SUMATPvA 183 



haired race, such as exists in the rhihppines, has ever 

 yet been found in the island, although it has by some 

 been considered possible that the Kubus are partly of 

 Negrito origin. Many different nations, speaking dis- 

 tinct languages, inhabit the main island, while at least 

 three others are found in the adjacent small islands. 

 Most of these are comparatively civilised, building good 

 houses, practising elaborate agriculture, weaving cloth, 

 and having written languages, while others are almost 

 pure savages, their civilisation on a par with that of the 

 Dyaks of Borneo. 



At 'the extreme north lies the Sultanate of Ache, a 

 country, roughly speaking, about the size of Ireland, 

 which has remained unconquered and uninfluenced by 

 the Dutch. For centuries one of the most important 

 sites of commerce, its people — at all events those in the 

 neighbourhood of the capital — yielded early to such 

 civilisation as was introduced by the Arabs, and inter- 

 married with them. For more than 700 years the 

 Achenese have been Mohammedans, and although the 

 Arab influence is less marked now than formerly, it is 

 still evident in the dress of the well-to-do and the char- 

 acter in wdiich their language is written. Other elements 

 have been introduced to form the nation. The traders 

 from the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, Ceylon, Pegu, 

 and Tenasserim have mixed with them, and as they were 

 formerly renowned as pirates, whose raids extended over 

 a considerable portion of the Archipelago, it is proljable 

 that their hareems were stocked by the women of many 

 different nations. The language, as might be expected, is 

 far from pure. It is written in the Arabic character, 

 although it probably had at one time a native alphabet, 

 as have the Battak, Eejang, and other tongues at the 

 present day. The outcome of this mixture of races is 



