IN SUMATRA. 



241 



nose in a few was remarkable; and the sharply prominent 

 cheek-bones. The villaorers asserted that they could tell a 

 footprint in the mnd of a Knbu iVoni that of their own people. 

 I caused several of them to walk over sheets of paper 

 after nibbing the soles of their feet with soot, but I could 

 not discover, either in the shape of the ibat or in its print, 

 any divergence from that of the people about them. The 

 lips of the Ku bus were thin, and the eyes restless and glancing', 

 as if ever on the alert. The average height of seven malej* was 

 l'o9 metres, and of five females I "49 metres, which is about 

 the average stature of the 3Ialays of Malac^ia. On comparing 

 the impress of their hands with those of the people of the dis- 

 trict, those of the Kubus I found to be smaller. They are, I 

 also observed, rather subject to reduplication of the fingers. 



They are said to have a language of their own untntetligible 

 to their neighbours, but I failed to induce them to give me 

 any specimen of it, if it existed. I could not understand their 

 speech at first; but after some conversation I couhl detect 

 that they really spoke a corrupted Jlalay with a peculiar 

 accentuation. 



Monogamy is the rule among them ; but a few have two or 

 more wives. Their nuptial ceremony is a very simple affair. 

 The man having fixed his choice on a girl, and obtained 

 the consent of her parents to his suit, brings to her father such 

 gifts as he has— a k^life, a spear, cloths, or money (if he has- 

 any), dammar, and beeswax— and such rare fruits of the forest 

 or favourite food-animals as ma,y reward his search. When 

 this gift is siitisfactorily large, those who may be within reach 

 are called together. Seating themselves below a tree, the 

 father of the maiden informs them that he has given his 

 daughter So-and-so to So-and-so in marriage. One of the 

 company then strikes the tree under which they sit several 

 times with a club, proclaiming them to be man and wife. The 

 ceremony is followed by such feast as can be provided, princi- 

 pally out of the fmits and animals the bridegroom has paid 

 for his wife wjtli. 



It is a rare thing for a j^Ialay man to marry a Kubu woman ; 

 but it occasionally happens, notwithstanding that they consider 

 the Kubus far their inferiors, a position which the latter seem 

 to iiccept with very markefl subraissivenoss. "Yon Kubu!'' 



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