IN SUMATRA, 211 



nose in a few was remarkable; and the sharply prominent 

 ehoolv-bones. The villagers asserted that they could tell a 

 footprint in the mud of a Kuhu from that of their own j»eopl<^ 

 I caused several of them to walk over sheets of paper 

 after ruhhing the soles of their feet with soot, hut I could 



not discover, either in the shape of the foot or in its print, 

 any divergence from that of the people about thom. The 

 lips of the Kubus were thin, and the eyes restless and glancing, 

 as if ever on the alert. The average height of seven males was 

 I'GO metres, and of five females I'll) metres, which is nbont 

 the average stature of the Malays of Jlalacca. On compnriiig 

 the impress of their hands with those of the people of the dis- 

 trict, those of the Kubus I found to be smaller. They are, I 

 also observed, rather subject to reduplication of the fingers. 



They are said to have a language of their own unintelligible 

 to their neighbours, but I failed to induce them to give' mc 

 any specimen of it, if it existed. I could not understand their 

 speech at first; "but after some conversation I could detect 

 that they really spoke a corrupted Malay with a peculiar 



accentuation. 



. Monogamy is the rule among them ; but a few have two or 

 more wives. Their nuj^tial ceremony is a very simple aflfair. 

 The man having fixed his choice on a girl, and obtained 

 the consent of her parents to his suit, brhigs to her fiither such 

 gifts as he has — a knife, a spear, cloths, or money (if he has 

 any), dammar, and beeswax— and such rare fruits of the forest 

 or favourite food-animals as may reward his search. AYhen 

 this gift is satisfactorily large, those who may be within reach 

 are called together. Seating themselves below a tree, tlie 

 father of the maiden informs them that he has given his 

 daughter So-and-so to So-and-so in marriage. Oik; of the 

 company then strikes the tree under which they sit severnl 

 times with a club, proclaiming them to be man and wife. The 

 ceromony is followed by such feast as can be provided, princi- 

 pally out of the fruits and ani?nal3 the bridegroom has paid 



for his wife with. 



It is a rare thing for a ]\Ialay man to marry a Kubu woman ; 

 but it occasionally happens, notwithstanding that th^'V consider 



the Kubus far their inferiors, a position which the latter seem 

 to accept with very marked submissiveness. " You Kubu ! 



