6 JELEBU CUSTOMARY SONGS AND SAYINGS. 



of the family after agreement (sa-kata) of its members; debts ex 

 delicto were claimed ipso jure from the whole family, if the guilty 

 member were unable or unwilling to pay." 



Now that passage is perfectly clear, even though its application 

 of terms of Roman law to the humble customs of Sumatran 

 villagers must strike a note jarring to any ear sensitive to style 

 and atmosphere. And Willinck's account holds good of Jelebu and 

 of Johol. Fusing anak Rembau! Did they circumvent that local 

 magistrate? Anyhow, there is plenty of evidence to support re- 

 jection in practice of an interpretation absurd and opposed to 

 equity. 



As I said above, a great deal has been written on the customs 

 of Negri Sembilan and a great mystery made of them. But we 

 still lack the evidence of the people themselves, their customary say- 

 ings and maxims, their speeches on occasions of ceremony. Stu- 

 dents generally have recorded only disjecta membra of the adat. 

 Mr. Humphreys was the "first to give us scholarly versions of long 

 speeches. Now Mr. Caldecott gives us these teromba or i songs of 

 origin ' and a coherent set of sayings. For a later Journal I am 

 preparing a collection of speeches from the district of Kuala Pilah ; 

 and I hope also to print one of the several versions I have obtained 

 locally of Undang-Undang Minangkabau. Only when sufficient 

 Malay material has been recorded, can we expect to get a readable 

 definitive and comparative account of Minangkabau custom in the 

 Negri Sembilan. 



We are indebted to Mr. J. E. Nathan for the explanation of 

 several abstruse passages. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



