JELEBU CUSTOMARY SONGS AND SAYINGS. 21 



CUSTOMABY SAYINGS. 



We are children of Minangkabau, 



"Who d"well beneath the sky and on the face of the earth. 



Of the land around Gunong Merapi, 



As far downstream as Pintu Eaya > 



As far upstream as Si-Legundi, 



The land that is called Sumatra, 



The island of Andalas. 



When the first clod was upturned 

 And the first creeper severed, 

 And the first tree felled — 



Our custom and system of entail were not yet es- 

 tablished. 



When holding was dovetailed into holding, 



When our stretches of rice-field were mado, 



When the shoots of our plants swayed in the breeze, 



When our betel-palms grew up in rows 



Then were established our custom and system of entail. 



Our world got a prince, 

 Our shires chieftains, 

 Our tribes elders, 

 Our families headmen, 



And the married man found a place with the family 

 of his wife. 



Warder of the wife is the husband, 

 Warder of the husband his wife's family, 

 Warders of the family its elders, 

 Warderd of the shire the chieftain, 

 Warder of the world the king. 



Procedure under the Custom is to ascend and descend 



by grades, 

 As men go up and come down the rungs of ladders. 

 Custom with its lines and patterns. 

 Its precedents and instances. 



The pulai tree broadens as it grows up, 

 Family trees as they descend. 



Lembagas to the Buapas; and a petition to royalty should go 

 upwards through the same stages. Vide ' ' Adatrechtbundel, 

 VI." p. 205-6, where a far-fetched interpretation is condemned 

 and one similar to that accepted in N. S. upheld. 



4 Lembaga — 'mould, matrix, pattern,' and the contest shows 

 clearly that it has that meaning here. 



5 Minangkabau pepatah read bertiru, which we have adopted. 

 The Jelebu reading is berturis. For "Kembau's" berturas, no 

 support can be found in Minangkabau pepatah or Van der 

 Toorn 's ' ' VToordenboek. ' ' 



R. A. Soc, No. 78. 



