264 



shiall Biim i whilst the very nature of thekmg- 

 tlom, whose cieekij and wooded islands afford 

 thetD never failiug and safe retreats, constitutes 

 them a maritime, and, with reference to their 

 situation in the scale of society, a piratical race. 



Some of the islandj^, such as Tamlaug, Galang^, 

 Mappa. Booroo. Sakana, Trong, Pekaka» So on gel, 

 &c. are. however, oiore exclusively devoted to 

 piracy, (which they consider their hereditary 

 right), than others. The people of Laiium. who 

 do not betong to the kingdom of Johore, are also 

 an essentially piratical race, akhciigh their cap- 

 tures are not stained with such sanguinary atroci- 

 ties m disgrace the Johoreans, who seldom spare 

 any but women, and occaf^ionally a few Mussul- 

 mans, ei titer Hadgis or otherwifje. In some of 

 the islands we find both sexes employed in plant- 

 ing, manufacturing, and seiling, sago, or collecting 

 and disposing* of Mche dt mtt\ and agm-agar, 

 which they dis^pose of to the Chinese Junks that 

 annually traffic between these islands and Singa- 

 pore, Lingga, and Kbio ; in others again these 

 honest occupations are followed exclusively by 

 the weaker sex, whilst the men are roving over 

 the smooth sea which is studded with their 

 ''island homes." The Tumboosoo race, indeed, 

 have not even a fixed abode* but wanderers like 

 sea gipsies, from island to island, shifting with 

 the monsoon, and finding shelter in every creek; 

 like the gipsies too, who subsist not in peace 

 with their fellow mortals, they live at variance 

 with the other pirates. An indomitable hostility 

 prevails also between the Lanum freebooters and 

 the Johoreans^ so much so that either -party will 



