IN SUMATRA. 203 



the Hindoos, they must have been carved by either the then 

 people of the district or by foreign sculptors. If by Passu- 

 mahers, did they depict their own features or those of another 

 race ? But who these former inhabitants of the Fassumah 

 were, whence these foreign artificers came, and for what these 

 sculptures were used, is shrouded in deep mystery. It is quite 

 certain also that the present inhabitants could not conceive, 

 much less execute, such works of art. 



The postures are peculiar ; the figures have the appearance 

 of persons bound, bearing burdens on their backs. The ringing 

 on the arms, which the natives call bracelets, must be taken, 

 I think, to represent cords, as the same marks occur also below 

 the shoulder, where it is not the custom of the Passumahers to 

 wear armlets. The eyes are immense and protruding to a great 

 degree, lending weight to this idea. The sex of the persons 

 represented is also doubtful. There is almost no tradition 

 respecting them, beyond that they are the handiwork of Sarung 

 Sakti and Lidah Pait (Bitter Tongue), who, wandering about the 

 country, turned all who displeased them into stone ; or that they 

 represent the people who in the far, far back time used to inhabit 

 this land, and who possessed tails, which the renowned ancestor 

 of the Passumah people, Atum Bungsu, cut oif. Near Pagar 

 Alam, I saw also two stones, but quite of a different kind of 

 sculpture ; one was the representation of a woman sitting in 

 native fashion, with an infant on her hip in the way that their 

 children are generally carried about. Both hands support 

 the breasts, which are apparently turgid. Her features might 

 represent a Passumah woman. The other, distant a few yards 

 only, is a spirited sculpture representing two children attacked 

 by a python. The reptile is coiled about the children, one of 

 whom has fallen, while its head is partly in its mouth. The 

 action of the smaller boy, in thrusting off the snake with 

 all his strength, is natural and well designed, though some- 

 what wanting in execution. These stones differ in character 

 so much from the others at Tangerwangi, and have besides so 

 little relation one to another, that it is impossible to conceive 

 for what purpose they can have been made. The only con- 

 clusion is that a superior race, possessing considerable know- 

 ledge and refined taste, and with technical skill not possessed 

 by the natives of any part of the island at present occupied 



