102 AUSTRALASIA. 



tîons, so opposed to the spirit of Islam, shows wliat little influence is really 

 exercised b}^ the ofiicial religion of the country. 



Nevertheless, at the beginning of this century the rigid sect of the Orang 

 Puti, or "White Men," also known through their proselytising zeal as " Padri," 

 like the Portuguese missionaries, became powerful enough to overthrow the king- 

 dom. About 1820 these eastern " Wahabites," whose reform consisted chiefly 

 in abstaining from tobacco, betel, and strong drinks, reduced the high-priest and 

 King of Menangkabao to such extremities that he was fain to call in the aid of the 

 Dutch, at first allies, presently masters. 



The Malay inhabitants of the upland valleys and plateaux south of Padang 

 greatly resemble the Battas, without, however, showing any traces of cannibalism. 

 The Korintjiers (Korinches) settled about Mount Indrapura; the Pejanges 

 (Rejangs), " guardians of the frontier" between the provinces of Palembang and 

 Benkulen ; the Pasumahs of the district dominated by the Dempo volcano ; lastly, 

 towards the southern extremity of Sumatra, the Abungers, or " Highlanders," and 

 the Lampongers, or '' Lowlanders," all appear to have formerly enjoyed a high 

 degree of civilisation. From their ancestors they have inherited a writing system 

 derived, like that of the Battas, from the Sanskrit characters, and all can still read 

 and write. 



In the forests here and there occur colossal statues, which, strange to say, 

 present neither the Hindu nor the Malay type. Amongst several Rejang tribes 

 the mothers flatten the nose and compress the skull of their children, and the 

 practice of filing the teeth is very prevalent. According to Yan Hasselt, the 

 Lampong Abung peoples come from Menangkabao. Amongst them marriage is 

 also exogamous, and the price of the wife is relatively so high that the husband 

 takes years to work off the charge. But on the other hand she becomes his slave, 

 and the jewels and coins with which she is decked on the wedding day all belong 

 to him. Later he also indemnifies himself by the sale of his own daughters. The 

 eldest brother is required to take over all the widows of the family ; but the 

 women of the upper classes usually marry, as in ^Menangkabao, according to the 

 matriarchal system, and retain possession of the land and offspring. In the coast- 

 towns, where Islam has prevailed over the primitive heathendom, unions are 

 contracted in the Arab fashion. The married alone are buried with honour, for 

 they are the "parents of the people ;" all others are thrown to the bush. 



The natives of the Siak, Jambi, and Palembang districts, on the east coast, are 

 for the most part immigrants from the neighbouring islands, being the descendants 

 of traders who founded factories about the river mouths. On these coastlands 

 Hindu influences long surviv^ed, thanks to the proximity of Java, whence colonists 

 continued to settle in Palembang down to the middle of the sixteenth century. 

 In general the usages on this seaboard differ little from the Javanese, and even 

 the current speech retains many words introduced from the neighbouring island. 



In the interior dwell a few thousand Orang-Kabu, believed to represent the 

 aborigines gradually driven inward from the coast. They lead a wandering life 

 in the midst of the forests ; but physically they differ little from their Malay 



