66 Account of Rumbdwe, one 0/ the [Feb. 



being scanty in number, and most of them of foreign origin, are repre- 

 sented by the heads of the more important tribes, viz. Tig a, Battu, 

 Anak Malacca, Anak Achi, (children of Malacca and Achin,) and Tan- 

 nah Dattar. The Bddodnda tribes are represented by the Panghtiltis. 



Malays, strangers to Rumbdwe, while residing there, are amenable to 

 the head of the tribe to which they belong. Settlers are immediately 

 classed in their respective tribes. Those from Menangkdbdwe generally 

 enter tbat of Battu Ampar, which is the principal of the five tribes that 

 originally emigrated from Menangkabowe ; viz. those of Muncal, Battu 

 Ballang, Tiga Bdttu, and Tannah Dattar. 



A man marrying into another tribe becomes a member of that of 

 the woman, as also the children. 



Some of the tribes have peculiar privileges ; it is said that the 

 Bddodndas, though guilty of the highest crimes, are exempt from capital 

 punishment ; banishment and fines being the only penalty to which 

 they are liable. The circumstance of the Panghulus of the independ- 

 ant states being necessarily Bddodndas has already been adverted to*. 



Although the Malays, like the Greeks and Romans, entertain the 

 highest veneration for old age, still the claims of descent supersede 

 those conferred by years, particularly with regard to the heads of 

 tribes, who have precedence in the councils of the state, conformably 

 to the rank of the tribe they represent. An instance of this, and the 

 power sometimes exercised by the Sukiis in election, fell under my own 

 observation. At Sungie Sipdt, on the frontier of Rumbdwe, in 1833, 

 among the assembly of Malay chiefs there, I observed a boy, whose 

 dress and weapons betokened some rank, and to whom a considerable 

 degree of deference was shewn by the natives. On inquiring, I found 

 him to be the head of the principal tribe , and that, although a younger 

 brother, he had been elected by the Sukiis as the head of his tribe or 

 clan, in consequence of his elder brother's imbecility. This boy affixed 

 his name, or rather his mark, (for neither he nor any of his seven 

 compeers could write,) immediately after the Panghdlu of Rumbdwe, 

 before the rest of the Sukus, some of whom were venerable old men, 

 and grown grey in office. 



Mantris. — There are two Mantris in Rumbdwe, viz. Suroh Raja, and 

 Andika Mantri, both of the tribe Bddodnda Jawa. 



Their functions are ill defined, but are principally, I believe, to assist 

 the chiefs with their advice. 



* The division of the people of these states into tribes, some of which bear 

 the names of places in Menanglvkbi'me, is a strong additional proof of their 

 origin. 



