41 SUMATRA. 
Villages. — Buildings, — Dotnejlk Uteitftls. — Food. 
I Shall now attempt a defer tpti on of the villages and buildings of the 
Sumatrans, and proceed to their domeftic habits of oeconomyj and thofe 
limple arts, on which the procuring of their food and other neceffaries 
depend. Thefe are not among the leaft inter e (ling objt^s of philofo- 
phical fpeculation* In proportion as the arts in ufe with any people are 
connected with the primary demands of nature, they carry the greater 
likehood of originality, becaufe thofe demands muft have been adm^i- 
niftercd to, from a period coeval with the exiftence of the people thera-^ 
felves. Or if cooapWtc original ity be regarded as a vifionary idea, engen- 
dered from ignorance, and the obfcurlty of remote events, fuch arts 
mufl be allowed to have the faireft claim to antiquity at leaft* Arts of 
accommodation, and moreefpecially of luxury, are commonly the effe(ft 
•of imitation, and fuggefted by the improvements of other nations, which 
have made greater advances towards civilization. Thefe afford lefs 
ilriking and chara<9:eriftic features, in delineating the picture of man- 
kind, and though they may add to the beauty, diminifh from the genu- 
inenefs of the piece. We muft not look for unequivocal generic marks, 
where the breed, in order to mend it, has been croffed by a foreign 
mixture. All the arts of primary neceffity are comprehended within 
two diftin6:ions* Thofe which proua us from the inclemency of the 
weather and other outward accidents; and thofe which are employed in 
fecuring the means of fubfilknce. Both are immediately eflenttal to the 
continuance of life, and man is involuntarily and immediately prompted 
to cxercife them, by the urgent calls of nature, even in the mereft 
poffible ftate of favage and uncultivated exiftence. In climates like 
that of Sumatra, this impulfe extends not far. The human machine is 
kept going with fniall effort, in fo favourable a medium* The fpring 
of importunate necefTity there foon lofcs its force, and confequently the 
wheels of invention that depend upon itj fail to perform more than a 
few 
