62 
S U M A T R A. 
but the contrary'. In few parts of the iiland do they ever fow grain on 
land that has been bng cleared, and there, more frona neceflity than 
choice, I have heard a prince of the country complain of a fettlement 
made by feme ft rangers in the inland part of his dominions, whom he 
Should be under an obligation to expell from thence, to prevent the 
wafte of his old woods. This feemed a fuperfluous z6t of precaution in 
an ifland which flrikes the eye as one general, impervious, and inex- 
hauftible forefl *, 
On the approach of the dry monfoon, or about the month of April, 
the hufbandman makes choice of a fpot, for his lad dang of that feafon, 
and colled ing his family and dependants, proceeds to tell the timber in 
order to clear the ground. This is a labor of immcnfe magnitude, and 
would feem to require herculean force ; but it is effedted by perfeve- 
rance. Their tools, the pratig and hilUong^ (the former refembling a 
bill-hook, and the latter an imperfect adze), are feeiningly inadequate 
to the taik, and the faw is unknown in the country. Being regardlefs 
«f the timber, they do not fell the tree near the ground, where the 
ftem is thick, but credt a ftage, and begin to hew, or chop rather, at 
the height of ten or twelve feet, where the dimenfions are fmaller, till 
it is difficiently weakened to admit of their pulling it down with rattans, 
in place of ropes, made faft to the branches And thus by flow de- 
grees the whole is laid low. I could never behold this devaftation 
without a ftrong fentimcnt of regret. Perhaps the prejudices of a claf- 
fical education taught me to refpe£t thofe aged trees, as the habitation 
or material frame of an order of fylvan deities, who were now deprived 
of exiflence, by the facrilegious hand of a rude, undiftinguiibing favage. 
But without having recourfe to fuperftition, it is not difficult to ac- 
count for fuch feelings, on the fight of a venerable wood, old as the 
* The qukkncr^ of vegetaimn precludes all polBbility of clearing a country fo thinly inha- 
bited. Ground, where pod dee has been plaaied» will, in a iingle month after the harvdt, afford 
iull flieker for a tiger. 
t The Mai/os rstfiiqut di Cq/imuF, defciibea a imilar mod# of felUog trc€«.. 
foil 
