S U M A T R A. 
U7 
being made of iron. The blade, being faftened to the handle with a 
curious kind of baiket work of fplit rattans, is fo contrived as to turn in 
it, and by that means can be employed either as an adze or fmall hatchet. 
Their houfcs are generally built with the afliftance of this fimpk infl^ru- 
ment alone. The bilihng is no other than a large papateelj with a handle 
of two or three feet In length, turning like that, in its fockct. 
The chief cement they ufe, is made of the curd of the bnfFaloe milk, ccmenti, 
czWed prackee. It is to be obferved that butrcr isr made (for the uCc of 
Europeans only^^) not as with us, by churning^ but by lettirig the milk 
fia nd till the butter forms of itfelf on the top. It is then taken off 
with a fpoon, flirred about with the fame in a flat vefltl, and well waih- 
ed in two or three waters. The thick four milk left at the bottom-, 
when tlie butter or cream is removed, is what I term the curd. This 
muft be well fquczeed, formed' into cakes and left to dry, when it wiH 
grow nearly as hard as flint. For uf^, you mttft fcrape fome of it ofP, 
mix it with quick Ume and moiften it with milk* I think that there is 
noftronger cement in the world, and it Is found to hold, particularly in 
a hot and damp climate^ mucH better than glue; proving alfo efiedual 
in mending china ware. The vifcous juice of a particular berry, is 
likewifc ufcd in the country as a cement. 
Painting and drawing they are quite Grangers to. In carving, both p^.^jg„;ng 
in wood and ivory, they are curious and fanciful, but their defigns are 
always grotefque and out of nature. The handles of the creefes arc the 
moft common fubjed:s of their ingenuity in this art, which ufually ex- 
hibit the head and back of a bird, with the folded arms of a human 
creature, not unlike the reprefentation of one of the Egyptian deities. In 
cane and basket work they are particularly neat and expert ; as well as in . 
mats, of which fome kinds are much prized. 
• The words Tifeii by ttfc Malays, for batter uid cheefr, are Meniiiga and ^^y^i which arei 
pore Ponuguefc* 
pp Silk 
