8 AN ACCOUNT OF THE WILD TRlBfcS 



tiie early Arab trading vessels brouglit over 

 priests from Arabia, who made a number 

 of roiiverts to Islam ; those of the Binuas 

 Ltiai declined to abjure the customs of tlieh' 

 forefatiiers, iu consetjueiice of tlie perse- 

 cutions to which ihey were exposed, fled to 

 the fastnesses of the interior, where they 

 have sbce continued in a savage state. 



I am therefore inclined to be of the opi- 

 nion which Lieut. Newbold appears to em- 

 brace, and I am induced the more readily 

 to believe tliat the Binuas, and cbieily tlie 

 Batias of Sumatra and the Semanfjs of the 

 north ol tlie t'eninsuhi are the savage people 

 whom Herodotus has spoken of, as inliabi- 

 tants of the eastern countries of bidia pro- 

 ducing gold; and i dare say with the same 

 autiKU' that it is scarcely possible that the 

 faille r of history intended to speak of any 

 other Indian people; far he would have 

 spoken of such clrarly and lluently; since 

 ill I ilie nlhcr piirtj^ i\{ India to (he Arcbipc^ 



