SitiJation of 
the Rejang 
country* 
Perfons of tlie 
ichabitanu. 
3« SUMATRA. 
from thofe which are borrowed ; and of coiirfe, what I ihall fay of the 
Rejangs, will apply for the moft part, not only to the Sumatrans in ge* 
neral, but may fometimes be, in ftridtnefs, proper to the Malays alone, 
and by them taught to the higher rank, of country people. 
The country of the Rejangs is divided, to the north weft, from the 
kingdom of jtrmc S&mg^ (of which Mow M&co is the capital) by the 
fmall river of Oori^ near that of Cattown ; which laft, with the diftridt 
of Lahcon on its banks, bounds it on the north or inland fide. The 
country of Moofee^ where Pakmhang river takes its rife, forms its limit 
to the eallward. Bmcookn river, precilely fpeaking, confines it on the 
fouth eaft ; though the inhabitants of the diftridl called Lmbdy extend- 
ing from thence to Siltbary are entirely the fame peoplcj in manners and 
language. The principal tWfvfi^ L^Ad^c tkofo airtuOy mentioned, are 
ha^e^ Pfflley, and Soongeylamo ; on all of which the Englkfli have -f^orieSi 
the refident or chief being ftatioaed at Z-iijT. 
The perfons of the inhabitants of the iiland, thoiigh differing confi- 
deiably in diftrids remote from each other, may in general be compre- 
hended in the following defcription; excepting the Achenefe, whofe 
commixture with the Moors of the weft of India^ has diftinguilhed them 
from the other Sumatrans*. 
General de- 
They are rather below the middle ftature ; their bulk is in proportion ; 
their limbs are for the moft part flight, but well Ih^p'-^j -^'^^ particularly 
finall at the wrlfts and ankles. Upon the whole they are gracefully 
formed, and I fcarcely recoiled to have ever fecn one deformed perfon, 
of the natives.* The women, however, have the prepofterous cuftom 
of flattening the nofes, and compreffing the heads of children newly 
* Ghii-ardini, an Italian painter, who touched at Sumatra on hbi^'ay to Chiaa in 1698, ob- 
frrves of ihe Malays, 
Sm dl ^rfitm tanid hm fmnMtm 
^^tiomo mat /ttgfr fan pilUri indufiru 
H« rpeaks in higli tenns of the country, as being beautifully pi6turel^ue» 
born. 
