SUMATRA 189 



reading and writing is pretty generally understood. The 

 alphabet, according to Professor Keane, is liased on the 

 Dewanagiri, but others hold it to be probably original. 

 It is written from left to right on palm leaves, and the 

 character differs entirely from the llejang, Korinchi, and 

 other of the peculiar Sumati'an languages, being curved 

 and not rectilinear in its form. 



In the hill-country, near Mount Ophir, are two tribes 

 — the Orang Lubu and Ulu — of whom next to nothing is 

 known, except that they are pure savages and few in 

 number. East of them, inhabiting the lowlands opposite 

 Malacca and Singapore, are the Siak people, a pure Malay 

 race, as are the Jambi tribes lower down on the same 

 coast. But of all the true Malays inhabiting Sumatra, 

 the most important and highly civilised are those occupy- 

 ing the mountain district of IMenangkabo, above Padang. 

 They comprise several tribes, and are divided into snlms 

 and I'otas on the same principle as the Achenese and 

 Lampongers. By many people this district is regarded 

 as the original cradle of the ]\Ialay race. In spite of 

 foreign influence this language has here remained singu- 

 larly pure — purer, indeed, than in many places in the 

 Peninsula — and few words of foreign origin have been 

 introduced. According to the theory of others, these 

 people are the remnant of the original conquerors of 

 the island, and the word Menangkarbau — " buftklo's 

 victory" — is held to commemorate symbolically the 

 victory of the champion of Sumatra over its rival, the 

 tiger, the representant of Java. Of all parts of the 

 island this district is the most highly cultivated and 

 prosperous. Sir Stamford EafHes, describing it, says : — • 

 " As far as the eye could reach was one continued scene 

 of cultivation, interspersed with innumerable towns and 

 villages shaded by palms and fruit trees. I may safely 



