S UMA X R A'r 
tially, in a country ^vhere the diforder makes its appearance at diftant 
intervals only ; unlefs thofe periods could be feized, and the attempts 
made, when and where there might be well ibutided apprehcnfion ot its 
being communicated in the natural way. A dtfteinper much rcfembling 
the fmall pox, and in its firft ftagcs miflaken for it, is not uncommon. 
It caufes an alarm, but does not prove mortali and is probably what we 
term the chicken pox. 
«afe™' The venereal difeafe, though common In the Malay bazars, is in the 
inland country almofl unknown. A man returning to his village, with 
the infe£tioDj is fhunned by the inhabitants as an unclean and interdiiftcd 
perfon. The Malays cure It with the dccoftion of a ciiina root, called 
by i\i^m gadi,ongy which caufes a falivacion. 
lafanity. When a man is by ficknefs, or otherwife, deprived of his reafon, or when 
fubjefl to convulfion fits, they imagine him poffeffed bv an evil fpirir, 
and their ceremony of exorcifm, is by putting the unfortunate wrerch 
into a hut, which they fet fire to about his ears, lufTtring him to make 
his efcape through the flames in the beft manner he can. The fright, 
which would go nigh to deftroy the inteJledts of a reafonable man, may 
perhaps have, under contrary ciTcumllanccs, an oppofite effed:. 
Sciencw, The ikill of the Sumatrans in any of the fciences, is, as may be pre^- 
Arithmetic. fumed. Very limited. Some, however, I have met with, who, in arith- 
metic, could multiply and divide, by a fingle multiplier or divifor, feve* 
ral places of figures* Tens of thoufands (kxa) are the higheft clals of 
numbers the Malay language has a name for. In counting o\'er a quan- 
tity of imall articles, each tenth, and afterwards each hundredth piece, 
is put afide ; which method is juft confonant with the progrefs of fcien- 
tific numeration, and probably was the origin of it. When they may 
have occafion to recollect at a diftance of time, the fale of any commo- 
dities they are carrying to market, or the like, the country people often 
affift their memory, by tying knots on a ft ring, which is produced when 
they want to fpecify the number. The Peruvian ^uipQS were, 1 fuppofe, 
m improvement upon this fimple invention* 
They 
