SUMATRA. 
of Menanrcahow and the Malays ; in the next place the Achmfi ; then the 
BaUas; the Rejangsi and next to them, the Lampsms,-^ 
Mitiangcahw being the principal fovereignty of the iiland, which for- Menaiigcab<jw 
meriy comprehended the whole, and ftill receives a fhadow of homage 
from the moft powerful of the other kingdoms, which have fprung up 
from its ruins, would feem to ciaim a right to precedence in defcription, 
but 1 have a fufficient reafon for deferring it to a fubfequent part of my ' 
work ; which is, that the people of this empire, by their converfion to 
* Attempts to afceitmn from whence the illand of Sumatra was originally peopled, muft reft 
upon mere cotijcfture. The adjacent pcniiifuk prefems the mod obvious fourcc of population, 
and it is accordingly (Hid that Malayan emigrants fuppliect the Archipelago with inhabitar.t5 ; buc 
no argument; extent il«.t of vicinity, can be produced in fupport of this, not unplaufibU, opinion. 
The Malays* now fo eilled, arc \ \ ooraparifion of the iiiJcrnal Suniatrans, but as people of yef- 
terday ; and though they have fpread iheir Uagiiage and manueri far and wide, fiacc the foun* 
dation of Malacca, in the thJ n re niK century ^ chey are conQJcrcd as intruders only, among the 
aboriginal people of the eadern iflands. I hare clfewhere remarked, that one general language 
prevailed, (however mutilated and changed in the courft.- of time), throughout all this portion of 
tfae wTirld \ from Mailagafc^r, to the tDoA diflont diicoveries eastward ^ of which the Malay it 
a dialc£l, much corrupted, or le&ned, by a mixture of ocber tongues. This very ejtienEve jlmt* 
larity of language indiCAtes a common origin of the mhabitanis, but the circumftances ami pro- 
grefs of their reparation, are wrapped in the darkefi: veil of obfcurity. 
In the courle of my enquiries amongft the natives, concerning the aborigines of the ifbnd, I 
have btcn informed of two different fpecie* of people difperfed in the woods, and avoiding all 
communication with the other bhabitants. Thefe they call Orang Ce^^toa, and Orang Goi:gssi. 
Theformen filial be pretty numerous, efpcdally in that part of the country which lie* bc- 
£u-cen PaliTisa&af^ anil Jamhef* at/uiv -» tir^p^ he^n caueht and Jccpt as flaves in Lab*m, 
and a man of that place is now married to a tolerably haudfome Coc^oo girt, who was carried of ^ 
hv a party that difciivered their huts- They have a language quite peculiar to ihemfeives, and 
they eat pnomifcuonQy whatever the woods afford, as deer, elephant, rhinoceros, wild hog, fnakes 
or monkeys. The Gmgos mt much fcarcer than thcfe, differing in little btat the ufe of fpeeeh, 
ftom .the Oi'axg Qutm of Borneo ; their bodit^s being covered with long hair. There have not- 
been above two or three inilantes of their being roct with by the people of Laboon, {fxom whom 
my information is derived), and one of thefe was entrapped many year? ago, in much the fame 
manner as the carpenter in PiJpay's Fables caught the monkey. He had children by a Labooii 
woman, which alfo were more hairy than the common race j but the third generation ar^ not to - 
be diftinguiflied from others* The reader will bellow what me,ifure of faith be thinks due, on this 
irlaiion, the veracity of which I do not pretend to vouch for* It has probably fomc foundation 
in truth, but is exaggerated in the circumftiinces. 
MaJiometanirmj^^ 
