236 S U M A T H A. 
for by man)' competitors ; and the payment of the joojoor be again ef- 
teemed a reafonable equivalent for poflTeffion. Their acknowledging 
thi; cufl-ora, under the pre Pent circumftances, to be a prejudicial one ; fo 
contrary to the fpirit of eaftern manners, which is ever marked with a 
blind veneradou for the eftabliihments of antiquity ; contributes to 
ilrengthen confiderably the opinion I have advanced. 
Gaming. Throi7gbout every ran^ of the people there prevails a flrong fpirit of 
gaming^ which is a vice that readily insinuates itfelf into minds naturally 
averfe from the avocations of indufl:r3\ The thoughts of man are aftive^ 
and where the fpbere is circumfcribed, they rufn into tliofc channels 
which convey tbcm with the mofl rapidity. Gaining being in general 
a fedentary occupation, is more adapted to a warm climate, where bodily 
exertion is, in very few inftances, confidercd as an amufement. A com- 
Dke. nion fpccies of gambliBg is with dice, (dadoo^) but thefe, throughout 
the pepper difiridts, are rigoroully forbid ; becaufe it is not only the 
child, but the parent of idlenefs, and by the event of play^ often throws 
Cotk figliting, w'holc villages into confufion. Cock fighting they are ftill more paf- 
fiojiatcly addicted to, and it is indulged to them under certain regufa- 
tioiis. Where they are pcrfedly independent, their propenfity to it is 
fo great, that it refemblcs rather a ferious occupation, than a fport. 
You feldom meet a man travelling in the country, without a cock under 
his arm, and fometimes fifty in a compan)', when there is a bimbang 
in one of the neighbouring villages, A country man coming down, 
on any occafion, to the qtialioc, or mouth of the river, if he boafts the 
leail degree of fpirit, muft not be unprovided with this token of it. 
They often game high at their meetings ; particularly when a fuper- 
ilitious faith in the invincibility of their bird, has been ftrengthened 
by paft fuccefs* An hundred Spanifli dollars is no very uncommon 
rift, and inllances have occurred of a father's flaking his children or 
wife, and a fon, his mother or fifters, on the iflue of a battle ; when a 
•t *Ihett is rca fon 10 concludej froiu tUe ngraej that Dice went btroduced In this p«rc of the 
world by the Ponu^utftf. 
run 
