A.CHEH. -±7 



with a gaily coloured handkerchief, generally magenta, either 

 slung over their shoulders or tied round their topis. 



The men carry with them either a Hewang (naked blade) 

 or seJcien panjang (a straight blade in a sheath hollowed out 

 of one piece of wood), and a rancJwng, the Malay badih ; while, 

 when on the war trail, they have the tombalc or spear, " Brown 

 Bess, " or a blunderbuss, about them, and some will carry a shield 

 as well. 



In manners and custom they differ in no way from the Malays, 

 it being needless to state that they are Mahomedans, and very 

 fanatic to boot. They keep up all the religious feast days, and 

 observe the ordinances of " Khanduri," when a buffalo, or bullock, 

 as customary, is slaughtered and eaten. Their every day diet, how- 

 ever, is rice, dried fish, and fruit, occasionally varied by goat flesh. 



In person, they are, as a rule, far from cleanly, and their 

 houses, which are insignificant, are extremely dirty. These houses 

 are usually grouped in kampongs, each house standing in its own 

 compound, strongly fenced in, and the whole kampong being well 

 palisaded and protected by the bamboo durl. The more important 

 kampong possesses, besides, a jjekan, or market place, consisting 

 of an open space or short road flanked b}~ rows of shops under 

 one and the same roof. 



The houses stand on piles, and generally consist of three com- 

 partments, the front being used as a reception room and shop, the 

 centre, invariably standing a couple of feet or so higher than the 

 front room, being the private sitting and bed room for the family, 

 and the back compartment, which again is lower than the centre 

 room, being used as kitchen, stores, &c. To every kampong there 

 is likewise attached a halei, being a shed in which the men toll 

 by day, using it also for holding meetings, and which forms the 

 bed room of the youths and unmarried men by night. 



Of their morals, the.least said the better, especially as regards 

 the rulers and headmen, whose depravity is glaring. Their favou- 



