40S 



and by the womea a short saioug, or petticoat, or a long loose 

 smock-like robe. 



In fields cleared oot of the forest — which seem to belong 

 to the man wbo has cleared them^ and his heirs, m long as | 

 they do not return to wild forest — they caltivate tobacco, 

 com, and the usual sweet tubers, species of CQUvohithts and 

 Colocasia, which they eat to the juice of the boiled Saim 

 {Pandamts ceraniieus) one of the most magnificent scarlet 

 fruits of their foresta. Not much rice is grown, but it is 

 received in exchange from the Al^funis of the lower country 

 for tobacco and tubers, tifas (or drums), and the strong woven 

 Coi or wallet, so universally carried, I was not permitted 

 to go into their fields, as strangers and coast people are 

 Uvboood, for fear of some evil befalling their pa|)malied seeds, 

 and cannot, therefore, speak of their mode of cultivation. 

 From the cotton {Gosstjpium )meran(hum\ which tbey cultivate 

 themselves, they make their own thread. 



The only baggage an Alefuru carries with him besides his 

 Jcau-turm or cudgel, and a spear, is the Coi, a strong satchel 

 slung on his buttocks by a cord roimd his waist, in which he 

 carries his tobacco and those prized comforts of his tribe — siri 

 leaves, betel-nut, and chalk often contained, in a slightly orna- 

 mented gourd. In former times the women in every villa;^e 

 in Bnni could weave theso cois ; now, however, the lower 

 country tribes, having acquired increased wealth by the 

 development of trade in the various products they so easily 

 grow or rear, and with wealth laziness by their ability to supply 

 thei» wants without labouring, have quite forgotten or aban- 

 doned the art, and are dependent for their supply on the 

 mountaiueerB to whom the knowledge of their manufacture 

 is confined. The cloth, called by them kain ful-a, of which 

 these satchels are made is a very strong almost indestructible 

 canvas, which they render perfectly waterproof by rubbing 

 into it the juice expressed from the bark of a tree, I'ttlU rofu, 

 probably one of the Artocari>sw. To them is also confined the 

 art of hollowing out of Pinang and Nangka (Artocarims) logs, 

 of the tifas or dnimSj which are so indispensable at all their 

 feasts and religious ceremonies, as well as of the manufacture 

 of their spears and knives, the art of iron working also being 

 forgotten l»y the dwclleifi nearer the coast. 



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