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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 bird­lime: 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 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.</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 +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.</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 land­tortoise (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), 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 +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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 +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.</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 +(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.</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 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.</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 +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.</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 +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.</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 +rattan­cane 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 +(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.)</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 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.</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 Cochin­china.</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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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, +twenty­two 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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 & +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 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.*</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 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.</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 ship­timber.</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 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.</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, 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.</p> + +<p>RELIGION.</p> + +<p>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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 Sa­pisang, 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 war­whoop.</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 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.</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, 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 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.</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 +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.</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 (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.</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-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.</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 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.)</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 +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.</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 (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).</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 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?")</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 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).</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 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.</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 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.</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 +volcano­mountain.</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 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.</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 +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.</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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA *** + +***** This file should be named 16768-h.htm or 16768-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/7/6/16768/ + +Produced by Sue Asscher + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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