,S U M A T R A. 
4a 
> The perfonal dlfTerence between the Malays of the coaft, and the Difference b 
country inhabitants, is not fo ftrongly marked but that it requires fome Kaiavs and * 
experience to diftinguiih them- The latter, however, polTefs an evident irapT/^ ' 
fuperiority in point of fize and ftrength, and are fairer complexioned^ . 
which they probably owe to their fituation, where the atmofphere is 
colder ; and it is generally obferved, that people living near the fea 
Ihore, and efpecially when accuftomed to navigation, are darker than 
their inland neighbours. Some attribute the difparity in conflitutional 
vigor, to the more frequent ufe of opium among the Malays, which is 
fuppofed to debilitate the frame ; but I have noted that the Leenioon and 
Barang AiTy gold traders, who are a colony of that race fettled in the 
heart of the ifland, and who cannot exift a day without opium, are re- 
markably hale and flout; which I have known to be obferved with a 
degree of envy hy the opium fmokers of our fettlements. The inha- 
bitants of Paiiummah alfo, are defcribed as being more robuft in their 
perfons, than the planters of the low country. 
The original clothing of the Sumatrans Is the fame with that found by cioiiuag. 
navigators among the inhabitants of the South Sea iflands, and now ge- 
nerally called by the name of Otaheitean cloth. It is ftill ufed among the 
Rejangs for their working drefs, and t have one in my pofleffion, procured 
from thofe people, confining of a jacket, fliort drawers, and a cap for 
the head. This is the inner bark of a certain fpecies of tree, beat out to 
the degree of finenefs required; approaching the more to perfe^ion, as 
itrefemblc3 thf. fofter kind of leather, fome being nearly equal to the moil 
delicate kid-fkin ; in which character it fomewhsiL dificis. from the South 
Sea cloth, as that bears a refemblance rather to paper, or to the manu- 
fadure of the loom. The country people now conform in a great mea- 
fure to the drefs of the Malays, which 1 ihall therefore defcribe in this 
place; obferving that much more fimplicity flill prevails among the 
former ; who look upon the others as coxcombs, that lay out all their 
fubftance on their backs, whilft, in their turns, they are regarded by the 
Malays with contempt, as unpoliflied ruftics. 
A man*s 
