214 
SUMATRA. 
lluck the creefe into bis fide, faying *^ Maites €am^~*^ die wretch** f 
Raddeen Seehan fpoke not a \vord, but put hiS hand on the wound, and 
walked acrofs to the houfe from whence he came, at the door of which 
he dropped down, and expired. Such was the cataftrophe. Raja Moodo 
furvived his wounds, but being much deformed by them, lives a me- 
lancholy example of the effects of thefe barbarous feuds- 
Law rerp«£t- The law which renders all the members of a family reciprocally 
ing debts, bound for the fecurity of each otlv«r« dehrs, forms a flrong connexion 
among them, and occafions the elder branches to be particularly watch* 
ful of the condud of thofe, for whofe imprudence they muJl be an* 
fwerable. 
When a debtor is unable to pay what he owes, and has no relation or 
fi-iends capable of doing it for himi or when the children of a deceafed 
perfon do not find property enough to difcharge the debts of their parent,, 
they are forced to the ilate which is oAXt^ mengeering : that is, they be- 
romea f^tfoi^ ol*LandilaTva tu tUt wiLdkui, wilo aiiow^s ihem labfiflance, 
and cloathing, but does not appropriate the produce of their labor, to the 
diminution of their debt* Their condition is better than that of pure 
flavery, in this, that the creditor cannot ft r ike them, and they can change 
their mafters, by prevailing on another perfon to pay tlieir^dobtj and ac- 
cept of their labor on the fame terms. Of courfe they may procure 
their liberty, if they can by any -means provide a fum equal to their debt; 
whereas a Have, though pofleiling ever fo large pxo|>erry, has not the 
right of purcliafing his liberty. If however, the creditor fliall demand 
formally the amount of his debt, from a perfon mmgeerhig, at three 
feveral times, allowing a certain number of days between each demand, 
and the latter is not able toperfuade any one to redeem him^ he becomes, 
by the cuftom of ihe country, a pure Have ■ upon the creditor's giving 
notice to the chief, of the tran faction. This is the refource he has 
againft the lazinefs or untoward behaviour of his debtor, who might, in 
the ftate of m^ngeermg^ be only a burthen to him. If the children of a 
deceafed debtor are too young to be of fervice^ the charge of their main- 
tenance 
