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A NATtWALIST'S WWXDfniXGS 



another, but still his voice, in all matters where he chose to 

 exercise it, had pre-eminence. The Penyimbatigs constitntod 

 a hereditary uuhiHty, whicli exercisfd fxreat inflneiiw; and if 

 1 have imdrrsitoud the narratives of those tdd (.'liiefs vulh whom 

 I have talked, they were tietirly all of equal rank. No one couhl 

 he raised ih novo tit the honour of a Penyimhanfr witliimt the 

 ctmsent of all the Peuyinihaugs in his mar«^a, AVhrn thii* vvus 

 ohtaineil he was callod out» by the Marga chief, amid tiie accla- 

 mations of the people coiivenud in full lussembly iu the Balai of 

 the cupitid of the marga, before whom the services en titling him 

 to the honour and showing him to be a " fit and proper " person 

 to be so endne<l were proclaimed, to take \m place on the raised' 

 benches occupied by the nobility. The new peer was then 

 bound to kill in honour of the occasion, a uufliber of bufijdws, 

 according to the degree of his rank, sometimes as many as 

 uinety, and give a great ieast, as well as bestow a present 

 on each of his brother Pen yim bangs. 



As margas increased in number, so their boimdaries became 

 eternal subjects of dispute, referred as a rule to the arbitra- 

 ment of war. Now, as the Sunda Strait ahme separated the 

 suuth eastcTn extremity of Sumatra from liuntam (which, until 

 abolislied by the Dutch Government in 1811, was a tlourishing 

 kingdom umler powerful Sultans), a rich trade iu rice, pepper, 

 and pottery, at h?ngth sprang up between the Bantaniese 

 traders and the Lampongers. \Vhether the former iutro- 

 duced the cultivation of pepper into the Lanipongs, or 

 found these settlers already acquainted with the culture, 

 13 doubtful ; but it is certiiin that at an early date rich spice 

 gardens iiourished in southern Sumatra. Every year the 

 Sultan sent across a fine prau laden with all sorts of earthen- 

 ware, an art then unkuowh to tlie Lampfiugers, with a letter 

 full of compliments and good wiiihcs, which was publicly read 

 on a day when all the Penyimbangs hail assembled, to w hich 

 they returned a compliment^iry reply with gifts of ]>epper 

 and' elephants* tusks; so trade gradually increased, atul with 

 it the power and influence of the Sultan, whose aid in these 

 iutcrmargal disputes, either by mediation or more pmcti- 

 cully, mm ofien besought. Grateful chiefs sent in return 

 rich [presents of ivory and pepper, with acknowledgments 

 tjf his influence, till gradually th^ Sultan's proter-liun was 



