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III. 



An ACCOUNT of the INHABITANTS of the 

 POGGY ISLANDS, />';//^ c/ SUMATRA, — 

 By John Crisp, E/q. 



A T a period when fo many important voyages of 

 -^ difcovery have been recently effecSled, and fuch 

 various new countries and nev/ races of men made 

 known, the account will, probably, appear too trivial, to 

 excite attention of eitherthe merchant, the politician, 

 or the philofopher. There is however, one cir- 

 cumftance refpedling the inhabitants of the Najfau or 

 I*oggy iflands, which lie off the Weft coaft oi Sumatra, 

 which may be coniidercd as a curious fa^ in the hiftory 

 of man, and as fach, not unworthy of notice. From 

 the proximity of the iflands to Sumatra, which, in rel- 

 pe6t to them, may be confidercd as a continent, we 

 fliould naturally expect to find their inhabitants to 

 be a fet of people originally derived from the Sumatra 

 flock, and look for fome affinity in their language 

 and manners ; but, to our no fmalL furprize, we lind a 

 race of men; whofe language is totally different, and 

 whofe cuftoms and habits of life indicate a very diftin<5l 

 origin, and bear a ftriking refemblance to thofe of the 

 inhabitants of the late difcovered i Hands in the great 

 Pacifick Ocean. It was a confufed idea of this cir- 

 cumftance which firil excited my curiofity, and in- 

 duced a defire to make a more minute inquiry into the 

 hiftory of thefe people than halh hitherto been effected; 

 for; wotwithftanding the vicinity of thefe iflands to 



