SUMATRA 10;> 



indolent, addicted to gaming, dishonest in their dealiiKrs 

 with strangers, which they esteem no moral defect, sus- 

 picious, regardless of truth, mean in their transactions, 

 and servile. Although cleanly in their persons, they are 

 dirty in their apparel, which they never wash. They 

 are careless and improvident of the future, because their 

 wants are few ; for though poor they are not needy, 

 Nature supplying with extraordinary facility whate\-er 

 she has made necessary for their existence." 



Of the tribes of the eastern lowlands, the Siak and 

 Jambi have already been mentioned as true IMalays. 

 The people inhabiting the Palembang valley are of like 

 origin, but they have been much mixed with Javanese 

 settlers from the earliest historical period, if, indeed, 

 these latter were not the first inhabitants of the locality. 

 They speak a mixed language in which Javanese words 

 occur largely, and their manners and customs resemljle 

 those of that people. The court language is Javanese, 

 and is written in the peculiar character of Java. At 

 the head waters of the Musi and Batang-Hari rivers, on 

 the confines of the Jambi country, live the nomadic and 

 totally wild Kubus, who probably correspond in the south 

 with the Ulus and Lubus of the northern part of the 

 island. From the accounts of Mr. H. 0. Forbes and other 

 travellers, more is known of them than of the latter 

 tribes. They inhabit the thickest forest country, making 

 only temporary shelter-huts, and, like the Veddas of 

 Ceylon, avoid all communication with those not of their 

 own race. They cultivate no crops whatever, living on 

 fruits, roots, and such animals as they are able to kill, 

 and are without manufactures, even of the simplest kind. 

 They collect beeswax, dammar, and other forest produce, 

 and barter it with the Malay races, also by a method 

 similar to that of the Veddas, laying the objects of barter 







