through their deep montal obscurity, inasmucli 

 as they pay an unmeaning worship to the sun, or 

 *' kii>8 their hand to the moon wal Icing in bright- 

 ness/' The Hatta tribes have even a little more 

 twilight afforded Ihem, for they seem to have a 

 famt tradition of the deluge existing amon^ them, 

 ae their aversion to the sea arises from their sup- 

 posing it to be the residence of evil spirits, wlio 

 would destroy ihem should tl^ey approach too 

 near to it. The Menangkabows of Sumatra, again, 

 who are the primitive Malayan race, have a dis- 

 tinct tradition of the landing of Noah's ark at * 

 ** Palembang, or a small island near it, named 

 '* Lanca Pnra (probably the .small i?>land of Luce 

 '* Pura,)" "attended with the circumstance of 

 " the dry land being first discovered by the 



resting upon it of u bird* * Peraputi, h (literally 

 a pigeon, that flew from the vessel.") Thus even 

 in these dark regions, God has not left tiimself 

 without witness/' 



Their marriage ceremony is as follows. When 

 a young woman has allowed a man to pay bis ad- 

 dresses to her, the parties proceed to a hillock 

 round which she runs three times, pursued by 

 him ; and, if he succeed in catching her before 

 the termination of the chace, she becomes his 

 wife, but not otherwise. 



When a woman is in labor, the Jacoons take a 

 round piece of wood, which they fasten at both 

 ends in a &hed. The woman is laid upon this, 

 with her face downward, pressing upon the abdo- 

 men, until the child is born. Meanwhile, the hus- 

 band kindles a fire before her, which is supposed 



* Atidenua'i C^m* f«I. to Uie Madftyta Pen, Ap(i, F. 53. 



7' 



