198 SUMATRA. [chap. vm. 



of silver coins strung round their necks or suspended from 

 their ears. 



As I had moved away from Palembang, I had found the 

 Malay spoken by the common people less and less pure, 

 till at length it became cpuite unintelligible, although the 

 continual recurrence of many well-known words assured 

 me it was a form of Malay, and enabled me to guess at 

 the main subject of conversation. This district had a 

 very bad reputation a few years ago, and travellers were 

 frequently robbed and murdered. Fights between village 

 and village were also of frequent occurrence, and many 

 lives were lost, owing to disputes about boundaries or 

 intrigues with women. Now, however, since the country 

 has been divided into districts under " Controlleurs," who 

 visit every village in turn to hear complaints and settle 

 disputes, such tilings are no more heard of. This is one of 

 the numerous examples I have met with of the good effects 

 of the Dutch Government. It exercises a strict surveil- 

 lance over its most distant possessions, establishes a form 

 of government well adapted to the character of the people, 

 reforms abuses, punishes crimes, and makes itself every- 

 where respected by the native population. 



Lobo Eaman is a central point of the east end of 

 Sumatra, being about a hundred and twenty miles from 

 the sea to the east, north, and west. The surface is 

 \indulating, with no mountains or even hills, and there is 



I 



