MILITARY AND WARS. 87 



The entire adult male population are soldiers, 

 by necessity ; but the " standing army" consists 

 of only a few picked men, employed as atten- 

 dants on the rajah, or as guards to his residence. 

 They are distinguished from the civilians by 

 possessing a musket, and wearing, in front of 

 their girdle, a cartouche -box, highly carved, de- 

 corated with silver, and containing musket-balls 

 and rows of bamboo cartridges. 



Although Soutranha was in a state of pro- 

 found peace at the time of our visit, wars with 

 neighbouring independent states, and more es- 

 pecially with the inhabitants of the hills, are not 

 unfrequent; but the result of these conflicts 

 has been usually in favour of the Soutranha 

 people, owing, probably, to the superiority in 

 the munitions of war their coast position affords 



a heavy log of wood, from five to eight feet long, its one 

 extremity resting on the ground, while the opposite re- 

 ceived the neck of the criminal through a groove in its 

 centre, and rested on his shoulders. A system of " prison 

 discipline" which renders every movement of the pri- 

 soner difficult, and escape impossible. One roguish- 

 looking fellow thus situated, and who spoke a little Eng- 

 lish, (which, by the way, went far to prove that he de- 

 served his post,) told us that he had been " at anchor" 

 for ten days, and expected to remain so ten days longer. 

 We had no reason to doubt the correctness of his reckon 

 ing, as he evidently kept a very steady log. 



