472 TRAVELS IX THE EAST IXDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



make them conform more nearly to tlie rigid require- 

 ments of tlie faith they had pretended to adopt. Be 

 lieving, like true Mohammedans, that no argument is 

 so con^dncing as the sword, these zealots began a 

 warfare as well as a reform. This religion is the 

 more remarkable, because, so far as we know, it is 

 the only one that has ever been originated in the 

 whole archipelago. 



In 1837 these religious conquerors came into 

 collision with the Dutch, and, after a severe contest 

 of three years, were completely conquered, and not a 

 vestige of their rigorous laws can now be discerned. 

 Such harsh measui^es were e\ddently distasteful to 

 the lax Malays, and now on all market-days and fes- 

 tive occasions they array themselves in as gaudy colors 

 as they did before the zealous pilgi'ims of Korinchi 

 came back from Mecca. 



The skilfal work of these people in silver and gold 

 has already been described. This they did not learn 

 from foreigners, but have practised for ages. They 

 were also very skilful in the manufacture of kris- 

 blades, cannon, and matchlocks — mining, smelting, 

 and forging the iron entirely themselves. Marsden 

 says their principal mine was at Padang Luar, prob- 

 ably Padang Luvra or Lawa, a kampong on the level 

 land near Fort de Kock, and about a mile north 

 of that place. It was taken to Selimpuwong (on the 

 Dutch maps Salimpawaiag), a small kampong between 

 Mount Merapi and Mount Sago, on the road leading 

 northward fi*om this place to Paya Kombo, where it 

 was smelted and manufactured. Their cannon were 

 often mentioned by the earliest Portuguese naviga- 



