IN SUMATRA. 181 



balanced on the apex of the lower, which might with truth 

 be described as the supporter of the whole, but whether these 

 bear any reference to the mystic signs recognised by the 

 Worshipful Lodges is a question that I must leave for the 

 Chief Mason to settle as best he can with the Chief Herald. I 

 feel inclined, however, to assert that it was as good an escut- 

 cheon, and as well and honourably emblazoned, as any that ever 

 emanated from the College ; and who dare say that it is less 

 ancient ? The sight of that emblazoned board and its carved 

 surroundings, hid away in a small little-known hamlet in the 

 Kisam hills among a half-savage and pagan people, astonished 

 me not a little, and added respect to my farewell salutation to 

 its chief. 



The Kisam people write in a character called, from its being 

 inscribed on bamboos with a pointed knife, rentjong, differing 

 only slightly from that used in the Lampongs, which nearly 

 all of them — women included — can read and write. During 

 my journey T was able to obtain several interesting bamboos 

 inscribed with their songs. These pantuns are metrical com- 

 positions consisting of lines of eight to ten feet in length, 

 sometimes rhyming and sometimes not ; but they are c\u'ious 

 in that after every few lines one or two others which have 

 absolutely no meaning in themselves, or connection with the 

 composition, are interpolated; some euphonious word being 

 caught up and added to others more or less alliterating with 

 it, to make a good jingle of sounds. 



The dress of the women is remarkable for its shortness and 

 scantiness. As a rule their single garment is made by them- 

 selves in the pattern peculiar to their district, from their own 

 home-grown cotton or silk. But the cultivation of the silk- 

 worm is now almost abandoned, since unrestricted intercourse 

 with Palembang, and through it with the outside world, brings 

 the products of foreign looms to their out-of-the-way doors 

 with less trouble than they can make them for themselves. 

 Thus are the waves of civilisation sweeping away the indi- 

 genous industrial arts of the people, and flooding out their 

 manufactures, turning the hereditary craftspeople to other 



occupations. 



The people are pagan, believing in the influence of the 

 spirits of their dead forefathers. Near the village of Gunung 



