gunpowder, and it is a common sport among the young boys to
+fire it out of bamboos. In order to increase its strength, in their
+opinion, they mingle it with pepper-dust.
+
+LEPERS.
+
+In a small recess on the margin of the lake, overhung with very rugged
+cliffs and accessible only by water, I saw one of those receptacles of
+misery to which the leprous and others afflicted with diseases supposed
+to be contagious are banished. I landed much against the remonstrances of
+my conductors, who would not quit the boat. There were in all seven of
+these unfortunate people basking on the beach and warming the wretched
+remains of their bodies in the sun. They were fed at stated periods by
+the joint contribution of the neighbouring villages, and I was given to
+understand that any attempt to quit this horrid exile was punished with
+death.
+
+PECULIAR PLANTS.
+
+I had little time for botanizing; but I found there many plants unknown
+to the lowlands. Among them were a species of prune, the water-hemlock,
+and the strawberry. This last was like that species which grows in our
+woods; but it was insipid. I brought the roots with me to Fort
+Marlborough, where it lingered a year or two after fruiting and gradually
+died.* I found there also a beautiful kind of the Hedychium coronarium,
+now ranked among the kaempferias. It was of a pale orange, and had a most
+grateful odour. The girls wear it in their hair, and its beautiful head
+of lily flowers is used in the silent language of love, to the practice
+of which, during your stay here, I suppose you were no stranger, and
+which indicates a delicacy of sentiment one would scarcely expect to find
+in the character of so rude a people.
+
+(*Footnote. This plant has fruited also in England, but doubts are
+entertained of its being really a fragaria, By Dr. Smith it is termed a
+potentilla.)
+
+CHARACTER OF PEOPLE.
+
+Although the chiefs received us with hospitality yet the mass of people
+considered our intentions as hostile, and seemed jealous of our
+intrusion. Of their women however they were not at all jealous, and the
+familiarity of these was unrestrained. They entertained us with dances
+after their fashion, and made some rude attempts at performing a sort of
+pantomime. I may now close this detail with observing that the natives of
+this mountainous region have stronger animal spirits than those of the
+plains, and pass their lives with more variety than the torpid
+inhabitants of the coast; that they breathe a spirit of independence, and
+being frequently engaged in warfare, village against village, they would
+be better prepared to resist any invasion of their liberties.
+
+SUSPICIONS.
+
+They took great offence at a large package carried by six men which
+contained our necessaries, insisting that within it we had concealed a
+priuk api, for so they call a mortar or howitzer, one of which had been
+used with success against a village on the borders of their country
+during the rebellion of the son of the sultan of Moco-moco; and even when
+satisfied respecting this they manifested so much suspicion that we found
+it necessary to be constantly on our guard, and were once nearly provoked
+by their petulance and treachery to proceed to violence. When they found
+our determination they seemed humble, but were not even then to be
+trusted; and when we were on our return a friendly chief sent us
+intelligence that an ambuscade had been laid for us in one of the narrow
+passes of the mountains. We pursued our journey however without meeting
+any obstruction.
+
+...
+
+On the subject of gold I have only to add to Mr. Campbell's information
+that, in the enumeration by the natives of places where there are
+gold-mines, Karinchi is always included.
+
+EXPEDITION TO INTERIOR COUNTRY.
+
+Opportunities of visiting the interior parts of the island have so seldom
+occurred, or are likely to occur, that I do not hesitate to present to
+the reader an abstract of the Journal kept by Lieutenant Hastings Dare
+(now a captain on the Bengal establishment) whilst commanding an
+expedition to the countries of Ipu, Serampei, and Sungei-tenang, which
+border to the south-east on that of Korinchi above described; making at
+the same time my acknowledgments to that gentleman for his obliging
+communication of the original, and my apologies for the brevity to which
+my subject renders it necessary to confine the narrative.
+
+ORIGIN OF DISTURBANCES.
+
+Sultan Asing, brother to the present sultan of Moco-moco, in conjunction
+with Pa Muncha and Sultan Sidi, two hill-chiefs his relations, residing
+at Pakalang-jambu and Jambi, raised a small force with which, in the
+latter part of the year 1804, they made a descent on Ipu, one of the
+Company's districts, burnt several villages and carried off a number of
+the inhabitants. The guard of native Malay troops not being sufficiently
+strong to check these depredations, a party was ordered from Fort
+Marlborough under the command of Lieutenant Hastings Dare, consisting of
+eighty-three sepoy officers and men, with five lascars, twenty-two Bengal
+convicts, and eighteen of the Bugis-guard; in the whole one hundred and
+twenty-eight.
+
+November 22 1804. Marched from Fort Marlborough, and December 3 arrived
+at Ipu. The roads extremely bad from the torrents of rain that fell. 4th.
+Mr. Hawthorne, the Resident, informed us that the enemy had fortified
+themselves at a place called Tabe-si-kuddi, but, on hearing of the
+approach of the detachment, had gone off to the hills in the
+Sungei-tenang country and fortified themselves at Koto Tuggoh, a village
+that had been a receptacle for all the vagabonds from the districts near
+the coast. 13th. Having procured coolies and provisions, for which we
+have been hitherto detained, quitted Ipu in an east-north-east direction,
+and passed through several pepper and rice plantations. At dusun Baru one
+of our people caught a fine large fish, called ikan gadis. 14th. Marched
+in a south-east direction; crossed several rivulets, and reached again
+the banks of Ipu river, which we crossed. It was about four feet deep and
+very rapid. Passed the night at dusun Arah. The country rather hilly;
+thermometer 88 degrees at noon. 15th. Reached dusun Tanjong, the last
+place in the Ipu district where rice or any other provision is to be
+found, and these were sent on from Talang Puttei, this place being
+deserted by its inhabitants, several of whom the enemy had carried off
+with them as slaves. The country very hilly, and roads, in consequence of
+the heavy rains, bad and slippery. 16th. Marched in a north and east
+direction.
+
+HOT SPRINGS.
+
+After crossing the Ayer Ikan stream twice we arrived at some hot springs,
+about three or four miles in the winding course we were obliged to take
+from dusun Tanjong, situated in a low swampy spot, about sixty yards in
+circumference. This is very hot in every part of it, excepting (which is
+very extraordinary) one place on its eastern side, where, although a hot
+spring is bubbling up within one yard of it, the water running from it is
+as cold as common spring water. In consequence of the excessive heat of
+the place and softness of the ground none of us could get close to the
+springs; but upon putting the thermometer within three yards of them it
+immediately rose to 120 degrees of Fahrenheit. We could not bear our
+fingers any time in the water. It tasted copperish and bitter; there was
+a strong sulphurous smell at the place, and a green sediment at the
+bottom and sides of the spring, with a reddish or copper-coloured scum
+floating on the surface. After again crossing the Ikan stream we arrived
+at dusun Simpang. The enemy had been here, and had burned nearly half of
+the village and carried off the inhabitants. The road from Tanjong to
+Simpang was entirely through a succession of pepper-gardens and rice
+plantations. We are now among the hills. Country in a higher state of
+cultivation than near the coast, but nearly deserted, and must soon
+become a waste. Could not get intelligence of the enemy. Built huts on
+Ayer Ikan at Napah Kapah. 17th. Marched in a south direction and crossed
+Ayer Tubbu, passing a number of durian trees on its bank. Again crossed
+the stream several times. Arrived early at Tabe-si-kuddi, a small talang,
+where the enemy had built three batteries or entrenchments and left
+behind them a quantity of grain, but vegetating and unfit for use.
+Previously to our reaching these entrenchments some of the detachment got
+wounded in the feet with ranjaus, set very thickly in the ground in every
+direction, and which obliged us to be very cautious in our steps until we
+arrived at the banks of a small rivulet, called the Nibong, two or three
+miles beyond them.
+
+RANJAUS.
+
+Ranjaus are slips of bamboo sharpened at each end, the part that is stuck
+in the ground being thicker than the opposite end, which decreases to a
+fine thin point, and is hardened by dipping it in oil and applying it to
+the smoke of a lamp near the flame. They are planted in the footpaths,
+sometimes erect, sometimes sloping, in small holes, or in muddy and miry
+places, and when trodden upon (for they are so well concealed as not to
+be easily seen) they pierce through the foot and make a most disagreeable
+wound, the bamboo leaving in it a rough hairy stuff it has on its
+outside, which irritates, inflames, and prevents it from healing. The
+whole of the road this day lay over a succession of steep hills, and in
+the latter part covered with deep forests. The whole of the detachment
+did not reach our huts on the bank of the Nibong stream till evening,
+much time being consumed in bringing on the mortar and magazine. Picked
+up pouches, musket stocks, etc., and saw new huts, near one of which was
+a quantity of clotted blood and a fresh grave. 18th. Proceeded
+east-north-east and passed several rivulets. Regained the banks of the
+Ipu river, running north-east to south-west here tolerably broad and
+shallow, being a succession of rapids over a rough stony bed. Encamped
+both this night and the last where the enemy had built huts. 19th.
+Marched in a north direction. More of the detachment wounded by ranjaus
+planted in the pathways. Roads slippery and bad from rains, and the hills
+so steep it is with difficulty we get the mortar and heavy baggage
+forward. Killed a green snake with black spots along its back, about four
+feet long, four to five inches in girt, and with a thick stumpy tail. The
+natives say its bite is venomous. Our course today has been north along
+the banks of the Ipu river; the noise of the rapids so great that when
+near it we can with difficulty hear each other speak. 20th. Continued
+along the river, crossing it several times. Came to a hot spring in the
+water of which the thermometer rose to 100 degrees at a considerable
+distance from its source. The road today tolerably level and good.
+
+LEECHES.
+
+We were much plagued by a small kind of leech, which dropped on us from
+the leaves of the trees, and got withinside our clothes. We were in
+consequence on our halting every day obliged to strip and bathe ourselves
+in order to detach them from our bodies, filled with the blood they had
+sucked from us. They were not above an inch in length, and before they
+fixed themselves as thin as a needle, so that they could penetrate our
+dress in any part. We encamped this evening at the conflux of the Simpang
+stream and Ipu river. Our huts were generally thatched with the puar or
+wild cardamum leaf, which grows in great abundance on the banks of the
+rivers in this part of the country. It bears a pleasant acid fruit,
+growing much in the same way as the maize. In long journeys through the
+woods, when other provisions fail, the natives live principally on this.
+The leaf is something like that of the plantain, but not nearly so large.
+21st. Arrived at a spot called Dingau-benar, from whence we were obliged
+to return on account of the coolies not being able to descend a hill
+which was at least a hundred and fifty yards high, and nearly
+perpendicular. In effecting it we were obliged to cling to the trees and
+roots, without which assistance it would have been impracticable. It was
+nearly evening before one half of the detachment had reached the bottom,
+and it rained so excessively hard that we were obliged to remain divided
+for the night; the rear party on the top of the steep hill, and the
+advanced on the brow of another hill. One of the guides and a Malay
+coolie were drowned in attempting to find a ford across the Ipu river. I
+was a long time before we could get any fire, everything being completely
+soaked through, and the greater part of the poor fellows had not time to
+build huts for themselves. Military disposition for guarding baggage,
+preventing surprise, etc. 22nd. We had much difficulty in getting the
+mortar and its bed down, being obliged to make use of long thick rattans
+tied to them and successively to several trees. It was really admirable
+to observe the patience of the sepoys and Bengal convicts on this
+occasion. On mustering the coolies, found that nearly one half had run
+during the night, which obliged us to fling away twenty bags of rice,
+besides salt and other articles. Our course lay north, crossing the river
+several times. My poor faithful dog Gruff was carried away by the
+violence of the stream and lost. We were obliged to make bridges by
+cutting down tall trees, laying them across the stream, and interlacing
+them with rattans.
+
+We were now between two ranges of very high hills; on our right hand
+Bukit Pandang, seen from a great distance at sea; the road shockingly
+bad. Encamped on the western bank. 23rd. Marched in a north direction,
+the roads almost impassable. The river suddenly swelled so much that the
+rear party could not join the advanced, which was so fortunate as to
+occupy huts built by the enemy. There were fires in two of them. We were
+informed however that the Serampei and Sungei-tenang people often come
+this distance to catch fish, which they dry and carry back to their
+country. At certain times of the year great quantities of the ringkis and
+ikan-gadis are taken, besides a kind of large conger-eel. We frequently
+had fish when time would admit of the people catching them. It is
+impossible to describe the difficulties we had to encounter in
+consequence of the heavy rains, badness of the roads, and rapidity of the
+river. The sepoy officer and many men ill of fluxes and fevers, and lame
+with swelled and sore feet. 24th. Military precautions. Powder damaged.
+Thunder and lightning with torrents of rain. Almost the whole of the rice
+rotten or sour. 25th. Continued to march up the banks of the river. No
+inhabitants in this part of the country.
+
+IRREGULARITY OF COMPASS.
+
+The compass for these several days has been very irregular. We have two
+with us and they do not at all agree. The road less bad. At one place we
+saw bamboos of the thickness of a man's thigh. There were myriads of very
+small flies this evening, which teased us much. Occupied some huts we
+found on the eastern bank. This is Christmas evening; to us, God knows, a
+dull one. Our wines and liquors nearly expended, and we have but one
+miserable half-starved chicken left although we have been on short
+allowance the whole way. 26th. Roads tolerable. Passed a spot called
+Kappah, and soon after a waterfall named Ipu-machang, about sixty feet
+high. Picked up a sick man belonging to the enemy. He informed us that
+there were between two and three hundred men collected at Koto Tuggoh,
+under the command of Sutan Sidi, Sutan Asing, and Pa Muncha. These three
+chiefs made a festival, killing buffaloes, as is usual with the natives
+of Sumatra on such occasions, at this place, and received every
+assistance from the principal Dupati, who is also father-in-law to Pa
+Muncha. They possess sixty stand of muskets, beside blunderbusses and
+wall-pieces. They had quitted the Company's districts about twenty-three
+days ago, and are gone, some to Koto Tuggoh, and others to
+Pakalang-jambu. 27th. Marched in a north-north-east direction; passed
+over a steep hill which took us three hours hard walking. The river is
+now very narrow and rapid, not above twelve feet across; it is a
+succession of waterfalls every three or four yards. After this our road
+was intricate, winding, and bad. We had to ascend a high chasm formed in
+the rock, which was effected by ladders from one shelf to another.
+Arrived at the foot of Bukit Pandang, where we found huts, and occupied
+them for the night. We have been ascending the whole of this day. Very
+cold and rainy. At night we were glad to make large fires and use our
+blankets and woollen clothes. Having now but little rice left we were
+obliged to put ourselves to an allowance of one bamboo or gallon measure
+among ten men; and the greater part of that rotten.
+
+ASCEND A HIGH MOUNTAIN.
+
+28th. Ascended Bukit Pandang in an east-north-east direction. Reached a
+small spring of water called Pondo Kubang, the only one to be met with
+till the hill is descended. About two miles from the top, and from thence
+all the way up, the trees and ground were covered very thick with moss;
+the trees much stunted, and altogether the appearance was barren and
+gloomy; to us particularly so, for we could find little or nothing
+wherewith to build our huts, nor procure a bit of dry wood to light a
+fire. In order to make one for dressing the victuals, Lieutenant Dare was
+compelled to break up one of his boxes, otherwise he and Mr. Alexander,
+the surgeon, must have eaten them raw. It rained hard all night, and the
+coolies and most of the party were obliged to lie
+down on the wet ground in the midst of it.
+
+MEN DIE FROM SEVERITY OF THE WEATHER.
+
+It was exceedingly cold to our feelings; in the evening the thermometer
+was down to 50 degrees, and in the night to 45 degrees. In consequence of
+the cold, inclemency, and fatigue to which the coolies were exposed,
+seven of them died that night. The lieutenant and surgeon made themselves
+a kind of shelter with four tarpaulins that were fortunately provided to
+cover the medicine chest and surgical instruments, but the place was so
+small that it scarcely held them both. In the evening when the former was
+sitting on his camp-stool, whilst the people were putting up the
+tarpaulins, a very small bird, perfectly black, came hopping about the
+stool, picking up the worms from the moss. It was so tame and fearless
+that it frequently perched itself on his foot and on different parts of
+the stool; which shows that these parts of the country must be very
+little frequented by human beings. 29th. Descended Bukit Pandang. Another
+coolie died this morning. We are obliged to fling away shells. After
+walking some time many of the people recovered, as it was principally
+from cold and damps they suffered. Crossed a stream called Inum where we
+saw several huts. In half an hour more arrived at the banks of the
+greater Ayer Dikit River, which is here shallow, rapid, and about eighty
+yards broad. We marched westerly along its banks, and reached a hut
+opposite to a spot called Rantau Kramas, where we remained for the night,
+being prevented from crossing by a flood. 30th. Cut down a large tree and
+threw it across the river; it reached about halfway over. With this and
+the assistance of rattans tied to the opposite side we effected our
+passage and arrived at Rantau Kramas. Sent off people to Ranna Alli, one
+of the Serampei villages, about a day's march from hence, for provisions.
+Thermometer 59 degrees.
+
+The greater Ayer Dikit river, on the north side of which this place lies,
+runs nearly from east to west. There are four or five bamboo huts at it,
+for the temporary habitation of travellers passing and repassing this
+way, being in the direction from the Serampei to the Sungei-tenang
+country. These huts are covered with bamboos (in plenty here) split and
+placed like pantiles transversely over each other, forming, when the
+bamboos are well-grown, a capital and lasting roof (see above). 31st. A
+Malay man and woman taken by our people report that the enemy thirteen
+days ago had proceeded two days march beyond Koto Tuggoh. Received some
+provisions from Ranna Alli. The enemy, we are informed, have dug holes
+and put long stakes into them, set spring-spears, and planted the road
+very thickly with ranjaus, and were collecting their force at Koto Tuggoh
+(signifying the strong fortress) to receive us. 1805. January 1st and
+2nd. Received some small supplies of provisions.
+
+COME UP WITH THE ENEMY.
+
+On the 3rd we were saluted by shouting and firing of the enemy from the
+heights around us. Parties were immediately sent off in different
+directions as the nature of the ground allowed.
+
+ATTACK.
+
+The advanced party had only time to fire two rounds when the enemy
+retired to a strong position on the top of a steep hill where they had
+thrown up a breastwork, which they disputed for a short time. On our
+getting possession of it they divided into three parties and fled. We had
+one sepoy killed and several of the detachment wounded by the ranjaus.
+Many of the enemy were killed and wounded and the paths they had taken
+covered with blood; but it is impossible to tell their numbers as they
+always carry them off the moment they drop, considering it a disgrace to
+leave them on the field of battle. If they get any of the bodies of their
+enemies they immediately strike off the head and fix it on a long pole,
+carrying it to their village as a trophy, and addressing to it every sort
+of abusive language. Those taken alive in battle are made slaves. After
+completely destroying everything in the battery we marched, and arrived
+at the top of a very high hill, where we built our huts for the evening.
+The road was thickly planted with ranjaus which, with the heavy rains,
+impeded our progress and prevented us from reaching a place called
+Danau-pau. Our course today has been north-east and easterly, the roads
+shockingly bad, and we were obliged to leave behind several coolies and
+two sepoys who were unable to accompany us. 4th. Obliged to fling away
+the bullets of the cartridges, three-fourths of which were damaged, and
+other articles. Most of the detachment sick with fluxes and fevers, or
+wounded in the feet. Marched in an eastern direction. Reached a spot very
+difficult to pass, being knee-deep in mud for a considerable way, with
+ranjaus concealed in the mud, and spring-spears set in many places. We
+were obliged to creep through a thicket of canes and bamboos. About noon
+the advanced party arrived at a lake and discovered that the enemy were
+on the opposite side of a small stream that ran from the lake, where they
+had entrenched themselves behind four small batteries in a most
+advantageous position, being on the top of a steep hill, of difficult
+access, with the stream on one side, the lake on the other, and the other
+parts surrounded by a swamp.
+
+ENTRENCHMENTS ATTACKED AND CARRIED.
+
+We immediately commenced the attack, but were unable, from the number of
+ranjaus in the only accessible part, to make a push on to the enemy.
+However about one o'clock we effected our purpose, and completely got
+possession of the entrenchments, which, had they been properly defended,
+must have cost us more than the half of our detachment. We had four
+sepoys severely wounded, and almost the whole of our feet dreadfully cut.
+Numbers of the enemy were killed and wounded. They defended each of the
+batteries with some obstinacy against our fire, but when once we came
+near them they could not stand our arms, and ran in every direction. At
+this place there are no houses nor inhabitants, but only temporary huts,
+built by the Sungei-tenang people, who come here occasionally to fish.
+The lake, which is named Danau-pau, has a most beautiful appearance,
+being like a great amphitheatre, surrounded by high and steep mountains
+covered with forests. It is about two miles in diameter. We occupied some
+huts built by the enemy. The place is thickly surrounded with bamboos.
+
+MOTIVES FOR RETURNING TO THE COAST.
+
+In consequence of the number of our sick and wounded, the small strength
+of coolies to carry their baggage, and the want of medicines and
+ammunition, as well as of provisions, we thought it advisable to return
+to Rantau Kramas; and to effect this we were obliged to fling away the
+mortar-bed, shells, and a number of other things. We marched at noon, and
+arrived in the evening at the top of the hill where we had before
+encamped, and remained for the night. 6th. Reached Rantau Kramas. 7th.
+Marching in torrents of rain. People exceedingly harassed, reduced, and
+emaciated. Relieved by the arrival of Serampei people with some
+provisions from Ranna Alli. 8th. After a most fatiguing march arrived at
+that place half-dead with damps and cold. The bearers of the litters for
+the sick were absolutely knocked up, and we were obliged to the sepoys
+for getting on as we did. Our route was north-west with little variation.
+9th. Remained at Ranna Alli. This serampei village consists of about
+fifteen houses, and may contain a hundred and fifty or two hundred
+inhabitants. It is thickly planted all round with a tall hedge of live
+bamboos, on the outside of which ranjaus are planted to the distance of
+thirty or forty feet. Withinside of the hedge there is a bamboo pagar or
+paling. It is situated on a steep hill surrounded by others, which in
+many places are cleared to their tops, where the inhabitants have their
+ladangs or rice plantations. They appeared to be a quiet, inoffensive set
+of people; their language different from the Malayan, which most of them
+spoke, but very imperfectly and hardly to be understood by us. On our
+approach the women and children ran to their ladangs, being, as their
+husbands informed us, afraid of the sepoys.
+
+GOITRES.
+
+Of the women whom we saw almost every one had the goitres or swellings
+under the throat; and it seemed to be more prevalent with these than with
+the men. One woman in particular had two protuberances dangling at her
+neck as big as quart bottles.
+
+There are three dupatis and four mantris to this village, to whom we made
+presents, and afterwards to the wives and families of the inhabitants.
+10th and 11th. Preparing for our march to Moco-moco, where we can recruit
+our force, and procure supplies of stores and ammunition. 12th. Marched
+in a north and north-west direction.
+
+HANGING BRIDGE.
+
+Passed over a bridge of curious construction across the Ayer Abu River.
+It was formed of bamboos tied together with iju ropes and suspended to
+the trees, whose branches stretched nearly over the stream.
+
+The Serampei women are the worst-favoured creatures we ever saw, and
+uncouth in their manners. Arrived at Tanjong Kasiri, another fortified
+village, more populous than Ranna Alli. 13th. The sick and heavy baggage
+were ordered to Tanjong Agung, another Serampei village.
+
+HOT SPRINGS.
+
+14th. Arrived at Ayer Grau or Abu, a small river, within a yard or two of
+which we saw columns of smoke issuing from the earth, where there were
+hot springs of water bubbling up in a number of places. The stream was
+quite warm for several yards, and the ground and stones were so hot that
+there was no standing on them for any length of time. The large pieces of
+quartz, pumice, and other stones apparently burnt, induce us to suppose
+there must have formerly been a volcano at this spot, which is a deep
+vale, surrounded by high hills. Arrived much fatigued at Tanjong Agung,
+where the head dupati received us in his best style.
+
+COCONUTS.
+
+He seemed to know more of European customs and manners than those whom we
+have hitherto met with, and here, for the first time since quitting the
+Ipu district, we got coconuts, which he presented to us.
+
+CASSIA.
+
+We saw numbers of cassia-trees in our march today. The bark, which the
+natives brought us in quantities, is sweet, but thick and coarse, and
+much inferior to cinnamon. This is the last and best fortified village in
+the Serampei country, bordering on the forests between that and
+Anak-Sungei.
+
+PECULIAR REGULATION.
+
+They have a custom here of never allowing any animal to be killed in any
+part of the village but the balei or town hall, unless the person wishing
+to do otherwise consents to pay a fine of one fathom of cotton cloth to
+the priest for his permission. The old dupati told us there had been
+formerly a great deal of sickness and bloodshed in the village, and it
+had been predicted that, unless this custom were complied with, the like
+would happen again. We paid the fine, had the prayers of the priest, and
+killed our goats where and as we pleased. 16th. Marched in a
+south-westerly direction, and, after passing many steep hills, reached
+the lesser Ayer Dikit River, which we crossed, and built our huts on its
+western bank. 17th. Marched in a west, and afterwards a south, direction;
+the roads, in consequence of the rain ceasing today, tolerably dry and
+good, but over high hills. Arrived at Ayer Prikan, and encamped on its
+western bank; its course north and south over a rough, stony bed; very
+rapid, and about thirty yards across, at the foot of Bukit Lintang. Saw
+today abundance of cassia-trees. 18th. Proceeded to ascend Bukit Lintang,
+which in the first part was excessively steep and fatiguing; our route
+north and north-west when descending, south-south-west. Arrived at one of
+the sources of the Sungei-ipu. Descending still farther we reached a
+small spring where we built our huts. 19th. On our march this day we were
+gratified by the receipt of letters from our friends at Bencoolen, by the
+way of Moco-moco, from whence the Resident, Mr. Russell, sent us a supply
+of wine and other refreshments, which we had not tasted for fourteen
+days. Our course lay along the banks of the Sungei-ipu, and we arrived at
+huts prepared for us by Mr. Russell. 20th. At one time our guide lost the
+proper path by mistaking for it the track of a rhinoceros (which are in
+great numbers in these parts), and we got into a place where we were
+teased with myriads of leeches. Our road, excepting two or three small
+hills, was level and good. Reached the confluence of the Ipu and Si
+Luggan Rivers, the latter of which rises in the Korinchi country. Passed
+Gunong Payong, the last hill, as we approached Moco-moco, near to which
+had been a village formerly burnt and the inhabitants made slaves by Pa
+Muncha and the then tuanku mudo (son of the sultan). 21st. Arrived at
+talang Rantau Riang, the first Moco-moco or Anak-Sungei village, where we
+found provisions dressed for us. At dusun Si Ballowe, to which our road
+lay south-easterly, through pepper and rice plantations, sampans were in
+readiness to convey us down the river. This place is remarkable for an
+arau tree (casuarina), the only one met with at such a distance from the
+sea. The country is here level in comparison with what we have passed
+through, and the soil rather sandy, with a mixture of red clay. 22nd. The
+course of the river is south-west and west with many windings. Arrived at
+Moco-moco.
+
+DESCRIPTION OF MOCO-MOCO.
+
+Fort Ann lies on the southern and the settlement on the northern side of
+the Si Luggan River, which name belongs properly to the place also, and
+that of Moco-moco to a small village higher up. The bazaar consists of
+about one hundred houses, all full of children. At the northern end is
+the sultan's, which has nothing particular to distinguish it, but only
+its being larger than other Malay houses. Great quantities of fish are
+procured at this place, and sold cheap. The trade is principally with the
+hill-people, in salt, piece-goods, iron, steel, and opium; for which the
+returns are provisions, timber, and a little gold-dust. Formerly there
+was a trade carried on with the Padang and other ate angin people, but it
+is now dropped. The soil is sandy, low, and flat.
+
+EXPEDITION RESUMED.
+
+It being still necessary to make an example of the Sungei-tenang people
+for assisting the three hostile chiefs in their depredations, in order
+thereby to deter others from doing the same in future, and the men being
+now recovered from their fatigue and furnished with the requisite
+supplies, the detachment began to march on the 9th of February for Ayer
+Dikit. It now consists of Lieutenant Dare, Mr. Alexander, surgeon,
+seventy sepoys, including officers, twenty-seven lascars and Bengal
+convicts, and eleven of the bugis-guard. Left the old mortar and took
+with us one of smaller calibre.
+
+ACCOUNT OF SERAMPEI COUNTRY AND PEOPLE.
+
+From the 10th to the 22nd occupied in our march to the Serampei village
+of Ranna Alli. The people of this country acknowledge themselves the
+subjects of the sultan of Jambi, who sometimes but rarely exacts a
+tribute from them of a buffalo, a tail of gold, and a hundred bamboos of
+rice from each village. They are accustomed to carry burdens of from
+sixty to ninety pounds weight on journeys that take them twenty or thirty
+days; and it astonishes a lowlander to see with what ease they walk over
+these hills, generally going a shuffling or ambling pace. Their loads are
+placed in a long triangular basket, supported by a fillet across the
+forehead, resting upon the back and back part of the head, the broadest
+end of the triangle being uppermost, considerably above the head, and the
+small end coming down as low as the loins. The Serampei country,
+comprehending fifteen fortified and independent dusuns, beside talangs or
+small open villages, is bounded on the north and north-west by Korinchi,
+on the east, south-east, and south by Pakalang-jambu and Sungei-tenang,
+and on the west and south-west by the greater Ayer Dikit River and chain
+of high mountains bordering on the Sungei-ipu country. 23rd. Reached
+Rantau Kramas. Took possession of the batteries, which the enemy had
+considerably improved in our absence, collecting large quantities of
+stones; but they were not manned, probably from not expecting our return
+so soon. 24th. Arrived at those of Danau-pau, which had also been
+strengthened. The roads being dry and weather fine we are enabled to make
+tolerably long marches. Our advanced party nearly caught one of the enemy
+planting ranjaus, and in retreating he wounded himself with them. 25th.
+Passed many small rivulets discharging themselves into the lake at this
+place.
+
+COME UP WITH THE ENEMY.
+
+26th. The officer commanding the advanced party sent word that the enemy
+were at a short distance ahead; that they had felled a number of trees to
+obstruct the road, and had thrown an entrenchment across it, extending
+from one swamp and precipice to another, where they waited to receive us.
+When the whole of the detachment had come up we marched on to the attack,
+scrambled over the trees, and with great difficulty got the mortar over.
+
+FIRST ATTACK FAILS.
+
+The first onset was not attended with success, and our men were dropping
+fast, not being able to advance on account of the ranjaus, which almost
+pinned their feet to the ground. Seeing that the entrenchments were not
+to be carried in front, a subedar with thirty sepoys and the bugis-guard
+were ordered to endeavour to pass the swamp on the right, find out a
+pathway, and attack the enemy on the flank and rear, while the remainder
+should, on a preconcerted signal, make an attack on the front at the same
+time. To prevent the enemy from discovering our intentions the drums were
+kept beating, and a few random shots fired. Upon the signal being given a
+general attack commenced, and our success was complete.
+
+ENTRENCHMENTS CARRIED.
+
+The enemy, of whom there were, as we reckon, three or four hundred within
+the entrenchments, were soon put to the rout, and, after losing great
+numbers, among whom was the head dupati, a principal instigator of the
+disturbances, fled in all directions. We lost two sepoys killed and seven
+wounded, beside several much hurt by the ranjaus. The mortar played
+during the time, but is not supposed to have done much execution on
+account of the surrounding trees.
+
+THEIR CONSTRUCTION.
+
+The entrenchments were constructed of large trees laid horizontally
+between stakes driven into the ground, about seven feet high, with
+loopholes for firing. Being laid about six feet thick, a cannonball could
+not have penetrated. They extended eighty or ninety yards. The headman's
+quarters were a large tree hollowed at the root.
+
+As soon as litters could be made for the wounded, and the killed were
+buried, we continued our march in an eastern direction, and in about an
+hour arrived at another battery, which however was not defended. In front
+of this the enemy had tied a number of long sharp stakes to a stone,
+which was suspended to the bough of a tree, and by swinging it their plan
+was to wound us.
+
+ARRIVE AT A STREAM RUNNING INTO THE JAMBI RIVER.
+
+Crossed the Tambesi rivulet, flowing from south to north, and one of the
+contributary streams to the Jambi River, which discharges itself into the
+sea on the eastern side of the Island. Built our huts near a field of
+maize and padi.
+
+KOTO TUGGOH.
+
+27th. Marched to Koto Tuggoh, from whence the inhabitants fled on our
+throwing one shell and firing a few muskets, and we took possession of
+the place. It is situated on a high hill, nearly perpendicular on three
+sides, the easiest entrance being on the west, but it is there defended
+by a ditch seven fathoms deep and five wide. The place contains the
+ballei and about twenty houses, built in general of plank very neatly put
+together, and carved; and some of them were also roofed with planks or
+shingles about two feet long and one broad. The others with the leaves of
+the puar or cardamum, which are again very thinly covered with iju. This
+is said to last long, but harbours vermin, as we experienced. When we
+entered the village we met with only one person, who was deformed, dumb,
+and had more the appearance of a monkey than a human creature.
+
+DESTROYED. ENTER KOTO BHARU.
+
+March 1st. After completely destroying Koto Tuggoh we marched in a north
+and afterwards an east direction, and arrived at Koto Bharu. The head
+dupati requesting a parley, it was granted, and, on our promising not to
+injure his village, he allowed us to take possession of it. We found in
+the place a number of Batang Asei and other people, armed with muskets,
+blunderbusses, and spears. At our desire, he sent off people to the other
+Sungei-tenang villages to summon their chiefs to meet us if they chose to
+show themselves friends, or otherwise we should proceed against them as
+we had done against Koto Tuggoh.
+
+PEACE CONCLUDED.
+
+This dupati was a respectable-looking old man, and tears trickled down
+his cheeks when matters were amicably settled between us: indeed for some
+time he could hardly be convinced of it, and repeatedly asked, "Are we
+friends?" 2nd. The chiefs met as desired, and after a short conversation
+agreed to all that we proposed. Papers were thereupon drawn up and signed
+and sworn to under the British colours. After this a shell was thrown
+into the air at the request of the chiefs, who were desirous of
+witnessing the sight.
+
+MODE OF TAKING AN OATH.
+
+Their method of swearing was as follows: The young shoots of the
+anau-tree were made into a kind of rope, with the leaves hanging, and
+this was attached to four stakes stuck in the ground, forming an area of
+five or six feet square, within which a mat was spread, where those about
+to take the oath seated themselves. A small branch of the prickly bamboo
+was planted in the area also, and benzoin was kept burning during the
+ceremony. The chiefs then laid their hands on the koran, held to them by
+a priest, and one of them repeated to the rest the substance of the oath,
+who, at the pauses he made, gave a nod of assent; after which they
+severally said, "may the earth become barren, the air and water
+poisonous, and may dreadful calamities fall on us and our posterity, if
+we do not fulfil what we now agree to and promise."
+
+ACCOUNT OF SUNGEI-TENANG COUNTRY.
+
+We met here with little or no fruit excepting plantains and pineapples,
+and these of an indifferent sort. The general produce of the country was
+maize, padi, potatoes, sweet-potatoes, tobacco, and sugar-cane. The
+principal part of their clothing was procured from the eastern side of
+the island. They appear to have no regular season for sowing the grain,
+and we saw plantations where in one part they had taken in the crop, in
+another part it was nearly ripe, in a third not above five inches high,
+and in a fourth they had but just prepared the ground for sowing. Upon
+the whole, there appeared more cultivation than near the coast.
+
+MANNERS OF PEOPLE.
+
+It is a practice with many individuals among these people (as with
+mountaineers in some parts of Europe) to leave their country in order to
+seek employment where they can find it, and at the end of three or four
+years revisit their native soil, bringing with them the produce of their
+labours. If they happen to be successful they become itinerant merchants,
+and travel to almost all parts of the island, particularly where fairs
+are held, or else purchase a matchlock gun and become soldiers of
+fortune, hiring themselves to whoever will pay them, but always ready to
+come forward in defence of their country and families. They are a thick
+stout dark race of people, something resembling the Achinese; and in
+general they are addicted to smoking opium. We had no opportunity of
+seeing the Sungei-tenang women. The men are very fantastical in their
+dress. Their bajus have the sleeves blue perhaps whilst the body is
+white, with stripes of red or any other colour over the shoulders, and
+their short breeches are generally one half blue and the other white,
+just as fancy leads them. Others again are dressed entirely in blue
+cotton cloth, the same as the inhabitants of the west coast. The bag
+containing their sirih or betel hangs over the shoulder by a string, if
+it may be so termed, of brass wire. Many of them have also twisted brass
+wire round the waist, in which they stick their krises.
+
+CHARMS.
+
+They commonly carry charms about their persons to preserve them from
+accidents; one of which was shown to us, printed (at Batavia or Samarang
+in Java) in Dutch, Portuguese, and French. It purported that the writer
+was acquainted with the occult sciences, and that whoever possessed one
+of the papers impressed with his mark (which was the figure of a hand
+with the thumb and fingers extended) was invulnerable and free from all
+kinds of harm. It desired the people to be very cautious of taking any
+such printed in London (where certainly none were ever printed), as the
+English would endeavour to counterfeit them and to impose on the
+purchasers,
+being all cheats. (Whether we consider this as a political or a
+mercantile speculation it is not a little extraordinary and ridiculous).
+The houses here, as well as in the Serampei country, are all built on
+posts of what they call paku gajah (elephant-fern, Chamaerops palma,
+Lour.), a tree something resembling a fern, and when full-grown a
+palm-tree. It is of a fibrous nature, black, and lasts for a great length
+of time. Every dusun has a ballei or town hall, about a hundred and
+twenty feet long and proportionably broad, the woodwork of which is
+neatly carved. The dwelling-houses contain five, six, or seven families
+each, and the country is populous. The inhabitants both of Sungei-tenang
+and Serampei are Mahometans, and acknowledge themselves subjects of
+Jambi. The former country, so well as we were able to ascertain, is
+bounded on the north and north-west by Korinchi and Serampei, on the west
+and south-west by the Anak-sungei or Moco-moco and Ipu districts, on the
+south by Labun, and on the east by Batang Asei and Pakalang-jambu. 3rd.
+Marched on our return to the coast, many of the principal people
+attending us as far as the last of their plantations. It rained hard
+almost the whole of this day.
+
+RETURN TO THE COAST.
+
+On the 14th arrived at Moco-moco; on the 22nd proceeded for Bencoolen,
+and arrived there on the 30th March 1805, after one of the most fatiguing
+and harassing expeditions any detachment of troops ever served upon;
+attended with the sickness of the whole of the party, and the death of
+many, particularly of Mr. Alexander, the surgeon.
+
+End of Lieutenant Dare's narrative.
+
+It is almost unnecessary to observe that these were the consequences of
+the extreme impolicy of sending an expedition up the country in the heart
+of the rainy season. The public orders issued on the occasion were highly
+creditable to Lieutenant Dare.
+
+
+CHAPTER 18.
+
+MALAYAN STATES.
+ANCIENT EMPIRE OF MENANGKABAU.
+ORIGIN OF THE MALAYS AND GENERAL ACCEPTATION OF NAME.
+EVIDENCES OF THEIR MIGRATION FROM SUMATRA.
+SUCCESSION OF MALAYAN PRINCES.
+PRESENT STATE OF THE EMPIRE.
+TITLES OF THE SULTAN.
+CEREMONIES.
+CONVERSION TO MAHOMETAN RELIGION.
+LITERATURE.
+ARTS.
+WARFARE.
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+MALAYAN STATES.
+
+I shall now take a more particular view of the Malayan states, as
+distinguished from those of the people termed orang ulu or countrymen,
+and orang dusun or villagers, who, not being generally converted to the
+Mahometan religion, have thereby preserved a more original character.
+
+EMPIRE OF MENANGKABAU.
+
+The principal government, and whose jurisdiction in ancient times is
+understood to have comprehended the whole of Sumatra, is Menangkabau,*
+situated under the equinoctial line, beyond the western range of high
+mountains, and nearly in the centre of the island; in which respect it
+differs from Malayan establishments in other parts, which are almost
+universally near the mouths of large rivers. The appellations however of
+orang menangkabau and orang malayo are so much identified that,
+previously to entering upon an account of the former, it will be useful
+to throw as much light as possible upon the latter, and to ascertain to
+what description of people the name of Malays, bestowed by Europeans upon
+all who resemble them in features and complexion, properly belongs.
+
+(*Footnote. The name is said to be derived from the words menang,
+signifying to win, and karbau, a buffalo; from a story, carrying a very
+fabulous air, of a famous engagement on that spot between the buffaloes
+and tigers, in which the former are stated to have acquired a complete
+victory. Such is the account the natives give; but they are fond of
+dealing in fiction, and the etymology has probably no better foundation
+than a fanciful resemblance of sound.)
+
+ORIGIN OF MALAYS.
+
+It has hitherto been considered as an obvious truth, and admitted without
+examination that, wherever they are found upon the numerous islands
+forming this archipelago, they or their ancestors must have migrated from
+the country named by Europeans (and by them alone) the Malayan peninsula
+or peninsula of Malacca, of which the indigenous and proper inhabitants
+were understood to be Malays; and accordingly in the former editions of
+this work I spoke of the natives of Menangkabau as having acquired their
+religion, language, manners, and other national characteristics from the
+settling among them of genuine Malays from the neighbouring continent. It
+will however appear from the authorities I shall produce, amounting as
+nearly to positive evidence as the nature of the subject will admit, that
+the present possessors of the coasts of the peninsula were on the
+contrary in the first instance adventurers from Sumatra, who in the
+twelfth century formed an establishment there, and that the indigenous
+inhabitants, gradually driven by them to the woods and mountains, so far
+from being the stock from whence the Malays were propagated, are an
+entirely different race of men, nearly approaching in their physical
+character to the negroes of Africa.
+
+MIGRATION FROM SUMATRA.
+
+The evidences of this migration from Sumatra are chiefly found in two
+Malayan books well known, by character at least, to those who are
+conversant with the written language, the one named Taju assalatin or
+Makuta segala raja-raja, The Crown of all Kings, and the other, more
+immediately to the purpose, Sulalat assalatin or Penurun-an segala
+raja-raja, The Descent of all (Malayan) Kings. Of these it has not been
+my good fortune to obtain copies, but the contents, so far as they apply
+to the present subject, have been fully detailed by two eminent Dutch
+writers to whom the literature of this part of the East was familiar.
+Petrus van der Worm first communicated the knowledge of these historical
+treatises in his learned Introduction to the Malayan Vocabulary of
+Gueynier, printed at Batavia in the year 1677; and extracts to the same
+effect were afterwards given by Valentyn in Volume 5 pages 316 to 320 of
+his elaborate work, published at Amsterdam in 1726. The books are
+likewise mentioned in a list of Malayan Authors by G.H. Werndly, at the
+end of his Maleische Spraak-kunst, and by the ingenious Dr. Leyden in his
+Paper on the Languages and Literature of the Indo-Chinese Nations,
+recently published in Volume 10 of the Asiatic Researches. The substance
+of the information conveyed by them is as follows; and I trust it will
+not be thought that the mixture of a portion of mythological fable in
+accounts of this nature invalidates what might otherwise have credit as
+historical fact. The utmost indeed we can pretend to ascertain is what
+the natives themselves believe to have been their ancient history; and it
+is proper to remark that in the present question there can be no
+suspicion of bias from national vanity, as we have reason to presume that
+the authors of these books were not Sumatrans.
+
+The original country inhabited by the Malayan race (according to these
+authorities) was the kingdom of Palembang in the island of Indalus, now
+Sumatra, on the river Malayo, which flows by the mountain named
+Maha-meru, and discharges itself into the river Tatang (on which
+Palembang stands) before it joins the sea. Having chosen for their king
+or leader a prince named Sri Turi Buwana, who boasted his descent from
+Iskander the Great, and to whom, on that account, their natural chief
+Demang Lebar Daun submitted his authority, they emigrated, under his
+command (about the year 1160), to the south-eastern extremity of the
+opposite peninsula, named Ujong Tanah, where they were at first
+distinguished by the appellation of orang de-bawah angin or the Leeward
+people, but in time the coast became generally known by that of Tanah
+malayo or the Malayan land.
+
+SINGAPURA BUILT.
+
+In this situation they built their first city, which they called
+Singapura (vulgarly Sincapore), and their rising consequence excited the
+jealousy of the kings of Maja-pahit, a powerful state in the island of
+Java. To Sri Turi Buwana, who died in 1208, succeeded Paduka Pikaram
+Wira, who reigned fifteen years; to him Sri Rama Vikaram, who reigned
+thirteen, and to him Sri Maharaja, who reigned twelve.
+
+MALAKA BUILT.
+
+His successor, Sri Iskander Shah, was the last king of Singapura. During
+three years he withstood the forces of the king of Maja-pahit, but in
+1252, being hard pressed, he retired first to the northward, and
+afterwards to the western, coast of the peninsula, where in the following
+year he founded a new city, which under his wise government became of
+considerable importance. To this he gave the name of Malaka, from a
+fruit-bearing tree so called (myrabolanum) found in abundance on the hill
+which gives natural strength to the situation. Having reigned here
+twenty-two years, beloved by his subjects and feared by his neighbours,
+Iskander Shah died in 1274, and was succeeded by Sultan Magat, who
+reigned only two years. Up to this period the Malayan princes were
+pagans. Sultan Muhammed Shah, who ascended the throne in 1276, was the
+first Mahometan prince, and by the propagation of this faith acquired
+great celebrity during a long reign of fifty-seven years. His influence
+appears to have extended over the neighbouring islands of Lingga and
+Bintan, together with Johor, Patani, Kedah, and Perak, on the coasts of
+the peninsula, and Campar and Aru in Sumatra; all of which acquired the
+appellative of Malayo, although it was now more especially applied to the
+people of Malaka, or, as it is commonly written, Malacca. He left the
+peaceful possession of his dominions to his son Sultan Abu Shahid, who
+had reigned only one year and five months when he was murdered in 1334 by
+the king of Arrakan, with whose family his father had contracted a
+marriage. His successor was Sultan Modafar or Mozafar Shah, who was
+distinguished for the wisdom of his government, of which he left a
+memorial in a Book of Institutes or Laws of Malaka, held to this day in
+high estimation. This city was now regarded as the third in rank (after
+Maja-pahit on Java, and Pase on Sumatra) in that part of the East.
+
+(*Footnote. The account given by Juan de Barros of the abandonment of the
+Malayan city of Singapura and foundation of Malacca differs materially
+from the above; and although the authority of a writer, who collected his
+materials in Lisbon, cannot be put in competition with that of Valentyn,
+who passed a long and laborious life amongst the people, and quotes the
+native historians, I shall give an abstract of his relation, from the
+sixth book of the second Decade. "At the period when Cingapura flourished
+its king was named Sangesinga; and in the neighbouring island of Java
+reigned Pararisa, upon whose death the latter country became subject to
+the tyranny of his brother, who put one of his nephews to death, and
+forced many of the nobles, who took part against him, to seek refuge
+abroad. Among these was one named Paramisora, whom Sangesinga received
+with hospitality that was badly requited, for the stranger soon found
+means to put him to death, and, by the assistance of the Javans who
+accompanied him in his flight, to take possession of the city. The king
+of Siam, whose son-in-law and vassal the deceased was, assembled a large
+force by sea and land, and compelled the usurper to evacuate Cingapura
+with two thousand followers, a part of whom were Cellates (orang sellat
+men of the Straits) accustomed to live by fishing and piracy, who had
+assisted him in seizing and keeping the throne during five years. They
+disembarked at a place called Muar, a hundred and fifty leagues from
+thence, where Paramisora and his own people fortified themselves. The
+Cellates, whom he did not choose to trust, proceeded five leagues
+farther, and occupied a bank of the river where the fortress of Malacca
+now stands. Here they united with the half-savage natives, who like
+themselves spoke the Malayan language, and, the spot they had chosen
+becoming too confined for their increasing numbers, they moved a league
+higher up, to one more convenient, and were at length joined by their
+former chief and his companions. During the government of his son, named
+Xaquen Darxa (a strange Portuguese corruption of Iskander or Sekander
+Shah) they again descended the river, in order to enjoy the advantages of
+a sea-port, and built a town, which, from the fortunes of his father, was
+named Malacca, signifying an exile." Every person conversant with the
+language must know that the word does not bear that nor any similar
+meaning, and an error so palpable throws discredit on the whole
+narrative.)
+
+About the year 1340 the king of Siam, being jealous of the growing power
+of Malaka, invaded the country, and in a second expedition laid siege to
+the capital; but his armies were defeated by the general of Modafar,
+named Sri Nara Dirija. After these events Modafar reigned some years with
+much reputation, and died in 1374. His son, originally named Sultan
+Abdul, took the title of Sultan Mansur Shah upon his accession. At the
+time that the king of Maja-pahit drove the Malays from Singapura, as
+above related, he likewise subdued the country of Indragiri in Sumatra;
+but upon the occasion of Mansur Shah's marriage (about the year 1380)
+with the daughter of the then reigning king, a princess of great
+celebrity, named Radin Gala Chendra Kiran, it was assigned to him as her
+portion, and has since continued (according to Valentyn) under the
+dominion of the princes of Malaka. Mansur appears to have been engaged in
+continual wars, and to have obtained successes against Pahang, Pase, and
+Makasar. His reign extended to the almost incredible period of
+seventy-three years, being succeeded in 1447 by his son Sultan
+Ala-wa-eddin. During his reign of thirty years nothing particular is
+recorded; but there is reason to believe that his country during some
+part of that time was under the power of the Siamese. Sultan Mahmud Shah,
+who succeeded him, was the twelfth Malayan king, and the seventh and last
+king of Malaka.
+
+JOHOR FOUNDED.
+
+In 1509 he repelled the aggression of the king of Siam; but in 1511 was
+conquered by the Portuguese under Alfonso d'Alboquerque, and forced, with
+the principal inhabitants, to fly to the neighbourhood of the first
+Malayan establishment at the extremity of the peninsula, where he founded
+the city of Johor, which still subsists, but has never attained to any
+considerable importance, owing as it may be presumed to the European
+influence that has ever since, under the Portuguese, Hollanders, and
+English, predominated in that quarter.*
+
+(*Footnote. It was subdued by the Portuguese in 1608. In 1641 Malacca was
+taken from them by the Hollanders, who held it till the present war,
+which has thrown it into the possession of the English. The interior
+boundaries of its territory, according to the Transactions of the
+Batavian Society, are the mountains of Rombou, inhabited by a Malayan
+people named Maning Cabou, and Mount Ophir, called by the natives
+Gunong-Ledang. These limits, say they, it is impracticable for a European
+to pass, the whole coast, for some leagues from the sea, being either a
+morass or impenetrable forest; and these natural difficulties are
+aggravated by the treacherous and bloodthirsty character of the natives.
+The description, which will be found in Volume 4 pages 333 to 334, is
+evidently overcharged. In speaking of Johor the original emigration of a
+Malayan colony from Sumatra to the mouth of that river, which gave its
+name to the whole coast, is briefly mentioned.)
+
+ANCIENT RELIGION.
+
+With respect to the religion professed by the Malayan princes at the time
+of their migration from Sumatra, and for about 116 years after, little
+can be known, because the writers, whose works have reached us, lived
+since the period of conversion, and as good Mahometans would have thought
+it profane to enter into the detail of superstitions which they regard
+with abhorrence; but from the internal evidence we can entertain little
+doubt of its having been the religion of Brahma, much corrupted however
+and blended with the antecedent rude idolatry of the country, such as we
+now find it amongst the Battas. Their proper names or titles are
+obviously Hindu, with occasional mixture of Persian, and their mountain
+of Maha-meru, elsewhere so well known as the seat of Indra and the dewas,
+sufficiently points out the mythology adopted in the country. I am not
+aware that at the present day there is any mountain in Sumatra called by
+that name; but it is reasonable to presume that appellations decidedly
+connected with Paganism may have been changed by the zealous propagators
+of the new faith, and I am much inclined to believe that by the Maha-meru
+of the Malays is to be understood the mountain of Sungei-pagu in the
+Menangkabau country, from whence issue rivers that flow to both sides of
+the island. In the neighbourhood of this reside the chiefs of the four
+great tribes, called ampat suku or four quarters, one of which is named
+Malayo (the others, Kampi, Pani, and Tiga-lara); and it is probable that
+to it belonged the adventurers who undertook the expedition to Ujong
+Tanah, and perpetuated the name of their particular race in the rising
+fortunes of the new colony. From what circumstances they were led to
+collect their vessels for embarkation at Palembang rather than at
+Indragiri or Siak, so much more convenient in point of local position,
+cannot now be ascertained.
+
+Having proposed some queries upon this subject to the late Mr. Francis
+Light, who first settled the island of Pinang or Prince of Wales island,
+in the Straits of Malacca, granted to him by the king of Kedah as the
+marriage portion of his daughter, he furnished me in answer with the
+following notices. "The origin of the Malays, like that of other people,
+is involved in fable; every raja is descended from some demigod, and the
+people sprung from the ocean. According to their traditions however their
+first city of Singapura, near the present Johor, was peopled from
+Palembang, from whence they proceeded to settle at Malacca (naming their
+city from the fruit so called), and spread along the coast. The peninsula
+is at present inhabited by distinct races of people. The Siamese possess
+the northern part to latitude 7 degrees, extending from the east to the
+west side. The Malays possess the whole of the sea-coast on both sides,
+from that latitude to Point Romania; being mixed in some places with the
+Bugis from Celebes, who have still a small settlement at Salmigor. The
+inland parts to the northward are inhabited by the Patani people, who
+appear to be a mixture of Siamese and Malays, and occupy independent
+dusuns or villages. Among the forests and in the mountains are a race of
+Caffres, in every respect resembling those of Africa excepting in
+stature, which does not exceed four feet eight inches. The Menangkabau
+people of the peninsula are so named from an inland country in Pulo
+Percha (Sumatra). A distinction is made between them and the Malays of
+Johor, but none is perceptible."
+
+To these authorities I shall add that of Mr. Thomas Raffles, at this time
+Secretary to the government of Pulo Pinang, a gentleman whose
+intelligence and zeal in the pursuit of knowledge give the strongest hope
+of his becoming an ornament to oriental literature. To his correspondence
+I am indebted for much useful information in the line of my researches,
+and the following passages corroborate the opinions I had formed. "With
+respect to the Menangkabaus, after a good deal of inquiry, I have not yet
+been able decidedly to ascertain the relation between those of that name
+in the peninsula and the Menangkabaus of Pulo Percha. The Malays affirm
+without hesitation that they all came originally from the latter island."
+In a recent communication he adds, "I am more confident than ever that
+the Menangkabaus of the peninsula derive their origin from the country of
+that name in Sumatra. Inland of Malacca about sixty miles is situated the
+Malay kingdom of Rumbo, whose sultan and all the principal officers of
+state hold their authority immediately from Menangkabau, and have written
+commissions for their respective offices. This shows the extent of that
+ancient power even now, reduced as it must be, in common with that of the
+Malay people in general. I had many opportunities of communicating with
+the natives of Rumbo, and they have clearly a peculiar dialect,
+resembling exactly what you mention of substituting the final o for a, as
+in the word ambo for amba. In fact, the dialect is called by the Malacca
+people the language of Menangkabau."
+
+HISTORY OF MENANGKABAU IMPERFECTLY KNOWN.
+
+Returning from this discussion I shall resume the consideration of what
+is termed the Sumatran empire of Menangkabau, believed by the natives of
+all descriptions to have subsisted from the remotest times. With its
+annals, either ancient or modern, we are little acquainted, and the
+existence of any historical records in the country has generally been
+doubted; yet, as those of Malacca and of Achin have been preserved, it is
+not hastily to be concluded that these people, who are the equals of the
+former, and much superior to the latter in point of literature, are
+destitute of theirs, although they have not reached our hands. It is
+known that they deduce their origin from two brothers, named
+Pera-pati-si-batang and Kei Tamanggungan, who are described as being
+among the forty companions of Noah in the ark, and whose landing at
+Palembang, or at a small island near it, named Langkapura, is attended
+with the circumstance of the dry land being first discovered by the
+resting upon it of a bird that flew from the vessel. From thence they
+proceeded to the mountain named Siguntang-guntang, and afterwards to
+Priangan in the neighbourhood of the great volcano, which at this day is
+spoken of as the ancient capital of Menangkabau. Unfortunately I possess
+only an imperfect abstract of this narrative, obviously intended for an
+introduction to the genealogy of its kings, but, even as a fable,
+extremely confused and unsatisfactory; and when the writer brings it down
+to what may be considered as the historical period he abruptly leaves
+off, with a declaration that the offer of a sum of money (which was
+unquestionably his object) should not tempt him to proceed.
+
+LIMITS.
+
+At a period not very remote its limits were included between the river of
+Palembang and that of Siak, on the eastern side of the island, and on the
+western side between those of Manjuta (near Indrapura) and Singkel, where
+(as well as at Siak) it borders on the independent country of the Battas.
+The present seat, or more properly seats, of the divided government lie
+at the back of a mountainous district named the Tiga-blas koto
+(signifying the thirteen fortified and confederated towns) inland of the
+settlement of Padang. The country is described as a large plain
+surrounded by hills producing much gold, clear of woods, and
+comparatively well cultivated. Although nearer to the western coast its
+communications with the eastern side are much facilitated by
+water-carriage.
+
+LAKE.
+
+Advantage is taken in the first place of a large lake, called Laut-danau,
+situated at the foot of the range of high mountains named gunong Besi,
+inland of the country of Priaman, the length of which is described by
+some as being equal to a day's sailing, and by others as no more than
+twenty-five or thirty miles, abounding with fish (especially of two
+species, known by the names of sasau and bili), and free from alligators.
+
+RIVERS.
+
+From this, according to the authority of a map drawn by a native, issues
+a river called Ayer Ambelan, which afterwards takes the name of
+Indragiri, along which, as well as the two other great rivers of Siak to
+the northward, and Jambi to the southward, the navigation is frequent,
+the banks of all of them being peopled with Malayan colonies. Between
+Menangkabau and Palembang the intercourse must, on account of the
+distance, be very rare, and the assertion that in the intermediate
+country there exists another great lake, which sends its streams to both
+sides of the island, appears not only to be without foundation in fact,
+but also at variance with the usual operations of nature; as I believe it
+may be safely maintained that, however numerous the streams which furnish
+the water of a lake, it can have only one outlet; excepting, perhaps, in
+flat countries, where the course of the waters has scarcely any
+determination, or under such a nice balance of physical circumstances as
+is not likely to occur.
+
+POLITICAL DECLINE.
+
+When the island was first visited by European navigators this state must
+have been in its decline, as appears from the political importance at
+that period of the kings of Achin, Pedir, and Pase, who, whilst they
+acknowledged their authority to be derived from him as their lord
+paramount, and some of them paid him a trifling complimentary tribute,
+acted as independent sovereigns. Subsequently to this an Achinese
+monarch, under the sanction of a real or pretended grant, obtained from
+one of the sultans, who, having married his daughter, treated her with
+nuptial slight, and occasioned her to implore her father's interference,
+extended his dominion along the western coast, and established his
+panglimas or governors in many places within the territory of
+Menangkabau, particularly at Priaman, near the great volcano-mountain.
+This grant is said to have been extorted not by the force of arms but by
+an appeal to the decision of some high court of justice similar to that
+of the imperial chamber in Germany, and to have included all the low or
+strand-countries (pasisir barat) as far southward as Bengkaulu or
+Silebar. About the year 1613 however he claimed no farther than Padang,
+and his actual possessions reached only to Barus.*
+
+(*Footnote. The following instances occur of mention made by writers at
+different periods of the kingdom of Menangkabau. ODOARDUS BARBOSA, 1519.
+"Sumatra, a most large and beautiful island; Pedir, the principal city on
+the northern side, where are also Pacem and Achem. Campar is opposite to
+Malacca. Monancabo, to the southward, is the principal source of gold, as
+well from mines as collected in the banks of the rivers." DE BARROS,
+1553. "Malacca had the epithet of aurea given to it on account of the
+abundance of gold brought from Monancabo and Barros, countries in the
+island of Camatra, where it is procured." DIOGO de COUTO, 1600. "He gives
+an account of a Portuguese ship wrecked on the coast of Sumatra, near to
+the country of Manancabo, in 1560. Six hundred persons got on shore,
+among whom were some women, one of them, Dona Francisca Sardinha, was of
+such remarkable beauty that the people of the country resolved to carry
+her off for their king; and they effected it, after a struggle in which
+sixty of the Europeans lost their lives. At this period there was a great
+intercourse between Manancabo and Malacca, many vessels going yearly with
+gold to purchase cotton goods and other merchandise. In ancient times the
+country was so rich in this metal that several hundredweight (seis, sete,
+e mais candiz, de que trez fazem hum moyo) were exported in one season.
+Volume 3 page 178. LINSCHOTEN, 1601. "At Menancabo excellent poniards
+made, called creeses; best weapons of all the orient. Islands along the
+coast of Sumatra, called islands of Menancabo." ARGENSOLA, 1609. "A
+vessel loaded with creeses manufactured at Menancabo and a great quantity
+of artillery; a species of warlike machine known and fabricated in
+Sumatra many years before they were introduced by Europeans." LANCASTER,
+1602. "Menangcabo lies eight or ten leagues inland of Priaman." BEST,
+1613. " A man arrived from Menangcaboo at Ticoo, and brought news from
+Jambee." BEAULIEU, 1622. "Du cote du ponant apres Padang suit le royaume
+de Manimcabo; puis celuy d'Andripoura-Il y a (a Jambi) grand trafic d'or,
+qu'ils ont avec ceux de Manimcabo." Vies des Gouverneurs Gen. Hollandois,
+1763. Il est bon de remarquer ici que presque toute la cote occidentale
+avoit ete reduite par la flotte du Sieur Pierre de Bitter en 1664.
+L'annee suivante, les habitans de Pauw massacrerent le Commissaire Gruis,
+etc.; mais apres avoir venge ce meurtre, et dissipe les revoltes en 1666,
+les Hollandois etoient restes les maitres de toute cette etendue de cotes
+entre Sillebar et Baros, ou ils etablirent divers comptoirs, dont celui
+de Padang est le principal depuis 1667. Le commandant, qui y reside, est
+en meme temps Stadhouder (Lieutenant) de l'Empereur de Maningcabo, a qui
+la Compagnie a cede, sous diverses restrictions & limitations, la
+souverainete sur tous les peuples qui babitent le long du rivage" etc.)
+
+DIVISION OF THE GOVERNMENT.
+
+In consequence of disturbances that ensued upon the death of a sultan
+Alif in the year 1680, without direct heirs, the government became
+divided amongst three chiefs, presumed to have been of the royal family
+and at the same time great officers of state, who resided at places named
+Suruwasa, Pagar-ruyong, and Sungei-trap; and in that state it continues
+to the present time. Upon the capture of Padang by the English in 1781
+deputations arrived from two of these chiefs with congratulations upon
+the success of our arms; which will be repeated with equal sincerity to
+those who may chance to succeed us. The influence of the Dutch (and it
+would have been the same with any other European power) has certainly
+contributed to undermine the political consequence of Menangkabau by
+giving countenance and support to its disobedient vassals, who in their
+turn have often experienced the dangerous effects of receiving favours
+from too powerful an ally. Pasaman, a populous country, and rich in gold,
+cassia, and camphor, one of its nearest provinces, and governed by a
+panglima from thence, now disclaims all manner of dependence. Its
+sovereignty is divided between the two rajas of Sabluan and Kanali, who,
+in imitation of their former masters, boast an origin of high antiquity.
+One of them preserves as his sacred relic the bark of a tree in which his
+ancestor was nursed in the woods before the Pasaman people had reached
+their present polished state. The other, to be on a level with him,
+possesses the beard of a reverend predecessor (perhaps an anchorite),
+which was so bushy that a large bird had built its nest in it. Raja
+Kanali supported a long war with the Hollanders, attended with many
+reverses of fortune.
+
+Whether the three sultans maintain a struggle of hostile rivalship, or
+act with an appearance of concert, as holding the nominal sovereignty
+under a species of joint-regency, I am not informed, but each of them in
+the preamble of his letters assumes all the royal titles, without any
+allusion to competitors; and although their power and resources are not
+much beyond those of a common raja they do not fail to assert all the
+ancient rights and prerogatives of the empire, which are not disputed so
+long as they are not attempted to be carried into force. Pompous
+dictatorial edicts are issued and received by the neighbouring states
+(including the European chiefs of Padang), with demonstration of profound
+respect, but no farther obeyed than may happen to consist with the
+political interests of the parties to whom they are addressed. Their
+authority in short resembles not a little that of the sovereign pontiffs
+of Rome during the latter centuries, founded as it is in the superstition
+of remote ages; holding terrors over the weak, and contemned by the
+stronger powers. The district of Suruwasa, containing the site of the old
+capital, or Menangkabau proper, seems to have been considered by the
+Dutch as entitled to a degree of pre-eminence; but I have not been able
+to discover any marks of superiority or inferiority amongst them. In
+distant parts the schism is either unknown, or the three who exercise the
+royal functions are regarded as co-existing members of the same family,
+and their government, in the abstract, however insignificant in itself,
+is there an object of veneration. Indeed to such an unaccountable excess
+is this carried that every relative of the sacred family, and many who
+have no pretensions to it assume that character, are treated wherever
+they appear, not only with the most profound respect by the chiefs who go
+out to meet them, fire salutes on their entering the dusuns, and allow
+them to level contributions for their maintenance; but by the country
+people with such a degree of superstitious awe that they submit to be
+insulted, plundered, and even wounded by them, without making resistance,
+which they would esteem a dangerous profanation. Their appropriate title
+(not uncommon in other Malayan countries) is Iang de per-tuan, literally
+signifying he who ruleth.
+
+A person of this description, who called himself Sri Ahmed Shah, heir to
+the empire of Menangkabau, in consequence of some differences with the
+Dutch, came and settled amongst the English at Bencoolen in the year
+1687, on his return from a journey to the southward as far as Lampong,
+and being much respected by the people of the country gained the entire
+confidence of Mr. Bloom, the governor. He subdued some of the
+neighbouring chiefs who were disaffected to the English, particularly
+Raja mudo of Sungei-lamo, and also a Jennang or deputy from the king of
+Bantam; he coined money, established a market, and wrote a letter to the
+East India Company promising to put them in possession of the trade of
+the whole island. But shortly afterwards a discovery was made of his
+having formed a design to cut off the settlement, and he was in
+consequence driven from the place. The records mention at a subsequent
+period that the sultan of Indrapura was raising troops to oppose him.*
+
+(*Footnote. The following anecdote of one of these personages was
+communicated to me by my friend, the late Mr. Crisp. "Some years ago,
+when I was resident of Manna, there was a man who had long worked in the
+place as a coolie when someone arrived from the northward, who happened
+to discover that he was an Iang de per-tuan or relation of the imperial
+family. Immediately all the bazaar united to raise him to honour and
+independence; he was never suffered to walk without a high umbrella
+carried over him, was followed by numerous attendants, and addressed by
+the title of tuanku, equivalent to your highness. After this he became an
+intriguing, troublesome fellow in the Residency, and occasioned much
+annoyance. The prejudice in favour of these people is said to extend over
+all the islands to the eastward where the Malay tongue is spoken.")
+
+HIS TITLES.
+
+The titles and epithets assumed by the sultans are the most extravagantly
+absurd that it is possible to imagine. Many of them descend to mere
+childishness; and it is difficult to conceive how any people, so far
+advanced in civilization as to be able to write, could display such
+evidences of barbarism. A specimen of a warrant of recent date, addressed
+to Tuanku Sungei-Pagu, a high-priest residing near Bencoolen, is as
+follows:
+
+Three circular Seals with inscriptions in Arabic characters.
+
+(Eldest brother) Sultan of Rum. Key Dummul Alum. Maharaja Alif.
+
+(Second brother) Sultan of China. Nour Alum. Maharaja Dempang or Dipang.
+
+(Youngest brother) Sultan of Menangkabau. Aour Alum. Maharaja Dirja or
+Durja.
+
+TRANSLATION OF A WARRANT.
+
+The sultan of Menangkabau, whose residence is at Pagar-ruyong, who is
+king of kings; a descendant of raja Iskander zu'lkarnaini; possessed of
+the crown brought from heaven by the prophet Adam; of a third part of the
+wood kamat, one extremity of which is in the kingdom of Rum and another
+in that of China; of the lance named lambing lambura ornamented with the
+beard of janggi; of the palace in the city of Rum, whose entertainments
+and diversions are exhibited in the month of zul'hijah, and where all
+alims, fakiahs, and mulanakaris praise and supplicate Allah; possessor of
+the gold-mine named kudarat-kudarati, which yields pure gold of twelve
+carats, and of the gold named jati-jati which snaps the dalik wood; of
+the sword named churak-simandang-giri, which received one hundred and
+ninety gaps in conflict with the fiend Si Kati-muno, whom it slew; of the
+kris formed of the soul of steel, which expresses an unwillingness at
+being sheathed and shows itself pleased when drawn; of a date coeval with
+the creation; master of fresh water in the ocean, to the extent of a
+day's sailing; of a lance formed of a twig of iju ; the sultan who
+receives his taxes in gold by the lessong measure; whose betel-stand is
+of gold set with diamonds; who is possessor of the web named sangsista
+kala, which weaves itself and adds one thread yearly, adorned with
+pearls, and when that web shall be completed the world will be no more;
+of horses of the race of sorimborani, superior to all others; of the
+mountain Si guntang-guntang, which divides Palembang and Jambi, and of
+the burning mountain; of the elephant named Hasti
+Dewah; who is vicegerent of heaven; sultan of the golden river; lord of
+the air and clouds; master of a ballei whose pillars are of the shrub
+jalatang; of gandarangs (drums) made of the hollow stems of the
+diminutive plants pulut and silosuri; of the anchor named paduka jati
+employed to recover the crown which fell into the deep sea of Kulzum; of
+the gong that resounds to the skies; of the buffalo named Si Binuwang
+Sati, whose horns are ten feet asunder; of the unconquered cock,
+Sen-gunani; of the coconut-tree which, from its amazing height and being
+infested with serpents and other noxious reptiles, it is impossible to
+climb; of the blue champaka flower, not to be found in any other country
+than his (being yellow elsewhere); of the flowering shrub named
+Sri-menjeri, of ambrosial scent; of the mountain on which the celestial
+spirits dwell; who when he goes to rest wakes not until the gandarang
+nobat sounds; He the sultan Sri Maharaja Durja furthermore declares,
+etc.*
+
+(*Footnote. The following Letter from the sultan of Menangkabau to the
+father of the present sultan of Moco-moco, and apparently written about
+fifty years ago, was communicated to me by Mr. Alexander Dalrymple, and
+though it is in part a repetition I esteem it too curious to hesitate
+about inserting it. The style is much more rational than that of the
+foregoing. "Praised be Almighty God! Sultan Gagar Alum the great and
+noble King, whose extensive power reacheth unto the limits of the wide
+ocean; unto whom God grants whatever he desires, and over whom no evil
+spirit, nor even Satan himself has any influence; who is invested with an
+authority to punish evil-doers; and has the most tender heart in the
+support of the innocent; has no malice in his mind, but preserveth the
+righteous with the greatest reverence, and nourisheth the poor and needy,
+feeding them daily from his own table. His authority reacheth over the
+whole universe, and his candour and goodness is known to all men.
+(Mention made of the three brothers.) The ambassador of God and his
+prophet Mahomet; the beloved of mankind; and ruler of the island called
+Percho. At the time God made the heavens, the earth, the sun, the moon,
+and even before evil spirits were created, this sultan Gagar Alum had his
+residence in the clouds; but when the world was habitable God gave him a
+bird called Hocinet, that had the gift of speech; this he sent down on
+earth to look out for a spot where he might establish an inheritance, and
+the first place he alighted upon was the fertile island of Lankapura,
+situated between Palembang and Jambi, and from thence sprang the famous
+kingdom of Manancabow, which will be renowned and mighty until the
+Judgment Day.
+
+"This Maha Raja Durja is blessed with a long life and an uninterrupted
+course of prosperity, which he will maintain in the name, and through the
+grace of the holy prophet, to the end that God's divine Will may be
+fulfilled upon earth. He is endowed with the highest abilities, and the
+most profound wisdom and circumspection in governing the many tributary
+kings and subjects. He is righteous and charitable, and preserveth the
+honour and glory of his ancestors. His justice and clemency are felt in
+distant regions, and his name will be revered until the last day. When he
+openeth his mouth he is full of goodness, and his words are as grateful
+as rosewater to the thirsty. His breath is like the soft winds of the
+heavens, and his lips are the instruments of truth; sending forth
+perfumes more delightful than benjamin or myrrh. His nostrils breathe
+ambergris and musk; and his countenance has the lustre of diamonds. He is
+dreadful in battle, and not to be conquered, his courage and valour being
+matchless. He, the sultan Maha Raja Durja, was crowned with a sacred
+crown from God; and possesses the wood called Kamat, in conjunction with
+the emperors of Rome and China. (Here follows an account of his
+possessions nearly corresponding to those above recited.)
+
+"After this salutation, and the information I have given of my greatness
+and power, which I attribute to the good and holy prophet Mahomet, I am
+to acquaint you with the commands of the sultan whose presence bringeth
+death to all who attempt to approach him without permission; and also
+those of the sultan of Indrapura who has four breasts. This friendly
+sheet of paper is brought from the two sultans above named, by their bird
+anggas, unto their son, sultan Gandam Shah, to acquaint him with their
+intention under this great seal, which is that they order their son
+sultan Gandam Shah to oblige the English Company to settle in the
+district called Biangnur, at a place called the field of sheep, that they
+may not have occasion to be ashamed at their frequent refusal of our
+goodness in permitting them to trade with us and with our subjects; and
+that in case he cannot succeed in this affair we hereby advise him that
+the ties of friendship subsisting between us and our son is broken; and
+we direct that he send us an answer immediately, that we may know the
+result--for all this island is our own." It is difficult to determine
+whether the preamble, or the purport of the letter be the more
+extraordinary.)
+
+Probably no records upon earth can furnish an example of more
+unintelligible jargon; yet these attributes are believed to be
+indisputably true by the Malays and others residing at a distance from
+his immediate dominions, who possess a greater degree of faith than wit;
+and with this addition, that he dwells in a palace without covering, free
+from inconvenience. It is at the same time but justice to these people to
+observe that, in the ordinary concerns of life, their writings are as
+sober, consistent, and rational as those of their neighbours.
+
+REMARKS ON WARRANT.
+
+The seals prefixed to the warrant are, beside his own and that of the
+emperor of China, whose consequence is well known to the inhabitants of
+the eastern islands, that of the sultan of Rum, by which is understood in
+modern times, Constantinople, the seat of the emperor of the Turks, who
+is looked up to by Mahometans, since the ruin of the khalifat, as the
+head of their religion; but I have reason to think that the appellation
+of Rumi was at an earlier period given by oriental writers to the
+subjects of the great Turkoman empire of the Seljuks, whose capital was
+Iconium or Kuniyah in Asia minor, of which the Ottoman was a branch. This
+personage he honours with the title of his eldest brother, the descendant
+of Iskander the two-horned, by which epithet the Macedonian hero is
+always distinguished in eastern story, in consequence, as may be
+presumed, of the horned figure on his coins,* which must long have
+circulated in Persia and Arabia. Upon the obscure history of these
+supposed brothers some light is thrown by the following legend
+communicated to me as the belief of the people of Johor. "It is related
+that Iskander dived into the sea, and there married a daughter of the
+king of the ocean, by whom he had three sons, who, when they arrived at
+manhood, were sent by their mother to the residence of their father. He
+gave them a makuta or crown, and ordered them to find kingdoms where they
+should establish themselves. Arriving in the straits of Singapura they
+determined to try whose head the crown fitted. The eldest trying first
+could not lift it to his head. The second the same. The third had nearly
+effected it when it fell from his hand into the sea. After this the
+eldest turned to the west and became king of Rome, the second to the east
+and became king of China. The third remained at Johor. At this time Pulo
+Percha (Sumatra) had not risen from the waters. When it began to appear,
+this king of Johor, being on a fishing party, and observing it oppressed
+by a huge snake named Si Kati-muno, attacked the monster with his sword
+called Simandang-giri, and killed it, but not till the sword had received
+one hundred and ninety notches in the encounter. The island being thus
+allowed to rise, he went and settled by the burning mountain, and his
+descendants became kings of Menangkabau." This has much the air of a tale
+invented by the people of the peninsula to exalt the idea of their own
+antiquity at the expense of their Sumatran neighbours. The blue
+champaka-flower of which the sultan boasts possession I conceive to be an
+imaginary and not an existent plant. The late respected Sir W. Jones, in
+his Botanical Observations printed in the Asiatic Researches Volume 4
+suspects that by it must be meant the Kaempferia bhuchampac, a plant
+entirely different from the michelia; but as this supposition is built on
+a mere resemblance of sounds it is necessary to state that the Malayan
+term is champaka biru, and that nothing can be inferred from the
+accidental coincidence of the Sanskrit word bhu, signifying ground, with
+the English term for the blue colour.
+
+(*Footnote. See a beautiful engraving of one of these coins preserved in
+the Bodleian collection, Oxford, prefixed to Dr. Vincent's Translation of
+the Voyage of Nearchus printed in 1809.)
+
+CEREMONIES.
+
+With the ceremonies of the court we are very imperfectly acquainted. The
+royal salute is one gun; which may be considered as a refinement in
+ceremony; for as no additional number could be supposed to convey an
+adequate idea of respect, but must on the contrary establish a definite
+proportion between his dignity and that of his nobles, or of other
+princes, the sultan chooses to leave the measure of his importance
+indefinite by this policy and save his gunpowder. It must be observed
+that the Malays are in general extremely fond of the parade of firing
+guns, which they never neglect on high days, and on the appearance of the
+new moon, particularly that which marks the commencement and the
+conclusion of their puasa or annual fast. Yellow being esteemed, as in
+China, the royal colour, is said to be constantly and exclusively worn by
+the sultan and his household. His usual present on sending an embassy
+(for no Sumatran or other oriental has an idea of making a formal address
+on any occasion without a present in hand, be it never so trifling), is a
+pair of white horses; being emblematic of the purity of his character and
+intentions.
+
+CONVERSION TO MAHOMETAN RELIGION.
+
+The immediate subjects of this empire, properly denominated Malays, are
+all of the Mahometan religion, and in that respect distinguished from the
+generality of inland inhabitants. How it has happened that the most
+central people of the island should have become the most perfectly
+converted is difficult to account for unless we suppose that its
+political importance and the richness of its gold trade might have drawn
+thither its pious instructors, from temporal as well as spiritual
+motives. Be this as it may, the country of Menangkabau is regarded as the
+supreme seat of civil and religious authority in this part of the East,
+and next to a voyage to Mecca to have visited its metropolis stamps a man
+learned, and confers the character of superior sanctity. Accordingly the
+most eminent of those who bear the titles of imam, mulana, khatib, and
+pandita either proceed from thence or repair thither for their degree,
+and bring away with them a certificate or diploma from the sultan or his
+minister.
+
+In attempting to ascertain the period of this conversion much accuracy is
+not to be expected; the natives are either ignorant on the subject or
+have not communicated their knowledge, and we can only approximate the
+truth by comparing the authorities of different old writers. Marco Polo,
+the Venetian traveller who visited Sumatra under the name of Java minor
+(see above) says that the inhabitants of the seashore were addicted to
+the Mahometan law, which they had learned from Saracon merchants. This
+must have been about the year 1290, when, in his voyage from China, he
+was detained for several months at a port in the Straits, waiting the
+change of the monsoon; and though I am scrupulous of insisting upon his
+authority (questioned as it is), yet in a fact of this nature he could
+scarcely be mistaken, and the assertion corresponds with the annals of
+the princes of Malacca, which state, as we have seen above, that sultan
+Muhammed Shah, who reigned from 1276 to 1333, was the first royal
+convert. Juan De Barros, a Portuguese historian of great industry, says
+that, according to the tradition of the inhabitants, the city of Malacca
+was founded about the year 1260, and that about 1400 the Mahometan faith
+had spread considerably there and extended itself to the neighbouring
+islands. Diogo do Couto, another celebrated historian, who prosecuted his
+inquiries in India, mentions the arrival at Malacca of an Arabian priest
+who converted its monarch to the faith of the khalifs, and gave him the
+name of Shah Muhammed in the year 1384. This date however is evidently
+incorrect, as that king's reign was earlier by fifty years. Corneille le
+Brun was informed by the king of Bantam in 1706 that the people of Java
+were made converts to that sect about three hundred years before.
+Valentyn states that Sheik Mulana, by whom this conversion was effected
+in 1406, had already disseminated his doctrine at Ache, Pase (places in
+Sumatra), and Johor. From these several sources of information, which are
+sufficiently distinct from each other, we may draw this conclusion, that
+the religion, which sprang up in Arabia in the seventh century, had not
+made any considerable progress in the interior of Sumatra earlier than
+the fourteenth, and that the period of its introduction, considering the
+vicinity to Malacca, could not be much later. I have been told indeed,
+but cannot vouch for its authenticity, that in 1782 these people counted
+670 years from the first preaching of their religion, which would carry
+the period back to 1112. It may be added that in the island of Ternate
+the first Mahometan prince reigned from 1466 to 1486; that Francis
+Xavier, a celebrated Jesuit missionary, when he was at Amboina in 1546
+observed the people then beginning to learn to write from the Arabians;
+that the Malays were allowed to build a mosque at Goak in Makasar
+subsequently to the arrival of the Portuguese in 1512; and that in 1603
+the whole kingdom had become Mahometan. These islands, lying far to the
+eastward, and being of less considerable account in that age than
+subsequent transactions have rendered them, the zeal of religious
+adventurers did not happen to be directed thither so soon as to the
+countries bordering on the sea of India.
+
+By some it has been asserted that the first sultan of Menangkabau was a
+Xerif from Mecca, or descendant of the khalifs, named Paduka Sri Sultan
+Ibrahim, who, settling in Sumatra, was received with honour by the
+princes of the country, Perapati-si-batang and his brother, and acquired
+sovereign authority. They add that the sultans who now reside at
+Pagar-ruyong and at Suruwasa are lineally descended from that Xerif,
+whilst he who resides at Sungei Trap, styled Datu Bandhara putih, derives
+his origin from Perapati. But to this supposition there are strong
+objections. The idea so generally entertained by the natives, and
+strengthened by the glimmering lights that the old writers afford us,
+bespeaks an antiquity to this empire that stretches far beyond the
+probable era of the establishment of the Mahometan religion in the
+island. Radin Tamanggung, son of a king of Madura, a very intelligent
+person, and who as a prince himself was conversant with these topics,
+positively asserted to me that it was an original Sumatran empire,
+antecedent to the introduction of the Arabian faith; instructed, but by
+no means conquered, as some had imagined, by people from the peninsula.
+So memorable an event as the elevation of a Xerif to the throne would
+have been long preserved by annals or tradition, and the sultan in the
+list of his titles would not fail to boast of this sacred extraction from
+the prophet, to which however he does not at all allude; and to this we
+may add that the superstitious veneration attached to the family extends
+itself not only where Mahometanism has made a progress, but also among
+the Battas and other people still unconverted to that faith, with whom it
+would not be the case if the claim to such respect was grounded on the
+introduction of a foreign religion which they have refused to accept.
+
+Perhaps it is less surprising that this one kingdom should have been
+completely converted than that so many districts of the island should
+remain to this day without any religion whatever. It is observable that a
+person of this latter description, coming to reside among the Malays,
+soon assimilates to them in manners, and conforms to their religious
+practices. The love of novelty, the vanity of learning, the fascination
+of ceremony, the contagion of example, veneration for what appears above
+his immediate comprehension, and the innate activity of man's
+intellectual faculties, which, spurred by curiosity, prompts him to the
+acquisition of knowledge, whether true or false--all conspire to make him
+embrace a system of belief and scheme of instruction in which there is
+nothing that militates against prejudices already imbibed. He
+relinquishes no favourite ancient worship to adopt a new, and is
+manifestly a gainer by the exchange, when he barters, for a paradise and
+eternal pleasures, so small a consideration as the flesh of his foreskin.
+
+TOLERANT PRINCIPLES.
+
+The Malays, as far as my observation went, did not appear to possess much
+of the bigotry so commonly found amongst the western Mahometans, or to
+show antipathy to or contempt for unbelievers. To this indifference is to
+be attributed my not having positively ascertained whether they are
+followers of the sunni or the shiah sect, although from their tolerant
+principles and frequent passages in their writings in praise of Ali I
+conclude them to be the latter. Even in regard to the practice of
+ceremonies they do not imitate the punctuality of the Arabs and others of
+the mussulman faith. Excepting such as were in the orders of the
+priesthood I rarely noticed persons in the act of making their
+prostrations. Men of rank I am told have their religious periods, during
+which they scrupulously attend to their duties and refrain from
+gratifications of the appetite, together with gambling and cockfighting;
+but these are not long nor very frequent. Even their great Fast or puasa
+(the ramadan of the Turks) is only partially observed. All those who have
+a regard for character fast more or less according to the degree of their
+zeal or strength of their constitutions; some for a week, others for a
+fortnight; but to abstain from food and betel whilst the sun is above the
+horizon during the whole of a lunar month is a very rare instance of
+devotion.
+
+LITERATURE.
+
+Malayan literature consists chiefly of transcripts and versions of the
+koran, commentaries on the mussulman law, and historic tales both in
+prose and verse, resembling in some respect our old romances. Many of
+these are original compositions, and others are translations of the
+popular tales current in Arabia, Persia, India, and the neighbouring
+island of Java, where the Hindu languages and mythology appear to have
+made at a remote period considerable progress. Among several works of
+this description I possess their translation (but much compressed) of the
+Ramayan, a celebrated Sanskrit poem, and also of some of the Arabian
+stories lately published in France as a Continuation of the Thousand and
+one Nights, first made known to the European world by M. Galland. If
+doubts have been entertained of the authenticity of these additions to
+his immortal collection the circumstance of their being (however
+partially) discovered in the Malayan language will serve to remove them.
+Beside these they have a variety of poetic works, abounding rather with
+moral reflections and complaints of the frowns of fortune or of
+ill-requited love than with flights of fancy. The pantun or short
+proverbial stanza has been already described. They are composed in all
+parts of the island, and often extempore; but such as proceed from
+Menangkabau, the most favoured seat of the Muses, are held in the first
+esteem. Their writing is entirely in the modified Arabic character, and
+upon paper previously ruled by means of threads drawn tight and arranged
+in a peculiar manner.
+
+ARTS.
+
+The arts in general are carried among these people to a greater degree of
+perfection than by the other natives of Sumatra. The Malays are the sole
+fabricators of the exquisite gold and silver filigree, the manufacture of
+which has been particularly described.
+
+FIREARMS.
+
+In the country of Menangkabau they have from the earliest times
+manufactured arms for their own use and to supply the northern
+inhabitants of the island, who are the most warlike, and which trade they
+continue to this day, smelting, forging, and preparing, by a process of
+their own, the iron and steel for this purpose, although much is at the
+same time purchased from Europeans.*
+
+(*Footnote. The principal iron mines are at a place called Padang Luar,
+where the ore is sold at the rate of half a fanam or forty-eighth part of
+a dollar for a man's load, and carried to another place in the
+Menangkabau country called Selimpuwong, where it is smelted and
+manufactured.)
+
+CANNON.
+
+The use of cannon in this and other parts of India is mentioned by the
+oldest Portuguese historians, and it must consequently have been known
+there before the discovery of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope. Their
+guns are those pieces called matchlocks, the improvement of springs and
+flints not being yet adopted by them; the barrels are well tempered and
+of the justest bore, as is evident from the excellence of their aim,
+which they always take by lowering, instead of raising the muzzle of the
+piece to the object. They are wrought by rolling a flatted bar of iron of
+proportionate dimensions spirally round a circular rod, and beating it
+till the parts of the former unite; which method seems preferable in
+point of strength to that of folding and soldering the bar
+longitudinally. The art of boring may well be supposed unknown to these
+people. Firelocks are called by them snapang, from the Dutch name.
+Gunpowder they make in great quantities, but either from the injudicious
+proportion of the ingredients in the composition, or the imperfect
+granulation, it is very defective in strength.
+
+SIDE-ARMS.
+
+The tombak, lambing, and kujur or kunjur are names for weapons of the
+lance or spear kind; the pedang, rudus, pamandap, and kalewang are of the
+sword kind, and slung at the side, the siwar is a small instrument of the
+nature of a stiletto, chiefly used for assassination; and the kris is a
+species of dagger of a particular construction, very generally worn,
+being stuck in front through the folds of a belt that goes several times
+round the body.
+
+
+(PLATE 17. SUMATRAN WEAPONS.
+A. A Malay Gadoobang.
+B. A Batta Weapon.
+C. A Malay Creese.
+One-third of the size of the Originals.
+W. Williams del. and sculpt.
+Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)
+
+
+(PLATE 17a. SUMATRAN WEAPONS.
+D. A Malay Creese.
+E. An Achenese Creese.
+F. A Malay Sewar.
+One-third of the size of the Originals.
+W. Williams del. and sculpt.)
+
+
+KRIS-BLADE.
+
+The blade is about fourteen inches in length, not straight nor uniformly
+curved, but waving in and out, as we see depicted the flaming swords that
+guarded the gates of paradise; which probably may render a wound given
+with it the more fatal. It is not smooth or polished like those of our
+weapons, but by a peculiar process made to resemble a composition, in
+which veins of a different metal are apparent. This damasking (as I was
+informed by the late Mr. Boulton) is produced by beating together steel
+and iron wire whilst in a state of half fusion, and eating them with
+acids, by which the softest part is the most corroded; the edges being of
+pure steel. Their temper is uncommonly hard. The head or haft is either
+of ivory, the tooth of the duyong (sea-cow), that of the hippopotamus,
+the snout of the ikan layer (voilier), of black coral, or of fine-grained
+wood. This is ornamented with gold or a mixture of that and copper, which
+they call swasa, highly polished and carved into curious figures, some of
+which have the beak of a bird with the arms of a human creature, and bear
+a resemblance to the Egyptian Isis. The sheath also is formed of some
+beautiful species of wood, hollowed out, with a neat lacing of split
+rattan, stained red round the lower parts; or sometimes it is plated with
+gold. The value of a kris is supposed to be enhanced in proportion to the
+number of persons it has slain. One that has been the instrument of much
+bloodshed is regarded with a degree of veneration as something sacred.
+The horror or enthusiasm inspired by the contemplation of such actions is
+transferred to the weapon, which accordingly acquires sanctity from the
+principle that leads ignorant men to reverence whatever possesses the
+power of effecting mischief. Other circumstances also contribute to give
+them celebrity, and they are distinguished by pompous names. Some have a
+cushion by their bedside on which is placed their favourite weapon. I
+have a manuscript treatise on krises, accompanied with drawings,
+describing their imaginary properties and value, estimated at the price
+of one or more slaves. The abominable custom of poisoning them, though
+much talked of, is rarely practised I believe in modern times. They are
+frequently seen rubbing the blades with lime-juice, which has been
+considered as a precaution against danger of this kind, but it is rather
+for the purpose of removing common stains or of improving the damasked
+appearance.
+
+MODES OF WARFARE.
+
+Although much parade attends their preparations for war and their
+marches, displaying colours of scarlet cloth, and beating drums, gongs,
+and chennangs, yet their operations are carried on rather in the way of
+ambuscade and surprise of straggling parties than open combat, firing
+irregularly from behind entrenchments, which the enemy takes care not to
+approach too near.
+
+HORSES.
+
+They are said to go frequently to war on horseback, but I shall not
+venture to give their force the name of cavalry. The chiefs may probably
+avail themselves of the service of this useful animal from motives of
+personal indulgence or state, but on account of the ranjaus or
+sharp-pointed stakes so commonly planted in the passes (see the preceding
+journal of Lieutenant Dare's march, where they are particularly
+described), it is scarcely possible that horse could be employed as an
+effective part of an army. It is also to be observed that neither the
+natives nor even Europeans ever shoe them, the nature of the roads in
+general not rendering it necessary. The breed of them is small but well
+made, hardy, and vigorous. The soldiers serve without pay, but the
+plunder they obtain is thrown into a common stock, and divided amongst
+them. Whatever might formerly have been the degree of their prowess they
+are not now much celebrated for it; yet the Dutch at Padang have often
+found them troublesome enemies from their numbers, and been obliged to
+secure themselves within their walls. Between the Menangkabau people,
+those of Rau or Aru, and the Achinese, settled at Natal, wars used to be
+incessant until they were checked by the influence of our authority at
+that place. The factory itself was raised upon one of the breast-works
+thrown up by them for defence, of which several are to be met with in
+walking a few miles into the country, and some of them very substantial.
+Their campaigns in this petty warfare were carried on very deliberately.
+They made a regular practice of commencing a truce at sunset, when they
+remained in mutual security, and sometimes agreed that hostilities should
+take place only between certain hours of the day. The English resident,
+Mr. Carter, was frequently chosen their umpire, and upon these occasions
+used to fix in the ground his golden-headed cane, on the spot where the
+deputies should meet and concert terms of accommodation; until at length
+the parties, grown weary of their fruitless contests, resolved to place
+themselves respectively under the dependence and protection of the
+company. The fortified villages, in some parts of the country named
+dusun, and in others kampong, are here, as on the continent of India,
+denominated kota or forts, and the districts are distinguished from each
+other by the number of confederated villages they contain.
+
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+The government, like that of all Malayan states, is founded on principles
+entirely feudal. The prince is styled raja, maha-raja, iang de pertuan,
+or sultan; the nobles have the appellation of orang kaya or datu, which
+properly belongs to the chiefs of tribes, and implies their being at the
+head of a numerous train of immediate dependants or vassals, whose
+service they command. The heir-apparent has the title of raja muda.
+
+OFFICERS OF STATE.
+
+From amongst the orang kayas the sultan appoints the officers of state,
+who as members of his council are called mantri, and differ in number and
+authority according to the situation and importance of the kingdom. Of
+these the first in rank, or prime minister, has the appellation of
+perdana mantri, mangko bumi, and not seldom, however anomalously,
+maharaja. Next to him generally is the bandhara, treasurer or high
+steward; then the laksamana and tamanggung, commanders-in-chief by sea
+and land, and lastly the shahbandara, whose office it is to superintend
+the business of the customs (in sea-port towns) and to manage the trade
+for the king. The governors of provinces are named panglima, the heads of
+departments pangulu. The ulubalang are military officers forming the
+bodyguard of the sovereign, and prepared on all occasions to execute his
+orders. From their fighting singly, when required, in the cause of the
+prince or noble who maintains them, the name is commonly translated
+champion; but when employed by a weak but arbitrary and cruel prince to
+remove by stealth obnoxious persons whom he dares not to attack openly
+they may be compared more properly to the Ismaelians or Assassins, so
+celebrated in the history of the Crusades, as the devoted subjects of the
+Sheikh al-jabal, or Old Man of the Mountain, as this chief of Persian
+Irak is vulgarly termed. I have not reason however to believe that such
+assassinations are by any means frequent. The immediate vassals of the
+king are called amba raja; and for the subjects in general the word rayet
+has been adopted. Beside those above named there is a great variety of
+officers of government of an inferior class; and even among the superior
+there is not at every period, nor in every Malayan state, a consistent
+uniformity of rank and title.
+
+GOVERNMENT BY FOUR DATUS.
+
+The smaller Malayan establishments are governed by their datus or heads
+of tribes, of whom there are generally four; as at Bencoolen (properly
+Bengkaulu) near to which the English settlement of Fort Marlborough is
+situated, and where Fort York formerly stood. These are under the
+protection or dominion of two native chiefs or princes, the pangerans of
+Sungei-lamo and Sungei-etam, the origin of whose authority has been
+already explained. Each of these has possessions on different parts of
+the river, the principal sway being in the hands of him of the two who
+has most personal ability. They are constant rivals, though living upon
+familiar terms, and are only restrained from open war by the authority of
+the English. Limun likewise, and the neighbouring places of Batang-asei
+and Pakalang-jambu, near the sources of Jambi River, where gold is
+collected and carried chiefly to Bencoolen and the settlement of Laye,
+where I had opportunities of seeing the traders, are each governed by
+four datus, who, though not immediately nominated by the sultan, are
+confirmed by, and pay tribute to, him. The first of these, whose
+situation is most southerly, receive also an investiture (baju, garment,
+and destar, turband) from the sultan of Palembang, being a politic
+measure adopted by these merchants for the convenience attending it in
+their occasional trading concerns with that place.
+
+HOT SPRINGS.
+
+At Priangan, near Gunong-berapi, are several hot mineral springs, called
+in the Malayan map already mentioned, panchuran tujuh or the seven
+conduits, where the natives from time immemorial have been in the
+practice of bathing; some being appropriated to the men, and others to
+the women; with two of cold water, styled the king's. It will be
+recollected that in ancient times this place was the seat of government.
+
+ANCIENT SCULPTURE.
+
+Near to these springs is a large stone or rock of very hard substance,
+one part of which is smoothed to a perpendicular face of about ten or
+twelve feet long and four high, on which are engraved characters supposed
+to be European, the space being entirely filled with them and certain
+chaps or marks at the corners. The natives presume them to be Dutch, but
+say that the latter do not resemble the present mark of the Company.
+There is some appearance of the date 1100. The informant (named Raja
+Intan), who had repeatedly seen and examined it, added that M. Palm,
+governor of Padang, once sent Malays with paper and paint to endeavour to
+take off the inscription, but they did not succeed; and the Dutch, whose
+arms never penetrated to that part of the country, are ignorant of its
+meaning. It is noticed in the Malayan map. Should it prove to be a Hindu
+monument it will be thought curious.
+
+
+CHAPTER 19.
+
+KINGDOMS OF INDRAPURA, ANAK-SUNGEI, PASSAMMAN, SIAK.
+
+
+INDRAPURA.
+
+Among the earliest dismemberments of the Menangkabau empire was the
+establishment of Indrapura as an independent kingdom. Though now in its
+turn reduced to a state of little importance, it was formerly powerful in
+comparison with its neighbours, and of considerable magnitude, including
+Anak-Sungei and extending as far as Kattaun. Some idea of its antiquity
+may be formed from a historical account given by the Sultan of Bantam to
+the intelligent traveller Corneille le Brun, in which it is related that
+the son of the Arabian prince who first converted the Javans to the
+religion of the Prophet, about the year 1400, having obtained for himself
+the sovereignty of Bantam, under the title of pangeran, married the
+daughter of the raja of Indrapura, and received as her portion the
+country of the Sillabares, a people of Banca-houlou.
+
+CLAIMS OF THE SULTAN OF BANTAM.
+
+Upon this cession appears to be grounded the modern claim of the sultan
+to this part of the coast, which, previously to the treaty of Paris in
+1763, was often urged by his sovereigns, the Dutch East India Company.
+His dominion is said indeed to have extended from the southward as far as
+Urei river, and at an early period to Betta or Ayer Etam, between Ipu and
+Moco-moco, but that the intermediate space was ceded by him to the raja
+of Indrapura, in satisfaction for the murder of a prince, and that a
+small annual tax was laid by the latter on the Anak-sungei people on
+account of the same murder (being the fourth part of a dollar, a bamboo
+of rice, and a fowl, from each village), which is now paid to the sultan
+of Moco-moco. In the year 1682 the district of Ayer Aji threw off its
+dependence on Indrapura. In 1696 Raja Pasisir Barat, under the influence
+of the Dutch, was placed on the throne, at the age of six years, and his
+grandfather appointed guardian; but in 1701, in consequence of a quarrel
+with his protectors, the European settlers were massacred.
+
+WAR WITH THE DUTCH.
+
+This was the occasion of a destructive war, in the event of which the
+raja and his mantris were obliged to fly, and the country was nearly
+depopulated. In 1705 he was reinstated, and reigned till about 1732.
+
+DECLINE OF THE KINGDOM.
+
+But the kingdom never recovered the shock it had received, and dwindled
+into obscurity. Its river, which descends from the mountains of Korinchi,
+is considered as one of the largest in the southern part of the west
+coast, and is capable of admitting sloops. The country formerly produced
+a large quantity of pepper, and some gold was brought down from the
+interior, which now finds another channel. An English factory was
+established there about the year 1684, but never became of any
+importance.
+
+KINGDOM OF ANAK-SUNGEI.
+
+From the ruins of Indrapura has sprung the kingdom of Anak-sungei,
+extending along the sea-coast from Manjuta River to that of Urei. Its
+chief bears the title of sultan, and his capital, if such places deserve
+the appellation, is Moco-moco. A description of it will be found above.
+Although the government is Malayan, and the ministers of the sultan are
+termed mantri (a title borrowed from the Hindus) the greatest part of the
+country dependent on it is inhabited by the original dusun people, and
+accordingly their proper chiefs are styled proattin, who are obliged to
+attend their prince at stated periods, and to carry to him their
+contribution or tax. His power over them however is very limited.
+
+The first monarch of this new kingdom was named sultan Gulemat, who in
+1695 established himself at Manjuta, by the assistance of the English, in
+consequence of a revolution at Indrapura, by which the prince who had
+afforded them protection on their first settling was driven out through
+the intrigues, as they are termed, of the Dutch. It was a struggle, in
+short, between the rival Companies, whose assistance was courted by the
+different factions as it happened to suit their purpose, or who, becoming
+strong enough to consider themselves as principals, made the native
+chiefs the tools of their commercial ambition. In the year 1717 Gulemat
+was removed from the throne by an assembly of the chiefs styling
+themselves the mantris of Lima-kota and proattins of Anak-sungei, who set
+up a person named Raja Kechil-besar in his room, appointing at the same
+time, as his minister and successor, Raja Gandam Shah, by whom, upon his
+accession in 1728, the seat of government was removed from Manjuta to
+Moco-moco. He was father of sultan Pasisir Barat shah mualim shah, still
+reigning in the year 1780, but harassed by the frequent rebellions of his
+eldest son. The space of time occupied by the reigns of these two
+sovereigns is extraordinary when we consider that the former must have
+been at man's estate when he became minister or assessor in 1717. Nor is
+it less remarkable that the son of the deposed sultan Gulemat, called
+sultan Ala ed-din, was also living, at Tappanuli, about the year 1780,
+being then supposed ninety years of age. He was confined as a state
+prisoner at Madras during the government of Mr. Morse, and is mentioned
+by Captain Forrest (Voyage to the Mergui Archipelago, page 57) as uncle
+to the king of Achin, who reigned in 1784. The first English settlement
+at Moco-moco was formed in 1717.
+
+PASSAMMAN.
+
+Passamman was the most northern of the provinces immediately dependant on
+Menangkabau, and afterwards, together with Priaman and many other places
+on the coast, fell under the dominion of the kings of Achin. It is now
+divided into two petty kingdoms, each of which is governed by a raja and
+fourteen pangulus. Formerly it was a place of considerable trade, and,
+beside a great export of pepper, received much fine gold from the
+mountains of the Rau country, lying about three days' journey inland. The
+inhabitants of these are said to be Battas converted to Mahometanism and
+mixed with Malays. They are governed by datus. The peculiarity of dress
+remarked of the Korinchi people is also observable here, the men wearing
+drawers that reach just below the calf, having one leg of red and the
+other of white or blue cloth, and the baju or garment also
+party-coloured. The greater part of the gold they collect finds its way
+to Patapahan on the river of Siak, and from thence to the eastern side of
+the island and straits of Malacca. The Agam tribe adjoining to the Rau,
+and connecting to the southward with Menangkabau, differs little from
+Malays, and is likewise governed by datus.
+
+SIAK.
+
+The great river of Siak has its source in the mountains of the
+Menangkabau country, and empties itself nearly opposite to Malacca, with
+which place it formerly carried on a considerable trade. From the Dutch
+charts we had a general knowledge of its course as far as a place called
+Mandau or Mandol, as they write the name, and where they had a small
+establishment on account of its abounding with valuable ship-timber.
+
+SURVEY.
+
+A recent survey executed by Mr. Francis Lynch, under the orders of the
+government of Pulo Pinang, has made us more particularly acquainted with
+its size, its advantages, and defects. From the place where it discharges
+itself into the straits of Kampar or Bencalis, to the town of Siak is,
+according to the scale of his chart, about sixty-five geographical miles,
+and from thence to a place called Pakan bharu or Newmarket, where the
+survey discontinues, is about one hundred more. The width of the river is
+in general from about three-quarters to half a mile, and its depth from
+fifteen to seven fathoms; but on the bar at low-water spring-tides there
+are only fifteen feet, and several shoals near its mouth. The tides rise
+about eleven feet at the town, where at full and change it is high-water
+at nine A.M. Not far within the river is a small island on which the
+Dutch had formerly a factory. The shores are flat on both sides to a
+considerable distance up the country, and the whole of the soil is
+probably alluvial; but about a hundred and twenty-five or thirty miles up
+Mr. Lynch marks the appearance of high land, giving it the name of
+Princess Augusta Sophia hill, and points it out as a commanding situation
+for a settlement.
+
+SHIP-TIMBER.
+
+He speaks in favourable terms of the facility with which ship-timber of
+any dimensions or shape may be procured and loaded. Respecting the size
+or population of the town no information is given.
+
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+The government of it was (in October 1808) in the hands of the Tuanku
+Pangeran, brother to the Raja, who in consequence of some civil
+disturbance had withdrawn to the entrance of the river. His name is not
+mentioned, but from the Transactions of the Batavian Society we learn
+that the prince who reigned about the year 1780 was Raja Ismael, "one of
+the greatest pirates in those seas." The maritime power of the kingdom of
+Siak has always been considerable, and in the history of the Malayan
+states we repeatedly read of expeditions fitted out from thence making
+attacks upon Johor, Malacca, and various other places on the two coasts
+of the peninsula. Most of the neighbouring states (or rivers) on the
+eastern coast of Sumatra, from Langat to Jambi, are said to have been
+brought in modern times under its subjection.
+
+TRADE.
+
+The trade is chiefly carried on by Kling vessels, as they are called,
+from the coast of Coromandel, which supply cargoes of piece-goods, and
+also raw silk, opium, and other articles, which they provide at Pinang or
+Malacca; in return for which they receive gold, wax, sago, salted fish,
+and fish-roes, elephants' teeth, gambir, camphor, rattans, and other
+canes. According to the information of the natives the river is navigable
+for sloops to a place called Panti Chermin, being eight days' sail with
+the assistance of the tide, and within half a day's journey by land of
+another named Patapahan, which boats also, of ten to twenty tons, reach
+in two days. This is a great mart of trade with the Menangkabau country,
+whither its merchants resort with their gold. Pakan-bharu, the limit of
+Mr. Lynch's voyage, is much lower down, and the above-mentioned places
+are consequently not noticed by him. The Dutch Company procured annually
+from Siak, for the use of Batavia, several rafts of spars for masts, and
+if the plan of building ships at Pinang should be encouraged large
+supplies of frame-timber for the purpose may be obtained from this river,
+provided a sense of interest shall be found sufficiently strong to
+correct or restrain the habits of treachery and desperate enterprise for
+which these people have in all ages been notorious.
+
+RAKAN.
+
+The river Rakan, to the northward of Siak, by much the largest in the
+island, if it should not rather be considered as an inlet of the sea,
+takes its rise in the Rau country, and is navigable for sloops to a great
+distance from the sea; but vessels are deterred from entering it by the
+rapidity of the current, or more probably the reflux of the tide, and
+that peculiar swell known in the Ganges and elsewhere by the appellation
+of the bore.
+
+KAMPAR.
+
+That of Kampar, to the southward, is said by the natives to labour under
+the same inconvenience, and Mr. Lynch was informed that the tides there
+rise from eighteen to twenty-four feet. If these circumstances render the
+navigation dangerous it appears difficult to account for its having been
+a place of considerable note at the period of the Portuguese conquest of
+Malacca, and repeatedly the scene of naval actions with the fleets of
+Achin, whilst Siak, which possesses many natural advantages, is rarely
+mentioned. In modern times it has been scarcely at all known to
+Europeans, and even its situation is doubtful.
+
+INDRAGIRI.
+
+The river of Indragiri is said by the natives to have its source in a
+lake of the Menangkabau country, from whence it issues by the name of
+Ayer Ambelan. Sloops tide it up for five or six weeks (as they assert),
+anchoring as the ebb begins to make. From a place called Lubok ramo-ramo
+they use boats of from five to twenty tons, and the smaller sort can
+proceed until they are stopped by a fall or cascade at Seluka, on the
+borders of Menangkabau. This extraordinary distance to which the
+influence of the tides extends is a proof of the absolute flatness of the
+country through which these rivers take the greater part of their course.
+
+JAMBI.
+
+Jambi River has its principal source in the Limun country. Although of
+considerable size it is inferior to Siak and Indragiri. At an early stage
+of European commerce in these parts it was of some importance, and both
+the English and Dutch had factories there; the former on a small island
+near the mouth, and the latter at some distance up the river. The town of
+Jambi is situated at the distance of about sixty miles from the sea, and
+we find in the work of the historian, Faria y Sousa, that in the year
+1629 a Portuguese squadron was employed twenty-two days in ascending the
+river, in order to destroy some Dutch ships which had taken shelter near
+the town. Lionel Wafer, who was there in 1678 (at which time the river
+was blockaded by a fleet of praws from Johor), makes the distance a
+hundred miles. The trade consists chiefly in gold-dust, pepper, and
+canes, but the most of what is collected of the first article proceeds
+across the country to the western coast, and the quality of the second is
+not held in esteem. The port is therefore but little frequented by any
+other than native merchants. Sometimes, but rarely, a private trading
+ship from Bengal endeavours to dispose of a few chests of opium in this
+or one of the other rivers; but the masters scarcely ever venture on
+shore, and deal with such of the Malays as come off to them at the sword
+point, so strong is the idea of their treacherous character.
+
+PALEMBANG.
+
+The kingdom of Palembang is one of considerable importance, and its river
+ranks amongst the largest in the island. It takes its rise in the
+district of Musi, immediately at the back of the range of hills visible
+from Bencoolen, and on that account has the name of Ayer Musi in the
+early part of its course, but in the lower is more properly named the
+Tatong.
+
+SIZE OF RIVER.
+
+Opposite to the city of Palembang and the Dutch Company's factory it is
+upwards of a mile in breadth, and is conveniently navigated by vessels
+whose draft of water does not exceed fourteen feet. Those of a larger
+description have been carried thither for military purposes (as in 1660,
+when the place was attacked and destroyed by the Hollanders) but the
+operation is attended with difficulty on account of numerous shoals.
+
+FOREIGN TRADE.
+
+The port is much frequented by trading vessels, chiefly from Java,
+Madura, Balli, and Celebes, which bring rice, salt, and cloths, the
+manufacture of those islands. With opium, the piece-goods of the west of
+India, and European commodities it is supplied by the Dutch from Batavia,
+or by those who are termed interlopers. These in return receive pepper
+and tin, which, by an old agreement made with the sultan, and formally
+renewed in 1777, are to be exclusively delivered to the Company at
+stipulated prices, and no other Europeans are to be allowed to trade or
+navigate within his jurisdiction.
+
+DUTCH FACTORY.
+
+In order to enforce these conditions the Dutch are permitted to maintain
+a fort on the river with a garrison of fifty or sixty men (which cannot
+be exceeded without giving umbrage), and to keep its own cruisers to
+prevent smuggling. The quantity of pepper thus furnished was from one to
+two millions of pounds per annum. Of tin the quantity was about two
+millions of pounds, one third of which was shipped (at Batavia) for
+Holland, and the remainder sent to China. It has already been stated that
+this tin is the produce of the island of Bangka, situated near the mouth
+of the river, which may be considered as an entire hill of tin-sand. The
+works, of which a particular account is given in Volume 3 of the Batavian
+Transactions, are entirely in the hands of Chinese settlers. In the year
+1778 the Company likewise received thirty-seven thousand bundles of
+rattans.
+
+LOW COUNTRY.
+
+The lower parts of the country of Palembang towards the sea-coast are
+described as being flat marshy land, and with the exception of some few
+tracts entirely unfit for the purposes of cultivation. It is generally
+understood to have been all covered by the sea in former ages, not only
+from its being observed that the strand yearly gains an accession, but
+also that, upon digging the earth at some distance inland, sea-shells,
+and even pieces of boat-timber, are discovered.
+
+INTERIOR COUNTRY. ITS TRADE.
+
+The interior or upland districts on the contrary are very productive, and
+there the pepper is cultivated, which the king's agent (for trade in
+these parts is usually monopolized by the sovereign power) purchases at a
+cheap rate. In return he supplies the country people with opium, salt,
+and piece-goods, forming the cargoes of large boats (some of them
+sixty-six feet in length and seven in breadth, from a single tree) which
+are towed against the stream. The goods intended for Passummah are
+conveyed to a place called Muara Mulang, which is performed in fourteen
+days, and from thence by land to the borders of that country is only one
+day's journey. This being situated beyond the district where the pepper
+flourishes their returns are chiefly made in pulas twine, raw silk in its
+roughest state, and elephants' teeth. From Musi they send likewise
+sulphur, alum, arsenic, and tobacco. Dragons-blood and gambir are also
+the produce of the country.
+
+ITS GOVERNMENT.
+
+These interior parts are divided into provinces, each of which is
+assigned as a fief or government to one of the royal family or of the
+nobles, who commit the management to deputies and give themselves little
+concern about the treatment of their subjects. The pangerans, who are the
+descendants of the ancient princes of the country, experience much
+oppression, and when compelled to make their appearance at court are
+denied every mark of ceremonious distinction.
+
+SETTLERS FROM JAVA.
+
+The present rulers of the kingdom of Palembang and a great portion of the
+inhabitants of the city originally came from the island of Java, in
+consequence, as some suppose, of an early conquest by the sovereigns of
+Majapahit; or, according to others, by those of Bantam, in more modern
+times; and in proof of its subjection, either real or nominal, to the
+latter, we find in the account of the first Dutch voyages, that "in 1596
+a king of Bantam fell before Palembang, a rebel town of Sumatra, which he
+was besieging."
+
+ROYAL FAMILY.
+
+The Dutch claim the honour of having placed on the throne the family of
+the reigning sultan (1780), named Ratu Akhmet Bahar ed-din, whose eldest
+son bears the title of Pangeran Ratu, answering to the RaJa muda of the
+Malays. The power of the monarch is unlimited by any legal restriction,
+but not keeping a regular body of troops in pay his orders are often
+disregarded by the nobles. Although without any established revenue from
+taxes or contributions, the profit arising from the trade of pepper and
+tin (especially the latter) is so great, and the consequent influx of
+silver, without any apparent outlet, so considerable, that he must
+necessarily be possessed of treasure to a large amount. The customs on
+merchandize imported remain in the hands of the shabhandaras, who are
+required to furnish the king's household with provisions and other
+necessaries. The domestic attendants on the prince are for the most part
+females.
+
+CURRENCY.
+
+The currency of the country and the only money allowed to be received at
+the king's treasury is Spanish dollars; but there is also in general
+circulation a species of small base coin, issued by royal authority, and
+named pitis. These are cut out of plates composed of lead and tin, and,
+having a square hole in the middle (like the Chinese cash), are strung in
+parcels of five hundred each, sixteen of which (according to the Batavian
+Transactions) are equivalent to the dollar. In weighing gold the tail is
+considered as the tenth part of the katti (of a pound and a third), or
+equal to the weight of two Spanish dollars and a quarter.
+
+CITY.
+
+The city is situated in a flat marshy tract, a few miles above the delta
+of the river, about sixty miles from the sea, and yet so far from the
+mountains of the interior that they are not visible. It extends about
+eight miles along both banks, and is mostly confined to them and to the
+creeks which open into the river. The buildings, with the exception of
+the king's palace and mosque, being all of wood or bamboos standing on
+posts and mostly covered with thatch of palm-leaves, the appearance of
+the place has nothing to recommend it. There are also a great number of
+floating habitations, mostly shops, upon bamboo-rafts moored to piles,
+and when the owners of these are no longer pleased with their situation
+they remove upwards or downwards, with the tide, to one more convenient.
+Indeed, as the nature of the surrounding country, being overflowed in
+high tides, scarcely admits of roads, almost all communication is carried
+on by means of boats, which accordingly are seen moving by hundreds in
+every direction, without intermission. The dalam or palace being
+surrounded by a high wall, nothing is known to Europeans of the interior,
+but it appears to be large, lofty, and much ornamented on the outside.
+Immediately adjoining to this wall, on the lower side, is a strong,
+square, roofed battery, commanding the river, and below it another; on
+both of which many heavy cannon are mounted, and fired on particular
+occasions. In the interval between the two batteries is seen the meidan
+or plain, at the extremity of which appears the balerong or hall where
+the sultan gives audience in public. This is an ordinary building, and
+serving occasionally for a warehouse, but ornamented with weapons
+arranged along the walls. The royal mosque stands behind the palace, and
+from the style of architecture seems to have been constructed by a
+European. It is an oblong building with glazed windows, pilasters, and a
+cupola. The burial place of these sovereigns is at old Palembang, about a
+league lower down the river, where the ground appears to be somewhat
+raised from having long been the site of habitations.
+
+ENCOURAGEMENT TO FOREIGNERS.
+
+The policy of these princes, who were themselves strangers, having always
+been to encourage foreign settlers, the city an lower parts of the river
+are in a great measure peopled with natives of China, Cochin-china,
+Camboja, Siam, Patani on the coast of the peninsula, Java, Celebes, and
+other eastern places. In addition to these the Arabian priests are
+described by the Dutch as constituting a very numerous and pernicious
+tribe, who, although in the constant practice of imposing upon and
+plundering the credulous inhabitants, are held by them in the utmost
+reverence.
+
+RELIGION.
+
+The Mahometan religion prevails throughout all the dominions of the
+sultan, with the exception of a district near the sea-coast, called
+Salang, where the natives, termed orang kubu, live in the woods like wild
+animals. The literature of the country is said to be confined to the
+study of the koran, but opinions of this kind I have found in other
+instances to be too hastily formed, or by persons not competent to obtain
+the necessary information.
+
+LANGUAGE.
+
+The language of the king and his court is the high dialect of the Javan,
+mixed with some foreign idioms. In the general intercourse with strangers
+the conversation is always in Malayan, with the pronunciation (already
+noticed) of the final o for a.
+
+CHARACTER OF INHABITANTS.
+
+Amongst the people of Palembang themselves this language (the character
+of which they employ) is mixed with the common Javan. The Dutch, on whom
+we must rely for an account of the manners and disposition of these
+people, and which will be found in Volume 3 page 122 of the Batavian
+Transactions, describe those of the low country as devoid of every good
+quality and imbued with every bad one; whilst those of the interior are
+spoken of as a dull, simple people who show much forbearance under
+oppression*; but it is acknowledged that of these last they have little
+knowledge, owing to the extreme suspicion and jealousy of the government,
+which takes alarm at any attempt to penetrate into the country.
+
+(*Footnote. A ridiculous story is told of a custom amongst the
+inhabitants of a province named Blida, which I should not repeat but for
+its whimsical coincidence with a jeu d'esprit of our celebrated Swift.
+When a child is born there (say the Palembangers), and the father has any
+doubts about the honesty of his wife, he puts it to the proof by tossing
+the infant into the air and catching it on the point of a spear. If no
+wound is thereby inflicted he is satisfied of its legitimacy, but if
+otherwise he considers it as spurious.)
+
+INTERIOR VISITED BY ENGLISH.
+
+This inland district having been visited only by two servants of the
+English East India Company who have left any record of their journeys, I
+shall extract from their narratives such parts as serve to throw a light
+upon its geography. The first of these was Mr. Charles Miller, who, on
+the 19th of September 1770, proceeded from Fort Marlborough to Bentiring
+on the Bencoolen river, thence to Pagar-raddin, Kadras, Gunong Raja,
+Gunong Ayu, Kalindang, and Jambu, where he ascended the hills forming the
+boundary of the Company's district, which he found covered with lofty
+trees. The first dusun on the other side is named Kalubar, and situated
+on the banks of the river Musi. From thence his route lay to places
+called Kapiyong and Parahmu, from all of which the natives carry the
+produce of their country to Palembang by water. The setting in of the
+rains and difficulties raised by the guides prevented him from proceeding
+to the country where the cassia is cut, and occasioned his return towards
+the hills on the 10th of October, stopping at Tabat Bubut. The land in
+the neighbourhood of the Musi he describes as being level, the soil black
+and good, and the air temperate. It was his intention to have crossed the
+hills to Ranne-lebar, on the 11th, but missing the road in the woods
+reached next day Beyol Bagus, a dusun in the Company's district, and
+thence proceeded to Gunong Raja, his way lying partly down a branch of
+the Bencoolen river, called Ayer Bagus, whose bed is formed of large
+pebble-stones, and partly through a level country, entirely covered with
+lofty bamboos. From Gunong Raja he returned down Bencoolen River on a
+bamboo raft to Bentiring, and reached Fort Marlborough on the 18th of
+October. The other traveller, Mr. Charles Campbell, in a private letter
+dated March 1802 (referring me, for more detailed information, to
+journals which have not reached my hand), says, "We crossed the hills
+nearly behind the Sugar-loaf, and entered the valley of Musi. Words
+cannot do justice to the picturesque scenery of that romantic and
+delightful country, locked in on all sides by lofty mountains, and
+watered by the noble river here navigable for very large canoes, which,
+after receiving the Lamatang and several other streams, forms the
+Palembang. Directing our course behind the great hill of Sungei-lamo we
+in three days discovered Labun, and crossed some considerable streams
+discharging themselves into the river of Kattaun. Our object there being
+completed we returned along the banks of the Musi nearly to the dusun of
+Kalubat, at which place we struck into the woods, and, ascending the
+mountain, reached towards evening a village high up on the Bencoolen
+River. There is but a single range, and it is a fact that from the
+navigable part of the Musi river to a place on that of Bencoolen where
+rafts and sampans may be used is to the natives a walk of no more than
+eight hours. Musi is populous, well cultivated, and the soil exceedingly
+rich. The people are stout, healthy looking, and independent in their
+carriage and manners, and were to us courteous and hospitable. They
+acknowledge no superior authority, but are often insulted by predatory
+parties from Palembang." These freebooters would perhaps call themselves
+collectors of tribute. It is much to be regretted that little political
+jealousies and animosities between the European powers whose influence
+prevails on each side of the island prevent further discoveries of the
+course of this considerable river.
+
+
+CHAPTER 20.
+
+THE COUNTRY OF THE BATTAS.
+TAPPANULI-BAY.
+JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.
+CASSIA-TREES.
+GOVERNMENTS.
+ARMS.
+WARFARE.
+TRADE.
+FAIRS.
+FOOD.
+MANNERS.
+LANGUAGE.
+WRITING.
+RELIGION.
+FUNERALS.
+CRIMES.
+EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.
+
+BATTAS.
+
+One of the most considerable distinctions of people in the island, and by
+many regarded as having the strongest claims to originality, is the
+nation of the Battas (properly Batak), whose remarkable dissimilitude to
+the other inhabitants, in the genius of their customs and manners, and
+especially in some extraordinary usages, renders it necessary that a
+particular degree of attention should be paid to their description.
+
+SITUATION OF THE COUNTRY.
+
+This country is bounded on the north by that of Achin, from which it is
+separated by the mountains of Papa and Deira, and on the south by the
+independent district of Rau or Rawa; extending along the sea-coast on the
+western side from the river of Singkel to that of Tabuyong, but inland,
+to the back of Ayer Bangis, and generally across the island, which is
+narrow in that part, to the eastern coast; but more or less encroached
+upon by the Malayan and Achinese establishments in the most convenient
+maritime situations, for the purposes of their commerce. It is very
+populous, and chiefly in the central parts, where are extensive open or
+naked plains, on the borders (as it is said) of a great lake; the soil
+fertile, and cultivation so much more prevalent than in the southern
+countries, which are mostly covered with woods, that there is scarcely a
+tree to be seen excepting those planted by the natives about their
+villages, which are not, as elsewhere, on the banks of rivers, but
+wherever a strong situation presents itself. Water indeed is not so
+abundant as to the southward, which may be attributed to the
+comparatively level surface, the chain of high mountains which extends
+northwards from the straits of Sunda through the interior of the island,
+in a great measure terminating with gunong Passummah or Mount Ophir.
+About the bay of Tappanuli however the land is high and wooded near the
+coast.
+
+ITS DIVISIONS.
+
+The Batta territory is divided (according to the information obtained by
+the English Residents) into the following principal districts; Ankola,
+Padambola, Mandiling, Toba, Selindong, and Singkel, of which the first
+has five, the third three, and the fourth five subordinate tribes.
+According to the Dutch account published in the Transactions of the
+Batavian Society, which is very circumstantial, it is divided into three
+small kingdoms. One of these named Simamora is situated far inland and
+contains a number of villages, and among others those named Batong, Ria,
+Allas, Batadera, Kapkap (where the district producing benzoin commences),
+Batahol, Kotta-tinggi (the place of the king's residence), with two
+places lying on the eastern coast called Suitara-male and Jambu-ayer.
+This kingdom is said to yield much fine gold from the mines of Batong and
+Sunayang. Bata-salindong also contains many districts, in some of which
+benzoin, and in others fine gold, is collected. The residence of the king
+is at Salindong. Bata-gopit lies at the foot of a volcano-mountain of
+that name, from whence, at the time of an eruption, the natives procure
+sulphur, to be afterwards employed in the manufacture of gunpowder. The
+little kingdom of Butar lies north-eastward of the preceding and reaches
+to the eastern coast, where are the places named Pulo Serony and Batu
+Bara; the latter enjoying a considerable trade; also Longtong and
+Sirigar, at the mouth of a great river named Assahan. Butar yields
+neither camphor, benzoin, nor gold, and the inhabitants support
+themselves by cultivation. The residence of the king is at a town of the
+same name.
+
+ANCIENT BUILDING.
+
+High up on the river of Batu Bara, which empties itself into the straits
+of Malacca, is found a large brick building, concerning the erection of
+which no tradition is preserved amongst the people. It is described as a
+square, or several squares, and at one corner is an extremely high
+pillar, supposed by them to have been designed for carrying a flag.
+Images or reliefs of human figures are carved in the walls, which they
+conceive to be Chinese (perhaps Hindu) idols. The bricks, of which some
+were brought to Tappanuli, are of a smaller size than those used by the
+English.
+
+SINGKEL.
+
+Singkel River, by much the largest on the western coast of the island,
+has its rise in the distant mountains of Daholi, in the territory of
+Achin, and at the distance of about thirty miles from the sea receives
+the waters of the Sikere, at a place called Pomoko, running through a
+great extent of the Batta country. After this junction it is very broad,
+and deep enough for vessels of considerable burden, but the bar is
+shallow and dangerous, having no more than six feet at low-water
+spring-tides, and the rise is also six feet. The breadth here is about
+three-quarters of a mile. Much of the lower parts of the country through
+which it has its course is overflowed during the rainy season, but not at
+two places, called by Captain Forrest Rambong and Jambong, near the
+mouth. The principal town lies forty miles up the river on the northern
+branch. On the southern is a town named Kiking, where more trade is
+carried on by the Malays and Achinese than at the former, the Samponan or
+Papa mountains producing more benzoin than those of Daholi. It is said in
+a Dutch manuscript that in three days' navigation above the town of
+Singkel you come to a great lake, the extent of which is not known.
+
+Barus, the next place of any consequence to the southward, is chiefly
+remarkable for having given name throughout the East to the Kapur-barus
+or native camphor, as it is often termed to distinguish it from that
+which is imported from Japan and China, as already explained. This was
+the situation of the most remote of the Dutch factories, long since
+withdrawn. It is properly a Malayan establishment, governed by a raja, a
+bandhara, and eight pangulus, and with this peculiarity, that the rajas
+and bandharas must be alternately and reciprocally of two great families,
+named Dulu and D'ilhir. The assumed jurisdiction is said to have extended
+formerly to Natal. The town is situated about a league from the coast,
+and two leagues farther inland are eight small villages inhabited by
+Battas, the inhabitants of which purchase the camphor and benzoin from
+the people of the Diri mountains, extending from the southward of Singkel
+to the hill of Lasa, behind Barus, where the Tobat district commences.
+
+TAPPANULI.
+
+The celebrated bay of Tappanuli stretches into the heart of the Batta
+country, and its shores are everywhere inhabited by that people, who
+barter the produce of their land for the articles they stand in need of
+from abroad, but do not themselves make voyages by sea. Navigators assert
+that the natural advantages of this bay are scarcely surpassed in any
+other part of the globe; that all the navies of the world might ride
+there with perfect security in every weather; and that such is the
+complication of anchoring-places within each other that a large ship
+could be so hid in them as not to be found without a tedious search. At
+the island of Punchong kechil, on which our settlement stands, it is a
+common practice to moor the vessels by a hawser to a tree on shore.
+Timber for masts and yards is to be procured in the various creeks with
+great facility. Not being favourably situated with respect to the general
+track of outward and homeward-bound shipping, and its distance from the
+principal seat of our important Indian concerns being considerable, it
+has not hitherto been much used for any great naval purposes; but at the
+same time our government should be aware of the danger that might arise
+from suffering any other maritime power to get footing in a place of this
+description. The natives are in general inoffensive, and have given
+little disturbance to our establishments; but parties of Achinese traders
+(without the concurrence or knowledge, as there is reason to believe, of
+their own government), jealous of our commercial influence, long strove
+to drive us from the bay by force of arms, and we were under the
+necessity of carrying on a petty warfare for many years in order to
+secure our tranquillity. In the year 1760 Tappanuli was taken by a
+squadron of French ships under the command of the Comte d'Estaing; and in
+October 1809, being nearly defenceless, it was again taken by the Creole
+French frigate, Captain Ripaud, joined afterwards by the Venus and La
+Manche; under the orders of Commodore Hamelin. By the terms of the
+surrender private property was to be secured, but in a few days, after
+the most friendly assurances had been given to the acting resident, with
+whom the French officers were living, this engagement was violated under
+the ill-founded pretence that some gold had been secreted, and everything
+belonging to the English gentlemen and ladies, as well as to the native
+settlers, was plundered or destroyed by fire, with circumstances of
+atrocity and brutality that would have disgraced savages. The
+garden-house of the chief (Mr. Prince, who happened to be then absent
+from Tappanuli) at Batu-buru on the main was likewise burned, together
+with his horses, and his cattle were shot at and maimed. Even the books
+of accounts, containing the statement of outstanding debts due to the
+trading-concern of the place were, in spite of every entreaty,
+maliciously destroyed or carried off, by which an irreparable loss, from
+which the enemy could not derive a benefit, is sustained by the
+unfortunate sufferers. It cannot be supposed that the government of a
+great and proud empire can give its sanction to this disgraceful mode of
+carrying on war.
+
+In the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1778 is a brief account of
+the Batta country and the manners of its inhabitants, extracted from the
+private letters of Mr. Charles Miller, the Company's botanist, whose
+observations I have had repeated occasion to quote. I shall now
+communicate to the reader the substance of a report made by him of a
+journey performed in company with Mr. Giles Holloway, then resident of
+Tappanuli, through the interior of the country of which we are now
+speaking, with a view to explore its productions, particularly the
+cassia, which at that time was thought likely to prove an object of
+commerce worthy of attention.
+
+MR. MILLER'S JOURNEY INTO THE COUNTRY.
+
+Says Mr. Miller:
+
+Previously to our setting out on this journey we consulted people who had
+formerly been engaged in the cassia-trade with regard to the most proper
+places to visit. They informed us that the trees were to be found in two
+different districts; namely in the inland parts to the northward of the
+old settlement at Tappanuli; and also in the country of Padambola, which
+lies between fifty and sixty miles more to the southward. They advised us
+to prefer going into the Padambola country, although the more distant, on
+account of the inhabitants of the Tappanuli country (as they represented)
+being frequently troublesome to strangers. They also told me there were
+two kinds of the kulit manis, the one of which, from their account of it,
+I was in hopes might prove to be the true cinnamon-tree.
+
+June 21st, 1772. We set out from Pulo Punchong and went in boats to the
+quallo (mouth or entrance) of Pinang Suri river, which is in the bay,
+about ten or twelve miles south-east of Punchong. Next morning we went up
+the river in sampans, and in about six hours arrived at a place called
+quallo Lumut. The whole of the land on both sides of the river is low,
+covered with wood, and uninhabited. In these woods I observed camphor
+trees, two species of oak, maranti, rangi, and several other
+timber-trees. About a quarter of a mile from that place, on the opposite
+side of the river, is a Batta kampong, situated on the summit of a
+regular and very beautiful little hill, which rises in a pyramidical
+form, in the middle of a small meadow. The raja of this kampong, being
+informed by the Malays that we were at their houses, came over to see us,
+and invited us to his house, where we were received with great ceremony,
+and saluted with about thirty guns. This kampong consists of about eight
+or ten houses, with their respective padi-houses. It is strongly
+fortified with a double fence of strong rough camphor planks, driven deep
+into the earth, and about eight or nine feet high, so placed that their
+points project considerably outward. These fences are about twelve feet
+asunder, and in the space between them the buffaloes are kept at night.
+Without-side these fences they plant a row of a prickly kind of bamboo,
+which forms an almost impenetrable hedge from twelve to twenty feet
+thick. In the sapiyau or building in which the raja receives strangers we
+saw a man's skull hanging up, which he told us was hung there as a
+trophy, it being the skull of an enemy they had taken prisoner, whose
+body (according to the custom of the Battas) they had eaten about two
+months before. June 23rd. We walked through a level woody country to the
+kampong of Lumut, and next day to Sa-tarong, where I observed several
+plantations of benzoin-trees, some cotton, indigo, turmeric, tobacco, and
+a few pepper-vines. We next proceeded to Tappolen, to Sikia, and to
+Sa-pisang. This last is situated on the banks of Batang-tara river, three
+or four days' journey from the sea; so that our course had hitherto been
+nearly parallel to the coast.
+
+July 1st. We left Sa-pisang and took a direction towards the hills,
+following nearly the course of the Batang-tara. We travelled all this day
+through a low, woody, and entirely uncultivated country, which afforded
+nothing worthy of observation. Our guide had proposed to reach a kampong,
+called Lumbu; but missing the road we were obliged to wade up the river
+between four and five miles, and at length arrived at a ladang extremely
+fatigued; where the badness of the weather obliged us to stop and take up
+our quarters in an open padi-shed. The next day the river was so swelled
+by the heavy rain which had fallen the preceding day that we could not
+prosecute our journey, and were obliged to pass it and the remaining
+night in the same uncomfortable situation. (This is the middle of the dry
+season in the southern parts of the island.) July 3rd. We left the ladang
+and walked through a very irregular and uninhabited tract, full of rocks
+and covered with woods. We this day crossed a ridge of very steep and
+high hills, and in the afternoon came to an inhabited and well-cultivated
+country on the edge of the plains of Ancola. We slept this night in a
+small open shed, and next day proceeded to a kampong called Koto Lambong.
+July 5th. Went through a more open and very pleasant country to
+Terimbaru, a large kampong on the southern edge of the plains of Ancola.
+The land hereabout is entirely clear of wood, and either ploughed and
+sown with padi or jagong (maize), or used as pasture for their numerous
+herds of buffaloes, kine, and horses. The raja being informed of our
+intentions to come there sent his son and between thirty and forty men,
+armed with lances and matchlock guns, to meet us, who escorted us to
+their kampong, beating gongs and firing their guns all the way. The raja
+received us in great form, and with civility ordered a buffalo to be
+killed, detained us a day, and when we proceeded on our journey sent his
+son with a party to escort us. I observed that all the unmarried women
+wore a great number of tin rings in their ears (some having fifty in each
+ear), which circumstance, together with the appearance of the country,
+seemed to indicate its abounding with minerals; but on making inquiry I
+found that the tin was brought from the straits of Malacca. Having made
+the accustomed presents to the raja we left Terimbaru, July 7th, and
+proceeded to Sa-masam, the raja of which place, attended by sixty or
+seventy men, well armed, met us and conducted us to his kampong, where he
+had prepared a house for our reception, treating us with much hospitality
+and respect. The country round Sa-masam is full of small hills but clear
+of wood, and mostly pasture ground for their cattle, of which they have
+great abundance. I met with nothing remarkable here excepting a prickly
+shrub called by the natives Andalimon, the seed-vessels and leaves of
+which have a very agreeable spicy taste, and are used by them in their
+curries.
+
+July 10th. Proceeded on our journey to Batang Onan, the kampong where the
+Malays used to purchase the cassia from the Battas. After about three
+hours walk over an open hilly country we again came into thick woods, in
+which we were obliged to pass the night. The next morning we crossed
+another ridge of very high hills, covered entirely with woods. In these
+we saw the wild benzoin-tree. It grows to a much larger size than the
+cultivated kind, and yields a different sort of resin called kaminian
+dulong or sweet-scented benzoin. It differs in being commonly in more
+detached pieces, and having a smell resembling that of almonds when
+bruised. Arrived at Batang Onan in the afternoon. This kampong is
+situated in a very extensive plain on the banks of a large river which
+empties itself into the straits of Malacca, and is said to be navigable
+for sloops to within a day's journey of Batang Onan.
+
+CASSIA-TREES.
+
+July 11th. Went to Panka-dulut, the raja of which place claims the
+property of the cassia-trees, and his people used to cut and cure the
+bark and transport it to the former place. The nearest trees are about
+two hours walk from Panka-dulut on a high ridge of mountains. They grow
+from forty to sixty feet high, and have large spreading heads. They are
+not cultivated, but grow in the woods. The bark is commonly taken from
+the bodies of the trees of a foot or foot and half diameter; the bark
+being so thin, when the trees are younger, as to lose all its qualities
+very soon. I here inquired for the different sorts of cassia-tree of
+which I had been told, but was now informed that there was only one sort,
+and that the difference they mentioned was occasioned entirely by the
+soil and situation in which the trees grow; that those which grow in a
+rocky dry soil have red shoots, and their bark is of superior quality to
+that of trees which grow in moist clay, whose shoots are green. I also
+endeavoured to get some information with regard to their method of curing
+and quilling the cassia, and told them my intentions of trying some
+experiments towards improving its quality and rendering it more valuable.
+They told me that none had been cut for two years past, on account of a
+stop being put to the purchases at Tappanuli; and that if I was come with
+authority to open the trade I should call together the people of the
+neighbouring kampongs, kill a buffalo for them, and assure them publicly
+that the cassia would be again received; in which case they would
+immediately begin to cut and cure it, and would willingly follow any
+instructions I should give them; but that otherwise they would take no
+trouble about it. I must observe that I was prevented from getting so
+satisfactory an account of the cassia as I could have wished by the
+ill-behaviour of the person who accompanied us as guide, from whom, by
+his thorough knowledge of the country, and of the cassia-trade, of which
+he had formerly been the chief manager, we thought we had reason to
+expect all requisite assistance and information, but who not only refused
+to give it, but prevented as much as possible our receiving any from the
+country people. July 14th. We left Batang Onan in order to return,
+stopped that night at a kampong called Koto Moran, and the next evening
+reached Sa-masam; from whence we proceeded by a different road from what
+we had travelled before to Sa-pisang, where we procured sampans, and went
+down the Batang-tara river to the sea. July 22nd we returned to Pulo
+Punchong.
+
+End of Mr. Miller's Narrative.
+
+It has since been understood that they were intentionally misled, and
+taken by a circuitous route to prevent their seeing a particular kampong
+of some consideration at the back of Tappanuli, or for some other
+interested object. Near the latter place, on the main, Mr. John Marsden,
+who went thither to be present at the funeral of one of their chiefs,
+observed two old monuments in stone, one the figure of a man, the other
+of a man on an elephant, tolerably well executed, but they know not by
+whom, nor is there any among them who could do the same work now. The
+features were strongly Batta.
+
+NATAL.
+
+Our settlement at Natal (properly Natar), some miles to the south of the
+large river of Tabuyong, and on the confines of the Batta country, which
+extends at the back of it, is a place of much commerce, but not from its
+natural or political circumstances of importance in other respects. It is
+inhabited by settlers there, for the convenience of trade, from the
+countries of Achin, Rau, and Menangkabau, who render it populous and
+rich. Gold of very fine quality is procured from the country (some of the
+mines being said to lie within ten miles of the factory), and there is a
+considerable vent for imported goods, the returns for which are chiefly
+made in that article and camphor. Like other Malayan towns it is governed
+by datus, the chief of whom, styled datu besar or chief magistrate, has
+considerable sway; and although the influence of the Company is here
+predominant its authority is by no means so firmly established as in the
+pepper-districts to the southward, owing to the number of people, their
+wealth, and enterprising, independent spirit.* It may be said that they
+are rather managed and conciliated than ruled. They find the English
+useful as moderators between their own contending factions, which often
+have recourse to arms, even upon points of ceremonious precedence, and
+are reasoned into accommodation by our resident going among them
+unattended. At an earlier period our protection was convenient to them
+against the usurpation, as they termed it, of the Dutch, of whose
+attempts and claims they were particularly jealous. By an article of the
+treaty of Paris in 1763 these pretensions were ascertained as they
+respected the two European powers, and the settlements of Natal and
+Tappanuli were expressly restored to the English. They had however
+already been re-occupied. Neither in fact have any right but what
+proceeds from the will and consent of the native princes.
+
+(*Footnote. Upon the re-establishment of the factory in 1762 the resident
+pointed out to the Datu besar, with a degree of indignation, the number
+of dead bodies which were frequently seen floating down the river, and
+proposed his cooperating to prevent assassinations in the country,
+occasioned by the anarchy the place fell into during the temporary
+interruption of the Company's influence. "I cannot assent to any measures
+for that purpose," replied the datu: "I reap from these murders an
+advantage of twenty dollars a head when the families prosecute." A
+compensation of thirty dollars per month was offered him, and to this he
+scarcely submitted, observing that he should be a considerable loser, as
+there fell in this manner at least three men in the month. At another
+time, when the resident attempted to carry some regulation into
+execution, he said, "kami tradah suka begito, orang kaya!" "We do not
+choose to allow it, sir;" and bared his right arm as a signal of attack
+to his dependants in case the point had been insisted on. Of late years
+habit and a sense of mutual interest have rendered them more
+accommodating.)
+
+BATTA GOVERNMENTS.
+
+The government of the Batta country, although nominally in the hands of
+three or more sovereign rajas, is effectively (so far as our intercourse
+with the people enables us to ascertain) divided into numberless petty
+chiefships, the heads of which, also styled rajas, have no appearance of
+being dependant upon any superior power, but enter into associations with
+each other, particularly with those belonging to the same tribe, for
+mutual defence and security against any distant enemy. They are at the
+same time extremely jealous of any increase of their relative power, and
+on the slightest pretext a war breaks out between them. The force of
+different kampongs is notwithstanding this very unequal, and some rajas
+possess a much more extensive sway than others; and it must needs be so,
+where every man who can get a dozen followers and two or three muskets
+sets up for independence. Inland of a place called Sokum great respect
+was paid to a female chief or uti (which word I conceive to be a liquid
+pronunciation of putri, a princess), whose jurisdiction comprehended many
+tribes. Her grandson, who was the reigning prince, had lately been
+murdered by an invader, and she had assembled an army of two or three
+thousand men to take revenge. An agent of the Company went up the river
+about fifteen miles in hopes of being able to accommodate a matter that
+threatened materially the peace of the country; but he was told by the
+uti that, unless he would land his men, and take a decided part in her
+favour, he had no business there, and he was obliged to reembark without
+effecting anything. The aggressor followed him the same night and made
+his escape. It does not appear likely, from the manners and dispositions
+of the people, that the whole of the country was ever united under one
+supreme head.
+
+AUTHORITY OF RAJAS.
+
+The more powerful rajas assume authority over the lives of their
+subjects. The dependants are bound to attend their chief in his journeys
+and in his wars, and when an individual refuses he is expelled from the
+society without permission to take his property along with him. They are
+supplied with food for their expeditions, and allowed a reward for each
+person they kill. The revenues of the chief arise principally from fines
+of cattle adjudged in criminal proceedings, which he always appropriates
+to himself; and from the produce of the camphor and benzoin trees
+throughout his district; but this is not rigorously insisted upon. When
+he pays his gaming debts he imposes what arbitrary value he thinks proper
+on the horses and buffaloes (no coin being used
+in the country), which he delivers, and his subjects are obliged to
+accept them at that rate. They are forced to work in their turns, for a
+certain number of days, in his rice plantations. There is, in like
+manner, a lesser kind of service for land held of any other person, the
+tenant being bound to pay his landlord respect wherever he meets him, and
+to provide him with entertainment whenever he comes to his house. The
+people seem to have a permanent property in their possessions, selling
+them to each other as they think fit. If a man plants trees and leaves
+them, no future occupier can sell them, though he may eat the fruit.
+Disputes and litigations of any kind that happen between people belonging
+to the same kampong are settled by a magistrate appointed for that
+purpose, and from him it is said there is no appeal to the raja: when
+they arise between persons of different kampongs they are adjusted at a
+meeting of the respective rajas. When a party is sent down to the Bay to
+purchase salt or on other business it is accompanied by an officer who
+takes cognizance of their behaviour, and sometimes punishes on the spot
+such as are criminal or refractory. This is productive of much order and
+decency.
+
+SUCCESSION.
+
+It is asserted that the succession to the chiefships does not go in the
+first instance to the son of the deceased, but to the nephew by a sister;
+and that the same extraordinary rule, with respect to property in
+general, prevails also amongst the Malays of that part of the island, and
+even in the neighbourhood of Padang. The authorities for this are various
+and unconnected with each other, but not sufficiently circumstantial to
+induce me to admit it as a generally established practice.
+
+RESPECT FOR THE SULTAN OF MENANGKABAU.
+
+Notwithstanding the independent spirit of the Battas, and their contempt
+of all power that would affect a superiority over their little societies,
+they have a superstitious veneration for the sultan of Menangkabau, and
+show blind submission to his relations and emissaries, real or pretended,
+when such appear among them for the purpose of levying contributions:
+even when insulted and put in fear of their lives they make no attempt at
+resistance: they think that their affairs would never prosper; that their
+padi would be blighted, and their buffaloes die; that they would remain
+under a kind of spell for offending those sacred messengers.
+
+PERSONS.
+
+The Battas are in their persons rather below the stature of the Malays,
+and their complexions are fairer; which may perhaps be owing to their
+distance, for the most part, from the sea, an element they do not at all
+frequent.
+
+DRESS.
+
+Their dress is commonly of a sort of cotton cloth manufactured by
+themselves, thick, harsh, and wiry, about four astas or cubits long, and
+two in breadth, worn round the middle, with a scarf over the shoulder.
+These are of mixed colours, the prevalent being a brownish red and a blue
+approaching to black. They are fond of adorning them, particularly the
+scarf, with strings and tassels of beads. The covering of the head is
+usually the bark of a tree, but the superior class wear a strip of
+foreign blue cloth in imitation of the Malayan destars, and a few have
+bajus (outer garments) of chintz. The young women, beside the cloth round
+the middle, have one over the breasts, and (as noticed in Mr. Miller's
+journal) wear in their ears numerous rings of tin, as well as several
+large rings of thick brass wire round their necks. On festival days
+however they ornament themselves with earrings of gold, hair-pins, of
+which the heads are fashioned like birds or dragons, a kind of
+three-cornered breastplate, and hollow rings upon the upper arm, all, in
+like manner, of gold. The kima shell, which abounds in the bay, is
+likewise worked into arm-rings, whiter, and taking a better polish than
+ivory.
+
+ARMS.
+
+Their arms are matchlock guns, with which they are expert marksmen,
+bamboo lances or spears with long iron heads, and a side-weapon called
+jono, which resembles and is worn as a sword rather than a kris. The
+cartridge-boxes are provided with a number of little wooden cases, each
+containing a charge for the piece. In these are carried likewise the
+match, and the smaller ranjaus, the longer being in a joint of bamboo,
+slung like a quiver over the shoulder. They have machines curiously
+carved and formed like the beak of a large bird for holding bullets, and
+others of peculiar construction for a reserve of powder. These hang in
+front. On the right side hang the flint and steel, and also the
+tobacco-pipe. Their guns, the locks of which {for holding the match) are
+of copper, they are supplied with by traders from Menangkabau; the swords
+are of their own workmanship, and they also manufacture their own
+gunpowder, extracting the saltpetre, as it is said, from the soil taken
+from under houses that have been long inhabited (which in consequence of
+an uncleanly practice is strongly impregnated with animal salts),
+together with that collected in places where goats are kept. Through this
+earth water is filtered, and being afterwards suffered to evaporate the
+saltpetre is found at the bottom of the vessel. Their proper standard in
+war is a horse's head, from whence flows a long mane or tail; beside
+which they have colours of red or white cloth. For drums they use gongs,
+and in action set up a kind of war-whoop.
+
+WARFARE.
+
+The spirit of war is excited among these people by small provocation, and
+their resolutions for carrying it into effect are soon taken. Their life
+appears in fact to be a perpetual state of hostility, and they are always
+prepared for attack and defence. When they proceed to put their designs
+into execution the first act of defiance is firing, without ball, into
+the kampong of their enemies. Three days are then allowed for the party
+fired upon to propose terms of accommodation, and if this is not done, or
+the terms are such as cannot be agreed to, war is then fully declared.
+This ceremony of firing with powder only is styled carrying smoke to the
+adversary. During the course of their wars, which sometimes last for two
+or three years, they seldom meet openly in the field or attempt to decide
+their contest by a general engagement, as the mutual loss of a dozen men
+might go near to ruin both parties, nor do they ever engage hand to hand,
+but keep at a pretty safe distance, seldom nearer than random-shot,
+excepting in case of sudden surprise. They march in single files, and
+usually fire kneeling. It is not often that they venture a direct attack
+upon each other's works, but watch opportunities of picking off
+stragglers passing through the woods. A party of three or four will
+conceal themselves near the footways, and if they see any of their foes
+they fire and run away immediately; planting ranjaus after them to
+prevent pursuit. On these occasions a man will subsist upon a potato a
+day, in which they have much the advantage of the Malays (against whom
+they are often engaged in warfare), who require to be better fed.
+
+FORTIFICATIONS.
+
+They fortify their kampongs with large ramparts of earth, halfway up
+which they plant brushwood. There is a ditch without the rampart, and on
+each side of that a tall palisade of camphor timber. Beyond this is an
+impenetrable hedge of prickly bamboo, which when of sufficient growth
+acquires an extraordinary density, and perfectly conceals all appearance
+of a town. Ranjaus, of a length both for the body and the feet, are
+disposed without all these, and render the approaches hazardous to
+assailants who are almost naked. At each corner of the fortress, instead
+of a tower or watch-house, they contrive to have a tall tree, which they
+ascend to reconnoitre or fire from. But they are not fond of remaining on
+the defensive in these fortified villages, and therefore, leaving a few
+to guard them, usually advance into the plains, and throw up temporary
+breast-works and entrenchments.
+
+TRADE.
+
+The natives of the sea-coast exchange their benzoin, camphor, and cassia
+(the quantity of gold-dust is very inconsiderable) for iron, steel,
+brass-wire, and salt, of which last article a hundred thousand bamboo
+measures are annually taken off in the bay of Tappanuli. These they
+barter again with the more inland inhabitants, in the mode that shall
+presently be described, for the products and manufactures of the country,
+particularly the home-made cloth; a very small quantity of cotton
+piece-goods being imported from the coast and disposed of to the natives.
+What they do take off is chiefly blue-cloth for the head, and chintz.
+
+FAIRS HELD.
+
+For the convenience of carrying on the inland-trade there are established
+at the back of Tappanuli, which is their great mart, four stages, at
+which successively they hold public fairs or markets on every fourth day
+throughout the year; each fair, of course, lasting one day. The people in
+the district of the fourth stage assemble with their goods at the
+appointed place, to which those of the third resort in order to purchase
+them. The people of the third, in like manner, supply the wants of the
+second, and the second of the first, who dispose, on the day the market
+is held, of the merchandise for which they have trafficked with the
+Europeans and Malays. On these occasions all hostilities are suspended.
+Each man who possesses a musket carries it with a green bough in the
+muzzle, as a token of peace, and afterwards, when he comes to the spot,
+following the example of the director or manager of the party, discharges
+the loading into a mound of earth, in which, before his departure, he
+searches for his ball. There is but one house at the place where the
+market is held, and that is for the purpose of gaming. The want of booths
+is supplied by the shade of regular rows of fruit-trees, mostly durian,
+of which one avenue is reserved for the women. The dealings are conducted
+with order and fairness; the chief remaining at a little distance, to be
+referred to in case of dispute, and a guard is at hand, armed with
+lances, to keep the peace; yet with all this police, which bespeaks
+civilization, I have been assured by those who have had an opportunity of
+attending their meetings that in the whole of their appearance and
+deportment there is more of savage life than is observed in the manners
+of the Rejangs, or inhabitants of Lampong. Traders from the remoter Batta
+districts, lying north and south, assemble at these periodical markets,
+where all their traffic is carried on, and commodities bartered. They are
+not however peculiar to this country, being held, among other places, at
+Batang-kapas and Ipu. By the Malays they are termed onan.
+
+ESTIMATE BY COMMODITIES INSTEAD OF COIN.
+
+Having no coin all value is estimated among them by certain commodities.
+In trade they calculate by tampangs (cakes) of benzoin; in transactions
+among themselves more commonly by buffaloes: sometimes brass wire and
+sometimes beads are used as a medium. A galang, or ring of brass wire,
+represents about the value of a dollar. But for small payments salt is
+the most in use. A measure called a salup, weighing about two pounds, is
+equal to a fanam or twopence-halfpenny: a balli, another small measure,
+goes for four keppeng, or three-fifths of a penny.
+
+FOOD.
+
+The ordinary food of the lower class of people is maize and
+sweet-potatoes, the rajas and great men alone indulging themselves with
+rice. Some mix them together. It is only on public occasions that they
+kill cattle for food; but not being delicate in their appetites they do
+not scruple to eat part of a dead buffalo, hog, rat, alligator, or any
+wild animal with which they happen to meet. Their rivers are said not to
+abound with fish. Horse-flesh they esteem their most exquisite meat, and
+for this purpose feed them upon grain and pay great attention to their
+keep. They are numerous in the country, and the Europeans at Bencoolen
+are supplied with many good ones from thence, but not with the finest, as
+these are reserved for their festivals. They have also, says Mr. Miller,
+great quantities of small black dogs, with erect pointed ears, which they
+fatten and eat. Toddy or palm-wine they drink copiously at their feasts.
+
+BUILDINGS.
+
+The houses are built with frames of wood, with the sides of boards, and
+roof covered with iju. They usually consist of a single large room, which
+is entered by a trap-door in the middle. The number seldom exceeds twenty
+in one kampong; but opposite to each is a kind of open building that
+serves for sitting in during the day, and as a sleeping-place for the
+unmarried men at night. These together form a sort of street. To each
+kampong there is also a balei, where the inhabitants assemble for
+transacting public business, celebrating feasts, and the reception of
+strangers, whom they entertain with frankness and hospitality. At the end
+of this building is a place divided off, from whence the women see the
+spectacles of fencing and dancing; and below that is a kind of orchestra
+for music.
+
+DOMESTIC MANNERS.
+
+The men are allowed to marry as many wives as they please, or can afford,
+and to have half a dozen is not uncommon. Each of these sits in a
+different part of the large room, and sleeps exposed to the others; not
+being separated by any partition or distinction of apartments. Yet the
+husband finds it necessary to allot to each of them their several
+fireplaces and cooking utensils, where they dress their own victuals
+separately, and prepare his in turns. How is this domestic state and the
+flimsiness of such an imaginary barrier to be reconciled with our ideas
+of the furious, ungovernable passions of love and jealousy supposed to
+prevail in an eastern harem? or must custom be allowed to supersede all
+other influence, both moral and physical? In other respects they differ
+little in their customs relating to marriage from the rest of the island.
+The parents of the girl always receive a valuable consideration (in
+buffaloes or horses) from the person to whom she is given in marriage;
+which is returned when a divorce takes place against the man's
+inclination. The daughters as elsewhere are looked upon as the riches of
+the fathers.
+
+CONDITION OF WOMEN.
+
+The condition of the women appears to be no other than that of slaves,
+the husbands having the power of selling their wives and children. They
+alone, beside the domestic duties, work in the rice plantations. These
+are prepared in the same mode as in the rest of the island; except that
+in the central parts, the country being clearer, the plough and harrow,
+drawn by buffaloes, are more used. The men, when not engaged in war,
+their favourite occupation, commonly lead an idle, inactive life, passing
+the day in playing on a kind of flute, crowned with garlands of flowers;
+among which the globe-amaranthus, a native of the country, mostly
+prevails.
+
+HORSERACING.
+
+They are said however to hunt deer on horseback, and to be attached to
+the diversion of horseracing. They ride boldly without a saddle or
+stirrups, frequently throwing their hands upwards whilst pushing their
+horse to full speed. The bit of the bridle is of iron, and has several
+joints; the head-stall and reins of rattan: in some parts the reins, or
+halter rather, is of iju, and the bit of wood. They are, like the rest of
+the Sumatrans, much addicted to gaming, and the practice is under no kind
+of restraint, until it destroys itself by the ruin of one of the parties.
+When a man loses more money than he is able to pay he is confined and
+sold as a slave; being the most usual mode by which they become such. A
+generous winner will sometimes release his unfortunate adversary upon
+condition of his killing a horse and making a public entertainment.
+
+LANGUAGE.
+
+They have, as was before observed, a language and written character
+peculiar to themselves, and which may be considered, in point of
+originality, as equal at least to any other in the island, and although,
+like the languages of Java, Celebes, and the Philippines, it has many
+terms in common with the Malayan (being all, in my judgment, from one
+common stock), yet, in the way of encroachment, from the influence, both
+political and religious, acquired by its immediate neighbours, the Batta
+tongue appears to have experienced less change than any other. For a
+specimen of its words, its alphabet, and the rules by which the sound of
+its letters is modified and governed, the reader is referred to the Table
+and Plate above. It is remarkable that the proportion of the people who
+are able to read and write is much greater than of those who do not; a
+qualification seldom observed in such uncivilized parts of the world, and
+not always found in the more polished.
+
+WRITING.
+
+Their writing for common purposes is, like that already described in
+speaking of the Rejangs, upon pieces of bamboo.
+
+BOOKS.
+
+Their books (and such they may with propriety be termed) are composed of
+the inner bark of a certain tree cut into long slips and folded in
+squares, leaving part of the wood at each extremity to serve for the
+outer covering. The bark for this purpose is shaved smooth and thin, and
+afterwards rubbed over with rice-water. The pen they use is a twig or the
+fibre of a leaf, and their ink is made of the soot of dammar mixed with
+the juice of the sugar-cane. The contents of their books are little known
+to us. The writing of most of those in my possession is mixed with
+uncouth representations of scolopendra and other noxious animals, and
+frequent diagrams, which imply their being works of astrology and
+divination. These they are known to consult in all the transactions of
+life, and the event is predicted by the application of certain characters
+marked on a slip of bamboo, to the lines of the sacred book, with which a
+comparison is made. But this is not their only mode of divining. Before
+going to war they kill a buffalo or a fowl that is perfectly white, and
+by observing the motion of the intestines judge of the good or ill
+fortune likely to attend them; and the priest who performs this ceremony
+had need to be infallible, for if he predicts contrary to the event it is
+said that he is sometimes punished with death for his want of skill.
+Exclusively however of these books of necromancy there are others
+containing legendary and mythological tales, of which latter a sample
+will be given under the article of religion.
+
+REMARK BY DR. LEYDEN.
+
+Dr. Leyden, in his Dissertation on the Languages and Literature of the
+Indo-Chinese nations, says that the Batta character is written neither
+from right to left, nor from left to right, nor from top to bottom, but
+in a manner directly opposite to that of the Chinese, from the bottom to
+the top of the line, and that I have conveyed an erroneous idea of their
+natural form by arranging the characters horizontally instead of placing
+them in a perpendicular line. Not having now the opportunity of verifying
+by ocular proof what I understood to be the practical order of their
+writing, namely, from left to right (in the manner of the Hindus, who,
+there is reason to believe, were the original instructors of all these
+people), I shall only observe that I have among my papers three distinct
+specimens of the Batta alphabet, written by different natives at
+different periods, and all of them are horizontal. But I am at the same
+time aware that as this was performed in the presence of Europeans, and
+upon our paper, they might have deviated from their ordinary practice,
+and that the evidence is therefore not conclusive. It might be presumed
+indeed that the books themselves would be sufficient criterion; but
+according to the position in which they are held they may be made to
+sanction either mode, although it is easy to determine by simple
+inspection the commencement of the lines. In the Batavian Transactions
+(Volume 3 page 23) already so often quoted, it is expressly said that
+these people write like Europeans from the left hand towards the right:
+and in truth it is not easy to conceive how persons making use of ink can
+conduct the hand from the bottom to the top of a page without marring
+their own performance. But still a matter of fact, if such it be, cannot
+give way to argument, and I have no object but to ascertain the truth.
+
+RELIGION.
+
+Their religion, like that of all other inhabitants of the island who are
+not Mahometans, is so obscure in its principles as scarcely to afford
+room to say that any exists among them. Yet they have rather more of
+ceremony and observance than those of Rejang or Passummah, and there is
+an order of persons by them called guru (a well-known Hindu term), who
+may be denominated priests, as they are employed in administering oaths,
+foretelling lucky and unlucky days, making sacrifices, and the
+performance of funeral rites. For a knowledge of their theogony we are
+indebted to M. Siberg, governor of the Dutch settlements on the coast of
+Sumatra, by whom the following account was communicated to the late M.
+Radermacher, a distinguished member of the Batavian Society, and by him
+published in its Transactions.
+
+MYTHOLOGY.
+
+The inhabitants of this country have many fabulous stories, which shall
+be briefly mentioned. They acknowledge three deities as rulers of the
+world, who are respectively named Batara-guru, Sori-pada, and
+Mangalla-bulang. The first, say they, bears rule in heaven, is the father
+of all mankind, and partly, under the following circumstances, creator of
+the earth, which from the beginning of time had been supported on the
+head of Naga-padoha, but, growing weary at length, he shook his head,
+which occasioned the earth to sink, and nothing remained in the world
+excepting water. They do not pretend to a knowledge of the creation of
+this original earth and water, but say that at the period when the latter
+covered everything, the chief deity, Batara-guru, had a daughter named
+Puti-orla-bulan, who requested permission to descend to these lower
+regions, and accordingly came down on a white owl, accompanied by a dog;
+but not being able, by reason of the waters, to continue there, her
+father let fall from heaven a lofty mountain, named Bakarra, now situated
+in the Batta country, as a dwelling for his child; and from this mountain
+all other land gradually proceeded. The earth was once more supported on
+the three horns of Naga-padoha, and that he might never again suffer it
+to fall off Batara-guru sent his son, named Layang-layang-mandi
+(literally the dipping swallow) to bind him hand and foot. But to his
+occasionally shaking his head they ascribe the effect of earthquakes.
+Puti-orla-bulan had afterwards, during her residence on earth, three sons
+and three daughters, from whom sprang the whole human race.
+
+The second of their deities has the rule of the air betwixt earth and
+heaven, and the third that of the earth; but these two are considered as
+subordinate to the first. Besides these they have as many inferior
+deities as there are sensible objects on earth, or circumstances in human
+society; of which some preside over the sea, others over rivers, over
+woods, over war, and the like. They believe likewise in four evil
+spirits, dwelling in four separate mountains, and whatever ill befalls
+them they attribute to the agency of one of these demons. On such
+occasions they apply to one of their cunning men, who has recourse to his
+art, and by cutting a lemon ascertains which of these has been the author
+of the mischief, and by what means the evil spirit may be propitiated;
+which always proves to be the sacrificing a buffalo, hog, goat, or
+whatever animal the wizard happens on that day to be most inclined to
+eat. When the address is made to any of the superior and beneficent
+deities for assistance, and the priest directs an offering of a horse,
+cow, dog, hog, or fowl, care must be taken that the animal to be
+sacrificed is entirely white.
+
+They have also a vague and confused idea of the immortality of the human
+soul, and of a future state of happiness or misery. They say that the
+soul of a dying person makes its escape through the nostrils, and is
+borne away by the wind, to heaven, if of a person who has led a good
+life, but if of an evil-doer, to a great cauldron, where it shall be
+exposed to fire until such time as Batara-guru shall judge it to have
+suffered punishment proportioned to its sins, and feeling compassion
+shall take it to himself in heaven: that finally the time shall come when
+the chains and bands of Naga-padoha shall be worn away, and he shall once
+more allow the earth to sink, that the sun will be then no more than a
+cubit's distance from it, and that the souls of those who, having lived
+well, shall remain alive at the last day, shall in like manner go to
+heaven, and those of the wicked, be consigned to the before-mentioned
+cauldron, intensely heated by the near approach of the sun's rays, to be
+there tormented by a minister of Batara-guru, named Suraya-guru, until,
+having expiated their offences, they shall be thought worthy of reception
+into the heavenly regions.
+
+...
+
+To the Sanskrit scholar who shall make allowances for corrupt orthography
+many of these names will be familiar. For Batara he will read avatara;
+and in Naga-padoha he will recognise the serpent on whom Vishnu reposes.
+
+OATHS.
+
+Their ceremonies that wear most the appearance of religion are those
+practised on taking an oath, and at their funeral obsequies. A person
+accused of a crime and who asserts his innocence is in some cases
+acquitted upon solemnly swearing to it, but in others is obliged to
+undergo a kind of ordeal. A cock's throat is usually cut on the occasion
+by the guru. The accused then puts a little rice into his mouth (probably
+dry), and wishes it may become a stone if he be guilty of the crime with
+which he stands charged, or, holding up a musket bullet, prays it may be
+his fate in that case to fall in battle. In more important instances they
+put a small leaden or tin image into the middle of a dish of rice,
+garnished with those bullets; when the man, kneeling down, prays that his
+crop of rice may fail, his cattle die, and that he himself may never take
+salt (a luxury as well as necessary of life), if he does not declare the
+truth. These tin images may be looked upon as objects of idolatrous
+worship; but I could not learn that any species of adoration was paid to
+them on other occasions any more than to certain stone images which have
+been mentioned. Like the relics of saints, they are merely employed to
+render the form of the oath more mysterious, and thereby increase the awe
+with which it should be regarded.
+
+FUNERAL CEREMONIES.
+
+When a raja or person of consequence dies the funeral usually occupies
+several months; that is, the corpse is kept unburied until the
+neighbouring and distant chiefs, or, in common cases, the relations and
+creditors of the deceased, can be convened in order to celebrate the
+rites with becoming dignity and respect. Perhaps the season of planting
+or of harvest intervenes, and these necessary avocations must be attended
+to before the funeral ceremonies can be concluded. The body however is in
+the meantime deposited in a kind of coffin. To provide this they fell a
+large tree (the anau in preference, because of the softness of the
+central part, whilst the outer coat is hard), and, having cut a portion
+of the stem of sufficient length, they split it in two parts, hollow each
+part so as to form a receptacle for the body, and then fit them exactly
+together. The workmen take care to sprinkle the wood with the blood of a
+young hog, whose flesh is given to them as a treat. The coffin being thus
+prepared and brought into the house the body is placed in it, with a mat
+beneath, and a cloth laid over it. Where the family can afford the
+expense it is strewed over with camphor. Having now placed the two parts
+in close contact they bind them together with rattans, and cover the
+whole with a thick coating of dammar or resin. In some instances they
+take the precaution of inserting a bamboo-tube into the lower part,
+which, passing thence through the raised floor into the ground, serves to
+carry off the offensive matter; so that in fact little more than the
+bones remain.
+
+When the relations and friends are assembled, each of whom brings with
+him a buffalo, hog, goat, dog, fowl, or other article of provision,
+according to his ability, and the women baskets of rice, which are
+presented and placed in order, the feasting begins and continues for nine
+days and nights, or so long as the provisions hold out. On the last of
+these days the coffin is carried out and set in an open space, where it
+is surrounded by the female mourners, on their knees, with their heads
+covered, and howling (ululantes) in dismal concert, whilst the younger
+persons of the family are dancing near it, in solemn movement, to the
+sound of gongs, kalintangs, and a kind of flageolet; at night it is
+returned to the house, where the dancing and music continues, with
+frequent firing of guns, and on the tenth day the body is carried to the
+grave,
+preceded by the guru or priest, whose limbs are tattooed in the shape of
+birds and beasts, and painted of different colours,* with a large wooden
+mask on his face.
+
+(*Footnote. It is remarkable that in the Bisayan language of the
+Philippines the term for people so marked, whom the Spaniards call
+pintados, is batuc. This practice is common in the islands near the coast
+of Sumatra, as will hereafter be noticed. It seems to have prevailed in
+many parts of the farther East, as Siam, Laos, and several of the
+islands.)
+
+He takes a piece of buffalo-flesh, swings it about, throwing himself into
+violent attitudes and strange contortions, and then eats the morsel in a
+voracious manner. He then kills a fowl over the corpse, letting the blood
+run down upon the coffin, and just before it is moved both he and the
+female mourners, having each a broom in their hands, sweep violently
+about it, as if to chase away the evil spirits and prevent their joining
+in the procession, when suddenly four men, stationed for the purpose,
+lift up the coffin, and march quickly off with it, as if escaping from
+the fiend, the priest continuing to sweep after it for some distance. It
+is then deposited in the ground, without any peculiar ceremony, at the
+depth of three or four feet; the earth about the grave is raised, a shed
+built over it, further feasting takes place on the spot for an indefinite
+time, and the horns and jaw-bones of the buffaloes and other cattle
+devoured on the occasion are fastened to the posts. Mr. John and Mr.
+Frederick Marsden were spectators of the funeral of a raja at Tappanuli
+on the main. Mr. Charles Miller mentions his having been present at
+killing the hundred and sixth buffalo at the grave of a raja, in a part
+of the country where the ceremony was sometimes continued even a year
+after the interment; and that they seem to regard their ancestors as a
+kind of superior beings, attendant always upon them.
+
+CRIMES.
+
+The crimes committed here against the order and peace of society are said
+not to be numerous. Theft amongst themselves is almost unknown, being
+strictly honest in their dealings with each other; but when discovered
+the offender is made answerable for double the value of the goods stolen.
+Pilfering indeed from strangers, when not restrained by the laws of
+hospitality, they are expert at, and think no moral offence; because they
+do not perceive that any ill results from it. Open robbery and murder are
+punishable with death if the parties are unable to redeem their lives by
+a sum of money. A person guilty of manslaughter is obliged to bear the
+expense attending the interment of the deceased and the funeral-feast
+given to his friends, or, if too poor to accomplish this it is required
+of his nearest relation, who is empowered to reimburse himself by selling
+the offender as a slave. In cases of double adultery the man, upon
+detection, is punished with death, in the manner that shall presently be
+described; but the woman is only disgraced, by having her head shaven and
+being sold for a slave, which in fact she was before. This distribution
+of justice must proceed upon the supposition of the females being merely
+passive subjects, and of the men alone possessing the faculties of free
+agents. A single man concerned in adultery with a married woman is
+banished or outlawed by his own family. The lives of culprits are in
+almost all cases redeemable if they or their connections possess property
+sufficient, the quantum being in some measure at the discretion of the
+injured party. At the same time it must be observed that, Europeans not
+being settled amongst these people upon the same footing as in the
+pepper-districts, we are not so well acquainted either with the principle
+or the practice of their laws.
+
+EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.
+
+The most extraordinary of the Batta customs, though certainly not
+peculiar to these people, remains now to be described. Many of the old
+travellers had furnished the world with accounts of anthropophagi or
+maneaters, whom they met with in all parts of the old and new world, and
+their relations, true or false, were in those days, when people were
+addicted to the marvellous, universally credited. In the succeeding ages,
+when a more skeptical and scrutinizing spirit prevailed, several of these
+asserted facts were found upon examination to be false; and men, from a
+bias inherent in our nature, ran into the opposite extreme. It then
+became established as a philosophical truth, capable almost of
+demonstration, that no such race of people ever did or could exist. But
+the varieties, inconsistencies, and contradictions of human manners are
+so numerous and glaring that it is scarcely possible to fix any general
+principle that will apply to all the incongruous races of mankind, or
+even to conceive an irregularity to which some or other of them have not
+been accustomed.
+
+EAT HUMAN FLESH.
+
+The voyages of our late famous circumnavigators, the veracity of whose
+assertions is unimpeachable, have already proved to the world that human
+flesh is eaten by the savages of New Zealand; and I can with equal
+confidence, from conviction of the truth, though not with equal weight of
+authority, assert that it is also, in these days, eaten in the island of
+Sumatra by the Batta people, and by them only. Whether or not the
+horrible custom prevailed more extensively in ancient times I cannot take
+upon me to ascertain, but the same historians who mention it as practised
+in this island, and whose accounts were undeservedly looked upon as
+fabulous, relate it also of many others of the eastern people, and those
+of the island of Java in particular, who since that period may have
+become more humanized.*
+
+(*Footnote. Mention is made of the Battas and their peculiar customs by
+the following early writers: NICOLO DI CONTI, 1449. "In a certain part of
+this island (Sumatra) called Batech, the people eat human flesh. They are
+continually at war with their neighbours, preserve the skulls of their
+enemies as treasure, dispose of them as money, and he is accounted the
+richest man who has most of them in his house." ODOARDUS BARBOSA, 1516.
+"There is another kingdom to the southward, which is the principal source
+of gold; and another inland, called Aaru (contiguous to the Batta
+country) where the inhabitants are pagans, who eat human flesh, and
+chiefly of those they have slain in war." DE BARROS, 1563. "The natives
+of that part of the island which is opposite to Malacca, who are called
+Batas, eat human flesh, and are the most savage and warlike of all the
+land." BEAULIEU, 1622. "The inland people are independent, and speak a
+language different from the Malayan. Are idolaters, and eat human flesh;
+never ransom prisoners, but eat them with pepper and salt. Have no
+religion, but some polity." LUDOVICO BARTHEMA, in 1505, asserts that the
+people of Java were cannibals previously to their traffic with the
+Chinese.)
+
+They do not eat human flesh as the means of satisfying the cravings of
+nature, for there can be no want of sustenance to the inhabitants of such
+a country and climate, who reject no animal food of any kind; nor is it
+sought after as a gluttonous delicacy.
+
+MOTIVES FOR THIS CUSTOM.
+
+The Battas eat it as a species of ceremony; as a mode of showing their
+detestation of certain crimes by an ignominious punishment; and as a
+savage display of revenge and insult to their unfortunate enemies. The
+objects of this barbarous repast are prisoners taken in war, especially
+if badly wounded, the bodies of the slain, and offenders condemned for
+certain capital crimes, especially for adultery. Prisoners unwounded (but
+they are not much disposed to give quarter) may be ransomed or sold as
+slaves where the quarrel is not too inveterate; and the convicts, there
+is reason to believe, rarely suffer when their friends are in
+circumstances to redeem them by the customary equivalent of twenty
+binchangs or eighty dollars. These are tried by the people of the tribe
+where the offence was committed, but cannot be executed until their own
+particular raja has been made acquainted with the sentence, who, when he
+acknowledges the justice of the intended punishment, sends a cloth to
+cover the head of the delinquent, together with a large dish of salt and
+lemons. The unhappy victim is then delivered into the hands of the
+injured party (if it be a private wrong, or in the case of a prisoner to
+the warriors) by whom he is tied to a stake; lances are thrown at him
+from a certain distance by this person, his relations, and friends; and
+when mortally wounded they run up to him, as if in a transport of
+passion, cut pieces from the body with their knives, dip them in the dish
+of salt, lemon-juice, and red pepper, slightly broil them over a fire
+prepared for the purpose, and swallow the morsels with a degree of savage
+enthusiasm. Sometimes (I presume, according to the degree of their
+animosity and resentment) the whole is devoured by the bystanders; and
+instances have been known where, with barbarity still aggravated, they
+tear the flesh from the carcase with their teeth. To such a depth of
+depravity may man be plunged when neither religion nor philosophy
+enlighten his steps! All that can be said in extenuation of the horror of
+this diabolical ceremony is that no view appears to be entertained of
+torturing the sufferers, of increasing or lengthening out the pangs of
+death; the whole fury is directed against the corpse, warm indeed with
+the remains of life, but past the sensation of pain. A difference of
+opinion has existed with respect to the practice of eating the bodies of
+their enemies actually slain in war; but subsequent inquiry has satisfied
+me of its being done, especially in the case of distinguished persons, or
+those who have been accessories to the quarrel. It should be observed
+that their campaigns (which may be aptly compared to the predatory
+excursions of our Borderers) often terminate with the loss of not more
+than half a dozen men on both sides. The skulls of the victims are hung
+up as trophies in the open buildings in front of their houses, and are
+occasionally ransomed by their surviving relations for a sum of money.
+
+DOUBTS OBVIATED.
+
+I have found that some persons (and among them my friend, the late Mr.
+Alexander Dalrymple) have entertained doubts of the reality of the fact
+that human flesh is anywhere eaten by mankind as a national practice, and
+considered the proofs hitherto adduced as insufficient to establish a
+point of so much moment in the history of the species. It is objected to
+me that I never was an eyewitness of a Batta feast of this nature, and
+that my authority for it is considerably weakened by coming through a
+second, or perhaps a third hand. I am sensible of the weight of this
+reasoning, and am not anxious to force any man's belief, much less to
+deceive him by pretences to the highest degree of certainty, when my
+relation can only lay claim to the next degree; but I must at the same
+time observe that, according to my apprehension, the refusing assent to
+fair, circumstantial evidence, because it clashes with a systematic
+opinion, is equally injurious to the cause of truth with asserting that
+as positive which is only doubtful. My conviction of the truth of what I
+have not personally seen (and we must all be convinced of facts to which
+neither ourselves nor those with whom we are immediately connected could
+ever have been witnesses) has arisen from the following circumstances,
+some of less, and some of greater authority. It is in the first place a
+matter of general and uncontroverted notoriety throughout the island, and
+I have conversed with many natives of the Batta country (some of them in
+my own service), who acknowledged the practice, and became ashamed of it
+after residing amongst more humanized people. It has been my chance to
+have had no fewer than three brothers and brothers-in-law, beside several
+intimate friends (of whom some are now in England), chiefs of our
+settlements of Natal and Tappanuli, of whose information I availed
+myself, and all their accounts I have found to agree in every material
+point. The testimony of Mr. Charles Miller, whose name, as well as that
+of his father, is advantageously known to the literary world, should
+alone be sufficient for my purpose. In addition to what he has related in
+his journal he has told me that at one village where he halted the
+suspended head of a man, whose body had been eaten a few days before, was
+extremely offensive; and that in conversation with some people of the
+Ankola district, speaking of their neighbours and occasional enemies of
+the Pa-dambola district, they described them as an unprincipled race,
+saying, "We, indeed, eat men as a punishment for their crimes and
+injuries to us; but they waylay and seize travellers in order to
+ber-bantei or cut them up like cattle." It is here obviously the
+admission and not the scandal that should have weight. When Mr. Giles
+Holloway was leaving Tappanuli and settling his accounts with the natives
+he expostulated with a Batta man who had been dilatory in his payment. "I
+would," says the man, "have been here sooner, but my pangulu (superior
+officer) was detected in familiarity with my wife. He was condemned, and
+I stayed to eat share of him; the ceremony took us up three days, and it
+was only last night that we finished him." Mr. Miller was present at this
+conversation, and the man spoke with perfect seriousness. A native of the
+island of Nias, who had stabbed a Batta man in a fit of frenzy at
+Batang-tara river, near Tappanuli bay, and endeavoured to make his
+escape, was, upon the alarm being given, seized at six in the morning,
+and before eleven, without any judicial process, was tied to a stake, cut
+in pieces with the utmost eagerness while yet alive, and eaten upon the
+spot, partly broiled, but mostly raw. His head was buried under that of
+the man whom he had murdered. This happened in December 1780, when Mr.
+William Smith had charge of the settlement. A raja was fined by Mr.
+Bradley for having caused a prisoner to be eaten at a place too close to
+the Company's settlement, and it should have been remarked that these
+feasts are never suffered to take place withinside their own kampongs.
+Mr. Alexander Hall made a charge in his public accounts of a sum paid to
+a raja as an inducement to him to spare a man whom he had seen preparing
+for a victim: and it is in fact this commendable discouragement of the
+practice by our government that occasions its being so rare a sight to
+Europeans, in a country where there are no travellers from curiosity, and
+where the servants of the Company, having appearances to maintain, cannot
+by their presence as idle spectators give a sanction to proceedings which
+it is their duty to discourage, although their influence is not
+sufficient to prevent them.
+
+A Batta chief, named raja Niabin, in the year 1775 surprised a
+neighbouring kampong with which he was at enmity, killed the raja by
+stealth, carried off the body, and ate it. The injured family complained
+to Mr. Nairne, the English chief of Natal, and prayed for redress. He
+sent a message on the subject to Niabin, who returned an insolent and
+threatening answer. Mr. Nairne, influenced by his feelings rather than
+his judgment (for these people were quite removed from the Company's
+control, and our interference in their quarrels was not necessary)
+marched with a party of fifty or sixty men, of whom twelve were
+Europeans, to chastise him; but on approaching the village they found it
+so perfectly enclosed with growing bamboos, within which was a strong
+paling, that they could not even see the place or an enemy.
+
+DEATH OF MR. NAIRNE.
+
+As they advanced however to examine the defences a shot from an unseen
+person struck Mr. Nairne in the breast, and he expired immediately. In
+him was lost a respectable gentleman of great scientific acquirements,
+and a valuable servant of the Company. It was with much difficulty that
+the party was enabled to save the body. A caffree and a Malay who fell in
+the struggle were afterwards eaten. Thus the experience of later days is
+found to agree with the uniform testimony of old writers; and although I
+am aware that each and every of these proofs taken singly may admit of
+some cavil, yet in the aggregate they will be thought to amount to
+satisfactory evidence that human flesh is habitually eaten by a certain
+class of the inhabitants of Sumatra.
+
+That this extraordinary nation has preserved the rude genuineness of its
+character and manners may be attributed to various causes; as the want of
+the precious metals in its country to excite the rapacity of invaders or
+avarice of colonists, the vegetable riches of the soil being more
+advantageously obtained in trade from the unmolested labours of the
+natives; their total unacquaintance with navigation; the divided nature
+of their government and independence of the petty chieftains. which are
+circumstances unfavourable to the propagation of new opinions and
+customs, as the contrary state of society may account for the complete
+conversion of the subjects of Menangkabau to the faith of Mahomet; and
+lastly the ideas entertained of the ferociousness of the people from the
+practices above described, which may well be supposed to have damped the
+ardour and restrained the zealous attempts of religious innovators.
+
+
+CHAPTER 21.
+
+KINGDOM OF ACHIN.
+ITS CAPITAL.
+AIR.
+INHABITANTS.
+COMMERCE.
+MANUFACTURES.
+NAVIGATION.
+COIN.
+GOVERNMENT.
+REVENUES.
+PUNISHMENTS.
+
+Achin (properly Acheh) is the only kingdom of Sumatra that ever arrived
+to such a degree of political consequence in the eyes of the western
+people as to occasion its transactions becoming the subject of general
+history. But its present condition is widely different from what it was
+when by its power the Portuguese were prevented from gaining a footing in
+the island, and its princes received embassies from all the great
+potentates of Europe.
+
+SITUATION.
+
+Its situation occupies the north-western extreme of the island, bordering
+generally on the country of the Battas; but, strictly speaking, its
+extent, inland, reaches no farther than about fifty miles to the
+south-east. Along the north and eastern coast its territory was
+considered in 1778 as reaching to a place called Karti, not far distant
+from Batu-bara river, including Pidir, Samerlonga, and Pase. On the
+western coast, where it formerly boasted a dominion as far down as
+Indrapura, and possessed complete jurisdiction at Tiku, it now extends no
+farther than Barus; and even there, or at the intermediate ports,
+although the Achinese influence is predominant and its merchants enjoy
+the trade, the royal power seems to be little more than nominal. The
+interior inhabitants from Achin to Singkel are distinguished into those
+of Allas, Riah, and Karrau. The Achinese manners prevail among the two
+former; but the last resemble the Battas, from whom they are divided by a
+range of mountains.
+
+CAPITAL.
+
+The capital stands on a river which empties itself by several channels
+near the north-west point of the island, or Achin Head, about a league
+from the sea, where the shipping lies in a road rendered secure by the
+shelter of several islands. The depth of water on the bar being no more
+than four feet at low-water spring-tides, only the vessels of the country
+can venture to pass it; and in the dry monsoon not even those of the
+larger class. The town is situated on a plain, in a wide valley formed
+like an amphitheatre by lofty ranges of hills. It is said to be extremely
+populous, containing eight thousand houses, built of bamboos and rough
+timbers, standing distinct from each other and mostly raised on piles
+some feet above the ground in order to guard against the effects of
+inundation. The appearance of the place and nature of the buildings
+differ little from those of the generality of Malayan bazaars, excepting
+that its superior wealth has occasioned the erection of a greater number
+of public edifices, chiefly mosques, but without the smallest pretension
+to magnificence. The country above the town is highly cultivated, and
+abounds with small villages and groups of three or four houses, with
+white mosques interspersed.*
+
+(*Footnote. The following description of the appearance of Achin, by a
+Jesuit missionary who touched there in his way to China in 1698, is so
+picturesque, and at the same time so just, that I shall make no apology
+for introducing it. Imaginez vous une foret de cocotiers, de bambous,
+d'ananas, de bagnaniers, au milieu de laquelle passe une assez belle
+riviere toute couverte de bateaux; mettez dans cette foret une nombre
+incroyable de maisons faites avec de cannes, de roseaux, des ecorces, et
+disposez les de telle maniere qu'elles forment tantot des rues, et tantot
+des quartiers separes: coupez ces divers quartiers de prairies et de
+bois: repandez par tout dans cette grande foret, autant d'hommes qu'on en
+voit dans nos villes, lorsqu'elles sont bien peuplees; vous vous formerez
+une idee assez juste d'Achen; et vous conviendrez qu'une ville de ce gout
+nouveau peut faire plaisir a des etrangers qui passent. Elle me parut
+d'abord comme ces paysages sortis de l'imagination d'un peintre ou d'un
+poete, qui rassemble sous un coup d'oeil, tout ce que la campagne a de
+plus riant. Tout est neglige et naturel, champetre et meme un peu
+sauvage. Quand on est dans la rade, on n'appercoit aucun vestige, ni
+aucune apparence de ville, parceque des grands arbres qui bordent le
+rivage en cachent toutes les maisons; mais outre le paysage qui est tres
+beau, rien n'est plus agreable que de voir de matin un infinite de petits
+bateaux de pecheurs qui sortent de la riviere avec le jour, et qui ne
+rentrent que le soir, lorsque le soleil se couche. Vous diriez un essaim
+d'abeilles qui reviennent a la cruche chargees du fruit de leur travail.
+Lettres Edifiantes Tome 1. For a more modern account of this city I beg
+leave to refer the reader to Captain Thomas Forrest's Voyage to the
+Mergui Archipelago pages 38 to 60, where he will find a lively and
+natural description of everything worthy of observation in the place,
+with a detail of the circumstances attending his own reception at the
+court, illustrated with an excellent plate.)
+
+The king's palace, if it deserves the appellation, is a very rude and
+uncouth piece of architecture, designed to resist the attacks of internal
+enemies, and surrounded for that purpose with a moat and strong walls,
+but without any regular plan, or view to the modern system of military
+defence.*
+
+(*Footnote. Near the gate of the palace are several pieces of brass
+ordnance of an extraordinary size, of which some are Portuguese; but two
+in particular, of English make, attract curiosity. They were sent by king
+James the first to the reigning monarch of Acheen, and have still the
+founder's name and the date legible upon them. The diameter of the bore
+of one is eighteen inches; of the other twenty-two or twenty-four. Their
+strength however does not appear to be in proportion to the calibre, nor
+do they seem in other respects to be of adequate dimensions. James, who
+abhorred bloodshed himself, was resolved that his present should not be
+the instrument of it to others.)
+
+AIR.
+
+The air is esteemed comparatively healthy, the country being more free
+from woods and stagnant water than most other parts; and fevers and
+dysenteries, to which these local circumstances are supposed to give
+occasion, are there said to be uncommon. But this must not be too readily
+credited; for the degree of insalubrity attending situations in that
+climate is known so frequently to alter, from inscrutable causes, that a
+person who has resided only two or three years on a spot cannot pretend
+to form a judgment; and the natives, from a natural partiality, are
+always ready to extol the healthiness, as well as other imputed
+advantages, of their native places.
+
+INHABITANTS.
+
+The Achinese differ much in their persons from the other Sumatrans, being
+in general taller, stouter, and of darker complexions. They are by no
+means in their present state a genuine people, but thought, with great
+appearance of reason, to be a mixture of Battas and Malays, with chulias,
+as they term the natives of the west of India, by whom their ports have
+in all ages been frequented. In their dispositions they are more active
+and industrious than some of their neighbours; they possess more
+sagacity, have more knowledge of other countries, and as merchants they
+deal upon a more extensive and liberal footing. But this last observation
+applies rather to the traders at a distance from the capital and to their
+transactions than to the conduct observed at Achin, which, according to
+the temper and example of the reigning monarch, is often narrow,
+extortionary, and oppressive. Their language is one of the general
+dialects of the eastern islands, and its affinity to the Batta may be
+observed in the comparative table; but they make use of the Malayan
+character. In religion they are Mahometans, and having many priests, and
+much intercourse with foreigners of the same faith, its forms and
+ceremonies are observed with some strictness.
+
+COMMERCE.
+
+Although no longer the great mart of eastern commodities, Achin still
+carries on a considerable trade, as well with private European merchants
+as with the natives of that part of the coast of India called Telinga,
+which is properly the country lying between the Kistna and Godavery
+rivers; but the name, corrupted by the Malays to Kling, is commonly
+applied to the whole coast of Coromandel. These supply it with salt,
+cotton piece-goods, principally those called long-cloth white and blue,
+and chintz with dark grounds; receiving in return gold-dust, raw silk of
+inferior quality, betel-nut, patch-leaf (Melissa lotoria, called dilam by
+the Malays) pepper, sulphur, camphor, and benzoin. The two latter are
+carried thither from the river of Sungkel, where they are procured from
+the country of the Battas, and the pepper from Pidir; but this article is
+also exported from Susu to the amount of about two thousand tons
+annually, where it sells at the rate of twelve dollars the pikul, chiefly
+for gold and silver. The quality is not esteemed good, being gathered
+before it is sufficiently ripe, and it is not cleaned like the Company's
+pepper. The Americans have been of late years the chief purchasers. The
+gold collected at Achin comes partly from the mountains in the
+neighbourhood but chiefly from Nalabu and Susu. Its commerce,
+independently of that of the out-ports, gives employment to from eight to
+ten Kling vessels, of a hundred and fifty or two hundred tons burden,
+which arrive annually from Porto Novo and Coringa about the month of
+August, and sail again in February and March. These are not permitted to
+touch at any places under the king's jurisdiction, on the eastern or
+western coast, as it would be injurious to the profits of his trade, as
+well as to his revenue from the customs and from the presents exacted on
+the arrival of vessels, and for which his officers at those distant
+places would not account with him. It must be understood that the king of
+Achin, as is usual with the princes of this part of the world, is the
+chief merchant of his capital, and endeavours to be, to the utmost of his
+power, the monopolizer of its trade; but this he cannot at all times
+effect, and the attempt has been the cause of frequent rebellions. There
+is likewise a ship or two from Surat every year, the property of native
+merchants there. The country is supplied with opium, taffetas, and
+muslins from Bengal, and also with iron and many other articles of
+merchandise, by the European traders.
+
+PRODUCTIONS OF THE SOIL.
+
+The soil being light and fertile produces abundance of rice, esculent
+vegetables, much cotton, and the finest tropical fruits. Both the mango
+and mangustin are said to be of excellent quality. Cattle and other
+articles of provision are in plenty, and reasonable in price. The plough
+is there drawn by oxen, and the general style of cultivation shows a
+skill in agriculture superior to what is seen in other parts of the
+island.
+
+MANUFACTURES.
+
+Those few arts and manufactures which are known in other parts of the
+island prevail likewise here, and some of them are carried to more
+perfection. A considerable fabric of a thick species of cotton cloth, and
+of striped or chequered stuff for the short drawers worn both by Malays
+and Achinese, is established here, and supplies an extensive foreign
+demand, particularly in the Rau country, where they form part of the
+dress of the women as well as men. They weave also very handsome and rich
+silk pieces, of a particular form, for that part of the body-dress which
+the Malays call kain-sarong; but this manufacture had much decreased at
+the period when my inquiries were made, owing, as the people said, to an
+unavoidable failure in the breed of silkworms, but more probably to the
+decay of industry amongst themselves, proceeding from their continual
+civil disturbances.
+
+NAVIGATION.
+
+They are expert and bold navigators, and employ a variety of vessels
+according to the voyages they have occasion to undertake, and the
+purposes either of commerce or war for which they design them. The river
+is covered with a number of small fishing vessels which go to sea with
+the morning breeze and return in the afternoon with the sea-wind, full
+laden. These are named koleh, are raised about two streaks on a sampan
+bottom, have one mast and an upright or square sail, but long in
+proportion to its breadth, which rolls up. These sometimes make their
+appearance so far to the southward as Bencoolen. The banting is a trading
+vessel, of a larger class, having two masts, with upright sails like the
+former, rising at the stem and stern, and somewhat resembling a Chinese
+junk, excepting in its size. They have also very long narrow boats, with
+two masts, and double or single outriggers, called balabang and jalor.
+These are chiefly used as war-boats, mount guns of the size of swivels,
+and carry a number of men. For representations of various kinds of
+vessels employed by these eastern people the reader is referred to the
+plates in Captain Forrest's two voyages.
+
+COIN.
+
+They have a small thin adulterated gold coin, rudely stamped with Arabic
+characters, called mas or massiah. Its current value is said to be about
+fifteen, and its intrinsic about twelve pence, or five Madras fanams.
+Eighty of these are equal to the bangkal, of which twenty make a katti.
+The tail, here an imaginary valuation, is one-fifth of the bang-kal, and
+equal to sixteen mas. The small leaden money, called pitis or cash, is
+likewise struck here for the service of the bazaar; but neither these nor
+the former afford any convenience to the foreign trader. Dollars and
+rupees pass current, and most other species of coin are taken at a
+valuation; but payments are commonly made in gold dust, and for that
+purpose everyone is provided with small scales or steelyards, called
+daching. They carry their gold about them, wrapped in small pieces of
+bladder (or rather the integument of the heart), and often make purchases
+to so small an amount as to employ grains of padi or other seeds for
+weights.
+
+GOVERNMENT.
+
+The monarchy is hereditary, and is more or less absolute in proportion to
+the talents of the reigning prince; no other bounds being set to his
+authority than the counterbalance or check it meets with from the power
+of the great vassals, and disaffection of the commonalty. But this
+resistance is exerted in so irregular a manner, and with so little view
+to the public good, that nothing like liberty results from it. They
+experience only an alternative of tyranny and anarchy, or the former
+under different shapes. Many of the other Sumatran people are in the
+possession of a very high degree of freedom, founded upon a rigid
+attachment to their old established customs and laws. The king usually
+maintains a guard of a hundred sepoys (from the Coromandel coast) about
+his palace, but pays them indifferently.
+
+The grand council of the nation consists of the king or Sultan, the
+maharaja, laksamana, paduka tuan, and bandhara. Inferior in rank to these
+are the ulubalangs or military champions, among whom are several
+gradations of rank, who sit on the king's right hand, and other officers
+named kajuran, who sit on his left. At his feet sits a woman, to whom he
+makes known his pleasure: by her it is communicated to a eunuch, who sits
+next to her, and by him to an officer, named Kajuran Gondang, who then
+proclaims it aloud to the assembly. There are also present two other
+officers, one of whom has the government of the Bazaar or market, and the
+other the superintending and carrying into execution the punishment of
+criminals. All matters relative to commerce and the customs of the port
+come under the jurisdiction of the Shabandar, who performs the ceremony
+of giving the chap or licence for trade; which is done by lifting a
+golden-hafted kris over the head of the merchant who arrives, and without
+which he dares not to land his goods. Presents, the value of which are
+become pretty regularly ascertained, are then sent to the king and his
+officers. If the stranger be in the style of an ambassador the royal
+elephants are sent down to carry him and his letters to the monarch's
+presence; these being first delivered into the hands of a eunuch, who
+places them in a silver dish, covered with rich silk, on the back of the
+largest elephant, which is provided with a machine (houdar) for that
+purpose. Within about a hundred yards of an open hall where the king sits
+the cavalcade stops, and the ambassador dismounts and makes his obeisance
+by bending his body and lifting his joined hands to his head. When he
+enters the palace, if a European, he is obliged to take off his shoes,
+and having made a second obeisance is seated upon a carpet on the floor,
+where betel is brought to him. The throne was some years ago of ivory and
+tortoiseshell; and when the place was governed by queens a curtain of
+gauze was hung before it, which did not obstruct the audience, but
+prevented any perfect view. The stranger, after some general discourse,
+is then conducted to a separate building, where he is entertained with
+the delicacies of the country by the officers of state, and in the
+evening returns in the manner he came, surrounded by a prodigious number
+of lights. On high days (ari raya) the king goes in great state, mounted
+on an elephant richly caparisoned, to the great mosque, preceded by his
+ulubalangs, who are armed nearly in the European manner.
+
+DIVISION OF THE COUNTRY.
+
+The whole kingdom is divided into certain small districts or communities,
+called mukim, which seem to be equivalent to our parishes, and their
+number is reckoned at one hundred and ninety, of which seventy-three are
+situated in the valley of Achin. Of these last are formed three larger
+districts, named Duo-puluh duo (twenty-two), Duo-puluh-limo
+(twenty-five), and Duo-puluh-anam (twenty-six), from the number of mukims
+they respectively contain; each of which is governed by a panglima or
+provincial governor, with an imam and four pangichis for the service of
+each mosque. The country is extremely populous; but the computations with
+which I have been furnished exceed so far all probability that I do not
+venture to insert them.
+
+REVENUES.
+
+The regular tax or imposition to which the country is subject, for the
+use of the crown, is one koyan (about eight hundred gallons) of padi from
+each mukim, with a bag of rice, and about the value of one Spanish dollar
+and a half in money, from each proprietor of a house, to be delivered at
+the king's store in person, in return for which homage he never fails to
+receive nearly an equivalent in tobacco or some other article. On certain
+great festivals presents of cattle are made to the king by the
+orang-kayas or nobles; but it is from the import and export customs on
+merchandise that the revenue of the crown properly arises, and which of
+course fluctuates considerably. What Europeans pay is between five and
+six per cent, but the Kling merchants are understood to be charged with
+much higher duties; in the whole not less than fifteen, of which twelve
+in the hundred are taken out of the bales in the first instance, a
+disparity they are enabled to support by the provident and frugal manner
+in which they purchase their investments, the cheap rate at which they
+navigate their vessels, and the manner of retailing their goods to the
+natives. These sources of wealth are independent of the profit derived
+from the trade, which is managed for his master by a person who is styled
+the king's merchant. The revenues of the nobles accrue from taxes which
+they lay, as feudal lords, upon the produce of the land cultivated by
+their vassals. At Pidir a measure of rice is paid for every measure of
+padi sown, which amounts to about a twentieth part. At Nalabu there is a
+capitation tax of a dollar a year; and at various places on the inland
+roads there are tolls collected upon provisions and goods which pass to
+the capital.
+
+ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
+
+The kings of Achin possess a grant of territory along the sea-coast as
+far down as Bencoolen from the sultan of Menangkabau, whose superiority
+has always been admitted by them, and will be perhaps so long as he
+claims no authority over them, and exacts neither tribute nor homage.
+
+PUNISHMENTS.
+
+Achin has ever been remarkable for the severity with which crimes are
+punished by their laws; the same rigour still subsists, and there is no
+commutation admitted, as is regularly established in the southern
+countries. There is great reason however to conclude that the poor alone
+experience the rod of justice; the nobles being secure from retribution
+in the number of their dependants. Petty theft is punished by suspending
+the criminal from a tree, with a gun or heavy weight tied to his feet; or
+by cutting off a finger, a hand, or leg, according to the nature of the
+theft. Many of these mutilated and wretched objects are daily to be seen
+in the streets. Robbery, on the highway and housebreaking, are punished
+by drowning, and afterwards exposing the body on a stake for a few days.
+If the robbery is committed upon an imam or priest the sacrilege is
+expiated by burning the criminal alive. A man who is convicted of
+adultery or rape is seldom attempted to be screened by his friends, but
+is delivered up to the friends and relations of the injured husband or
+father. These take him to some large plain and, forming themselves in a
+circle, place him in the middle. A large weapon, called a gadubong, is
+then delivered to him by one of his family, and if he can force his way
+through those who surround him and make his escape he is not liable to
+further prosecution; but it commonly happens that he is instantly cut to
+pieces. In this case his relations bury him as they would a dead buffalo,
+refusing to admit the corpse into their house, or to perform any funeral
+rites. Would it not be reasonable to conclude that the Achinese, with so
+much discouragement to vice both from law and prejudice, must prove a
+moral and virtuous people? yet all travellers agree in representing them
+as one of the most dishonest and flagitious nations of the East, which
+the history of their government will tend to corroborate.
+
+
+CHAPTER 22.
+
+HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF ACHIN, FROM THE PERIOD OF ITS BEING VISITED BY
+EUROPEANS.
+
+PROCEEDINGS OF THE PORTUGUESE.
+
+The Portuguese, under the conduct of Vasco de Gama, doubled the Cape of
+Good Hope in the year 1497, and arrived on the coast of Malabar in the
+following year. These people, whom the spirit of glory, commerce, and
+plunder led to the most magnanimous undertakings, were not so entirely
+engaged by their conquests on the continent of India as to prevent them
+from extending their views to the discovery of regions yet more distant.
+They learned from the merchants of Guzerat some account of the riches and
+importance of Malacca, a great trading city in the farther peninsula of
+India, supposed by them the Golden Chersonnese of Ptolemy. Intelligence
+of this was transmitted to their enterprising sovereign Emanuel, who
+became impressed with a strong desire to avail himself of the flattering
+advantages which this celebrated country held out to his ambition.
+
+1508.
+
+He equipped a fleet of four ships under the command of Diogo Lopez de
+Sequeira, which sailed from Lisbon on the eighth day of April 1508 with
+orders to explore and establish connexions in those eastern parts of
+Asia.
+
+1509.
+
+After touching at Madagascar Sequeira proceeded to Cochin, where a ship
+was added to his fleet, and, departing from thence on the eighth of
+September 1509, he made sail towards Malacca; but having doubled the
+extreme promontory of Sumatra (then supposed to be the Taprobane of the
+ancients) he anchored at Pidir, a principal port of that island, in which
+he found vessels from Pegu, Bengal, and other countries. The king of the
+place, who, like other Mahometan princes, was styled sultan, sent off a
+deputation to him, accompanied with refreshments, excusing himself, on
+account of illness, from paying his compliments in person, but assuring
+him at the same time that he should derive much pleasure from the
+friendship and alliance of the Portuguese, whose fame had reached his
+ears. Sequeira answered this message in such terms that, by consent of
+the sultan, a monument of their amity was erected on the shore; or, more
+properly, as the token of discovery and possession usually employed by
+the European nations. He was received in the same manner at a place
+called Pase, lying about twenty leagues farther to the eastward on the
+same coast, and there also erected a monument or cross. Having procured
+at each of these ports as much pepper as could be collected in a short
+time he hastened to Malacca, where the news of his appearance in these
+seas had anticipated his arrival. Here he was near falling a sacrifice to
+the insidious policy of Mahmud, the reigning king, to whom the Portuguese
+had been represented by the Arabian and Persian merchants (and not very
+unjustly) as lawless pirates, who, under the pretext of establishing
+commercial treaties, had, at first by encroachments, and afterwards with
+insolent rapacity, ruined and enslaved the princes who were weak enough
+to put a confidence in them, or to allow them a footing in their
+dominions. He escaped the snares that were laid for him but lost many of
+his people, and, leaving others in captivity, he returned to Europe, and
+gave an account of his proceedings to the king.
+
+1510.
+
+A fleet was sent out in the year 1510 under Diogo Mendez to establish the
+Portuguese interests at Malacca; but Affonso d'Alboquerque, the governor
+of their affairs in India, thought proper to detain this squadron on the
+coast of Malabar until he could proceed thither himself with a greater
+force.
+
+1511.
+
+And accordingly on the second of May 1511 he set sail from Cochin with
+nineteen ships and fourteen hundred men. He touched at Pidir, where he
+found some of his countrymen who had made their escape from Malacca in a
+boat and sought protection on the Sumatran shore. They represented that,
+arriving off Pase, they had been ill-treated by the natives, who killed
+one of their party and obliged them to fly to Pidir, where they met with
+hospitality and kindness from the prince, who seemed desirous to
+conciliate the regard of their nation. Alboquerque expressed himself
+sensible of this instance of friendship, and renewed with the sultan the
+alliance that had been formed by Sequeira. He then proceeded to Pase,
+whose monarch endeavoured to exculpate himself from the outrage committed
+against the Portuguese fugitives, and as he could not tarry to take
+redress he concealed his resentment. In crossing over to Malacca he fell
+in with a large junk, or country vessel, which he engaged and attempted
+to board, but the enemy, setting fire to a quantity of inflammable
+oleaginous matter, he was deterred from his design, with a narrow escape
+of the destruction of his own ship. The junk was then battered from a
+distance until forty of her men were killed, when Alboquerque, admiring
+the bravery of the crew, proposed to them that, if they would strike and
+acknowledge themselves vassals of Portugal, he would treat them as
+friends and take them under his protection. This offer was accepted, and
+the valiant defender of the vessel informed the governor that his name
+was Jeinal, the lawful heir of the kingdom of Pase; he by whom it was
+then ruled being a usurper, who, taking advantage of his minority and his
+own situation as regent, had seized the crown: that he had made attempts
+to assert his rights, but had been defeated in two battles, and was now
+proceeding with his adherents to Java, some of the princes of which were
+his relations, and would, he hoped, enable him to obtain possession of
+his throne.
+
+1511.
+
+Alboquerque promised to effect it for him, and desired the prince to
+accompany him to Malacca, where they arrived the first of July 1511. In
+order to save the lives of the Portuguese prisoners, and if possible to
+effect their recovery, he negotiated with the king of Malacca before he
+proceeded to an attack on the place; which conduct of his Jeinal
+construed into fear, and, forsaking his new friend, passed over in the
+night to the Malayan monarch, whose protection he thought of more
+consequence to him. When Alboquerque had subdued the place, which made a
+vigorous resistance, the prince of Pase, seeing the error of his policy,
+returned, and threw himself at the governor's feet, acknowledged his
+injurious mistrust, and implored his pardon, which was not denied him. He
+doubted however it seems of a sincere reconciliation and forgiveness,
+and, perceiving that no measures were taking for restoring him to his
+kingdom, but on the contrary that Alboquerque was preparing to leave
+Malacca with a small force, and talked of performing his promise when he
+should return from Goa, he took the resolution of again attaching himself
+to the fortunes of the conquered monarch, and secretly collecting his
+dependants fled once more from the protection of the Portuguese. He
+probably was not insensible that the reigning king of Pase, his
+adversary, had for some time taken abundant pains to procure the favour
+of Alboquerque, and found an occasion of demonstrating his zeal. The
+governor, on his return from Malacca, met with a violent storm on the
+coast of Sumatra near the point of Timiang, where his ship was wrecked.
+Part of the crew making a raft were driven to Pase, where the king
+treated them with kindness and sent them to the coast of Coromandel by a
+merchant ship. Some years after these events Jeinal was enabled by his
+friends to carry a force to Pase, and obtained the ascendency there, but
+did not long enjoy his power.
+
+Upon the reduction of Malacca the governor received messages from several
+of the Sumatran princes, and amongst the rest from the king of a place
+called Kampar, on the eastern coast, who had married a daughter of the
+king of Malacca, but was on ill terms with his father-in-law. He desired
+to become a vassal of the Portuguese crown, and to have leave to reside
+under their jurisdiction. His view was to obtain the important office of
+bandhara, or chief magistrate of the Malays, lately vacant by the
+execution of him who possessed it. He sent before him a present of
+lignum-aloes and gum-lac, the produce of his country, but Alboquerque,
+suspecting the honesty of his intentions, and fearing that he either
+aspired to the crown of Malacca or designed to entice the merchants to
+resort to his own kingdom, refused to permit his coming, and gave the
+superintendence of the natives to a person named Nina Chetuan.
+
+1514.
+
+After some years had elapsed, at the time when Jorge Alboquerque was
+governor of Malacca, this king (Abdallah by name) persisting in his
+views, paid him a visit, and was honourably received. At his departure he
+had assurances given him of liberty to establish himself at Malacca, if
+he should think proper, and Nina Chetuan was shortly afterwards removed
+from his office, though no fault was alleged against him. He took the
+disgrace so much to heart that, causing a pile to be erected before his
+door, and setting fire to it, he threw himself into the flames.*
+
+(*Footnote. This man was not a Mahometan but one of the unconverted
+natives of the peninsula who are always distinguished from the Moors by
+the Portuguese writers.)
+
+The intention of appointing Abdallah to the office of bandhara was
+quickly rumoured abroad, and, coming to the knowledge of the king of
+Bintang, who was driven from Malacca and now carried on a vigorous war
+against the Portuguese, under the command of the famous Laksamana, he
+resolved to prevent his arrival there. For this purpose he leagued
+himself with the king of Lingga, a neighbouring island, and sent out a
+fleet of seventy armed boats to block up the port of Kampar. By the
+valour of a small Portuguese armament this force was overcome in the
+river of that name, and the king conducted in triumph to Malacca, where
+he was invested in form with the important post he aspired to. But this
+sacrifice of his independence proved an unfortunate measure to him; for
+although he conducted himself in such a manner as should have given the
+amplest satisfaction, and appears to have been irreproachable in the
+execution of his trust, yet in the following year the king of Bintang
+found means to inspire the governor with diffidence of his fidelity, and
+jealousy of his power.
+
+1515.
+
+He was cruelly sentenced to death without the simplest forms of justice
+and perished in the presence of an indignant multitude, whilst he called
+heaven to witness his innocence and direct its vengeance against his
+interested accusers. This iniquitous and impolitic proceeding had such an
+effect upon the minds of the people that all of any property or repute
+forsook the place, execrating the government of the Portuguese. The
+consequences of this general odium reduced them to extreme difficulties
+for provisions, which the neighbouring countries refused to supply them
+with, and but for some grain at length procured from Siak with much
+trouble the event had proved fatal to the garrison.
+
+1516.
+
+Fernando Perez d'Andrade, in his way to China, touched at Pase in order
+to take in pepper. He found the people of the place, as well as the
+merchants from Bengal, Cambay, and other parts of India, much
+discontented with the measures then pursuing by the government of
+Malacca, which had stationed an armed force to oblige all vessels to
+resort thither with their merchandise and take in at that place, as an
+emporium, the cargoes they were used to collect in the straits. The king
+notwithstanding received Andrade well, and consented that the Portuguese
+should have liberty to erect a fortress in his kingdom.
+
+1520.
+
+Extraordinary accounts having been related of certain islands abounding
+in gold, which were reported by the general fame of India to lie off the
+southern coast of Sumatra, a ship and small brigantine, under the command
+of Diogo Pacheco, an experienced seaman, were sent in order to make the
+discovery of them. Having proceeded as far as Daya the brigantine was
+lost in a gale of wind. Pacheco stood on to Barus, a place renowned for
+its gold trade, and for gum benzoin of a peculiar scent, which the
+country produced. It was much frequented by vessels, both from the
+neighbouring ports in the island, and from those in the West of India,
+whence it was supplied with cotton cloths. The merchants, terrified at
+the approach of the Portuguese, forsook their ships and fled
+precipitately to the shore. The chiefs of the country sent to inquire the
+motives of his visit, which he informed them were to establish friendly
+connexions and to give them assurances of unmolested freedom of trade at
+the city of Malacca. Refreshments were then ordered for his fleet, and
+upon landing he was treated with respect by the inhabitants, who brought
+the articles of their country to exchange with him for merchandise. His
+chief view was to obtain information respecting the situation and other
+circumstances of the ilhas d'Ouro, but they seemed jealous of imparting
+any. At length, after giving him a laboured detail of the dangers
+attending the navigation of the seas where they were said to lie, they
+represented their situation to be distant a hundred leagues to the
+south-east of Barus, amidst labyrinths of shoals and reefs through which
+it was impossible to steer with any but the smallest boats. If these
+islands, so celebrated about this time, existed anywhere but in the
+regions of fancy,* they were probably those of Tiku, to which it is
+possible that much gold might be brought from the neighbouring country of
+Menangkabau. Pacheco, leaving Barus, proceeded to the southward, but did
+not make the wished-for discovery. He reached the channel that divides
+Sumatra from Java, which he called the strait of Polimban, from a city he
+erroneously supposed to lie on the Javan shore, and passing through this
+returned to Malacca by the east; being the first European who sailed
+round the island of Sumatra. In the following year he sailed once more in
+search of these islands, which were afterwards the object of many
+fruitless voyages; but touching again at Barus he met with resistance
+there and perished with all his companions.
+
+(*Footnote. Linschoten makes particular mention of having seen them, and
+gives practical directions for the navigation, but the golden dreams of
+the Portuguese were never realized in them.)
+
+A little before this time a ship under the command of Gaspar d'Acosta was
+lost on the island of Gamispola (Pulo Gomez) near Achin Head, when the
+people from Achin attacked and plundered the crew, killing many and
+taking the rest prisoners. A ship also which belonged to Joano de Lima
+was plundered in the road, and the Portuguese which belonged to her put
+to death. These insults and others committed at Pase induced the governor
+of Malacca, Garcia de Sa, to dispatch a vessel under Manuel Pacheco to
+take satisfaction; which he endeavoured to effect by blocking up the
+ports, and depriving the towns of all sources of provision, particularly
+their fisheries. As he cruised between Achin and Pase a boat with five
+men, going to take in fresh water at a river nigh to the latter, would
+have been cut off had not the people, by wonderful efforts of valour,
+overcome the numerous party which attacked them. The sultan, alarmed for
+the consequences of this affray, sent immediately to sue for
+reconciliation, offering to make atonement for the loss of property the
+merchants had sustained by the licentiousness of his people, from a
+participation in whose crimes he sought to vindicate himself. The
+advantage derived from the connexion with this place induced the
+government of Malacca to be satisfied with his apology, and cargoes of
+pepper and raw silk were shortly after procured there; the former being
+much wanted for the ships bound to China.
+
+Jeinal, who had fled to the king of Malacca, as before mentioned,
+followed that monarch to the island of Bintang, and received one of his
+daughters in marriage. Six or seven years elapsed before the situation of
+affairs enabled the king to lend him any effectual assistance, but at
+length some advantages gained over the Portuguese afforded a proper
+opportunity, and accordingly a fleet was fitted out, with which Jeinal
+sailed for Pase. In order to form a judgment of the transactions of this
+kingdom it must be understood that the people, having an idea of
+predestination, always conceived present possession to constitute right,
+however that possession might have been acquired; but yet they made no
+scruple of deposing and murdering their sovereigns, and justified their
+acts by this argument; that the fate of concerns so important as the
+lives of kings was in the hands of God, whose vicegerents they were, and
+that if it was not agreeable to him and the consequence of his will that
+they should perish by the daggers of their subjects it could not so
+happen. Thus it appears that their religious ideas were just strong
+enough to banish from their minds every moral sentiment. The natural
+consequence of these maxims was that their kings were merely the tyrants
+of the day; and it is said that whilst a certain ship remained in the
+port no less than two were murdered, and a third set up: but allowance
+should perhaps be made for the medium through which these accounts have
+been transmitted to us.
+
+The maternal uncle of Jeinal, who, on account of his father's
+infirmities, had been some time regent, and had deprived him of the
+succession to the throne, was also king of Aru or Rou, a country not far
+distant, and thus became monarch of both places. The caprices of the Pase
+people, who submitted quietly to his usurpation, rendered them ere long
+discontented with his government, and being a stranger they had the less
+compunction in putting him to death. Another king was set up in his room,
+who soon fell by the hands of some natives of Aru who resided at Pase, in
+revenge for the assassination of their countryman.
+
+1519.
+
+A fresh monarch was elected by the people, and in his reign it was that
+Jeinal appeared with a force from Bintang, who, carrying everything
+before him, put his rival to death, and took possession of the throne.
+The son of the deceased, a youth of about twelve years of age, made his
+escape, accompanied by the Mulana or chief priest of the city, and
+procured a conveyance to the west of India. There they threw themselves
+at the feet of the Portuguese governor, Lopez Sequeira, then engaged in
+an expedition to the Red Sea, imploring his aid to drive the invader from
+their country, and to establish the young prince in his rights, who would
+thenceforth consider himself as a vassal of the crown of Portugal. It was
+urged that Jeinal, as being nearly allied to the king of Bintang, was an
+avowed enemy to that nation, which he had manifested in some recent
+outrages committed against the merchants from Malacca who traded at Pase.
+Sequeira, partly from compassion, and partly from political motives,
+resolved to succour this prince, and by placing him on the throne
+establish a firm interest in the affairs of his kingdom. He accordingly
+gave orders to Jorge Alboquerque, who was then proceeding with a strong
+fleet towards Malacca, to take the youth with him, whose name was
+Orfacam,* and after having expelled Jeinal to put him in possession of
+the sovereignty.
+
+(*Footnote. Evidently corrupted, as are most of the country names and
+titles, which shows that the Portuguese were not at this period much
+conversant in the Malayan language.)
+
+When Jeinal entered upon the administration of the political concerns of
+the kingdom, although he had promised his father-in-law to carry on the
+war in concert with him, yet, being apprehensive of the effects of the
+Portuguese power, he judged it more for his interest to seek a
+reconciliation with them than to provoke their resentment, and in
+pursuance of that system had so far recommended himself to Garcia de Sa,
+the governor of Malacca, that he formed a treaty of alliance with him.
+This was however soon interrupted, and chiefly by the imprudence of a man
+named Diogo Vaz, who made use of such insulting language to the king,
+because he delayed payment of a sum of money he owed him, that the
+courtiers, seized with indignation, immediately stabbed him with their
+krises, and, the alarm running through the city, others of the Portuguese
+were likewise murdered. The news of this affair, reaching Goa, was an
+additional motive for the resolution taken of dethroning him.
+
+1521.
+
+Jorge d'Alboquerque arrived at Pase in 1521 with Prince Orfacam, and the
+inhabitants came off in great numbers to welcome his return. The king of
+Aru had brought thither a considerable force the preceding day, designing
+to take satisfaction for the murder of his relation, the uncle of Jeinal,
+and now proposed to Alboquerque that they should make the attack in
+conjunction, who thought proper to decline it. Jeinal, although he well
+knew the intention of the enemy, yet sent a friendly message to
+Alboquerque, who in answer required him to relinquish his crown in favour
+of him whom he styled the lawful prince. He then represented to him the
+injustice of attempting to force him from the possession of what was his,
+not only by right of conquest but of hereditary descent, as was well
+known to the governor himself; that he was willing to consider himself as
+the vassal of the king of Portugal, and to grant every advantage in point
+of trade that they could expect from the administration of his rival; and
+that since his obtaining the crown he had manifested the utmost
+friendship to the Portuguese, for which he appealed to the treaty formed
+with him by the government of Malacca, which was not disturbed by any
+fault that could in justice be imputed to himself. These arguments, like
+all others that pass between states which harbour inimical designs, had
+no effect upon Alboquerque, who, after reconnoitring the ground, gave
+orders for the attack. The king was now sensible that there was nothing
+left for him but to conquer or die, and resolved to defend himself to
+extremity in an entrenchment he had formed at some distance from the town
+of Pase, where he had never yet ventured to reside as the people were in
+general incensed against him on account of the destruction of the late
+king of their choice; for though they were ever ready to demolish those
+whom they disliked, yet were they equally zealous to sacrifice their own
+lives in the cause of those to whom they were attached. The Portuguese
+force consisted but of three hundred men, yet such was the superiority
+they possessed in war over the inhabitants of these countries that they
+entirely routed Jeinal's army, which amounted to three thousand, with
+many elephants, although they fought bravely. When he fell they became
+dispirited, and, the people of Aru joining in the pursuit, a dreadful
+slaughter succeeded, and upwards of two thousand Sumatrans lay dead, with
+the loss of only five or six Europeans; but several were wounded, among
+whom was Alboquerque himself.
+
+The next measure was to place the young prince upon the throne, which was
+performed with much ceremony. The mulana was appointed his governor, and
+Nina Cunapan, who in several instances had shown a friendship for the
+Portuguese, was continued in the office of Shabandar. It was stipulated
+that the prince should do homage to the crown of Portugal, give a grant
+of the whole produce of pepper of his country at a certain price, and
+defray the charges of a fortress which they then prepared to erect in his
+kingdom, and of which Miranda d'Azeuedo was appointed captain, with a
+garrison of a hundred soldiers. The materials were mostly timber, with
+which the ruins of Jeinal's entrenchment supplied them. After
+Alboquerque's departure the works had nearly fallen into the hands of an
+enemy, named Melek-el-adil, who called himself sultan of Pase and made
+several desultory attacks upon them; but he was at length totally routed,
+and the fortifications were completed without further molestation.
+
+1521.
+
+A fleet which sailed from the west of India a short time after that of
+Alboquerque, under the command of Jorge de Brito, anchored in the road of
+Achin, in their way to the Molucca Islands. There was at this time at
+that place a man of the name of Joano Borba, who spoke the language of
+the country, having formerly fled thither from Pase when Diogo Vaz was
+assassinated. Being afterwards intrusted with the command of a trading
+vessel from Goa, which foundered at sea, he again reached Achin, with
+nine men in a small boat, and was hospitably received by the king, when
+he learned that the ship had been destined to his port. Borba came off to
+the fleet along with a messenger sent by the king to welcome the
+commander and offer him refreshments for his fleet, and, being a man of
+extraordinary loquacity, he gave a pompous description to Brito of a
+temple in the country in which was deposited a large quantity of gold: he
+mentioned likewise that the king was in possession of the artillery and
+merchandise of Gaspar d'Acosta's vessel, some time since wrecked there;
+and also of the goods saved from a brigantine driven on shore at Daya, in
+Pacheco's expedition; as well as of Joano de Lima's ship, which he had
+caused to be cut off. Brito, being tempted by the golden prize, which he
+conceived already in his power, and inflamed by Borba's representation of
+the king's iniquities, sent a message in return to demand the restitution
+of the artillery, ship, and goods, which had been unlawfully seized. The
+king replied that, if he wanted those articles to be refunded, he must
+make his demand to the sea which had swallowed them up. Brito and his
+captains now resolved to proceed to an attack upon the place, and so
+secure did they make themselves of their prey that they refused
+permission to a ship lately arrived, and which did not belong to their
+squadron, to join them or participate in the profits of their adventure.
+They prepared to land two hundred men in small boats; a larger, with a
+more considerable detachment and their artillery, being ordered to
+follow. About daybreak they had proceeded halfway up the river, and came
+near to a little fort designed to defend the passage, where Brito thought
+it advisable to stop till the remainder of their force should join them;
+but, being importuned by his people, he advanced to make himself master
+of the fort, which was readily effected. Here he again resolved to make
+his stand, but by the imprudence of his ensign, who had drawn some of the
+party into a skirmish with the Achinese, he was forced to quit that post
+in order to save his colours, which were in danger. At this juncture the
+king appeared at the head of eight hundred or a thousand men, and six
+elephants. A desperate conflict ensued, in which the Portuguese received
+considerable injury. Brito sent orders for the party he had left to come
+up, and endeavoured to retreat to the fort, but he found himself so
+situated that it could not be executed without much loss, and presently
+after he received a wound from an arrow through the cheeks. No assistance
+arriving, it was proposed that they should retire in the best manner they
+could to their boats; but this Brito would not consent to, preferring
+death to flight, and immediately a lance pierced his thighs, and he fell
+to the ground. The Portuguese, rendered desperate, renewed the combat
+with redoubled vigour, all crowding to the spot where their commander
+lay, but their exertions availed them nothing against such unequal force,
+and they only rushed on to sacrifice. Almost every man was killed, and
+among these were near fifty persons of family who had embarked as
+volunteers. Those who escaped belonged chiefly to the corps-de-reserve,
+who did not, or could not, come up in time to succour their unfortunate
+companions. Upon this merited defeat the squadron immediately weighed
+anchor, and, after falling in with two vessels bound on the discovery of
+the Ilhas d'Ouro, arrived at Pase, where they found Alboquerque employed
+in the construction of his fortress, and went with him to make an attack
+on Bintang.
+
+STATE OF ACHIN IN 1511.
+
+At the period when Malacca fell into the hands of the Portuguese Achin
+and Daya are said by the historians of that nation to have been provinces
+subject to Pidir, and governed by two slaves belonging to the sultan of
+that place, to each of whom he had given a niece in marriage. Slaves, it
+must be understood, are in that country on a different footing from those
+in most other parts of the world, and usually treated as children of the
+family. Some of them are natives of the continent of India, whom their
+masters employ to trade for them; allowing them a certain proportion of
+the profits and permission to reside in a separate quarter of the city.
+It frequently happened also that men of good birth, finding it necessary
+to obtain the protection of some person in power, became voluntary slaves
+for this purpose, and the nobles, being proud of such dependants,
+encouraged the practice by treating them with a degree of respect, and in
+many instances they made them their heirs. The slave of this description
+who held the government of Achin had two sons, the elder of whom was
+named Raja Ibrahim, and the younger Raja Lella, and were brought up in
+the house of their master. The father being old was recalled from his
+post; but on account of his faithful services the sultan gave the
+succession to his eldest son, who appears to have been a youth of an
+ambitious and very sanguinary temper. A jealousy had taken place between
+him and the chief of Daya whilst they were together at Pidir, and as soon
+as he came into power he resolved to seek revenge, and with that view
+entered in a hostile manner the district of his rival. When the sultan
+interposed it not only added fuel to his resentment but inspired him with
+hatred towards his master, and he showed his disrespect by refusing to
+deliver up, on the requisition of the sultan, certain Portuguese
+prisoners taken from a vessel lost at Pulo Gomez, and which he afterwards
+complied with at the intercession of the Shabandar of Pase. This conduct
+manifesting an intention of entirely throwing off his allegiance, his
+father endeavoured to recall him to a sense of his duty by representing
+the obligations in which the family were indebted to the sultan, and the
+relationship which so nearly connected them. But so far was this
+admonition from producing any good effect that he took offence at his
+father's presumption, and ordered him to be confined in a cage, where he
+died.
+
+1521.
+
+Irritated by these acts, the sultan resolved to proceed to extremities
+against him; but by means of the plunder of some Portuguese vessels, as
+before related, and the recent defeat of Brito's party, he became so
+strong in artillery and ammunition, and so much elated with success, that
+he set his master at defiance and prepared to defend himself. His force
+proved superior to that of Pidir, and in the end he obliged the sultan to
+fly for refuge and assistance to the European fortress at Pase,
+accompanied by his nephew, the chief of Daya, who was also forced from
+his possessions.
+
+1522.
+
+Ibrahim had for some time infested the Portuguese by sending out parties
+against them, both by sea and land; but these being always baffled in
+their attempts with much loss, he began to conceive a violent antipathy
+against that nation, which he ever after indulged to excess. He got
+possession of the city of Pidir by bribing the principal officers, a mode
+of warfare that he often found successful and seldom neglected to
+attempt. These he prevailed upon to write a letter to their master,
+couched in artful terms, in which they besought him to come to their
+assistance with a body of Portuguese, as the only chance of repelling the
+enemy by whom they pretended to be invested. The sultan showed this
+letter to Andre Henriquez, then governor of the fort, who, thinking it a
+good opportunity to chastise the Achinese, sent by sea a detachment of
+eighty Europeans and two hundred Malays under the command of his brother
+Manuel, whilst the sultan marched overland with a thousand men and
+fifteen elephants to the relief of the place. They arrived at Pidir in
+the night, but, being secretly informed that the king of Achin was master
+of the city, and that the demand for succour was a stratagem, they
+endeavoured to make their retreat; which the land troops effected, but
+before the tide could enable the Portuguese to get their boats afloat
+they were attacked by the Achinese, who killed Manuel and thirty-five of
+his men.
+
+Henriquez, perceiving his situation at Pase was becoming critical, not
+only from the force of the enemy but the sickly state of his garrison,
+and the want of provisions, which the country people now withheld from
+him, discontinuing the fairs that they were used to keep three times in
+the week, dispatched advices to the governor of India, demanding
+immediate succours, and also sent to request assistance of the king of
+Aru, who had always proved the steadfast friend of Malacca, and who,
+though not wealthy, because his country was not a place of trade, was yet
+one of the most powerful princes in those parts. The king expressed his
+joy in having an opportunity of serving his allies, and promised his
+utmost aid; not only from friendship to them, but indignation against
+Ibrahim, whom he regarded as a rebellious slave.
+
+1523.
+
+A supply of stores at length arrived from India under the charge of Lopo
+d'Azuedo, who had orders to relieve Henriquez in the command; but,
+disputes having arisen between them, and chiefly on the subject of
+certain works which the shabandar of Pase had been permitted to erect
+adjoining to the fortress, d'Azuedo, to avoid coming to an open rupture,
+departed for Malacca. Ibrahim, having found means to corrupt the honesty
+of this shabandar, who had received his office from Alboquerque, gained
+intelligence through him of all that passed. This treason, it is
+supposed, he would not have yielded to but for the desperate situation of
+affairs. The country of Pase was now entirely in subjection to the
+Achinese, and nothing remained unconquered but the capital, whilst the
+garrison was distracted with internal divisions.
+
+After the acquisition of Pidir the king thought it necessary to remain
+there some time in order to confirm his authority, and sent his brother
+Raja Lella with a large army to reduce the territories of Pase, which he
+effected in the course of three months, and with the more facility
+because all the principal nobility had fallen in the action with Jeinal.
+He fixed his camp within half a league of the city, and gave notice to
+Ibrahim of the state in which matters were, who speedily joined him,
+being anxious to render himself master of the place before the promised
+succours from the king of Aru could arrive. His first step was to issue a
+proclamation, giving notice to the people of the town that whoever should
+submit to his authority within six days should have their lives,
+families, and properties secured to them, but that all others must expect
+to feel the punishment due to their obstinacy. This had the effect he
+looked for, the greater part of the inhabitants coming over to his camp.
+He then commenced his military operations, and in the third attack got
+possession of the town after much slaughter; those who escaped his fury
+taking shelter in the neighbouring mountains and thick woods. He sent a
+message to the commander of the fortress, requiring him to abandon it and
+to deliver into his hands the kings of Pidir and Daya, to whom he had
+given protection. Henriquez returned a spirited answer to this summons,
+but, being sickly at the time, at best of an unsteady disposition, and
+too much attached to his trading concerns for a soldier, he resolved to
+relinquish the command to his relation Aires Coelho, and take passage for
+the West of India.
+
+1523.
+
+He had not advanced farther on his voyage than the point of Pidir, when
+he fell in with two Portuguese ships bound to the Moluccas, the captains
+of which he made acquainted with the situation of the garrison, and they
+immediately proceeded to its relief. Arriving in the night they heard
+great firing of cannon, and learned next morning that the Achinese had
+made a furious assault in hopes of carrying the fortress before the
+ships, which were descried at a distance, could throw succours into it.
+They had mastered some of the outworks, and the garrison represented that
+it was impossible for them to support such another shock without aid from
+the vessels. The captains, with as much force as could be spared, entered
+the fort, and a sally was shortly afterwards resolved on and executed, in
+which the besiegers sustained considerable damage. Every effort was
+likewise employed to repair the breaches and stop up the mines that had
+been made by the enemy in order to effect a passage into the place.
+Ibrahim now attempted to draw them into a snare by removing his camp to a
+distance and making a feint of abandoning his enterprise; but this
+stratagem proved ineffectual. Reflecting then with indignation that his
+own force consisted of fifteen thousand men whilst that of the Europeans
+did not exceed three hundred and fifty, many of whom were sick and
+wounded, and others worn out with the fatigue of continual duty
+(intelligence whereof was conveyed to him), he resolved once more to
+return to the siege, and make a general assault upon all parts of the
+fortification at once. Two hours before daybreak he caused the place to
+be surrounded with eight thousand men, who approached in perfect silence.
+The nighttime was preferred by these people for making their attacks as
+being then most secure from the effect of firearms, and they also
+generally chose a time of rain, when the powder would not burn. As soon
+as they found themselves perceived they set up a hideous shout, and,
+fixing their scaling ladders, made of bamboo and wonderfully light, to
+the number of six hundred, they attempted to force their way through the
+embrasures for the guns; but after a strenuous contest they were at
+length repulsed. Seven elephants were driven with violence against the
+paling of one of the bastions, which gave way before them like a hedge,
+and overset all the men who were on it. Javelins and pikes these enormous
+beasts made no account of, but upon setting fire to powder under their
+trunks they drew back with precipitation in spite of all the efforts of
+their drivers, overthrew their own people, and, flying to the distance of
+several miles, could not again be brought into the lines. The Achinese
+upon receiving this check thought to take revenge by setting fire to some
+vessels that were in the dockyard; but this proved an unfortunate measure
+to them, for by the light which it occasioned the garrison were enabled
+to point their guns, and did abundant execution.
+
+1524.
+
+Henriquez, after beating sometime against a contrary wind, put back to
+Pase, and, coming on shore the day after this conflict, resumed his
+command. A council was soon after held to determine what measures were
+fittest to be pursued in the present situation of affairs, and, taking
+into their consideration that no further assistance could be expected
+from the west of India in less than six months, that the garrison was
+sickly and provisions short, it was resolved by a majority of votes to
+abandon the place, and measures were taken accordingly. In order to
+conceal their intentions from the enemy they ordered such of the
+artillery and stores as could be removed conveniently to be packed up in
+the form of merchandise and then shipped off. A party was left to set
+fire to the buildings, and trains of powder were so disposed as to lead
+to the larger cannon, which they overcharged that they might burst as
+soon as heated. But this was not effectually executed, and the pieces
+mostly fell into the hands of the Achinese, who upon the first alarm of
+the evacuation rushed in, extinguished the flames, and turned upon the
+Portuguese their own artillery, many of whom were killed in the water as
+they hurried to get into their boats. They now lost as much credit by
+this ill conducted retreat as they had acquired by their gallant defence,
+and were insulted by the reproachful shouts of the enemy, whose power was
+greatly increased by this acquisition of military stores, and of which
+they often severely experienced the effects. To render their disgrace
+more striking it happened that as they sailed out of the harbour they met
+thirty boats laden with provisions for their use from the king of Aru,
+who was himself on his march overland with four thousand men: and when
+they arrived at Malacca they found troops and stores embarked there for
+their relief. The unfortunate princes who had sought an asylum with them
+now joined in their flight; the sultan of Pase proceeded to Malacca, and
+the sultan of Pidir and chief of Daya took refuge with the king of Aru.
+
+1525.
+
+Raja Nara, king of Indragiri, in conjunction with a force from Bintang,
+attacked the king of a neighbouring island called Lingga, who was in
+friendship with the Portuguese. A message which passed on this occasion
+gives a just idea of the style and manners of this people. Upon their
+acquainting the king of Lingga, in their summons of surrender, that they
+had lately overcome the fleet of Malacca, he replied that his
+intelligence informed him of the contrary; that he had just made a
+festival and killed fifty goats to celebrate one defeat which they had
+received, and hoped soon to kill a hundred in order to celebrate a
+second. His expectations were fulfilled, or rather anticipated, for the
+Portuguese, having a knowledge of the king of Indragiri's design, sent
+out a small fleet which routed the combined force before the king of
+Lingga was acquainted with their arrival, his capital being situated high
+up on the river.
+
+1526.
+
+In the next year, at the conquest of Bintang, this king unsolicited sent
+assistance to his European allies.
+
+1527.
+
+However well founded the accounts may have been which the Portuguese have
+given us of the cruelties committed against their people by the king of
+Achin, the barbarity does not appear to have been only on one side.
+Francisco de Mello, being sent in an armed vessel with dispatches to Goa,
+met near Achin Head with a ship of that nation just arrived from Mecca
+and supposed to be richly laden. As she had on board three hundred
+Achinese and forty Arabs he dared not venture to board her, but battered
+her at a distance, when suddenly she filled and sunk, to the extreme
+disappointment of the Portuguese, who thereby lost their prize; but they
+wreaked their vengeance on the unfortunate crew as they endeavoured to
+save themselves by swimming, and boast that they did not suffer a man to
+escape. Opportunities of retaliation soon offered.
+
+1528.
+
+Simano de Sousa, going with a reinforcement to the Moluccas from Cochin,
+was overtaken in the bay by a violent storm, which forced him to stow
+many of his guns in the hold; and, having lost several of his men through
+fatigue, he made for the nearest port he could take shelter in, which
+proved to be Achin. The king, having the destruction of the Portuguese at
+heart, and resolving if possible to seize their vessel, sent off a
+message to De Sousa recommending his standing in closer to the shore,
+where he would have more shelter from the gale which still continued, and
+lie more conveniently for getting off water and provisions, at the same
+time inviting him to land. This artifice not succeeding, he ordered out
+the next morning a thousand men in twenty boats, who at first pretended
+they were come to assist in mooring the ship; but the captain, aware of
+their hostile design, fired amongst them, when a fierce engagement took
+place in which the Achinese were repulsed with great slaughter, but not
+until they had destroyed forty of the Portuguese. The king, enraged at
+this disappointment, ordered a second attack, threatening to have his
+admiral trampled to death by elephants if he failed of success. A boat
+was sent ahead of this fleet with a signal of peace, and assurances to De
+Sousa that the king, as soon as he was made acquainted with the injury
+that had been committed, had caused the perpetrators of it to be
+punished, and now once more requested him to come on shore and trust to
+his honour. This proposal some of the crew were inclined that he should
+accept, but being animated by a speech that he made to them it was
+resolved that they should die with arms in their hands in preference to a
+disgraceful and hazardous submission. The combat was therefore renewed,
+with extreme fury on the one side, and uncommon efforts of courage on the
+other, and the assailants were a second time repulsed; but one of those
+who had boarded the vessel and afterwards made his escape represented to
+the Achinese the reduced and helpless situation of their enemy, and,
+fresh supplies coming off, they were encouraged to return to the attack.
+De Sousa and his people were at length almost all cut to pieces, and
+those who survived, being desperately wounded, were overpowered, and led
+prisoners to the king, who unexpectedly treated them with extraordinary
+kindness, in order to cover the designs he harboured, and pretended to
+lament the fate of their brave commander. He directed them to fix upon
+one of their companions, who should go in his name to the governor of
+Malacca, to desire he would immediately send to take possession of the
+ship, which he meant to restore, as well as to liberate them. He hoped by
+this artifice to draw more of the Portuguese into his power, and at the
+same time to effect a purpose of a political nature. A war had recently
+broken out between him and the king of Aru, the latter of whom had
+deputed ambassadors to Malacca, to solicit assistance, in return for his
+former services, and which was readily promised to him. It was highly the
+interest of the king of Achin to prevent this junction, and therefore,
+though determined to relax nothing in his plans of revenge, he hastened
+to dispatch Antonio Caldeira, one of the captives, with proposals of
+accommodation and alliance, offering to restore not only this vessel, but
+also the artillery which he had taken at Pase. These terms appeared to
+the governor too advantageous to be rejected. Conceiving a favourable
+idea of the king's intentions, from the confidence which Caldeira, who
+was deceived by the humanity shown to the wounded captives, appeared to
+place in his sincerity, he became deaf to the representations that were
+made to him by more experienced persons of his insidious character. A
+message was sent back, agreeing to accept his friendship on the proposed
+conditions, and engaging to withhold the promised succours from the king
+of Aru. Caldeira, in his way to Achin, touched at an island, where he was
+cut off with those who accompanied him. The ambassadors from Aru being
+acquainted with this breach of faith, retired in great disgust, and the
+king, incensed at the ingratitude shown him, concluded a peace with
+Achin; but not till after an engagement between their fleets had taken
+place, in which the victory remained undecided.
+
+In order that he might learn the causes of the obscurity in which his
+negotiations with Malacca rested, Ibrahim dispatched a secret messenger
+to Senaia Raja, bandhara of that city, with whom he held a
+correspondence; desiring also to be informed of the strength of the
+garrison. Hearing in answer that the governor newly arrived was inclined
+to think favourably of him, he immediately sent an ambassador to wait on
+him with assurances of his pacific and friendly disposition, who returned
+in company with persons empowered, on the governor's part, to negotiate a
+treaty of commerce. These, upon their arrival at Achin, were loaded with
+favours and costly presents, the news of which quickly flew to Malacca,
+and, the business they came on being adjusted, they were suffered to
+depart; but they had not sailed far before they were overtaken by boats
+sent after them, and were stripped and murdered. The governor, who had
+heard of their setting out, concluded they were lost by accident.
+Intelligence of this mistaken opinion was transmitted to the king, who
+thereupon had the audacity to request that he might be honoured with the
+presence of some Portuguese of rank and consequence in his capital, to
+ratify in a becoming manner the articles that had been drawn up; as he
+ardently wished to see that nation trafficking freely in his dominions.
+
+1529.
+
+The deluded governor, in compliance with this request, adopted the
+resolution of sending thither a large ship under the command of Manuel
+Pacheco, with a rich cargo, the property of himself and several merchants
+of Malacca, who themselves embarked with the idea of making extraordinary
+profits. Senaia conveyed notice of this preparation to Achin, informing
+the king at the same time that, if he could make himself master of this
+vessel, Malacca must fall an easy prey to him, as the place was weakened
+of half its force for the equipment. When Pacheco approached the harbour
+he was surrounded by a great number of boats, and some of the people
+began to suspect treachery, but so strongly did the spirit of delusion
+prevail in this business that they could not persuade the captain to put
+himself on his guard. He soon had reason to repent his credulity.
+Perceiving an arrow pass close by him, he hastened to put on his coat of
+mail, when a second pierced his neck, and he soon expired. The vessel
+then became an easy prey, and the people, being made prisoners, were
+shortly afterwards massacred by the king's order, along with the
+unfortunate remnant of De Sousa's crew, so long flattered with the hopes
+of release. By this capture the king was supposed to have remained in
+possession of more artillery than was left in Malacca, and he immediately
+fitted out a fleet to take advantage of its exposed state. The pride of
+success causing him to imagine it already in his power, he sent a
+taunting message to the governor in which he thanked him for the late
+instances of his liberality, and let him know he should trouble him for
+the remainder of his naval force.
+
+Senaia had promised to put the citadel into his hands, and this had
+certainly been executed but for an accident that discovered his
+treasonable designs. The crews of some vessels of the Achinese fleet
+landed on a part of the coast not far from the city, where they were well
+entertained by the natives, and in the openness of conviviality related
+the transactions which had lately passed at Achin, the correspondence of
+Senaia, and the scheme that was laid for rising on the Portuguese when
+they should be at church, murdering them, and seizing the fortress.
+Intelligence of this was reported with speed to the governor, who had
+Senaia instantly apprehended and executed. This punishment served to
+intimidate those among the inhabitants who were engaged in the
+conspiracy, and disconcerted the plans of the king of Achin.
+
+This appears to be the last transaction of Ibrahim's reign recorded by
+the Portuguese historians. His death is stated by De Barros to have taken
+place in the year 1528 in consequence of poison administered to him by
+one of his wives, to revenge the injuries her brother, the chief of Daya,
+had suffered at his hand. In a Malayan work (lately come into my
+possession) containing the annals of the kingdom of Achin, it is said
+that a king, whose title was sultan Saleh-eddin-shah, obtained the
+sovereignty in a year answering to 1511 of our era, and who, after
+reigning about eighteen years, was dethroned by a brother in 1529.
+Notwithstanding some apparent discordance between the two accounts there
+can be little doubt of the circumstances applying to the same individual,
+as it may well be presumed that, according to the usual practice in the
+East, he adopted upon ascending the throne a title different from the
+name which he had originally borne, although that might continue to be
+his more familiar appellation, especially in the mouths of his enemies.
+The want of precise coincidence in the dates cannot be thought an
+objection, as the event not falling under the immediate observation of
+the Portuguese they cannot pretend to accuracy within a few months, and
+even their account of the subsequent transactions renders it more
+probable that it happened in 1529; nor are the facts of his being
+dethroned by the brother, or put to death by the sister, materially at
+variance with each other; and the latter circumstance, whether true or
+false, might naturally enough be reported at Malacca.
+
+1529.
+
+His successor took the name of Ala-eddin-shah, and afterwards, from his
+great enterprises, acquired the additional epithet of keher or the
+powerful. By the Portuguese he is said to have styled himself king of
+Achin, Barus, Pidir, Pase, Daya, and Batta, prince of the land of the two
+seas, and of the mines of Menangkabau.
+
+1537.
+
+Nothing is recorded of his reign until the year 1537, in which he twice
+attacked Malacca. The first time he sent an army of three thousand men
+who landed near the city by night, unperceived by the garrison, and,
+having committed some ravages in the suburbs, were advancing to the
+bridge, when the governor, Estavano de Gama, sallied out with a party and
+obliged them to retreat for shelter to the woods. Here they defended
+themselves during the next day, but on the following night they
+re-embarked, with the loss of five hundred men. A few months afterwards
+the king had the place invested with a larger force; but in the interval
+the works had been repaired and strengthened, and after three days
+ineffectual attempt the Achinese were again constrained to retire.
+
+1547.
+
+In the year 1547 he once more fitted out a fleet against Malacca, where a
+descent was made; but, contented with some trifling plunder, the army
+re-embarked, and the vessels proceeded to the river of Parles on the
+Malayan coast. Hither they were followed by a Portuguese squadron, which
+attacked and defeated a division of the fleet at the mouth of the river.
+This victory was rendered famous, not so much by the valour of the
+combatants, as by a revelation opportunely made from heaven to the
+celebrated missionary Francisco Xavier of the time and circumstances of
+it, and which he announced to the garrison at a moment when the approach
+of a powerful invader from another quarter had caused much alarm and
+apprehension among them.
+
+Many transactions of the reign of this prince, particularly with the
+neighbouring states of Batta and Aru (about the years 1539 and 1541) are
+mentioned by Ferdinand Mendez Pinto; but his writings are too apocryphal
+to allow of the facts being recorded upon his authority. Yet there is the
+strongest internal evidence of his having been more intimately acquainted
+with the countries of which we are now speaking, the character of the
+inhabitants, and the political transactions of the period, than any of
+his contemporaries; and it appears highly probable that what he has
+related is substantially true: but there is also reason to believe that
+he composed his work from recollection after his return to Europe, and he
+may not have been scrupulous in supplying from a fertile imagination the
+unavoidable failures of a memory, however richly stored.
+
+1556.
+
+The death of Ala-eddin took place, according to the Annals, in 1556,
+after a reign of twenty-eight years.
+
+1565.
+
+He was succeeded by sultan Hussein-shah, who reigned about eight, and
+dying in 1565 was succeeded by his son, an infant. This child survived
+only seven months; and in the same year the throne was occupied by Raja
+Firman-shah, who was murdered soon after.
+
+1567.
+
+His successor, Raja Janil, experienced a similar fate when he had reigned
+ten months. This event is placed in 1567. Sultan Mansur-shah, from the
+kingdom of Perak in the peninsula, was the next who ascended the throne.
+
+1567.
+
+The western powers of India having formed a league for the purpose of
+extirpating the Portuguese, the king of Achin was invited to accede to
+it, and, in conformity with the engagements by which the respective
+parties were bound, he prepared to attack them in Malacca, and carried
+thither a numerous fleet, in which were fifteen thousand people of his
+own subjects, and four hundred Turks, with two hundred pieces of
+artillery of different sizes. In order to amuse the enemy he gave out
+that his force was destined against Java, and sent a letter, accompanied
+with a present of a kris, to the governor, professing strong sentiments
+of friendship. A person whom he turned on shore with marks of ignominy,
+being suspected for a spy, was taken up, and being put to the torture
+confessed that he was employed by the Ottoman emperor and king of Achin
+to poison the principal officers of the place, and to set fire to their
+magazine. He was put to death, and his mutilated carcase was sent off to
+the king. This was the signal for hostilities. He immediately landed with
+all his men and commenced a regular siege. Sallies were made with various
+success and very unequal numbers. In one of these the chief of Aru, the
+king's eldest son, was killed. In another the Portuguese were defeated
+and lost many officers. A variety of stratagems were employed to work
+upon the fears and shake the fidelity of the inhabitants of the town. A
+general assault was given in which, after prodigious efforts of courage,
+and imminent risk of destruction, the besieged remained victorious. The
+king, seeing all his attempts fruitless, at length departed, having lost
+three thousand men before the walls, beside about five hundred who were
+said to have died of their wounds on the passage. The king of Ujong-tanah
+or Johor, who arrived with a fleet to the assistance of the place, found
+the sea for a long distance covered with dead bodies. This was esteemed
+one of the most desperate and honourable sieges the Portuguese
+experienced in India, their whole force consisting of but fifteen hundred
+men, of whom no more than two hundred were Europeans.
+
+1568.
+
+In the following year a vessel from Achin bound to Java, with ambassadors
+on board to the queen of Japara, in whom the king wished to raise up a
+new enemy against the Portuguese, was met in the straits by a vessel from
+Malacca, who took her and put all the people to the sword. It appears to
+have been a maxim in these wars never to give quarter to an enemy,
+whether resisting or submitting.
+
+1569.
+
+In 1569 a single ship, commanded by Lopez Carrasco, passing near Achin,
+fell in with a fleet coming out of that port, consisting of twenty large
+galleys and a hundred and eighty other vessels, commanded by the king in
+person, and supposed to be designed against Malacca. The situation of the
+Portuguese was desperate. They could not expect to escape, and therefore
+resolved to die like men. During three days they sustained a continual
+attack, when, after having by incredible exertions destroyed forty of the
+enemy's vessels, and being themselves reduced to the state of a wreck, a
+second ship appeared in sight. The king perceiving this retired into the
+harbour with his shattered forces.
+
+It is difficult to determine which of the two is the more astonishing,
+the vigorous stand made by such a handful of men as the whole strength of
+Malacca consisted of, or the prodigious resources and perseverance of the
+Achinese monarch.
+
+1573.
+
+In 1573, after forming an alliance with the queen of Japara, the object
+of which was the destruction of the European power, he appeared again
+before Malacca with ninety vessels, twenty-five of them large galleys,
+with seven thousand men and great store of artillery. He began his
+operations by sending a party to set fire to the suburbs of the town, but
+a timely shower of rain prevented its taking effect. He then resolved on
+a different mode of warfare, and tried to starve the place to a surrender
+by blocking up the harbour and cutting off all supplies of provisions.
+The Portuguese, to prevent the fatal consequences of this measure,
+collected those few vessels which they were masters of, and, a merchant
+ship of some force arriving opportunely, they put to sea, attacked the
+enemy's fleet, killed the principal captain, and obtained a complete
+victory.
+
+1574.
+
+In the year following Malacca was invested by an armada from the queen of
+Japara, of three hundred sail, eighty of which were junks of four hundred
+tons burden. After besieging the place for three months, till the very
+air became corrupted by their stay, the fleet retired with little more
+than five thousand men, of fifteen that embarked on the expedition.
+
+1575.
+
+Scarcely was the Javanese force departed when the king of Achin once more
+appeared with a fleet that is described as covering the straits. He
+ordered an attack upon three Portuguese frigates that were in the road
+protecting some provision vessels, which was executed with such a furious
+discharge of artillery that they were presently destroyed with all their
+crews. This was a dreadful blow to Malacca, and lamented, as the
+historian relates, with tears of blood by the little garrison, who were
+not now above a hundred and fifty men, and of those a great part
+non-effective. The king, elated with his success, landed his troops, and
+laid siege to the fort, which he battered at intervals during seventeen
+days. The fire of the Portuguese became very slack, and after some time
+totally ceased, as the governor judged it prudent to reserve his small
+stock of ammunition for an effort at the last extremity. The king,
+alarmed at this silence, which he construed into a preparation for some
+dangerous stratagem, was seized with a panic, and, suddenly raising the
+siege, embarked with the utmost precipitation; unexpectedly relieving the
+garrison from the ruin that hung over it, and which seemed inevitable in
+the ordinary course of events.
+
+1582.
+
+In 1582 we find the king appearing again before Malacca with a hundred
+and fifty sail of vessels. After some skirmishes with the Portuguese
+ships, in which the success was nearly equal on both sides, the Achinese
+proceeded to attack Johor, the king of which was then in alliance with
+Malacca. Twelve ships followed them thither, and, having burned some of
+their galleys, defeated the rest and obliged them to fly to Achin. The
+operations of these campaigns, and particularly the valour of the
+commander, named Raja Makuta, are alluded to in Queen Elizabeth's letter
+to the king, delivered in 1602 by Sir James Lancaster.
+
+About three or four years after this misfortune Mansur-shah prepared a
+fleet of no less than three hundred sail of vessels, and was ready to
+embark once more upon his favourite enterprise, when he was murdered,
+together with his queen and many of the principal nobility, by the
+general of the forces, who had long formed designs upon the crown.
+
+1585.
+
+This was perpetrated in May 1585, when he had reigned nearly eighteen
+years. In his time the consequence of the kingdom of Achin is represented
+to have arrived at a considerable height, and its friendship to have been
+courted by the most powerful states. No city in India possessed a more
+flourishing trade, the port being crowded with merchant vessels which
+were encouraged to resort thither by the moderate rates of the customs
+levied; and although the Portuguese and their ships were continually
+plundered, those belonging to every Asiatic power, from Mecca in the West
+to Japan in the East, appear to have enjoyed protection and security. The
+despotic authority of the monarch was counterpoised by the influence of
+the orang-kayas or nobility, who are described as being possessed of
+great wealth, living in fortified houses, surrounded by numerous
+dependants, and feeling themselves above control, often giving a
+licentious range to their proud and impatient tempers.
+
+The late monarch's daughter and only child was married to the king of
+Johor,* by whom she had a son, who, being regarded as heir to the crown
+of Achin, had been brought to the latter place to be educated under the
+eye of his grandfather. When the general (whose name is corruptly written
+Moratiza) assumed the powers of government, he declared himself the
+protector of this child, and we find him mentioned in the Annals by the
+title of Sultan Buyong (or the Boy).
+
+(*Footnote. The king of Achin sent on this occasion to Johor a piece of
+ordnance, such as for greatness, length, and workmanship (says
+Linschoten), could hardly be matched in all Christendom. It was
+afterwards taken by the Portuguese, who shipped it for Europe, but the
+vessel was lost in her passage.)
+
+1588.
+
+But before he had completed the third year of his nominal reign he also
+was dispatched, and the usurper took formal possession of the throne in
+the year 1588, by the name of Ala-eddin Rayet-shah,* being then at an
+advanced period of life.
+
+(*Footnote. Valentyn, by an obvious corruption, names him Sulthan Alciden
+Ryetza, and this coincidence is strongly in favour of the authenticity
+and correctness of the Annals. John Davis, who will be hereafter
+mentioned, calls him, with sufficient accuracy, Sultan Aladin.)
+
+The Annals say he was the grandson of Sultan Firman-shah; but the
+Europeans who visited Achin during his reign report him to have been
+originally a fisherman, who, having afterwards served in the wars against
+Malacca, showed so much courage, prudence, and skill in maritime affairs
+that the late king made him at length the chief commander of his forces,
+and gave him one of his nearest kinswomen to wife, in right of whom he is
+said to have laid claim to the throne.
+
+The French Commodore Beaulieu relates the circumstances of this
+revolution in a very different manner.*
+
+(*Footnote. The commodore had great opportunity of information, was a man
+of very superior ability, and indefatigable in his inquiries upon all
+subjects, as appears by the excellent account of his voyage, and of Achin
+in particular, written by himself, and published in Thevenot's
+collection, of which there is an English translation in Harris; but it is
+possible he may, in this instance, have been amused by a plausible tale
+from the grandson of this monarch, with whom he had much intercourse.
+John Davis, an intelligent English navigator whose account I have
+followed, might have been more likely to hear the truth as he was at
+Achin (though not a frequenter of the court) during Ala-eddin's reign,
+whereas Beaulieu did not arrive till twenty' years after, and the report
+of his having been originally a fisherman is also mentioned by the Dutch
+writers.)
+
+He says that, upon the extinction of the ancient royal line, which
+happened about forty years before the period at which he wrote, the
+orang-kayas met in order to choose a king, but, every one affecting the
+dignity for himself, they could not agree and resolved to decide it by
+force. In this ferment the cadi or chief judge by his authority and
+remonstrances persuaded them to offer the crown to a certain noble who in
+all these divisions had taken no part, but had lived in the reputation of
+a wise, experienced man, being then seventy years of age, and descended
+from one of the most respectable families of the country. After several
+excuses on his side, and entreaties and even threats on theirs, he at
+length consented to accept the dignity thus imposed upon him, provided
+they should regard him as a father, and receive correction from him as
+his children; but no sooner was he in possession of the sovereign power
+than (like Pope Sixtus the Fifth) he showed a different face, and the
+first step after his accession was to invite the orang-kayas to a feast,
+where, as they were separately introduced, he caused them to be seized
+and murdered in a court behind the palace. He then proceeded to demolish
+their fortified houses, and lodged their cannon, arms, and goods in the
+castle, taking measures to prevent in future the erection of any
+buildings of substantial materials that could afford him grounds of
+jealousy. He raised his own adherents from the lower class of people to
+the first dignities of the state, and of those who presumed to express
+any disapprobation of his conduct he made great slaughter, being supposed
+to have executed not less than twenty thousand persons in the first year
+of his reign.
+
+From the silence of the Portuguese writers with respect to the actions of
+this king we have reason to conclude that he did not make any attempts to
+disturb their settlement of Malacca; and it even appears that some
+persons in the character of ambassadors or agents from that power resided
+at Achin, the principal object of whose policy appears to have been that
+of inspiring him with jealousy and hatred of the Hollanders, who in their
+turn were actively exerting themselves to supplant the conquerors of
+India.
+
+1600.
+
+Towards the close of the sixteenth century they began to navigate these
+seas; and in June 1600 visited Achin with two ships, but had no cause to
+boast of the hospitality of their reception. An attempt was made to cut
+them off, and evidently by the orders or connivance of the king, who had
+prevailed upon the Dutch admiral to take on board troops and military
+stores for an expedition meditated, or pretended, against the city of
+Johor, which these ships were to bombard. Several of the crews were
+murdered, but after a desperate conflict in both ships the treacherous
+assailants were overcome and driven into the water, "and it was some
+pleasure (says John Davis, an Englishman, who was the principal pilot of
+the squadron) to see how the base Indians did fly, how they were killed,
+and how well they were drowned."* This barbarous and apparently
+unprovoked attack was attributed, but perhaps without any just grounds,
+to the instigation of the Portuguese.
+
+(*Footnote. All the Dutchmen on shore at the time were made prisoners,
+and many of them continued in that state for several years. Among these
+was Captain Frederick Houtman, whose Vocabulary of the Malayan language
+was printed at Amsterdam in 1604, being the first that was published in
+Europe. My copy has the writer's autograph.)
+
+1600.
+
+In November 1600 Paulus van Caarden, having also the command of two Dutch
+ships, was received upon his landing with much ceremony; but at his first
+audience the king refused to read a letter from the Prince of Orange,
+upon its being suggested to him that instead of paper it was written on
+the skin of an unclean animal; and the subsequent treatment experienced
+by this officer was uniformly bad. It appears however that in December
+1601 the king was so far reconciled to this new power as to send two
+ambassadors to Holland, one of whom died there in August 1602, and the
+other returned to Achin subsequently to the death of his master.
+
+1602.
+
+The first English fleet that made its appearance in this part of the
+world, and laid the foundation of a commerce which was in time to eclipse
+that of every other European state, arrived at Achin in June 1602. Sir
+James Lancaster, who commanded it, was received by the king with abundant
+ceremony and respect, which seem with these monarchs to have been usually
+proportioned to the number of vessels and apparent strength of their
+foreign guests. The queen of England's letter was conveyed to court with
+great pomp, and the general, after delivering a rich present, the most
+admired article of which was a fan of feathers, declared the purpose of
+his coming was to establish peace and amity between his royal mistress
+and her loving brother, the great and mighty king of Achin. He was
+invited to a banquet prepared for his entertainment, in which the service
+was of gold, and the king's damsels, who were richly attired and adorned
+with bracelets and jewels, were ordered to divert him with dancing and
+music. Before he retired he was arrayed by the king in a magnificent
+habit of the country, and armed with two krises. In the present sent as a
+return for the queen's there was, among other matters, a valuable ruby
+set in a ring. Two of the nobles, one of whom was the chief priest, were
+appointed to settle with Lancaster the terms of a commercial treaty,
+which was accordingly drawn up and executed in an explicit and regular
+manner. The Portuguese ambassador, or more properly the Spanish, as those
+kingdoms were now united, kept a watchful and jealous eye upon his
+proceedings; but by bribing the spies who surrounded him he foiled them
+at their own arts, and acquired intelligence that enabled him to take a
+rich prize in the straits of Malacca, with which he returned to Achin;
+and, having loaded what pepper he could procure there, took his departure
+in November of the same year. On this occasion it was requested by the
+king that he and his officers would favour him by singing one of the
+psalms of David, which was performed with much solemnity.
+
+Very little is known of the military transactions of this reign, and no
+conquest but that of Pase is recorded. He had two sons, the younger of
+whom he made king of Pidir, and the elder, styled Sultan Muda, he kept at
+Achin, in order to succeed him in the throne. In the year 1603 he
+resolved to divide the charge of government with his intended heir, as he
+found his extraordinary age began to render him unequal to the task, and
+accordingly invested him with royal dignity; but the effect which might
+have been foreseen quickly followed this measure. The son, who was
+already advanced in years, became impatient to enjoy more complete power,
+and, thinking his father had possessed the crown sufficiently long, he
+confined him in a prison, where his days were soon ended.
+
+1604.
+
+The exact period at which this event took place is not known, but,
+calculating from the duration of his reign as stated in the Annals, it
+must have been early in the year 1604.* He was then ninety-five years of
+age,** and described to be a hale man, but extremely gross and fat.
+
+(*Footnote. The Dutch commander Joris van Spilbergen took leave of him in
+April 1603, and his ambassador to Holland, who returned in December,
+1604, found his son on the throne, according to Valentyn. Commodore
+Beaulieu says he died in 1603.)
+
+(**Footnote. According to Beaulieu Davis says he was about a hundred; and
+the Dutch voyages mention that his great age prevented his ever appearing
+out of his palace.)
+
+His constitution must have been uncommonly vigorous, and his muscular
+strength is indicated by this ludicrous circumstance, that when he once
+condescended to embrace a Dutch admiral, contrary to the usual manners of
+his country, the pressure of his arms was so violent as to cause
+excessive pain to the person so honoured. He was passionately addicted to
+women, gaming, and drink, his favourite beverage being arrack. By the
+severity of his punishments he kept his subjects in extreme awe of him;
+and the merchants were obliged to submit to more exactions and
+oppressions than were felt under the government of his predecessors. The
+seizure of certain vessels belonging to the people of Bantam and other
+arbitrary proceedings of that nature are said to have deterred the
+traders of India from entering into his ports.
+
+The new king, who took the name of Ali Maghayat-shah, proved himself,
+from indolence or want of capacity, unfit to reign. He was always
+surrounded by his women, who were not only his attendants but his guards,
+and carried arms for that purpose. His occupations were the bath and the
+chase, and the affairs of state were neglected insomuch that murders,
+robberies, oppression, and an infinity of disorders took place in the
+kingdom for want of a regular and strict administration of justice. A son
+of the daughter of Ala-eddin had been a favourite of his grandfather, at
+the time of whose death he was twenty-three years of age, and continued,
+with his mother, to reside at the court after that event. His uncle the
+king of Achin having given him a rebuke on some occasion, he left his
+palace abruptly and fled to the king of Pidir, who received him with
+affection, and refused to send him back at the desire of the elder
+brother, or to offer any violence to a young prince whom their father
+loved. This was the occasion of an inveterate war which cost the lives of
+many thousand people. The nephew commanded the forces of Pidir, and for
+some time maintained the advantage, but these, at length seeing
+themselves much inferior in numbers to the army of Ali-Maghayat, refused
+to march, and the king was obliged to give him up, when he was conveyed
+to Achin and put in close confinement.
+
+1606.
+
+Not long afterwards a Portuguese squadron under Martin Alfonso, going to
+the relief of Malacca, then besieged by the Dutch, anchored in Achin road
+with the resolution of taking revenge on the king for receiving these
+their rivals into his ports, contrary to the stipulations of a treaty
+that had been entered into between them. The viceroy landed his men, who
+were opposed by a strong force on the part of the Achinese; but after a
+stout resistance they gained the first turf fort with two pieces of
+cannon, and commenced an attack upon the second, of masonry. In this
+critical juncture the young prince sent a message to his uncle requesting
+he might be permitted to join the army and expose himself in the ranks,
+declaring himself more willing to die in battle against the Kafers (so
+they always affected to call the Portuguese) than to languish like a
+slave in chains. The fears which operated upon the king's mind induced
+him to consent to his release. The prince showed so much bravery on this
+occasion, and conducted two or three attacks with such success that
+Alfonso was obliged to order a retreat, after wasting two days and losing
+three hundred men in this fruitless attempt. The reputation of the prince
+was raised by this affair to a high pitch amongst the people of Achin.
+His mother, who was an active, ambitious woman, formed the design of
+placing him on the throne, and furnished him with large sums of money, to
+be distributed in gratuities amongst the principal orang cayas. At the
+same time he endeavoured to ingratiate himself by his manners with all
+classes of people. To the rich he was courteous; to the poor he was
+affable; and he was the constant companion of those who were in the
+profession of arms. When the king had reigned between three and four
+years he died suddenly, and at the hour of his death the prince got
+access to the castle. He bribed the guards, made liberal promises to the
+officers, advanced a large sum of money to the governor, and sending for
+the chief priest obliged him by threats to crown him. In fine he managed
+the revolution so happily that he was proclaimed king before night, to
+the great joy of the people, who conceived vast hopes from his
+liberality, courtesy, and valour. The king of Pidir was speedily
+acquainted with the news of his brother's death, but not of the
+subsequent transactions, and came the next day to take possession of his
+inheritance. As he approached the castle with a small retinue he was
+seized by orders from the reigning prince, who, forgetting the favours he
+had received, kept him prisoner for a month, and then, sending him into
+the country under the pretence of a commodious retreat, had him murdered
+on the way. Those who put the crown on his head were not better requited;
+particularly the Maharaja, or governor of the castle. In a short time his
+disappointed subjects found that instead of being humane he was cruel;
+instead of being liberal he displayed extreme avarice, and instead of
+being affable he manifested a temper austere and inexorable.
+
+This king, whom the Annals name Iskander Muda, was known to our
+travellers by the title of sultan Paduka Sri (words equivalent to most
+gracious), sovereign of Achin and of the countries of Aru, Dilli, Johor,
+Pahang, Kedah, and Perak on the one side, and of Barus, Pasaman, Tiku,
+Sileda, and Priaman on the other. Some of these places were conquered by
+him, and others he inherited.
+
+1613.
+
+He showed much friendship to the Hollanders in the early part of his
+reign; and in the year 1613 gave permission to the English to settle a
+factory, granting them many indulgences, in consequence of a letter and
+present from king James the first. He bestowed on Captain Best, who was
+the bearer of them, the title of orang kaya putih, and entertained him
+with the fighting of elephants, buffaloes, rams, and tigers. His answer
+to king James (a translation of which is to be found in Purchas) is
+couched in the most friendly terms, and he there styles himself king of
+all Sumatra. He expressed a strong desire that the king of England should
+send him one of his countrywomen to wife, and promised to make her eldest
+son king of all the pepper countries, that so the English might be
+supplied with that commodity by a monarch of their own nation. But
+notwithstanding his strong professions of attachment to us, and his
+natural connexion with the Hollanders, arising from their joint enmity to
+the Portuguese, it was not many years before he began to oppress both
+nations and use his endeavours to ruin their trade. He became jealous of
+their growing power, and particularly in consequence of intelligence that
+reached him concerning the encroachments made by the latter in the island
+of Java.
+
+The conquest of Aru seems never to have been thoroughly effected by the
+kings of Achin. Paduka Sri carried his arms thither and boasted of having
+obtained some victories.
+
+1613.
+
+In 1613 he subdued Siak in its neighbourhood. Early in the same year he
+sent an expedition against the kingdom of Johor (which had always
+maintained a political connexion with Aru) and, reducing the city after a
+siege of twenty-nine days, plundered it of everything moveable, and made
+slaves of the miserable inhabitants. The king fled to the island of
+Bintang, but his youngest brother and coadjutor was taken prisoner and
+carried to Achin. The old king of Johor, who had so often engaged the
+Portuguese, left three sons, the eldest of whom succeeded him by the
+title of Iang de per-tuan.*
+
+(*Footnote. This is not an individual title or proper name, but signifies
+the sovereign or reigning monarch. In like manner Rega Bongsu signifies
+the king's youngest brother, as Raja Muda does the heir apparent.)
+
+The second was made king of Siak, and the third, called Raja Bongsu,
+reigned jointly with the first. He it was who assisted the Hollanders in
+the first siege of Malacca, and corresponded with Prince Maurice. The
+king of Achin was married to their sister, but this did not prevent a
+long and cruel war between them. A Dutch factory at Johor was involved in
+the consequences of this war, and several of that nation were among the
+prisoners. In the course of the same year however the king of Achin
+thought proper to establish Raja Bongsu on the throne of Johor, sending
+him back for that purpose with great honours, assisting him to rebuild
+the fort and city, and giving him one of his own sisters in marriage.
+
+1615.
+
+In 1615 the king of Achin sailed to the attack of Malacca in a fleet
+which he had been four years employed in preparing. It consisted of above
+five hundred sail, of which a hundred were large galleys, greater than
+any at that time built in Europe, carrying each from six to eight hundred
+men, with three large cannon and several smaller pieces. These galleys
+the orang kayas were obliged to furnish, repair, and man, at the peril of
+their lives. The soldiers served without pay, and carried three months
+provision at their own charge. In this great fleet there were computed to
+be sixty thousand men, whom the king commanded in person. His wives and
+household were taken to sea with him. Coming in sight of the Portuguese
+ships in the afternoon, they received many shot from them but avoided
+returning any, as if from contempt. The next day they got ready for
+battle, and drew up in form of a half moon. A desperate engagement took
+place and lasted without intermission till midnight, during which the
+Portuguese admiral was three times boarded, and repeatedly on fire. Many
+vessels on both sides were also in flames and afforded light to continue
+the combat. At length the Achinese gave way, after losing fifty sail of
+different sizes, and twenty thousand men. They retired to Bancalis, on
+the eastern coast of Sumatra, and shortly afterwards sailed for Achin,
+the Portuguese not daring to pursue their victory, both on account of the
+damage they had sustained and their apprehension of the Hollanders, who
+were expected at Malacca. The king proposed that the prisoners taken
+should be mutually given up, which was agreed to, and was the first
+instance of that act of humanity and civilisation between the two powers.
+
+1619.
+
+Three years afterwards the king made a conquest of the cities of Kedah
+and Perak on the Malayan coast, and also of a place called Dilli in
+Sumatra. This last had been strongly fortified by the assistance of the
+Portuguese, and gave an opportunity of displaying much skill in the
+attack. Trenches were regularly opened before it and a siege carried on
+for six weeks ere it fell. In the same year the king of Jorcan (a place
+unknown at present by that name) fled for refuge to Malacca with eighty
+sail of boats, having been expelled his dominions by the king of Achin.
+The Portuguese were not in a condition to afford him relief, being
+themselves surrounded with enemies and fearful of an attack from the
+Achinese more especially; but the king was then making preparations
+against an invasion he heard was meditated by the viceroy of Goa.
+Reciprocal apprehensions kept each party on the defensive.
+
+1621.
+
+The French being desirous of participating in the commerce of Achin, of
+which all the European nations had formed great ideas, and all found
+themselves disappointed in, sent out a squadron commanded by General
+Beaulieu, which arrived in January 1621, and finally left it in December
+of the same year. He brought magnificent presents to the king, but these
+did not content his insatiable avarice, and he employed a variety of mean
+arts to draw from him further gifts. Beaulieu met also with many
+difficulties, and was forced to submit to much extortion in his
+endeavours to procure a loading of pepper, of which Achin itself, as has
+been observed, produced but little. The king informed him that he had
+some time since ordered all the plants to be destroyed, not only because
+the cultivation of them proved an injury to more useful agriculture, but
+also lest their produce might tempt the Europeans to serve him, as they
+had served the kings of Jakatra and Bantam. From this apprehension he had
+lately been induced to expel the English and Dutch from their settlements
+at Priaman and Tiku, where the principal quantity of pepper was procured,
+and of which places he changed the governor every third year to prevent
+any connexions dangerous to his authority from being formed. He had
+likewise driven the Dutch from a factory they were attempting to settle
+at Padang; which place appears to be the most remote on the western coast
+of the island to which the Achinese conquests at any time extended.
+
+1628.
+
+Still retaining a strong desire to possess himself of Malacca, so many
+years the grand object of Achinese ambition, he imprisoned the ambassador
+then at his court, and made extraordinary preparations for the siege,
+which he designed to undertake in person. The laksamana or commander in
+chief (who had effected all the king's late conquests) attempted to
+oppose this resolution; but the maharaja, willing to flatter his master's
+propensity, undertook to put him in possession of the city and had the
+command of the fleet given to him, as the other had of the land forces.
+The king set out on the expedition with a fleet of two hundred and fifty
+sail (forty-seven of them not less than a hundred feet in the keel), in
+which were twenty thousand men well appointed, and a great train of
+artillery. After being some time on board, with his family and retinue as
+usual, he determined, on account of an ill omen that was observed, to
+return to the shore. The generals, proceeding without him, soon arrived
+before Malacca. Having landed their men they made a judicious
+disposition, and began the attack with much courage and military skill.
+The Portuguese were obliged to abandon several of their posts, one of
+which, after a defence of fifty days, was levelled with the ground, and
+from its ruins strong works were raised by the laksamana. The maharaja
+had seized another post advantageously situated. From their several camps
+they had lines of communication, and the boats on the river were
+stationed in such a manner that the place was completely invested.
+Matters were in this posture when a force of two thousand men came to the
+assistance of the besieged from the king of Pahang, and likewise five
+sail of Portuguese vessels from the coast of Coromandel; but all was
+insufficient to remove so powerful an enemy, although by that time they
+had lost four thousand of their troops in the different attacks and
+skirmishes. In the latter end of the year a fleet of thirty sail of
+ships, large and small, under the command of Nunno Alvarez Botello,
+having on board nine hundred European soldiers, appeared off Malacca, and
+blocked up the fleet of Achin in a river about three miles from the town.
+This entirely altered the complexion of affairs. The besiegers retired
+from their advanced works and hastened to the defence of their galleys,
+erecting batteries by the side of the river. The maharaja being summoned
+to surrender returned a civil but resolute answer. In the night,
+endeavouring to make his escape with the smaller vessels through the
+midst of the Portuguese, he was repulsed and wounded. Next day the whole
+force of the Achinese dropped down the stream with a design to fight
+their way, but after an engagement of two hours their principal galley,
+named the Terror of the World, was boarded and taken, after losing five
+hundred men of seven which she carried. Many other vessels were
+afterwards captured or sunk. The laksamana hung out a white flag and sent
+to treat with Nunno, but, some difficulty arising about the terms, the
+engagement was renewed with great warmth. News was brought to the
+Portuguese that the maharaja was killed and that the king of Pahang was
+approaching with a hundred sail of vessels to reinforce them. Still the
+Achinese kept up a dreadful fire, which seemed to render the final
+success doubtful; but at length they sent proposals desiring only to be
+allowed three galleys of all their fleet to carry away four thousand men
+who remained of twenty that came before the town. It was answered that
+they must surrender at discretion; which the laksamana hesitating to do,
+a furious assault took place both by water and land upon his galleys and
+works, which were all effectually destroyed or captured, not a ship and
+scarcely a man escaping. He himself in the last extremity fled to the
+woods, but was seized ere long by the king of Pahang's scouts. Being
+brought before the governor he said to him, with an undaunted
+countenance, "Behold here the laksamana for the first time overcome!" He
+was treated with respect but kept a prisoner, and sent on his own famous
+ship to Goa in order to be from thence conveyed to Portugal: but death
+deprived his enemies of that distinguished ornament of their triumph.
+
+1635.
+
+This signal defeat proved so important a blow to the power of Achin that
+we read of no further attempts to renew the war until the year 1635, when
+the king, encouraged by the feuds which at this time prevailed in
+Malacca, again violated the law of nations, to him little known, by
+imprisoning their ambassador, and caused all the Portuguese about his
+court to be murdered. No military operations however immediately took
+place in consequence of this barbarous proceeding.
+
+1640. 1641.
+
+In the year 1640 the Dutch with twelve men of war, and the king of Achin
+with twenty-five galleys, appeared before that harassed and devoted city;
+which at length, in the following year was wrested from the hands of the
+Portuguese, who had so long, through such difficulties, maintained
+possession of it. This year was also marked by the death of the sultan,
+whom the Dutch writers name Paduka Sri, at the age of sixty, after a
+reign of thirty-five years; having just lived to see his hereditary foe
+subdued; and as if the opposition of the Portuguese power, which seems
+first to have occasioned the rise of that of Achin, was also necessary to
+its existence, the splendour and consequence of the kingdom from that
+period rapidly declined.
+
+The prodigious wealth and resources of the monarchy during his reign are
+best evinced by the expeditions he was enabled to fit out; but being no
+less covetous than ambitious he contrived to make the expenses fall upon
+his subjects, and at the same time filled his treasury with gold by
+pressing the merchants and plundering the neighbouring states. An
+intelligent person (General Beaulieu), who was for some time at his
+court, and had opportunities of information on the subject, uses this
+strong expression--that he was infinitely rich. He constantly employed in
+his castle three hundred goldsmiths. This would seem an exaggeration, but
+that it is well known the Malayan princes have them always about them in
+great numbers at this day, working in the manufacture of filigree, for
+which the country is so famous. His naval strength has been already
+sufficiently described. He was possessed of two thousand brass guns and
+small arms in proportion. His trained elephants amounted to some
+hundreds. His armies were probably raised only upon the occasion which
+called for their acting, and that in a mode similar to what was
+established under the feudal system in Europe. The valley of Achin alone
+was said to be able to furnish forty thousand men upon an emergency. A
+certain number of warriors however were always kept on foot for the
+protection of the king and his capital. Of these the superior class were
+called ulubalang, and the inferior amba-raja, who were entirely devoted
+to his service and resembled the janizaries of Constantinople. Two
+hundred horsemen nightly patrolled the grounds about the castle, the
+inner courts and apartments of which were guarded by three thousand
+women. The king's eunuchs amounted to five hundred.
+
+The disposition of this monarch was cruel and sanguinary. A multitude of
+instances are recorded of the horrible barbarity of his punishments, and
+for the most trivial offences. He imprisoned his own mother and put her
+to the torture, suspecting her to have been engaged in a conspiracy
+against him with some of the principal nobles, whom he caused to be
+executed. He murdered his nephew, the king of Johor's son, of whose
+favour with his mother he was jealous. He also put to death a son of the
+king of Bantam, and another of the king of Pahang, who were both his near
+relations. None of the royal family survived in 1622 but his own son, a
+youth of eighteen, who had been thrice banished the court, and was
+thought to owe his continuance in life only to his surpassing his father,
+if possible, in cruelty, and being hated by all ranks of people. He was
+at one time made king of Pidir but recalled on account of his excesses,
+confined in prison and put to strange tortures by his father, whom he did
+not outlive. The whole territory of Achin was almost depopulated by wars,
+executions, and oppression. The king endeavoured to repeople the country
+by his conquests. Having ravaged the kingdoms of Johor, Pahang, Kedah,
+Perak, and Dilli, he transported the inhabitants from those places to
+Achin, to the number of twenty-two thousand persons. But this barbarous
+policy did not produce the effect he hoped; for the unhappy people, being
+brought naked to his dominions, and not allowed any kind of maintenance
+on their arrival, died of hunger in the streets. In the planning his
+military enterprises he was generally guided by the distresses of his
+neighbours, for whom, as for his prey, he unceasingly lay in wait; and
+his preparatory measures were taken with such secrecy that the execution
+alone unravelled them. Insidious political craft and wanton delight in
+blood united in him to complete the character of a tyrant.
+
+It must here be observed that, with respect to the period of this
+remarkable reign, the European and Malayan authorities are considerably
+at variance, the latter assigning to it something less than thirty solar
+years, and placing the death of Iskander Muda in December 1636. The
+Annals further state that he was succeeded by sultan
+Ala-eddin-Mahayat-shah, who reigned only about four years and died in
+February 1641. That this is the more accurate account I have no
+hesitation in believing, although Valentyn, who gives a detail of the
+king's magnificent funeral, was persuaded that the reign which ended in
+1641 was the same that began in 1607. But he collected his information
+eighty years after the event, and as it does not appear that any European
+whose journal has been given to the world was on the spot at that period,
+the death of an obscure monarch who died after a short reign may well
+have been confounded by persons at a distance with that of his more
+celebrated predecessor. Both authorities however are agreed in the
+important fact that the successor to the throne in 1641 was a female.
+This person is described by Valentyn as being the wife of the old king,
+and not his daughter, as by some had been asserted; but from the Annals
+it appears that she was his daughter, named Taju al-alum; and as it was
+in her right that Maghayat-shah (certainly her husband), obtained the
+crown, so upon his decease, there being no male heir, she peaceably
+succeeded him in the government, and became the first queen regent of
+Achin. The succession having thenceforward continued nearly sixty years
+in the female line, this may be regarded as a new era in the history of
+the country. The nobles finding their power less restrained, and their
+individual consequence more felt under an administration of this kind
+than when ruled by kings (as sometimes they were with a rod of iron)
+supported these pageants, whom they governed as they thought fit, and
+thereby virtually changed the constitution into an aristocracy or
+oligarchy. The business of the state was managed by twelve orang-kayas,
+four of whom were superior to the rest, and among these the maharaja, or
+governor of the kingdom, was considered as the chief. It does not appear,
+nor is it probable, that the queen had the power of appointing or
+removing any of these great officers. No applications were made to the
+throne but in their presence, nor any public resolution taken but as they
+determined in council. The great object of their political jealousy seems
+to have been the pretensions of the king of Johor to the crown, in virtue
+of repeated intermarriages between the royal families of the two
+countries, and it may be presumed that the alarms excited from that
+quarter materially contributed to reconcile them to the female
+domination. They are accordingly said to have formed an engagement
+amongst themselves never to pay obedience to a foreign prince, nor to
+allow their royal mistress to contract any marriage that might eventually
+lead to such a consequence.* At the same time, by a new treaty with
+Johor, its king was indirectly excused from the homage to the crown of
+Achin which had been insisted upon by her predecessors and was the
+occasion of frequent wars.
+
+(*Footnote. However fanciful it may be thought, I cannot doubt that the
+example of our Queen Elizabeth, whose character and government were
+highly popular with the Achinese on account of her triumphant contest
+with the united powers of Spain and Portugal, had a strong influence in
+the establishment of this new species of monarchy, and that the example
+of her sister's marriage with Philip may have contributed to the
+resolution taken by the nobles. The actions of our illustrious queen were
+a common topic of conversation between the old tyrant and Sir James
+Lancaster.)
+
+In proportion as the political consequence of the kingdom declined, its
+history, as noticed by foreigners, becomes obscure. Little is recorded of
+the transactions of her reign, and it is likely that Achin took no active
+part in the concerns of neighbouring powers, but suffered the Hollanders,
+who maintained in general a friendly intercourse with her, to remain in
+quiet possession of Malacca.
+
+1643.
+
+In 1643 they sent an ambassador to compliment her upon her accession, and
+at the same time to solicit payment for a quantity of valuable jewels
+ordered by the deceased king, but for the amount of which she declined to
+make herself responsible.
+
+1660.
+
+It is said (but the fact will admit of much doubt) that in 1660 she was
+inclined to marry one of their countrymen, and would have carried her
+design into execution had not the East India Company prevented by their
+authority a connexion that might, as they prudently judged, be productive
+of embarrassment to their affairs.
+
+1664.
+
+The Dutch however complain that she gave assistance to their enemies the
+people of Perak, and in 1664 it was found necessary to send a squadron
+under the command of Pieter de Bitter to bring her to reason. As it
+happened that she was at this time at war with some of her own dependants
+he made himself master of several places on the western coast that were
+nominally at least belonging to Achin.
+
+1666.
+
+About 1666 the English establishments at Achin and some ports to the
+southward appear to have given considerable umbrage to their rivals.
+
+1669.
+
+In 1669 the people of Dilli on the north-eastern coast threw off their
+allegiance, and the power of the kingdom became gradually more and more
+circumscribed.
+
+1675.
+
+This queen died in 1675, after reigning, with a degree of tranquillity
+little known in these countries, upwards of thirty-four years.
+
+The people being now accustomed and reconciled to female rule, which they
+found more lenient than that of their kings, acquiesced in general in the
+established mode of government.
+
+1677.
+
+And she was immediately succeeded by another female monarch, named Nur
+al-alum, who reigned little more than two years and died in 1677.
+
+The queen who succeeded her was named Anayet-shah.
+
+1684.
+
+In the year 1684 she received an embassy from the English government of
+Madras, and appeared at that time to be about forty years. The persons
+who were on this occasion presented to her express their suspicions,
+which were suggested to them by a doubt prevailing amongst the
+inhabitants, that this sovereign was not a real queen, but a eunuch
+dressed up in female apparel, and imposed on the public by the artifices
+of the orang kayas. But as such a cheat, though managed with every
+semblance of reality (which they observe was the case) could not be
+carried on for any number of years without detection, and as the same
+idea does not appear to have been entertained at any other period, it is
+probable they were mistaken in their surmise. Her person they describe to
+have been large, and her voice surprisingly strong, but not manly.*
+
+(*Footnote. The following curious passage is extracted from the journal
+of these gentlemen's proceedings. "We went to give our attendance at the
+palace this day as customary. Being arrived at the place of audience with
+the orang cayos, the queen was pleased to order us to come nearer, when
+her majesty was very inquisitive into the use of our wearing periwigs,
+and what was the convenience of them; to all which we returned
+satisfactory answers. After this her majesty desired of Mr. Ord, if it
+were no affront to him, that he would take off his periwig, that she
+might see how he appeared without it; which, according to her majesty's
+request, he did. She then told us she had heard of our business, and
+would give her answer by the orang cayos; and so we retired." I venture,
+with submission, to observe that this anecdote seems to put the question
+of the sex beyond controversy.)
+
+The purport of the embassy was to obtain liberty to erect a fortification
+in her territory, which she peremptorily refused, being contrary to the
+established rules of the kingdom; adding that if the governor of Madras
+would fill her palace with gold she could not permit him to build with
+brick either fort or house. To have a factory of timber and plank was the
+utmost indulgence that could be allowed; and on that footing the return
+of the English, who had not traded there for many years, should be
+welcomed with great friendship. The queen herself, the orang kayas
+represented, was not allowed to fortify lest some foreign power might
+avail themselves of it to enslave the country. In the course of these
+negotiations it was mentioned that the agriculture of Achin had suffered
+considerably of late years by reason of a general licence given to all
+the inhabitants to search for gold in the mountains and rivers which
+afforded that article; whereas the business had formerly been restricted
+to certain authorized persons, and the rest obliged to till the ground.
+
+1684.
+
+The court feared to give a public sanction for the settlement of the
+English on any part of the southern coast lest it should embroil them
+with the other European powers.*
+
+(*Footnote. The design of settling a factory at this period in the
+dominions of Achin was occasioned by the recent loss of our establishment
+at Bantam, which had been originally fixed by Sir James Lancaster in
+1603. The circumstances of this event were as follows. The old sultan had
+thought proper to share the regal power with his son in the year 1677,
+and this measure was attended with the obvious effect of a jealousy
+between the parent and child, which soon broke forth into open
+hostilities. The policy of the Dutch led them to take an active part in
+favour of the young sultan, who had inclined most to their interests and
+now solicited their aid. The English on the other hand discouraged what
+appeared to them an unnatural rebellion, but without interfering, as they
+said, in any other character than that of mediators, or affording
+military assistance to either party; and which their extreme weakness
+rather than their assertions renders probable. On the twenty-eighth of
+March 1682 the Dutch landed a considerable force from Batavia, and soon
+terminated the war. They placed the young sultan on the throne,
+delivering the father into his custody, and obtained from him in return
+for these favours an exclusive privilege of trade in his territories;
+which was evidently the sole object they had in view. On the first day of
+April possession was taken of the English factory by a party of Dutch and
+country soldiers, and on the twelfth the agent and council were obliged
+to embark with their property on vessels provided for the purpose, which
+carried them to Batavia. From thence they proceeded to Surat on the
+twenty-second of August in the following year.
+
+In order to retain a share in the pepper-trade the English turned their
+thoughts towards Achin, and a deputation, consisting of two gentlemen, of
+the names of Old and Cawley, was sent thither in 1684; the success of
+which is above related. It happened that at this time certain Rajas or
+chiefs of the country of Priaman and other places on the west coast of
+Sumatra were at Achin also to solicit aid of that court against the
+Dutch, who had made war upon and otherwise molested them. These
+immediately applied to Mr. Ord, expressing a strong desire that the
+English should settle in their respective districts, offering ground for
+a fort and the exclusive purchase of their pepper. They consented to
+embark for Madras, where an agreement was formed with them by the
+governor in the beginning of the year 1685 on the terms they had
+proposed. In consequence of this an expedition was fitted out with the
+design of establishing a settlement at Priaman; but a day or two before
+the ships sailed an invitation to the like purport was received from the
+chiefs of Bang-kaulu (since corruptly called Bencoolen); and as it was
+known that a considerable proportion of the pepper that used to be
+exported from Bantam had been collected from the neighbourhood of
+Bencoolen (at a place called Silebar), it was judged advisable that Mr.
+Ord, who was the person entrusted with the management of this business,
+should first proceed thither; particularly as at that season of the year
+it was the windward port. He arrived there on the twenty-fifth day of
+June 1685, and, after taking possession of the country assigned to the
+English Company, and leaving Mr. Broome in charge of the place, he sailed
+for the purpose of establishing the other settlements. He stopped first
+at Indrapura, where he found three Englishmen who were left of a small
+factory that had been some time before settled there by a man of the name
+of Du Jardin. Here he learned that the Dutch, having obtained a knowledge
+of the original intention of our fixing at Priaman, had anticipated us
+therein and sent a party to occupy the situation. In the meantime it was
+understood in Europe that this place was the chief of our establishments
+on the coast, and ships were accordingly consigned thither. The same was
+supposed at Madras, and troops and stores were sent to reinforce it,
+which were afterwards landed at Indrapura. A settlement was then formed
+at Manjuta, and another attempted at Batang-kapas in 1686; but here the
+Dutch, assisted by a party amongst the natives, assaulted and drove out
+our people. Every possible opposition, as it was natural to expect, was
+given by these our rivals to the success of our factories. They fixed
+themselves in the neighbourhood of them and endeavoured to obstruct the
+country people from carrying pepper to them or supplying them with
+provisions either by sea or land. Our interests however in the end
+prevailed, and Bencoolen in particular, to which the other places were
+rendered subordinate in 1686, began to acquire some degree of vigour and
+respectability. In 1689 encouragement was given to Chinese colonists to
+settle there, whose number has been continually increasing from that
+time. In 1691 the Dutch felt the loss of their influence at Silebar and
+other of the southern countries, where they attempted to exert authority
+in the name of the sultan of Bantam, and the produce of these places was
+delivered to the English. This revolution proceeded from the works with
+which about this time our factory was strengthened. In 1695 a settlement
+was made at Triamang, and two years after at Kattaun and Sablat. The
+first, in the year 1700, was removed to Bantal. Various applications were
+made by the natives in different parts of the island for the
+establishment of factories, particularly from Ayer-Bangis to the
+northward, Palembang on the eastern side, and the people from the
+countries south of Tallo, near Manna. A person was sent to survey these
+last, as far as Pulo Pisang and Kroi, in 1715. In consequence of the
+inconvenience attending the shipping of goods from Bencoolen River, which
+is often impracticable from the surfs, a warehouse was built in 1701 at a
+place then called the cove; which gave the first idea of removing the
+settlement to the point of land which forms the bay of Bencoolen. The
+unhealthiness of the old situation was thought to render this an
+expedient step; and accordingly about 1714 it was in great measure
+relinquished, and the foundations of Fort Marlborough were laid on a spot
+two or three miles distant. Being a high plain it was judged to possess
+considerable advantages; many of which however are counterbalanced by its
+want of the vicinity of a river, so necessary for the ready and plentiful
+supply of provisions. Some progress had been made in the erection of this
+fort when an accident happened that had nearly destroyed the Company's
+views. The natives incensed at ill treatment received from the Europeans,
+who were then but little versed in the knowledge of their dispositions or
+the art of managing them by conciliating methods, rose in a body in the
+year 1719, and forced the garrison, whose ignorant fears rendered them
+precipitate, to seek refuge on board their ships. These people began now
+to feel alarms lest the Dutch, taking advantage of the absence of the
+English, should attempt an establishment, and soon permitted some persons
+from the northern factories to resettle the place; and, supplies arriving
+from Madras, things returned to their former course, and the fort was
+completed. The Company's affairs on this coast remained in tranquillity
+for a number of years. The important settlement of Natal was established
+in 1752, and that of Tappanuli a short time afterwards; which involved
+the English in fresh disputes with the Dutch, who set up a claim to the
+country in which they are situated. In the year 1760 the French under
+Comte d'Estaing destroyed all the English settlements on the coast of
+Sumatra; but they were soon reestablished and our possession secured by
+the treaty of Paris in 1763. Fort Marlborough, which had been hitherto a
+peculiar subordinate of Fort St. George, was now formed into an
+independent presidency, and was furnished with a charter for erecting a
+mayor's court, but which has never been enforced. In 1781 a detachment of
+military from thence embarked upon five East India ships and took
+possession of Padang and all other Dutch factories in consequence of the
+war with that nation. In 1782 the magazine of Fort Marlborough, in which
+were four hundred barrels of powder, was fired by lightning and blew up;
+but providentially few lives were lost. In 1802 an act of parliament was
+passed "to authorize the East India Company to make their settlement at
+Fort Marlborough in the East Indies, a factory subordinate to the
+presidency of Fort William in Bengal, and to transfer the servants who on
+the reduction of that establishment shall be supernumerary, to the
+presidency of Fort St. George." In 1798 plants of the nutmeg and clove
+had for the first time been procured from the Moluccas; and in 1803 a
+large importation of these valuable articles of cultivation took place.
+As the plantations were, by the last accounts from thence, in the most
+flourishing state, very important commercial advantages were expected to
+be derived from the culture.)
+
+A few years before these transactions she had invited the king of Siam to
+renew the ancient connexion between their respective states, and to unite
+in a league against the Dutch, by whose encroachments the commerce of her
+subjects and the extent of her dominions were much circumscribed. It does
+not appear however that this overture was attended with any effect, nor
+have the limits of the Achinese jurisdiction since that period extended
+beyond Pidir on the northern, and Barus on the western coast.
+
+1688.
+
+She died in 1688, having reigned something less than eleven years, and
+was succeeded by a young queen named Kamalat-shah; but this did not take
+place without a strong opposition from a faction amongst the orang kayas
+which wanted to set up a king, and a civil war actually commenced. The
+two parties drew up their forces on opposite sides of the river, and for
+two or three nights continued to fire at each other, but in the daytime
+followed their ordinary occupations. These opportunities of intercourse
+made them sensible of their mutual folly. They agreed to throw aside
+their arms and the crown remained in possession of the newly elected
+queen. It was said to have been esteemed essential that she should be a
+maiden, advanced in years, and connected by blood with the ancient royal
+line. In this reign an English factory, which had been long discontinued,
+was reestablished at Achin, but in the interval some private traders of
+this nation had always resided on the spot. These usually endeavoured to
+persuade the state that they represented the India Company, and sometimes
+acquired great influence, which they are accused of having employed in a
+manner not only detrimental to that body but to the interests of the
+merchants of India in general by monopolizing the trade of the port,
+throwing impediments in the way of all shipping not consigned to their
+management, and embezzling the cargoes of such as were. An asylum was
+also afforded, beyond the reach of law, for all persons whose crimes or
+debts induced them to fly from the several European settlements. These
+considerations chiefly made the Company resolve to reclaim their ancient
+privileges in that kingdom, and a deputation was sent from the presidency
+of Madras in the year 1695 for that purpose, with letters addressed to
+her illustrious majesty the queen of Achin, desiring permission to settle
+on the terms her predecessors had granted to them; which was readily
+complied with, and a factory, but on a very limited scale, was
+established accordingly, but soon declined and disappeared. In 1704, when
+Charles Lockyer (whose account of his voyage, containing a particular
+description of this place, was published in 1711) visited Achin, one of
+these independent factors, named Francis Delton, carried on a flourishing
+trade. In 1695 the Achinese were alarmed by the arrival of six sail of
+Dutch ships of force, with a number of troops on board, in their road,
+not having been visited by any of that nation for fifteen years, but they
+departed without offering any molestation.
+
+1699.
+
+This queen was deposed by her subjects (whose grounds of complaint are
+not stated) about the latter part of the year 1699, after reigning also
+eleven years; and with her terminated the female dynasty, which, during
+its continuance of about fifty-nine years, had attracted much notice in
+Europe.
+
+Her successor was named Beder al-alum sherif Hasham, the nature of whose
+pretensions to the crown does not positively appear, but there is reason
+to believe that he was her brother. When he had reigned a little more
+than two years it pleased God (as the Annals express it) to afflict him
+with a distemper which caused his feet and hands to contract (probably
+the gout) and disqualified him for the performance of his religious
+duties.
+
+1702.
+
+Under these circumstances he was induced to resign the government in
+1702, and died about a month after his abdication.
+
+Perkasa-alum, a priest, found means by his intrigues to acquire the
+sovereignty, and one of his first acts was to attempt imposing certain
+duties on the merchandise imported by English traders, who had been
+indulged with an exemption from all port charges excepting the
+established complimentary presents upon their arrival and receiving the
+chap or licence. This had been stipulated in the treaty made by Sir James
+Lancaster, and renewed by Mr. Grey when chief of the Company's factory.
+The innovation excited an alarm and determined opposition on the part of
+the masters of ships then at the place, and they proceeded (under the
+conduct of Captain Alexander Hamilton, who published an account of his
+voyage in 1727) to the very unwarrantable step of commencing hostilities
+by firing upon the villages situated near the mouth of the river, and
+cutting off from the city all supplies of provisions by sea. The
+inhabitants, feeling severely the effects of these violent measures, grew
+clamorous against the government, which was soon obliged to restore to
+these insolent traders the privileges for which they contended.
+
+1704.
+
+Advantage was taken of the public discontents to raise an insurrection in
+favour of the nephew of the late queen, or, according to the Annals, the
+son of Beder al-alum (who was probably her brother), in the event of
+which Perkasa-alum was deposed about the commencement of the year 1704,
+and after an interregnum or anarchy of three months continuance, the
+young prince obtained possession of the throne, by the name of Jemal
+al-alum. From this period the native writers furnish very ample details
+of the transactions of the Achinese government, as well as of the general
+state of the country, whose prosperous circumstances during the early
+part of this king's reign are strongly contrasted with the misery and
+insignificance to which it was reduced by subsequent events. The causes
+and progress of this political decline cannot be more satisfactorily set
+forth than in a faithful translation of the Malayan narrative which was
+drawn up, or extracted from a larger work, for my use, and is distinct
+from the Annals already mentioned:
+
+When raja Jemal al-alum reigned in Achin the country was exceedingly
+populous, the nobles had large possessions, the merchants were numerous
+and opulent, the judgments of the king were just, and no man could
+experience the severity of punishment but through his own fault. In those
+days the king could not trade on his own account, the nobles having
+combined to prevent it; but the accustomed duties of the port were
+considered as his revenue, and ten per cent was levied for this purpose
+upon all merchandise coming into the country. The city was then of great
+extent, the houses were of brick and stone. The most considerable
+merchant was a man named Daniel, a Hollander; but many of different
+nations were also settled there, some from Surat, some from Kutch, others
+from China. When ships arrived in the port, if the merchants could not
+take off all the cargoes the king advanced the funds for purchasing what
+remained, and divided the goods among them, taking no profit to himself.
+After the departure of the vessel the king was paid in gold the amount of
+his principal, without interest.
+
+His daily amusements were in the grounds allotted for the royal sports.
+He was attended by a hundred young men, who were obliged to be constantly
+near his person day and night, and who were clothed in a sumptuous manner
+at a monthly expense of a hundred dollars for each man. The government of
+the different parts of the country was divided, under his authority,
+amongst the nobles. When a district appeared to be disturbed he took
+measures for quelling the insurrection; those who resisted his orders he
+caused to be apprehended; when the roads were bad he gave directions for
+their repair. Such was his conduct in the government. His subjects all
+feared him, and none dared to condemn his actions. At that time the
+country was in peace.
+
+When he had been a few years on the throne a country lying to the
+eastward, named Batu Bara, attempted to throw off its subjection to
+Achin. The chiefs were ordered to repair to court to answer for their
+conduct, but they refused to obey. These proceedings raised the king's
+indignation. He assembled the nobles and required of them that each
+should furnish a vessel of war, to be employed on an expedition against
+that place, and within two months, thirty large galleys, without counting
+vessels of a smaller size, were built and equipped for sea. When the
+fleet arrived off Batu Bara (by which must be understood the Malayan
+district at the mouth of the river, and not the Batta territory through
+which it takes its course), a letter was sent on shore addressed to the
+refractory chiefs, summoning them to give proof of their allegiance by
+appearing in the king's presence, or threatening the alternative of an
+immediate attack. After much division in their councils it was at length
+agreed to feign submission, and a deputation was sent off to the royal
+fleet, carrying presents of fruit and provisions of all kinds. One of the
+chiefs carried, as his complimentary offering, some fresh coconuts, of
+the delicate species called kalapa-gading, into which a drug had been
+secretly introduced. The king observing these directed that one should be
+cut open for him, and having drunk of the juice, became affected with a
+giddiness in his head. (This symptom shows the poison to have been the
+upas, but too much diluted in the liquor of the nut to produce death).
+Being inclined to repose, the strangers were ordered to return on shore,
+and, finding his indisposition augment, he gave directions for being
+conveyed back to Achin, whither his ship sailed next day. The remainder
+of the fleet continued off the coast during five or six days longer, and
+then returned likewise without effecting the reduction of the place,
+which the chiefs had lost no time in fortifying.
+
+About two years after this transaction the king, under pretence of
+amusement, made an excursion to the country lying near the source of the
+river Achin, then under the jurisdiction of a panglima or governor named
+Muda Seti; for it must be understood that this part of the kingdom is
+divided into three districts, known by the appellations of the
+Twenty-two, Twenty-six, and Twenty-five Mukims (see above), which were
+governed respectively by Muda Seti, Imam Muda, and Perbawang-Shah (or
+Purba-wangsa). These three chiefs had the entire control of the country,
+and when their views were united they had the power of deposing and
+setting up kings. Such was the nature of the government. The king's
+expedition was undertaken with the design of making himself master of the
+person of Muda Seti, who had given him umbrage, and on this occasion his
+followers of all ranks were so numerous that wherever they halted for the
+night the fruits of the earth were all devoured, as well as great
+multitudes of cattle. Muda Seti however, being aware of the designs
+against him, had withdrawn himself from the place of his usual residence
+and was not to be found when the king arrived there; but a report being
+brought that he had collected five or six hundred followers and was
+preparing to make resistance, orders were immediately given for burning
+his house. This being effected, the king returned immediately to Achin,
+leaving the forces that had accompanied him at a place called Pakan
+Badar, distant about half a day's journey from the capital, where they
+were directed to entrench themselves. From this post they were driven by
+the country chief, who advanced rapidly upon them with several thousand
+men, and forced them to fall back to Padang Siring, where the king was
+collecting an army, and where a battle was fought soon after, that
+terminated in the defeat of the royal party with great slaughter. Those
+who escaped took refuge in the castle along with the king.
+
+1723.
+
+Under these disastrous circumstances he called upon the chiefs who
+adhered to him to advise what was best to be done, surrounded as they
+were by the country people, on whom he invoked the curse of God; when one
+of them, named Panglima Maharaja, gave it as his opinion that the only
+effectual measure by which the country could be saved from ruin would be
+the king's withdrawing himself from the capital so long as the enemy
+should continue in its vicinity, appointing a regent from among the
+nobles to govern the country in his absence; and when subordination
+should be restored he might then return and take again possession of his
+throne. To this proposition he signified his assent on the condition that
+Panglima Maharaja should assure him by an oath that no treachery was
+intended; which oath was accordingly taken, and the king, having
+nominated as his substitute Maharaja Lela, one of the least considerable
+of the ulubalangs, retired with his wives and children to the country of
+the Four mukims, situated about three hours journey to the westward of
+the city. (The Annals say he fled to Pidir in November 1723.) Great
+ravages were committed by the insurgents, but they did not attack the
+palace, and after some days of popular confusion the chiefs of the Three
+districts, who (says the writer) must not be confounded with the officers
+about the person of the king, held a consultation amongst themselves,
+and, exercising an authority of which there had been frequent examples,
+set up Panglima Maharaja in the room of the abdicated king (by the title,
+say the Annals, of Juhar al-alum, in December 1723). About seven days
+after his elevation he was seized with a convulsive disorder in his neck
+and died. A nephew of Jemal al-alum, named Undei Tebang, was then placed
+upon the throne, but notwithstanding his having bribed the chiefs of the
+Three districts with thirty katties of gold, they permitted him to enjoy
+his dignity only a few days, and then deposed him. (The same authority
+states that he was set up by the chiefs of the Four mukims, and removed
+through the influence of Muda Seti.)
+
+1724. 1735.
+
+The person whom they next combined to raise to the throne was Maharaja
+Lela (before mentioned as the king's substitute). It was his good fortune
+to govern the country in tranquillity for the space of nearly twelve
+years, during which period the city of Achin recovered its population.
+(According to the Annals he began to reign in February 1724, by the title
+of Ala ed-din Ahmed shah Juhan, and died in June 1735.) It happened that
+the same day on which the event of his death took place Jemal al-alum
+again made his appearance, and advanced to a mosque near the city. His
+friends advised him to lose no time in possessing himself of the castle,
+but for trifling reasons that mark the weakness of his character he
+resolved to defer the measure till the succeeding day; and the
+opportunity, as might be expected, was lost. The deceased king left five
+sons, the eldest of whom, named Po-chat-au (or Po-wak, according to
+another manuscript) exhorted his brothers to unite with him in the
+determination of resisting a person whose pretensions were entirely
+inconsistent with their security. They accordingly sent to demand
+assistance of Perbawang-shah, chief of the district of the Twenty-five
+mukims, which lies the nearest to that quarter. He arrived before
+morning, embraced the five princes, confirmed them in their resolution,
+and authorised the eldest to assume the government (which he did, say the
+Annals, by the title of Ala ed-din Juhan-shah in September 1735.) But to
+this measure the concurrence of the other chiefs was wanting. At daybreak
+the guns of the castle began to play upon the mosque, and, some of the
+shot penetrating its walls, the pusillanimous Jemal al-alum, being
+alarmed at the danger, judged it advisable to retreat from thence and to
+set up his standard in another quarter, called kampong Jawa, his people
+at the same time retaining possession of the mosque. A regular warfare
+now ensued between the two parties and continued for no less than ten
+years (the great chiefs taking different sides), when at length some kind
+of compromise was effected that left Po-chat-au (Juhan-shah) in the
+possession of the throne, which he afterwards enjoyed peaceably for eight
+years, and no further mention is made of Jemal al-alum. About this period
+the chiefs took umbrage at his interfering in matters of trade, contrary
+to what they asserted to be the established custom of the realm, and
+assembled their forces in order to intimidate him. (The history of Achin
+presents a continual struggle between the monarch and the aristocracy of
+the country, which generally made the royal monopoly of trade the ground
+of crimination and pretext for their rebellions).
+
+1755.
+
+Panglima Muda Seti, being considered as the head of the league, came down
+with twenty thousand followers, and, upon the king's refusing to admit
+into the castle his complimentary present (considering it only as the
+prelude to humiliating negotiation), another war commenced that lasted
+for two years, and was at length terminated by Muda Seti's withdrawing
+from the contest and returning to his province. About five years after
+this event Juhan shah died, and his son, Pochat-bangta, succeeded him,
+but not (says this writer, who here concludes his abstract) with the
+general concurrence of the chiefs, and the country long continued in a
+disturbed state.
+
+END OF NARRATIVE.
+
+1760.
+
+The death of Juhan shah is stated in the Annals to have taken place in
+August 1760, and the accession of the son, who took the name of Ala-eddin
+Muhammed shah, not until November of the same year. Other authorities
+place these events in 1761.
+
+1763.
+
+Before he had completed the third year of his reign an insurrection of
+his subjects obliged him to save himself by flight on board a ship in the
+road. This happened in 1763 or 1764. The throne was seized by the
+maharaja (first officer of state) named Sinara, who assumed the title of
+Beder-eddin Juhan shah, and about the end of 1765 was put to death by the
+adherents of the fugitive monarch, Muhammed shah, who thereupon returned
+to the throne.*
+
+(*Footnote. Captain Forrest acquaints us that he visited the court of
+Mahomed Selim (the latter name is not given to this prince by any other
+writer) in the year 1764, at which time he appeared to be about forty
+years of age. It is difficult to reconcile this date with the recorded
+events of this unfortunate reign, and I have doubts whether it was not
+the usurper whom the Captain saw.)
+
+He was exposed however to further revolutions. About six years after his
+restoration the palace was attacked in the night by a desperate band of
+two hundred men, headed by a man called Raja Udah, and he was once more
+obliged to make a precipitate retreat. This usurper took the title of
+sultan Suliman shah, but after a short reign of three months was driven
+out in his turn and forced to fly for refuge to one of the islands in the
+eastern sea. The nature of his pretensions, if he had any, have not been
+stated, but he never gave any further trouble. From this period Muhammed
+maintained possession of his capital, although it was generally in a
+state of confusion.
+
+1772.
+
+"In the year 1772," says Captain Forrest, "Mr. Giles Holloway, resident
+of Tappanooly, was sent to Achin by the Bencoolen government, with a
+letter and present, to ask leave from the king to make a settlement
+there. I carried him from his residency. Not being very well on my
+arrival, I did not accompany Mr. Holloway (a very sensible and discreet
+gentleman, and who spoke the Malay tongue very fluently) on shore at his
+first audience; and finding his commission likely to prove abortive I did
+not go to the palace at all. There was great anarchy and confusion at
+this time; and the malcontents came often, as I was informed, near the
+king's palace at night."
+
+1775.
+
+The Captain further remarks that when again there in 1775 he could not
+obtain an audience.
+
+1781.
+
+The Annals report his death to have happened on the 2nd of June 1781, and
+observe that from the commencement to the close of his reign the country
+never enjoyed repose. His brother, named Ala-eddin (or Uleddin, as
+commonly pronounced, and which seems to have been a favourite title with
+the Achinese princes), was in exile at Madras during a considerable
+period, and resided also for some time at Bencoolen.
+
+The eldest son of the deceased king, then about eighteen years of age,
+succeeded him on the 16th of the same month, by the title of Ala-eddin
+Mahmud shah Juhan, in spite of an opposition attempted to be raised by
+the partisans of another son by a favourite wife. Weapons had been drawn
+in the court before the palace, when the tuanku agung or high priest, a
+person of great respectability and influence, by whom the former had been
+educated, came amidst the crowd, bareheaded and without attendance,
+leading his pupil by the hand. Having placed himself between the
+contending factions, he addressed them to the following effect: that the
+prince who stood before them had a natural right and legal claim to the
+throne of his father; that he had been educated with a view to it, and
+was qualified to adorn it by his disposition and talents; that he wished
+however to found his pretensions neither upon his birthright nor the
+strength of the party attached to him, but upon the general voice of his
+subjects calling him to the sovereignty; that if such was their sentiment
+he was ready to undertake the arduous duties of the station, in which he
+himself would assist him with the fruits of his experience; that if on
+the contrary they felt a predilection for his rival, no blood should be
+shed on his account, the prince and his tutor being resolved in that case
+to yield the point without a struggle, and retire to some distant island.
+This impressive appeal had the desired effect, and the young prince was
+invited by unanimous acclamation to assume the reins of government.*
+
+(*Footnote. Mr. Philip Braham, late chief of the East India Company's
+settlement of Fort Marlborough, by whom the circumstances of this event
+were related to me, arrived at Achin in July 1781, about a fortnight
+after the transaction. He thus described his audience. The king was
+seated in a gallery (to which there were no visible steps), at the
+extremity of a spacious hall or court, and a curtain which hung before
+him was drawn aside when it was his pleasure to appear. In this court
+were great numbers of female attendants, but not armed, as they have been
+described. Mr. Braham was introduced through a long file of guards armed
+with blunderbusses, and then seated on a carpet in front of the gallery.
+When a conversation had been carried on for some time through the
+Shabandar, who communicated his answers to an interpreter, by whom they
+were reported to the king, the latter perceiving that he spoke the
+Malayan language addressed him directly, and asked several questions
+respecting England; what number of wives and children our sovereign had;
+how many ships of war the English kept in India; what was the French
+force, and others of that nature. He expressed himself in friendly terms
+with regard to our nation, and said he should always be happy to
+countenance our traders in his ports. Even at this early period of his
+reign he had abolished some vexatious imposts. Mr. Braham had an
+opportunity of learning the great degree of power and control possessed
+by certain of the orang kayas, who held their respective districts in
+actual sovereignty, and kept the city in awe by stopping, when it suited
+their purpose, the supplies of provisions. Captain Forrest, who once more
+visited Achin in 1784 and was treated with much distinction (see his
+Voyage to the Mergui Archipelago page 51), says he appeared to be
+twenty-five years of age; but this was a misconception. Mr. Kenneth
+Mackenzie, who saw him in 1782, judged him to have been at that time no
+more than nineteen or twenty, which corresponds with Mr. Braham's
+statement.)
+
+Little is known of the transactions of his reign, but that little is in
+favour of his personal character. The Annals (not always unexceptionable
+evidence when speaking of the living monarch) describe him as being
+endowed with every princely virtue, exercising the functions of
+government with vigour and rectitude, of undaunted courage, attentive to
+the protection of the ministers of religion, munificent to the
+descendants of the prophet (seiyid, but commonly pronounced sidi) and to
+men of learning, prompt at all times to administer justice, and
+consequently revered and beloved by his people. I have not been enabled
+to ascertain the year in which he died.
+
+1791.
+
+It appears by a Malayan letter from Achin that in 1791 the peace of the
+capital was much disturbed, and the state of the government as well as of
+private property (which induced the writer to reship his goods)
+precarious.
+
+1805.
+
+In 1805 his son, then aged twenty-one, was on the throne, and had a
+contention with his paternal uncle, and at the same time his
+father-in-law, named Tuanku Raja, by whom he had been compelled to fly
+(but only for a short time) to Pidir, the usual asylum of the Achinese
+monarchs. Their quarrel appears to have been rather of a family than of a
+political nature, and to have proceeded from the irregular conduct of the
+queen-mother. The low state of this young king's finances, impoverished
+by a fruitless struggle to enforce, by means of an expensive marine
+establishment, his right to an exclusive trade, had induced him to make
+proposals, for mutual accommodation, to the English government of Pulo
+Pinang.*
+
+(*Footnote. Since the foregoing was printed the following information
+respecting the manners of the Batta people, obtained by Mr. Charles
+Holloway from Mr. W.H. Hayes, has reached my hands. "In the month of July
+1805 an expedition consisting of Sepoys, Malays, and Battas was sent from
+Tapanuli against a chief named Punei Manungum, residing at Nega-timbul,
+about thirty miles inland from Old Tapanuli, in consequence of his having
+attacked a kampong under the protection of the company, murdered several
+of the inhabitants, and carried others into captivity. After a siege of
+three days, terms of accommodation being proposed, a cessation of
+hostilities took place, when the people of each party having laid aside
+their arms intermixed with the utmost confidence, and conversed together
+as if in a state of perfect amity. The terms however not proving
+satisfactory, each again retired to his arms and renewed the contest with
+their former inveteracy. On the second day the place was evacuated, and
+upon our people entering it Mr. Hayes found the bodies of one man and two
+women, whom the enemy had put to death before their departure (being the
+last remaining of sixteen prisoners whom they had originally carried
+off), and from whose legs large pieces had been cut out, evidently for
+the purpose of being eaten. During the progress of this expedition a
+small party had been sent to hold in check the chiefs of Labusukum and
+Singapollum (inland of Sibogah), who were confederates of Punei Manungum.
+These however proved stronger than was expected, and, making a sally from
+their kampongs, attacked the sergeant's party and killed a sepoy, whom he
+was obliged to abandon. Mr. Hayes, on his way from Negatimbul, was
+ordered to march to the support of the retreating party; but these having
+taken a different route he remained ignorant of the particulars of their
+loss. The village of Singapollam being immediately carried by storm, and
+the enemy retreating by one gate, as our people entered at the opposite,
+the accoutrements of the sepoy who had been killed the day before were
+seen hanging as trophies in the front of the houses, and in the town
+hall, Mr. Hayes saw the head entirely scalped, and one of the fingers
+fixed upon a fork or skewer, still warm from the fire. On proceeding to
+the village of Labusucom, situated little more than two hundred yards
+from the former, he found a large plantain leaf full of human flesh,
+mixed with lime-juice and chili-pepper, from which he inferred that they
+had been surprised in the very act of feasting on the sepoy, whose body
+had been divided between the two kampongs. Upon differences being settled
+with the chiefs they acknowledged with perfect sangfroid that such had
+been the case, saying at the same time, "you know it is our custom; why
+should we conceal it?")
+
+
+CHAPTER 23.
+
+BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ISLANDS LYING OFF THE WESTERN COAST OF SUMATRA.
+
+ISLANDS ADJACENT TO SUMATRA.
+
+The chain of islands which extends itself in a line nearly parallel to
+the western coast, at the distance from it of little more than a degree,
+being immediately connected with the principal subject of this work, and
+being themselves inhabited by a race or races of people apparently from
+the same original stock as those of the interior of Sumatra, whose
+genuineness of character has been preserved to a remarkable degree
+(whilst the islands on the eastern side are uniformly peopled with
+Malays), I have thought it expedient to add such authentic information
+respecting them as I have been enabled to obtain; and this I feel to be
+the more necessary from observing in the maps to which I have had
+recourse so much error and confusion in applying the names that the
+identity and even the existence of some of them have been considered as
+doubtful.
+
+ENGANO.
+
+Of these islands the most southern is Engano, which is still but very
+imperfectly known, all attempts to open a friendly communication with the
+natives having hitherto proved fruitless; and in truth they have had but
+too much reason to consider strangers attempting to land on their coast
+as piratical enemies. In the voyage of J.J. Saar, published in 1662, we
+have an account of an expedition fitted out from Batavia in 1645 for the
+purpose of examining this island, which terminated in entrapping and
+carrying off with them sixty or seventy of the inhabitants, male and
+female. The former died soon after their arrival, refusing to eat any
+other food than coconuts, but the women, who were distributed amongst the
+principal families of Batavia, proved extremely tractable and docile, and
+acquired the language of the place. It is not stated, nor does it appear
+from any subsequent publication, that the opportunity was taken of
+forming a collection of their words.
+
+From that period Engano had only been incidentally noticed, until in
+March 1771 Mr. Richard Wyatt, then governor, and the council of Fort
+Marlborough, sent Mr. Charles Miller in a vessel belonging to the Company
+to explore the productions of this island. On approaching it he observed
+large plantations of coconut-trees, with several spots of ground cleared
+for cultivation on the hills, and at night many fires on the beach.
+Landing was found to be in most parts extremely difficult on account of
+the surf. Many of the natives were seen armed with lances and squatting
+down amongst the coral rocks, as if to conceal their numbers. Upon rowing
+into a bay with the ship's boat it was pursued by ten canoes full of men
+and obliged to return. Mr. Whalfeldt, the surveyor, and the second mate
+proceeded to make a survey of the bay and endeavour to speak with the
+natives. They were furnished with articles for presents, and, upon seeing
+a canoe on the beach of a small island, and several people fishing on the
+rocks, they rowed to the island and sent two caffrees on shore with some
+cloth, but the natives would not come near them. The mate then landed and
+advanced towards them, when they immediately came to him. He distributed
+some presents among them, and they in return gave him some fish. Several
+canoes came off to the ship with coconuts, sugar-cane, toddy, and a
+species of yam. The crew of one of them took an opportunity of unshipping
+and carrying away the boat's rudder, and upon a musket being fired over
+their heads many of them leaped into the sea.
+
+Mr. Miller describes these people as being taller and fairer than the
+Malays, their hair black, which the men cut short, and the women wear
+long, and neatly turned up. The former go entirely naked except that they
+sometimes throw a piece of bark of tree, or plantain-leaf over their
+shoulders to protect them from the heat of the sun. The latter also are
+naked except a small slip of plantain-leaf round the waist; and some had
+on their heads fresh leaves made up nearly in the shape of a bonnet, with
+necklaces of small pieces of shell, and a shell hanging by a string, to
+be used as a comb. The ears of both men and women have large holes made
+in them, an inch or two in diameter, into which they put a ring made of
+coconut-shell or a roll of leaves. They do not chew betel. Their language
+was not understood by any person on board, although there were people
+from most parts adjacent to the coast. Their canoes are very neat, formed
+of two thin planks sewn together, sharp-pointed at each end and provided
+with outriggers. In general they contain six or seven men. They always
+carry lances, not only as offensive weapons, but for striking fish. These
+are about seven feet in length, formed of ni-bong and other hard woods;
+some of them tipped with pieces of bamboo made very sharp, and the
+concave part filled with fish-bones (and shark's teeth), others armed
+with pieces of bone made sharp and notched, and others pointed with bits
+of iron and copper sharpened. They seemed not to be unaccustomed to the
+sight of vessels. (Ships bound from the ports of India to the straits of
+Sunda, as well as those from Europe, when late in the season, frequently
+make the land of Engano, and many must doubtless be wrecked on its
+coast).
+
+Attempts were made to find a river or fresh water, but without success,
+nor even a good place to land. Two of the people from the ship having
+pushed in among the rocks and landed the natives soon came to them,
+snatched their handkerchiefs off their heads and ran away with them, but
+dropped them on being pursued. Soon afterwards they sounded a
+conch-shell, which brought numbers of them down to the beach. The bay
+appeared to be well sheltered and to afford good anchorage ground. The
+soil of the country for the most part a red clay. The productions Mr.
+Miller thought the same as are commonly found on the coast of Sumatra;
+but circumstances did not admit of his penetrating into the country,
+which, contrary to expectation, was found to be so full of inhabitants.
+In consequence of the loss of anchors and cables it was judged necessary
+that the vessel should return to Fort Marlborough. Having taken in the
+necessary supplies, the island was revisited. Finding no landing-place,
+the boat was run upon the coral rocks. Signs were made to the natives,
+who had collected in considerable numbers, and upon seeing our people
+land had retreated towards some houses, to stop, but to no purpose until
+Mr. Miller proceeded towards them unaccompanied, when they approached in
+great numbers and accepted of knives, pieces of cloth, etc. Observing a
+spot of cultivated ground surrounded by a sort of fence he went to it,
+followed by several of the natives who made signs to deter him, and as
+soon as he was out of sight of his own people began to handle his clothes
+and attempt to pull them off, when he returned to the beach.
+
+Their houses stand singly in their plantations, are circular, about eight
+feet in diameter, raised about six from the ground on slender iron-wood
+sticks, floored with planks, and the roof, which is thatched with long
+grass, rises from the floor in a conical shape. No rice was seen among
+them, nor did they appear to know the use of it when shown to them; nor
+were cattle nor fowls of any kind observed about their houses.
+
+Having anchored off a low point of marshy land in the northern part of
+the bay, where the natives seemed to be more accustomed to intercourse
+with strangers, the party landed in hopes of finding a path to some
+houses about two miles inland. Upon observing signs made to them by some
+people on the coral reef Mr. Miller and Mr. Whalfeldt went towards them
+in the sampan, when some among them took an opportunity of stealing the
+latter's hanger and running away with it; upon which they were
+immediately fired at by some of the party, and notwithstanding Mr.
+Miller's endeavours to prevent them both the officer and men continued to
+fire upon and pursue the natives through the morass, but without being
+able to overtake them. Meeting however with some houses they set fire to
+them, and brought off two women and a boy whom the caffrees had seized.
+The officers on board the vessel, alarmed at the firing and seeing Mr.
+Miller alone in the sampan, whilst several canoes full of people were
+rowing towards him, sent the pinnace with some sepoys to his assistance.
+During the night conch-shells were heard to sound almost all over the
+bay, and in the morning several large parties were observed on different
+parts of the beach. All further communication with the inhabitants being
+interrupted by this imprudent quarrel, and the purposes of the expedition
+thereby frustrated, it was not thought advisable to remain any longer at
+Engano, and Mr. Miller, after visiting some parts of the southern coast
+of Sumatra, returned to Fort Marlborough.
+
+PULO MEGA.
+
+The next island to the north-west of Engano, but at a considerable
+distance, is called by the Malays Pulo Mega (cloud-island), and by
+Europeans Triste, or isle de Recif. It is small and uninhabited, and like
+many others in these seas is nearly surrounded by a coral reef with a
+lagoon in the centre. Coconut-trees grow in vast numbers in the sand near
+the sea-shore, whose fruit serves for food to rats and squirrels, the
+only quadrupeds found there. On the borders of the lagoon is a little
+vegetable mould, just above the level of high water, where grow some
+species of timber-trees.
+
+PULO SANDING.
+
+The name of Pulo Sanding or Sandiang belongs to two small islands
+situated near the south-eastern extremity of the Nassau or Pagi islands,
+in which group they are sometimes included. Of these the southernmost is
+distinguished in the Dutch charts by the term of Laag or low, and the
+other by that of Bergen or hilly. They are both uninhabited, and the only
+productions worth notice is the long nutmeg, which grows wild on them,
+and some good timber, particularly of the kind known by the name of
+marbau (Metrosideros amboinensis). An idea was entertained of making a
+settlement on one of them, and in 1769 an officer with a few men were
+stationed there for some months, during which period the rains were
+incessant. The scheme was afterwards abandoned as unlikely to answer any
+useful purpose.
+
+NASSAUS OR PULO PAGI.
+
+The two islands separated by a narrow strait, to which the Dutch
+navigators have given the name of the Nassaus, are called by the Malays
+Pulo Pagi or Pagei, and by us commonly the Poggies. The race of people by
+whom these as well as some other islands to the northward of them are
+inhabited having the appellation of orang mantawei, this has been
+confounded with the proper names of the islands, and, being applied
+sometimes to one and sometimes to another, has occasioned much confusion
+and uncertainty. The earliest accounts we have of them are the reports of
+Mr. Randolph Marriot in 1749, and of Mr. John Saul in 1750 and 1751, with
+Captain Thomas Forrest's observations in 1757, preserved in Mr.
+Dalrymple's Historical Relation of the several Expeditions from Fort
+Marlborough to the Islands adjacent to the West-coast of Sumatra; but by
+much the most satisfactory information is contained in a paper
+communicated by Mr. John Crisp to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in the
+sixth volume of whose Transactions it is published, and from these
+documents I shall extract such particulars as may best serve to convey a
+knowledge of the country and the people.
+
+Mr. Crisp sailed from Fort Marlborough on the 12th of August 1792 in a
+vessel navigated at his own expense, and with no other view than that of
+gratifying a liberal curiosity. On the 14th he anchored in the straits of
+See Cockup (Si Kakap), which divide the Northern from the Southern Pagi.
+These straits are about two miles in length and a quarter of a mile over,
+and make safe riding for ships of any size, which lie perfectly secure
+from every wind, the water being literally as smooth as in a pond. The
+high land of Sumatra (inland of Moco-moco and Ipu) was plainly to be
+distinguished from thence. In the passage are scattered several small
+islands, each of which consists of one immense rock, and which may have
+been originally connected with the main island. The face of the country
+is rough and irregular, consisting of high hills of sudden and steep
+ascent, and covered with trees to their summits, among which the species
+called bintangur or puhn, fit for the largest masts, abounds. The
+sago-tree grows in plenty, and constitutes the chief article of food to
+the inhabitants, who do not cultivate rice. The use of betel is unknown
+to them. Coconut-trees, bamboos, and the common fruits of Sumatra are
+found here. The woods are impervious to man: the species of wild animals
+that inhabit them but few; the large red deer, hogs, and several kinds of
+monkey, but neither buffaloes nor goats; nor are they infested with
+tigers or other beasts of prey; They have the common domestic fowl, but
+pork and fish are the favourite animal food of the natives.
+
+When the vessel had been two days at anchor they began to come down from
+their villages in their canoes, bringing fruit of various kinds, and on
+invitation they readily came on board without showing signs of
+apprehension or embarrassment. On presenting to them plates of boiled
+rice they would not touch it until it had been previously tasted by one
+of the ship's company. They behaved whilst on board with much decorum,
+showed a strong degree of curiosity, but not the least disposition for
+pilfering. They appeared to live in great friendship and harmony with
+each other, and voluntarily divided amongst their companions what was
+given to them. Their stature seldom exceeds five feet and a half. Their
+colour is like that of the Malays, a light brown or copper-colour. Some
+canoes came alongside the vessel with only women in them, and upon being
+encouraged by the men several ventured on board. When on the water they
+use a temporary dress to shield them from the heat of the sun, made of
+the leaves of the plantain, of which they form a sort of conical cap (the
+same was observed of the women of Engano), and there is also a broad
+piece of the leaf fastened round the body over their breasts, and another
+round their waist. This leaf readily splits, and has the appearance of a
+coarse fringe. When in their villages the women, like the men, wear only
+a small piece of coarse cloth, made of the bark of a tree, round their
+middle. Beads and other ornaments are worn about the neck. Although
+coconuts are in such plenty they have not the use of oil, and their hair,
+which is black, and naturally long, is, for want of it and the use of
+combs, in general matted and full of vermin. They have a method of filing
+or grinding their teeth to a point, like the people of Sumatra.
+
+The number of inhabitants of the two islands is supposed not to exceed
+1400 persons. They are divided into small tribes, each occupying a small
+river and living in one village. On the southern island are five of these
+villages, and on the northern seven, of which Kakap is accounted the
+chief, although Labu-labu is supposed to contain the greater number of
+people. Their houses are built of bamboos and raised on posts; the under
+part is occupied by poultry and hogs, and, as may be supposed, much filth
+is collected there. Their arms consist of a bow and arrows. The former is
+made of the nibong-tree, and the string of the entrails of some animal.
+The arrows are of small bamboo, headed with brass or with a piece of hard
+wood cut to a point. With these they kill deer, which are roused by dogs
+of a mongrel breed, and also monkeys, whose flesh they eat. Some among
+them wear krises. It was said that the different tribes of orang mantawei
+who inhabit these islands never make war upon each other, but with people
+of islands to the northward they are occasionally in a state of
+hostility. The measurement of one of their war-canoes, preserved with
+great care under a shed, was twenty-five feet in the length of the floor,
+the prow projecting twenty-two, and the stern eighteen, making the whole
+length sixty-five feet. The greatest breadth was five feet, and the depth
+three feet eight inches. For navigating in their rivers and the straits
+of Si Kakap, where the sea is as smooth as glass, they employ canoes,
+formed with great neatness of a single tree, and the women and young
+children are extremely expert in the management of the paddle. They are
+strangers to the use of coin of any kind, and have little knowledge of
+metals. The iron bill or chopping-knife, called parang, is in much esteem
+among them, it serves as a standard for the value of other commodities,
+such as articles of provision.
+
+The religion of these people, if it deserves the name, resembles much
+what has been described of the Battas; but their mode of disposing of
+their dead is different, and analogous rather to the practice of the
+South-sea islanders, the corpse, being deposited on a sort of stage in a
+place appropriated for the purpose, and with a few leaves strewed over
+it, is left to decay. Inheritance is by male descent; the house or
+plantation, the weapons and tools of the father, become the property of
+the sons. Their chiefs are but little distinguished from the rest of the
+community by authority or possessions, their pre-eminence being chiefly
+displayed at public entertainments, of which they do the honours. They
+have not even judicial powers, all disputes being settled, and crimes
+adjudged, by a meeting of the whole village. Murder is punishable by
+retaliation, for which purpose the offender is delivered over to the
+relations of the deceased, who may put him to death; but the crime is
+rare. Theft, when to a considerable amount, is also capital. In cases of
+adultery the injured husband has a right to seize the effects of the
+paramour, and sometimes punishes his wife by cutting off her hair. When
+the husband offends the wife has a right to quit him and to return to her
+parents' house. Simple fornication between unmarried persons is neither
+considered as a crime nor a disgrace. The state of slavery is unknown
+among these people, and they do not practise circumcision.
+
+The custom of tattooing, or imprinting figures on the skin, is general
+among the inhabitants of this group of islands. They call it in their
+language teetee or titi. They begin to form these marks on boys at seven
+years of age, and fill them up as they advance in years. Mr. Crisp thinks
+they were originally intended as marks of military distinction. The women
+have a star imprinted on each shoulder, and generally some small marks on
+the backs of their hands. These punctures are made with an instrument
+consisting of a brass wire fixed perpendicularly into a piece of stick
+about eight inches in length. The pigment made use of is the smoke
+collected from dammar, mixed with water (or, according to another
+account, with the juice of the sugar-cane). The operator takes a stalk of
+dried grass, or a fine piece of stick, and, dipping the end in the
+pigment, traces on the skin the outline of the figure, and then, dipping
+the brass point in the same preparation, with very quick and light
+strokes of a long, small stick, drives it into the skin, whereby an
+indelible mark is produced. The pattern when completed is in all the
+individuals nearly the same.
+
+In the year 1783 the son of a raja of one of the Pagi islands came over
+to Sumatra on a visit of curiosity, and, being an intelligent man, much
+information was obtained from him. He could give some account of almost
+every island that lies off the coast, and when a doubt arose about their
+position he ascertained it by taking the rind of a pumplenose or
+shaddock, and, breaking it into bits of different sizes, disposing them
+on the floor in such a manner as to convey a clear idea of the relative
+situation. He spoke of Engano (by what name is not mentioned) and said
+that their boats were sometimes driven to that island, on which occasions
+they generally lost a part, if not the whole, of their crews, from the
+savage disposition of the natives. He appeared to be acquainted with
+several of the constellations, and gave names for the Pleiades, Scorpion,
+Great Bear, and Orion's Belt. He understood the distinction between the
+fixed and wandering stars, and particularly noticed Venus, which he named
+usutat-si-geb-geb or planet of the evening. To Sumatra he gave the
+appellation of Seraihu. As to religion he said the rajas alone prayed and
+sacrificed hogs and fowls. They addressed themselves in the first place
+to the Power above the sky; next to those in the moon, who are male and
+female; and lastly, to that evil being whose residence is beneath the
+earth, and is the cause of earthquakes. A drawing of this man,
+representing accurately the figures in which his body and limbs were
+tattooed, was made by Colonel Trapaud, and obligingly given to me. He not
+only stood patiently during the performance, but seemed much pleased with
+the execution, and proposed that the Colonel should accompany him to his
+country to have an opportunity of making a likeness of his father. To our
+collectors of rare prints it is well known that there exists an engraving
+of a man of this description by the title of The Painted Prince, brought
+to England by Captain Dampier from one of the islands of the eastern sea
+in the year 1691, and of whom a particular account is given in his
+Voyage. He said that the inhabitants of the Pagi islands derived their
+origin from the orang mantawei of the island called Si Biru.
+
+SI PORAH OR GOOD FORTUNE.
+
+North-westward of the Pagi islands, and at no great distance, lies that
+of Si Porah, commonly denominated Good Fortune Island, inhabited by the
+same race as the former, and with the same manners and language. The
+principal towns or villages are named Si Porah, containing, when visited
+by Mr. John Saul in 1750, three hundred inhabitants, Si Labah three
+hundred (several of whom were originally from the neighbouring island of
+Nias), Si Bagau two hundred, and Si Uban a smaller number; and when
+Captain Forrest made his inquiries in 1757 there was not any material
+variation. Since that period, though the island has been occasionally
+visited, it does not appear that any report has been preserved of the
+state of the population. The country is described as being entirely
+covered with wood. The highest land is in the vicinity of Si Labah.
+
+SI BIRU.
+
+The next island in the same direction is named Si Biru, which, although
+of considerable size, being larger than Si Porah, has commonly been
+omitted in our charts, or denoted to be uncertain. It is inhabited by the
+Mantawei race, and the natives both of Si Porah and the Pagi Islands
+consider it as their parent country, but notwithstanding this connexion
+they are generally in a state of hostility, and in 1783 no intercourse
+subsisted between them. The inhabitants are distinguished only by some
+small variety of the patterns in which their skins are tattooed, those of
+Si Biru having them narrower on the breast and broader on the shoulders.
+The island itself is rendered conspicuous by a volcano-mountain.
+
+PULO BATU.
+
+Next to this is Pulo Batu, situated immediately to the southward of the
+equinoctial line, and, in consequence of an original mistake in
+Valentyn's erroneous chart, published in 1726, usually called by
+navigators Mintaon, being a corruption of the word Mantawei, which, as
+already explained, is appropriated to a race inhabiting the islands of Si
+Biru, Si Porah, and Pagi. Batu, on the contrary, is chiefly peopled by a
+colony from Nias. These pay a yearly tax to the raja of Buluaro, a small
+kampong in the interior part of the island, belonging to a race different
+from both, and whose number it is said amounts only to one hundred, which
+it is not allowed to exceed, so many children being reared as may replace
+the deaths. They are reported to bear a resemblance to the people of
+Makasar or Bugis, and may have been adventurers from that quarter. The
+influence of their raja over the Nias inhabitants, who exceed his
+immediate subjects in the proportion of twenty to one, is founded on the
+superstitious belief that the water of the island will become salt when
+they neglect to pay the tax. He in his turn, being in danger from the
+power of the Malay traders who resort thither from Padang and are not
+affected by the same superstition, is constrained to pay them to the
+amount of sixteen ounces of gold as an annual tribute.
+
+The food of the people, as in the other islands, is chiefly sago, and
+their exports coconuts, oil in considerable quantities, and swala or
+sea-slugs. No rice is planted there, nor, if we may trust to the Malayan
+accounts, suffered to be imported. Upon the same authority also we are
+told that the island derives its name of Batu from a large rock
+resembling the hull of a vessel, which tradition states to be a
+petrifaction of that in which the Buluaro people arrived. The same
+fanciful story of a petrified boat is prevalent in the Serampei country
+of Sumatra. From Natal Hill Pulo Batu is visible. Like the islands
+already described it is entirely covered with wood.
+
+PULO KAPINI.
+
+Between Pulo Batu and the coast of Sumatra, but much nearer to the
+latter, is a small uninhabited island, called Pulo Kapini (iron-wood
+island), but to which our charts (copying from Valentyn) commonly give
+the name of Batu, whilst to Batu itself, as above described, is assigned
+the name of Mintaon. In confirmation of the distinctions here laid down
+it will be thought sufficient to observe that, when the Company's packet,
+the Greyhound, lay at what was called Lant's Bay in Mintaon, an officer
+came to our settlement of Natal (of which Mr. John Marsden at that time
+was chief) in a Batu oil-boat; and that a large trade for oil is carried
+on from Padang and other places with the island of Batu, whilst that of
+Kapini is known to be without inhabitants, and could not supply the
+article.
+
+PULO NIAS.
+
+The most productive and important, if not the largest of this chain of
+islands, is Pulo Nias. Its inhabitants are very numerous, and of a race
+distinct not only from those on the main (for such we must relatively
+consider Sumatra), but also from the people of all the islands to the
+southward, with the exception of the last-mentioned. Their complexions,
+especially the women, are lighter than those of the Malays; they are
+smaller in their persons and shorter in stature; their mouths are broad,
+noses very flat, and their ears are pierced and distended in so
+extraordinary a manner as nearly, in many instances, to touch the
+shoulders, particularly when the flap has, by excessive distension or by
+accident, been rent asunder; but these pendulous excrescences are
+commonly trimmed and reduced to the ordinary size when they are brought
+away from their own country. Preposterous however as this custom may
+appear, it is not confined to the Nias people. Some of the women of the
+inland parts of Sumatra, in the vicinity of the equinoctial line
+(especially those of the Rau tribes) increase the perforation of their
+ears until they admit ornaments of two or three inches diameter. There is
+no circumstance by which the natives of this island are more obviously
+distinguished than the prevalence of a leprous scurf with which the skins
+of a great proportion of both sexes are affected; in some cases covering
+the whole of the body and limbs, and in others resembling rather the
+effect of the tetter or ringworm, running like that partial complaint in
+waving lines and concentric curves. It is seldom if ever radically cured,
+although by external applications (especially in the slighter cases) its
+symptoms are moderated, and a temporary smoothness given to the skin; but
+it does not seem in any stage of the disease to have a tendency to
+shorten life, or to be inconsistent with perfect health in other
+respects, nor is there reason to suppose it infectious; and it is
+remarkable that the inhabitants of Pulo Batu, who are evidently of the
+same race, are exempt from this cutaneous malady. The principal food of
+the common people is the sweet-potato, but much pork is also eaten by
+those who can afford it, and the chiefs make a practice of ornamenting
+their houses with the jaws of the hogs, as well as the skulls of the
+enemies whom they slay. The cultivation of rice has become extensive in
+modern times, but rather as an article of traffic than of home
+consumption.
+
+These people are remarkable for their docility and expertness in
+handicraft work, and become excellent house-carpenters and joiners, and
+as an instance of their skill in the arts they practise that of letting
+blood by cupping, in a mode nearly similar to ours. Among the Sumatrans
+blood is never drawn with so salutary an intent. They are industrious and
+frugal, temperate and regular in their habits, but at the same time
+avaricious, sullen, obstinate, vindictive, and sanguinary. Although much
+employed as domestic slaves (particularly by the Dutch) they are always
+esteemed dangerous in that capacity, a defect in their character which
+philosophers will not hesitate to excuse in an independent people torn by
+violence from their country and connexions. They frequently kill
+themselves when disgusted with their situation or unhappy in their
+families, and often their wives at the same time, who appeared, from the
+circumstances under which they were found, to have been consenting to the
+desperate act. They were both dressed in their best apparel (the
+remainder being previously destroyed), and the female, in more than one
+instance that came under notice, had struggled so little as not to
+discompose her hair or remove her head from the pillow. It is said that
+in their own country they expose their children by suspending them in a
+bag from a tree, when they despair of being able to bring them up. The
+mode seems to be adopted with the view of preserving them from animals of
+prey, and giving them a chance of being saved by persons in more easy
+circumstances.
+
+The island is divided into about fifty small districts, under chiefs or
+rajas who are independent of, and at perpetual variance with, each other;
+the ultimate object of their wars being to make prisoners, whom they sell
+for slaves, as well as all others not immediately connected with them,
+whom they can seize by stratagem. These violences are doubtless
+encouraged by the resort of native traders from Padang, Natal, and Achin
+to purchase cargoes of slaves, who are also accused of augmenting the
+profits of their voyage by occasionally surprising and carrying off whole
+families. The number annually exported is reckoned at four hundred and
+fifty to Natal, and one hundred and fifty to the northern ports (where
+they are said to be employed by the Achinese in the gold-mines),
+exclusive of those which go to Padang for the supply of Batavia, where
+the females are highly valued and taught music and various
+accomplishments. In catching these unfortunate victims of avarice it is
+supposed that not fewer than two hundred are killed; and if the aggregate
+be computed at one thousand it is a prodigious number to be supplied from
+the population of so small an island.
+
+Beside the article of slaves there is a considerable export of padi and
+rice, the cultivation of which is chiefly carried on at a distance from
+the sea-coasts, whither the natives retire to be secure from piratical
+depredations, bringing down the produce to the harbours (of which there
+are several good ones), to barter with the traders for iron, steel,
+beads, tobacco, and the coarser kinds of Madras and Surat piece-goods.
+Numbers of hogs are reared, and some parts of the main, especially Barus,
+are supplied from hence with yams, beans, and poultry. Some of the rajas
+are supposed to have amassed a sum equal to ten or twenty thousand
+dollars, which is kept in ingots of gold and silver, much of the latter
+consisting of small Dutch money (not the purest coin) melted down; and of
+these they make an ostentatious display at weddings and other festivals.
+
+The language scarcely differs more from the Batta and the Lampong than
+these do from each other, and all evidently belong to the same stock. The
+pronunciation is very guttural, and either from habit or peculiar
+conformation of organs these people cannot articulate the letter p, but
+in Malayan words, where the sound occurs, pronounce it as f (saying for
+example Fulo Finang instead of Pulo Pinang), whilst on the contrary the
+Malays never make use of the f, and pronounce as pikir the Arabic word
+fikir. Indeed the Arabians themselves appear to have the same organic
+defect as the people of Nias, and it may likewise be observed in the
+languages of some of the South-sea islands.
+
+PULO NAKO-NAKO.
+
+On the western side of Nias and very near to it is a cluster of small
+islands called Pulo Nako-nako, whose inhabitants (as well as others who
+shall presently be noticed) are of a race termed Maros or orang maruwi,
+distinct from those of the former, but equally fair-complexioned. Large
+quantities of coconut-oil are prepared here and exported chiefly to
+Padang, the natives having had a quarrel with the Natal traders. The
+islands are governed by a single raja, who monopolizes the produce, his
+subjects dealing only with him, and he with the praws or country vessels
+who are regularly furnished with cargoes in the order of their arrival,
+and never dispatched out of turn.
+
+PULO BABI.
+
+Pulo Babi or Hog island, called by the natives Si Malu, lies
+north-westward from Nias, and, like Nako-Nako, is inhabited by the Maruwi
+race. Buffaloes (and hogs, we may presume) are met with here in great
+plenty and sold cheap.
+
+PULO BANIAK.
+
+The name of Pulo Baniak belongs to a cluster of islands (as the terms
+imply) situated to the eastward, or in-shore of Pulo Babi, and not far
+from the entrance of Singkel River. It is however most commonly applied
+to one of them which is considerably larger than the others. It does not
+appear to furnish any vegetable produce as an article of trade, and the
+returns from thence are chiefly sea-slug and the edible birds-nest. The
+inhabitants of these islands also are Maruwis, and, as well as the others
+of the same race, are now Mahometans. Their language, although considered
+by the natives of these parts as distinct and peculiar (which will
+naturally be the case where people do not understand each other's
+conversation), has much radical affinity to the Batta and Nias, and less
+to the Pagi; but all belong to the same class, and may be regarded as
+dialects of a general language prevailing amongst the original
+inhabitants of this eastern archipelago, as far at least as the Moluccas
+and Philippines.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+Achin or Acheh:
+kingdom of, its boundaries.
+Situation, buildings, and appearance of the capital.
+Air esteemed healthy.
+Inhabitants described.
+Present state of commerce.
+Productions of soil, manufactures, navigation.
+Coin, government.
+Officers of state, ceremonies.
+Local division.
+Revenues, duties.
+Administration of justice and punishments.
+History of.
+State of the kingdom at the time when Malacca fell into the hands of the
+Portuguese.
+Circumstances which placed Ibrahim, a slave of the king of Pidir, on the
+throne.
+Rises to considerable importance during the reign of Mansur-shah.
+King of, receives a letter from Queen Elizabeth.
+Letter from King James the First.
+Commencement of female reigns.
+Their termination.
+Subsequent events.
+
+Achin Head:
+situation of.
+
+Address:
+custom of, in the third instead of the second person.
+
+Adultery:
+laws respecting.
+
+Agriculture.
+
+Air:
+temperature of.
+
+Ala-eddin:
+or Ula-eddin Shah, king of Achin, lays repeated siege to Malacca.
+His death.
+
+Alboquerque (Affonso d'):
+touches at Pidir and Pase in his voyage to Malacca.
+
+Alligators:
+Superstitious dread of.
+
+Amomum:
+different species of.
+
+Amusements.
+
+Anak-sungei:
+kingdom of.
+
+Ancestors:
+veneration for burying-places of.
+
+Animals:
+account of.
+
+Annals:
+Malayan, of the kingdom of Achin.
+
+Ants:
+variety and abundance of.
+White-ant.
+
+Arabian:
+travellers, mention Sumatra by the name of Ramni.
+
+Arabic:
+character, with modifications, used by the Malays.
+
+Arithmetic.
+
+Arsenic:
+yellow.
+
+Arts:
+and manufactures.
+
+Aru, kingdom of.
+
+Astronomy.
+
+Atap:
+covering for roofs of houses.
+
+Babi:
+island of.
+
+Bamboo:
+principal material for building.
+Account of the.
+
+Bangka:
+island of, its tin-mines.
+
+Baniak:
+islands of.
+
+Banyan:
+tree or jawi-jawi, its peculiarities.
+
+Bantam:
+city of.
+Expulsion of English from thence.
+
+Barbosa, (Odoardus):
+his account of Sumatra.
+
+Barthema (Ludovico):
+his visit to the island.
+
+Barus:
+a place chiefly remarkable for having given its name to the most valuable
+sort of camphor.
+
+Bats:
+various species of.
+
+Batta:
+country of.
+Its divisions.
+Mr. Miller's journey into it.
+Governments.
+Authority of the rajas.
+Succession.
+Persons, dress, and weapons of the inhabitants.
+Warfare.
+Fortified villages or kampongs.
+Trade, mode of holding fairs.
+Food.
+Buildings, domestic manners.
+Horse-racing.
+Books.
+Observations on their mode of writing.
+Religion.
+Mythology.
+Oaths.
+Funeral ceremonies.
+Crimes and punishments.
+Practice of eating human flesh.
+Motives for this custom.
+Mode of proceeding.
+Doubts obviated.
+Testimonies.
+Death of Mr. Nairne in the Batta country.
+Originality of manners preserved amongst this people, and its probable
+causes.
+
+Batu (Pulo).
+
+Batu Bara:
+river.
+
+Beards:
+practice of eradicating.
+
+Beasts.
+
+Beaulieu:
+commander of a French squadron at Achin.
+
+Beeswax.
+
+Bencoolen:
+river and town.
+Interior country visited.
+Account of first English establishment at.
+
+Benzoin:
+or benjamin, mode of procuring.
+Nature of the trade.
+Oil distilled from.
+
+Betel:
+practice of chewing.
+Preparation of.
+
+Betel-nut:
+or areca, see Pinang.
+
+Bintang:
+island of.
+
+Birds:
+Species which form the edible nests.
+Modes of catching.
+
+Birds-nest:
+edible, account of.
+
+Biru:
+island of.
+
+Blachang:
+species of caviar, mode of preparing.
+
+Blades:
+of krises.
+mode of damasking.
+
+Boulton (Mr. Matthew).
+
+Bread-fruit:
+or sukun.
+
+Breezes:
+land and sea.
+
+Braham (Mr. Philip).
+
+Broff (Mr. Robert).
+
+Buffalo:
+or karbau, description of the.
+Killed at festivals.
+
+Building:
+modes of, described.
+
+Bukit Lintang:
+a high range of hills inland of Moco-moco.
+
+Bukit Pandang:
+a high mountain inland of Ipu.
+
+Burying-places:
+ancient, veneration for.
+
+Chameleon:
+description of.
+
+Campbell (Mr. Charles).
+
+Camphor:
+or kapur barus, a valuable drug.
+Description of the tree.
+Mode of procuring it.
+Its price.
+Camphor-oil.
+Japan camphor.
+
+Cannibalism.
+
+Cannon:
+use of, previously to Portuguese discoveries.
+
+Carpenters' work.
+
+Carving.
+
+Cassia:
+description of the tree.
+Found in the Serampei, Musi, and Batta countries.
+
+Cattle:
+Laws respecting.
+
+Causes:
+or suits, mode of deciding.
+
+Caut-chouc:
+or elastic gum.
+
+Cements.
+
+Champaka:
+flower.
+
+Character:
+difference in respect of it, between the Malays and other Sumatrans.
+
+Characters:
+of Rejang, Batta, and Lampong languages.
+
+Charms.
+
+Chastity.
+
+Chess:
+game of, Malayan terms.
+
+Child-bearing.
+
+Children:
+treatment of.
+
+Chinese:
+colonists.
+
+Circumcision.
+
+Cloth:
+manufacture of.
+
+Clothing:
+materials of.
+
+Coal.
+
+Cock-fighting:
+strong propensity to this sport.
+Matches.
+
+Coconut-tree:
+an important object of cultivation.
+Does not bear fruit in the hill country.
+
+Codes:
+of laws.
+Remarks on.
+
+Coins:
+current in Sumatra.
+
+Commerce.
+
+Company (English East India):
+its influence.
+Permission given to it to settle a factory at Achin.
+
+Compass:
+irregularity of, noticed.
+
+Compensation:
+for murder, termed bangun.
+
+Complexion:
+fairness of, comparatively with other Indians.
+Darkness of, not dependent on climate.
+
+Confinement:
+modes of.
+
+Contracts:
+made with the chiefs of the country, for obliging their dependants to
+plant pepper.
+
+Conversion:
+to religion of Mahomet, period of.
+
+Cookery.
+
+Copper.
+Rich mine of.
+
+Coral rock.
+
+Corallines:
+collection of, in the possession of Mr. John Griffiths.
+
+Cosmetic:
+used, and mode of preparing it.
+
+Cotton:
+two species of, cultivated.
+
+Courtship.
+
+Crisp (Mr. John).
+
+Cultivation:
+of rice.
+
+Curry:
+dish or mode of cookery so called.
+
+Custard-apple.
+
+Cycas circinalis:
+(a palm-fern confounded with the sago-tree) described.
+
+Dalrymple (Mr. Alexander).
+
+Dammar:
+a species of resin or turpentine.
+
+Dancing:
+amusement of.
+
+Dare (Lieutenant Hastings).
+Journal of his expedition to the Serampei and Sungei-tenang countries.
+
+Datu:
+title of.
+
+Debts:
+and debtors, laws respecting.
+
+Deer:
+diminutive species of.
+
+Deity:
+name for the, borrowed by the Rejangs from the Malays.
+
+Dice.
+
+Diseases:
+modes of curing.
+
+Diversion:
+of tossing a ball.
+
+Divorces:
+laws respecting.
+
+Dragons'-blood:
+a drug, how procured.
+
+Dress:
+description of man's and woman's.
+
+Dupati:
+nature of title.
+
+Durian:
+fruit.
+
+Dusuns:
+or villages, description of.
+
+Duyong:
+or sea-cow.
+
+Dye-stuffs.
+
+Ears:
+ceremony of boring.
+
+Earthenware.
+
+Earth-oil.
+
+Earthquakes.
+
+Eating:
+mode of.
+
+Eclipses:
+notion respecting.
+
+Edrisi:
+his account of Sumatra by the name of Al-Rami.
+
+Elastic gum.
+
+Elephants.
+
+Elizabeth:
+Queen, addresses a letter to the king of Achin.
+
+Elopements:
+laws respecting.
+
+Emblematic presents.
+
+Engano:
+island of.
+
+English:
+their first visit to Sumatra.
+Settle a factory at Achin.
+
+Europeans:
+influence of.
+
+Evidence:
+rules of, and mode of giving.
+
+Expedition:
+to Serampei and Sungei-tenang countries.
+
+Fairs.
+
+Fencing.
+
+Fertility:
+of soil.
+
+Festivals.
+
+Feud:
+account of a remarkable one.
+
+Fevers:
+how treated by the natives.
+
+Filigree:
+manufacture of.
+
+Fire:
+modes of kindling.
+Necessary for warmth among the hills.
+
+Firearms:
+manufactured in Menangkabau.
+
+Firefly.
+
+Fish:
+Ikan layer, a remarkable species.
+Various kinds enumerated.
+
+Fishing:
+mode of.
+
+Fish-roes:
+preserved by salting.
+An article of trade.
+
+Flowers:
+description of.
+
+Foersch, (Mr.):
+his account of the poison-tree.
+
+Fogs:
+dense among the hills.
+
+Food.
+
+Fortification:
+mode of.
+
+Fort Marlborough:
+the chief English settlement on the coast of Sumatra.
+Establishment of.
+Reduced by Act of Parliament.
+
+French:
+settlement of Tappanuli taken by the, in the year 1760, and again in
+1809, attended with circumstances of atrocity.
+Sent a fleet to Achin, under General Beaulieu.
+
+Fruits:
+description of.
+
+Funerals:
+ceremonies observed at.
+
+Furniture:
+of houses.
+
+Gambir:
+mode of preparing it for eating with betel.
+
+Gaming:
+laws respecting.
+Propensity for, and modes of.
+
+Geography:
+limited ideas of.
+
+Goitres:
+natives of the hills subject to.
+Disease not imputable to snow-water.
+In the Serampei country.
+
+Gold:
+island celebrated for its production of.
+Chiefly found in the Menangkabau country.
+Distinctions of.
+Mode of working the mines.
+Estimation of quantity procured.
+Price.
+Mode of cleansing.
+Weights.
+
+Government:
+Malayan.
+
+Grammar.
+
+Graves:
+form of.
+
+Griffiths, (Mr. John).
+
+Guana:
+or iguana, animal of the lizard kind.
+
+Guava:
+fruit.
+
+Gum-lac.
+
+Gunpowder:
+manufacture of.
+
+Hair:
+modes of dressing the.
+
+Heat:
+degree of.
+
+Hemp:
+or ganja, its inebriating qualities.
+
+Henna:
+of the Arabians used for tingeing the nails.
+
+Herbs:
+and shrubs used medicinally.
+
+Hills:
+inhabitants of, subject to goitres.
+
+Hippopotamus.
+
+History:
+of Malayan kings.
+Of Achinese.
+
+Hollanders:
+their first visit to Sumatra.
+
+Holloway, (Mr. Giles).
+
+Horse-racing:
+practised by the Battas.
+
+Horses:
+small breed of.
+Occasionally used in war.
+Eaten as food by the Battas.
+
+Hot springs.
+
+Houses:
+description of.
+
+Human flesh:
+eaten by the Battas.
+
+Iang de per-tuan:
+title of sovereignty.
+
+Ibrahim (otherwise, Saleh-eddin shah):
+king of Achin, his origin.
+Enmity to the Portuguese.
+Transactions of his reign, and death.
+
+Iju:
+a peculiar vegetable substance used for cordage.
+
+Ilhas d'Ouro:
+attempts of the Portuguese to discover them.
+
+Import-trade.
+
+Incest.
+
+Indalas:
+one of the Malayan names of Sumatra.
+
+Indigo:
+Broad-leafed or tarum akar.
+
+Indragiri:
+river of.
+Has its source in a lake of the Menangkabau country.
+
+Indrapura:
+kingdom of.
+
+Inhabitants:
+general distinctions of.
+
+Inheritance:
+rules of.
+
+Ink:
+manufacture of.
+
+Insanity.
+
+Insects:
+Various kinds of, enumerated.
+
+Instruments:
+musical.
+
+Interest:
+of money.
+
+Investiture.
+
+Ipu:
+river of.
+Sungei-ipu (a different river).
+
+Iron:
+Ore smelted.
+Manufactures of.
+Mines.
+
+Iskander Muda (Paduka Sri):
+king of Achin, receives a letter from king James the first, by Captain
+Best, and gives permission for establishing an English factory.
+Conquers Johor.
+Attacks Malacca with a great fleet.
+Receives an embassy from France.
+Again attacks Malacca.
+His death.
+Wealth and power.
+
+Islands:
+near the western coast, account of.
+
+Ivory.
+
+Jack:
+fruit.
+
+Jaggri:
+imperfect sort of sugar from a species of palm.
+
+Jambi:
+river of.
+Colonies settled on branches of it, for collecting gold.
+Has its source in the Limun country.
+Town of.
+
+Jambu:
+fruit.
+
+James the first:
+king, writes a letter to the king of Achin.
+
+Jeinal:
+sultan of Pase, his history.
+
+Johor:
+kingdom of.
+
+Kampar:
+river of.
+King of, negotiates with Alboquerque.
+
+Kampongs:
+or fortified villages.
+
+Kananga:
+flowering tree.
+
+Kapini:
+island of.
+
+Kasumba:
+name of, given to the carthamus and the bixa.
+
+Kataun:
+or Cattown, river of.
+
+Kima:
+or gigantic cockle.
+
+Koran.
+
+Korinchi:
+country.
+Mr. Campbell's visit to it.
+Situation of lake.
+Inhabitants and buildings.
+Food, articles of commerce, gold.
+Account of lepers.
+Peculiar plants.
+Character of the natives.
+
+Koto-tuggoh:
+a fortified village of the Sungei-tenang country.
+Taken and destroyed.
+
+Krises:
+description of.
+
+Kroi:
+district of.
+
+Kulit-kayu:
+or coolicoy, the bark of certain trees used in building, and for other
+purposes.
+
+Kuwau:
+argus or Sumatran pheasant.
+
+Labun:
+district of.
+
+Lakes.
+
+Laksamana:
+a title equivalent to commander-in-chief.
+
+Lampong:
+country, limits of.
+Inhabitants, language, and governments.
+Wars.
+Account of a peculiar people, called orang abung.
+Manners and customs.
+Superstitions.
+
+Land:
+unevenness of its surface.
+New-formed.
+Rarely considered as the subject of property.
+
+Land:
+and sea breezes, causes of.
+
+Language:
+Nature of the Malayan.
+Of others spoken in Sumatra.
+Court.
+Specimens of.
+Batta.
+Nias.
+
+Lanseh:
+fruit.
+
+Laws:
+and customs.
+Compilation of.
+
+Laye:
+river and district of.
+
+Leeches:
+a small kind of, very troublesome on marches.
+
+Lemba:
+district, inhabitants of, similar to the Rejangs.
+
+Leprosy:
+account of.
+
+Lignum-aloes:
+or kalambac.
+
+Limun:
+district of.
+Gold-traders of.
+
+Literature.
+
+Lizards.
+
+Longitude:
+of Fort Marlborough, determined by observation.
+
+Looms:
+description of.
+
+Macdonald, (Lieutenant-colonel John).
+
+Mackenzie, (Mr. Kenneth).
+
+Madagascar:
+resemblance in customs of, to those of Sumatra.
+
+Mahmud shah Juhan (Ala-eddin).
+
+Mahometanism:
+period of conversion to.
+
+Maize:
+or jagong, cultivation of.
+
+Malacca:
+or Malaka, city of, when founded.
+Visited in 1509 by the Portuguese.
+In 1511 taken by them.
+Repeatedly attacked by the kings of Achin.
+In 1641 taken by the Hollanders.
+
+Malays:
+name of, applied to people of Menangkabau.
+Nearly synonymous with Mahometan, in these parts.
+Difference in character between Malays and other Sumatrans.
+Guards composed of.
+Origin of.
+Race of kings.
+Not strict in matters of religion.
+Governments of.
+
+Malayan:
+language.
+
+Malur:
+or Malati flower (nyctanthes).
+
+Mango:
+fruit, described.
+
+Mangustin:
+fruit, described.
+
+Manjuta:
+river and district of.
+English settlement at.
+
+Manna:
+district of.
+
+Mansalar:
+island of.
+
+Mansur shah:
+king of Achin, besieges Malacca, and is defeated.
+Renews the attack, without success.
+Again appears before it with a large fleet, and proceeds to the attack of
+Johor.
+Murdered when preparing to sail with a considerable expedition.
+
+Mantawei:
+name of race of people inhabiting certain islands.
+
+Manufactures.
+
+Marco Polo:
+his account of Sumatra, by the name of Java minor.
+Visited it about the year 1290.
+
+Marriage:
+modes of, and laws respecting.
+Rites of.
+Festivals.
+Consummation of.
+
+Marsden (Mr. John).
+
+Measures:
+of capacity and length.
+
+Measurement:
+of time.
+
+Medicinal:
+shrubs and herbs.
+
+Medicine:
+art of.
+
+Mega:
+island of.
+
+Menangkabau:
+kingdom of.
+History of, imperfectly known.
+Limits of.
+Rivers proceeding from it.
+Political decline.
+Early mention of it by travellers.
+Division of the government.
+Extraordinary respect paid to reigning family.
+Titles of the sultan.
+Remarks on them.
+Ceremonies.
+Conversion of people to the Mahometan religion.
+Antiquity of the empire more remote than that event.
+Sultan held in respect by the Battas.
+
+Metempsychosis:
+ideas of, as entertained by the Sumatrans.
+
+Miller (Mr. Charles).
+
+Minerals.
+
+Mines:
+gold.
+Copper.
+Iron.
+
+Missionaries:
+no attempt of, to convert the Sumatrans to Christianity, upon record.
+
+Moco-moco:
+in Anac-sungei, account of.
+
+Monkeys:
+various species of.
+
+Monsoons:
+causes of their change.
+
+Morinda:
+wood of, used for dyeing.
+
+Mountains:
+chain of, running along the island.
+Height of Mount Ophir or Gunong Passamman.
+High mountain called Bukit Pandang.
+
+Mucks:
+practice, nature, and causes of.
+
+Muhammed shah (Ala-eddin or Ula-eddin):
+succeeds Juhan shah as king of Achin.
+His turbulent reign, and death.
+
+Mukim:
+divisional district of the country of Achin.
+
+Mulberry.
+
+Murder:
+compensation for.
+
+Musi:
+district of.
+
+Music:
+Minor key preferred.
+
+Mythology:
+of the Battas.
+
+Nako-nako:
+islands of.
+
+Nalabu:
+port of.
+
+Name:
+of Sumatra, unknown to the Arabian geographers, and to Marco Polo.
+Various orthography of.
+Probably of Hindu origin.
+
+Names:
+when given to children.
+Distinctions of.
+Father often named from his child.
+Hesitate to pronounce their own.
+
+Natal:
+settlement of.
+Gold of fine quality procured in the country of.
+Governed by datus.
+
+Navigation.
+
+Nias:
+island of.
+
+Nibong:
+species of palm, description and uses of.
+
+Nicolo di Conti:
+his visit to Sumatra.
+
+Nutmegs:
+and cloves, first introduction of, by Mr. Robert Broff.
+Second importation.
+Success of the culture.
+
+
+Oaths:
+nature of, in legal proceedings.
+Collateral.
+Mode of administering.
+Amongst the Battas.
+
+Odoricus:
+his visit to the island of Sumoltra.
+
+Officers:
+of state, in Malayan governments.
+At Achin.
+
+Oil:
+earth-.
+Camphor-.
+Coconut-.
+
+Ophir:
+name of, not known to the natives.
+Height of Mount Ophir or Gunong Passamman.
+
+Opium:
+considerable importation of, from Bengal.
+Law respecting.
+Practice of smoking.
+Preparation of.
+Effects of.
+
+Oranges:
+various species of.
+
+Oratory:
+gift of, natural to the Sumatrans.
+
+Ornaments:
+worn.
+
+Padang:
+the principal Dutch settlement.
+
+Padang-guchi:
+river of.
+
+Padi:
+or rice, cultivation of upland.
+Of lowland.
+Transplantation of.
+Rate of produce.
+Threshing.
+Beating out.
+
+Paduka Sri:
+king of Achin, see Iskander Muda.
+
+Pagi (or Nassaus):
+islands of.
+
+Palembang:
+river of.
+Rises in the district of Musi, near Bencoolen river.
+Dutch factory on it.
+Description of country on its banks.
+Government.
+City of.
+Many foreign settlers.
+Language.
+Interior country visited by the English.
+
+Palma-christi.
+
+Pandan:
+shrub, its fragrant blossom.
+
+Pangeran:
+nature of title.
+Authority much limited.
+
+Pantun:
+or proverbial song.
+
+Papaw:
+fruit.
+
+Pase:
+kingdom of.
+
+Passamman:
+province of.
+
+Passummah:
+Legal customs of.
+
+Pawns:
+or pledges, law respecting.
+
+Pepper:
+principal object of the Company's trade.
+Cultivation of.
+Description of the plant.
+Progress of bearing.
+Time of gathering.
+Mode of drying.
+White pepper.
+Surveys of plantations.
+Transportation of.
+
+Percha (Pulo):
+one of the Malayan names of Sumatra.
+
+Perfume.
+
+Pergularia odoratissima:
+cultivated in England by Sir Joseph Banks.
+
+Persons:
+of the natives, description of.
+
+Pheasant:
+argus or Sumatran.
+
+Philippine:
+islands, customs and superstitions of, resembling those of Sumatra.
+
+Pidir:
+kingdom of.
+
+Pigafetta (Antonio):
+in his voyage appears the earliest specimen of a Malayan vocabulary.
+
+Pikul:
+weight.
+
+Pinang:
+areca, or, vulgarly, the betel-nut-tree, and fruit.
+
+Pinang (Pulo):
+island of.
+
+Pineapple.
+
+Piratical habits:
+of Malays.
+
+Plantain:
+or pisang.
+Varieties of the fruit.
+
+Pleading:
+mode of.
+
+Poetry:
+fondness of the natives for.
+
+Polishing:
+leaf.
+
+Polygamy:
+question of.
+Connexion between it and the practice of purchasing wives.
+
+Population.
+
+Porah:
+island of.
+
+Portuguese:
+expeditions of, rendered the island of Sumatra well known to Europeans.
+Their first visit to it, under Diogo Lopez de Sequeira.
+Transactions at Pidir, and Pase.
+Conquer Malacca.
+Sustain many attacks and sieges from kings of Achin.
+
+Potatoes:
+cultivated in the Korinchi country.
+
+Priaman:
+river and district of.
+Invitation to the English to form a settlement there.
+
+Puhn:
+or Poon, signifying tree in general, applied by Europeans to a particular
+species.
+
+Puhn-upas:
+or poison-tree, account of.
+
+Pulas:
+species of twine from the kaluwi nettle.
+
+Pulse:
+variety of.
+
+Pulo:
+or island.
+
+Pulo:
+point and bay.
+
+Punei-jambu:
+a beautiful species of dove.
+
+Punishments:
+corporal.
+Amongst the Battas.
+Amongst the Achinese.
+
+Quail-fighting.
+
+Queen:
+government of Achin devolves to a.
+Account of embassy from Madras to the.
+
+Radin:
+prince of Madura.
+
+Raffles (Mr. Thomas).
+
+Rakan:
+river or estuary.
+
+Rambutan:
+fruit.
+
+Ramni:
+name given to Sumatra by the Arabian geographers.
+
+Ranjaus:
+description of.
+
+Rapes:
+laws respecting.
+
+Rattan-cane:
+fruit of.
+Considerable export trade in.
+
+Rau:
+or Rawa country.
+
+Rayet shah (Ala-eddin):
+said to have been originally a fisherman, ascends the throne of Achin,
+having murdered the heir.
+During his reign the Hollanders first visited Achin.
+And also the English, under Captain (Sir James) Lancaster, who carried
+letters from Queen Elizabeth.
+At the age of ninety-five, confined by his son.
+
+Reaping:
+mode of.
+
+Rejang:
+people of, chosen as a standard for description of manners.
+Situation of the country.
+Divided into tribes.
+Their government.
+
+Religion:
+state of, amongst the Rejang.
+No ostensible worship.
+The word dewa applied to a class of invisible beings.
+Veneration for the tombs of their ancestors.
+Ancient religion of Malays.
+Motives for conversion to Mahometanism.
+Of the Battas.
+
+Reptiles.
+
+Rhinoceros.
+
+Rice:
+culture of.
+Distinctions of ladang or upland, and sawah or lowland.
+Sowing, mode of.
+Reaping, mode of.
+An article of trade.
+
+Rivers.
+
+Rock:
+species of soft.
+Coral.
+
+Rum:
+or Rome, for Constantinople.
+
+Sago-tree:
+or rambiya (confounded with the Cycas circinalis, a different tree),
+described.
+
+Salt:
+manufacture of.
+
+Saltpetre:
+Procured from certain caves.
+
+Sanding:
+islands or Pulo Sandiang.
+
+Sappan:
+wood.
+
+Scorpion:
+flower or anggrek kasturi.
+
+Sculpture:
+ancient.
+
+Sea:
+encroachments of.
+
+Sequeira (Diogo Lopez de):
+first Portuguese who visited Sumatra.
+
+Serampei:
+country.
+Villages, government, features of the women.
+Peculiar regulation.
+Further account of.
+
+Sesamum:
+or bijin, oil produced from.
+
+Sexes:
+mistaken ideas of a considerable inequality in the numbers of the two.
+
+Shellfish.
+
+Siak:
+river of.
+Survey of.
+Country on both sides flat and alluvial.
+Abundance of ship-timber.
+Government.
+Trade.
+Subdued by the king of Achin.
+
+Si Biru:
+island of.
+
+Silebar:
+river, and district of.
+
+Sileda:
+attempt to work a gold mine at.
+
+Silk-cotton (bombax).
+
+Singapura:
+city of, when founded.
+
+Singkel:
+river.
+
+Si Porah:
+or Good Fortune, island of.
+
+Situation:
+of the island, general account of.
+
+Slavery:
+state of, not common among the Rejangs.
+Condition of negro slaves at Fort Marlborough.
+
+Smallpox:
+its ravages.
+
+Snakes.
+
+Soil:
+described.
+Unevenness of surface.
+Fertility of.
+
+Songs:
+Singing.
+amusement of.
+
+Spices:
+see Nutmegs.
+
+Sugar:
+manufacture of.
+Imperfect sort, called jaggri.
+
+Sugar-cane, cultivation of.
+
+Suits:
+see Causes.
+
+Sulphur:
+Where procured.
+
+Sumatra:
+name probably of Hindu origin.
+
+Sungei-lamo and Sungei-itam:
+rivers.
+
+Sungei-tenang:
+country, account of.
+
+Superstitious opinions.
+
+Surf:
+Considerations respecting.
+Probable cause of.
+
+Surveys:
+of pepper plantations.
+
+Swala:
+or sea-slug, an article of trade.
+
+Swasa:
+a mixture of gold and copper so called.
+
+Tamarind:
+tree.
+
+Tanjong:
+flower.
+
+Tappanuli:
+celebrated bay of.
+Settlement on the island of Punchong kechil.
+Taken in 1760 by the French, and again in 1809.
+
+Taprobane:
+name of, applied to Sumatra in the middle ages.
+
+Teak:
+timber, its valuable qualities.
+Attempts to cultivate the tree.
+
+Teeth:
+mode of filing them.
+Sometimes plated with gold.
+
+Theft:
+laws respecting.
+Proof of, required.
+
+Thermometer:
+height of, at Fort Marlborough, and at Natal.
+So low as 45 degrees on a hill in the Ipu country.
+
+Threshing:
+mode of.
+
+Thunder:
+and lightning, very frequent.
+Effect of.
+
+Tides:
+At Siak.
+Flow to a great distance in rivers on eastern side of the island.
+
+Tiger:
+Ravages by this animal.
+Traps.
+
+Tiku:
+river and islands of.
+
+Timber:
+great variety of.
+Species enumerated.
+
+Time:
+manner of dividing.
+
+Tin:
+A considerable export of it to China.
+
+Titles.
+
+Tobacco:
+cultivation of.
+
+Toddy:
+or nira, how procured.
+
+Tools:
+for mining.
+Carpenters'.
+
+Torches:
+or links.
+
+Trade.
+
+Triste:
+island of, see Mega.
+
+Tulang-bawang:
+river.
+
+Turmeric.
+
+Upas:
+vegetable poison, account of.
+
+Urei:
+river of.
+
+Utensils:
+account of.
+
+Vegetable productions.
+
+Venereal disease.
+
+Villages:
+description of.
+
+Virgins:
+their distinguishing ornaments.
+
+Volcanoes:
+called gunong api, account of.
+
+Warfare:
+mode of.
+
+Waterfalls.
+
+Waterspout:
+account of.
+
+Wax:
+a considerable article of trade.
+
+Weapons.
+
+Weaving.
+
+Weights.
+
+Wens.
+
+White-ants.
+
+White pepper.
+
+Widows:
+laws respecting.
+
+Wilkins (Mr. Charles).
+
+Winds.
+
+Wives:
+number of. See Marriage.
+
+Worm-shell:
+or Teredo navalis.
+
+Wood:
+various species of.
+
+Woods:
+Mode of clearing.
+
+Wounds:
+laws respecting.
+
+Writing:
+On bark of tree, and on slips of bamboo.
+Specimens of.
+
+Yams:
+various roots under that denomination.
+
+Year:
+mode of estimating its length.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The History of Sumatra, by William Marsden
+
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