12 



the Malays by whom they are sunoumkd, has 

 attracted the attention of Europeans from the 

 time of the earliest voyages", &c. These Intlian 

 jclhyophagi, then, of Herodotus are clearly indi-* 

 cated as having in his ?era inhabited the watern 

 coast of Sumatra, or, in other words, that portion 

 of it which first became known to foreign adven- 

 turers. As this experienced an influx of more 

 civilized visitors, the Orang Laiit gradually disap^ 

 peared, either retiring more easterly to the Lan- 

 cavy group, or numerically diminishing in conse- 

 quence of that law- of nature by which the savage 

 tribes dwindle and decay in the neighbourhood of 

 industry and arts ; a principle which we see 

 operating at the present day in the wilds of 

 America. That the Orang Laut were ever addict- 

 ed to cannibalism there is no shadow of proof, 

 while the probabilities verge towards the opposite 

 conclusion. Whenever a race has become so de- 

 graded as to adopt anthropophagous habits, we 

 cannot expect the extirpation of so barbarous a 

 custom until a marked amelioration has been ef- 

 fected in its morals. jVow, except in the article of 

 food, the icthyophagl are considerably lower 

 than the Battas in the scale of intelligence and 

 civilization. 



It is a singular circumstance and worthy of re- 

 cord that no nation or tribe, however degraded, 

 is entirely ignorant of Natural religion, and we 

 accordingly find in even these poor tribes, who 

 appear little superior to the higher order of apes 

 (the Orang Uian)* except in an imperfect gift of 

 speech, the immortal principle dimly peering 



" Orasg Vtm mcuft la MalaytM, wild num. 



