IN SUMATHA. 



235 



difficulty succeeded in getting a few families in several 

 <listricts to aijsume in some degree a settled residence in 

 villiiges made for tliemsolves. It was owing to tliese partially 

 eiviiised communities that I am indebted for a sight of the 

 people I met at Burnlangun, 



In their wihl stnt^ they live in the deep forest, niaking 

 temporary Jwellings, if their nule shelters can be called such, in 

 wbicli they stiiy for a few days at a time, where food is obtiiin- 

 ab!e, or for the purpose of collecting beeswax, dammar, ami 

 gntta-pereha. Their dwellings are a few simple branches 

 erected over a low platform to keep them from the ground, and 

 ' thatched with banana- ot palm-leaves. They are so timorous 

 and shy that it is a rare circumstance for any one to see them, 

 and of course an extremely rare one for any whit« man. In 

 faetj I doiibt if any white man has ever seen the iminBucnced 

 Kiibiij save as one sees the hind-quarters of a startled deer. Jn 

 the small trade carried on between them and the JIalay tradem 

 of the Falem!>ang and Jambi Eesidencies, the transactions are 

 performed without the one party seeing the other. The ^lalay 

 trader, ascending to one of their plaeea of rendezvous, beats a 

 gong in a particular way t£> give nbtice of his arrival On 

 hearing the signal, the Kubns, bringing out what forest produce 

 they may have collected, and depositing it on the ground at 

 this placOj hastily retire into close hiding, beating a gong iis a 

 signal that all is ready.' The trader then slowly and cautiously 

 ajjproaehes, lays down on the ground the cloth, knives, and 

 other articles of barter he has brought, to the amount which 

 he considers an equivalent exdiange, beats a gong and in like 

 manner disappeai-s. The Kubus proceed then to examine the 

 barter offered; if they think the bargain satisfactory they 

 remove the goods, beat their gong and go away ; while the 

 trader packs np the produce he finds left lying on the ground. 

 If the bargain is not considered by them siiJGQciently ivlvan- 

 tageous, they set on one side a portion of their p^od^lce, to 

 reduce it to what they consider the vahie of the barter offered ; 

 and thus the atfair see-sawa till finally adjusted or abandonetl 

 They are so tifraid of seeing any one not of their own race that, 

 if suddenly met or come up with in the forest, they will drop 

 everything and flee away. They cultivate nothing for them- 

 selves, but live entirely on the products f>f the forest— snakes. 



