IN SUMATRA. 241 



nose in a few was remarkable ; and the sharply prominent 

 cheek-bones. The villagers asserted that they could tell a 

 footprint in the mud of a Kubu from that of their own people. 

 I caused several of them to walk over sheets of paper 

 after rubbing the soles of their feet with soot, but I could 

 not discover, either in the shape of the foot or in its print, 

 any divergence from that of the people about them. The 

 lips of the Kubus were thin, and the eyes restless and glancing, 

 as if ever on the alert. The average height of seven males was 

 1'59 metres, and of five females 1"49 metres, which is about 

 the average stature of the Malays of Malacca. On comparing 

 the impress of their hands with those of the people of the dis- 

 trict, those of the Kubus I found to be smaller. They are, I 

 also observed, rather subject to reduplication of the fingers. 



They are said to have a language of their own unintelligible 

 to their neighbours, but I failed to induce them to give me 

 any specimen of it, if it existed. I could not understand their 

 speech at first; but after some conversation I could detect 

 that they really spoke a corrupted Malay with a peculiar 

 accentuation. 



Monogamy is the rule among them ; but a few have two or 

 more wives. Their nuptial ceremony is a very simple affair. 

 The man having fixed his choice on a girl, and obtained 

 the consent of her parents to his suit, brings to her father such 

 gifts as he has — a knife, a spear, cloths, or money (if he has 

 any), dammar, and beeswax— and such rare fruits of the forest 

 or favourite food-animals as may reward his search. "When 

 this gift is satisfactorily large, those who may be within reach 

 are called together. Seating themselves below a tree, the 

 father of the maiden informs them that he has given his 

 daughter So-and-so to So-and-so in marriage. One of the 

 company then strikes the tree under which they sit several 

 times with a club, proclaiming them to be man and wife. The 

 ceremony is followed by such feast as can be provided, princi- 

 pally out of the fruits and animals the bridegroom has paid 

 for his wife with. 



It is a rare thing for a Malay man to marry a Kubu woman ; 

 but it occasionally happens, notwithstanding that they consider 

 the Kubus far their inferiors, a position which the latter seem 

 to accept with very marked submissiveness. " You Kubu ! " 



