THE PASCMA PEOPLE. 



517 



yalley at Kopaiyong, but the natives of that coimtiy 

 were extremely poor, while the Pasumaa raise an 

 abundance of rice and keep many fowls. During the 

 past few years they have raised potatoes and many 

 sorts of Eui'opean vegetables, which they sold to the 

 Dutch before the war began. The cause of the pres- 

 ent difficulty was a demand made by the Dutch Gov- 

 ernment that the Pasuma chiefs should acknowledge 

 its supremacy, which they have aU refused to do. 

 The villages or fortified places of the Pasumas are 

 located on the tops of hills^ and they fight with so 

 much determination that they have already repulsed 

 the Dutch once from one of theu' forts with a very 

 considerable loss. No one^ however, enteiiiains a 

 doubt of the final result of this campaign, for their 

 fortifications are poor defences against the mortars 

 and other ordnance of the Dutch. 



Soon after the tracks of the two tigers disap- 

 peared, we came to a kind of rude stockade fort, 

 where a guard of native militia are stationed. The 

 paling, however, is more for a protection against the 

 tigers than the neighboring Pasumaa A number of 

 the guard told me that they hear the tigers howl here 

 every night, and that frequently they come up on the 

 hill and walk round the paling, looking for a change 

 to enter; and I have no doubt their assertions were 

 entirely true, for when we had come to the foot of 

 the hill the whole road was covered with tracks. 

 The natives, who, from long experience, have remark- 

 able skill in tracing these beasts, said that three 

 different ones had been there since the rain ceased ; 

 but one who has not been accustomed to examine such 



