SUMATRA. t53 
fence againft the angels.** Thus they fay alfoj tohrig neUeey mahy* 
kat'* the prophet and angels afiifting/' This is pure Mahometan ifm* 
The cleareft proof that they never entertained an idea of Theifm, or No name foi 
the belief of one fupreme power, is, that they have no word in their ' 
laoguage to exprefs the perfon of God^ except the Mab taikh" of the 
Malays, corrupted by them to " Oola talk''' Yet when queftioncd on 
the fubjedt, they alTert their anceftors knowledge of a deity ; though 
their thoughts were never employed about him; but this evidently means, 
no more, than that their forefathers, as well as themfclveSj had heard 
of the Allah of the Mahometaos (Allah orang IJlam).. 
They life, both in Rejang and Pajummnhy the word ** diwir^^'' to ex* idea of iuvUl- 
prefs a fuperior, invifible clafs of beings; but each country acknowledges **** . 
it to be of foreign derivation, and they fuppofe it Javanefe. RaJdeen^ of 
Madura ; an Ifland clofc to Java j who is well converfant wUh the reli^ 
gious opinions of moft nations, afTerted to me that " diwaf^ or dee- 
^ah^^ WAS an original word of that country, for a fupcrior being, which 
the interior Javans believed in ; but that they ufed no ceremonies or 
forms of worihip : that they had fome idea of a future life^ but not as 
a ftate of retribution ; conceiving immortality to be the lot of rich, ra- 
ther than of good men. I recoiled that an inhabitant of one of the 
iflands farther enflward^ obferved to iiic, with great fimplicity, that 
great meir only went to the Ikics ; how ihould poor men find admittance 
tKere ? The Sumatrans> where^ untindarcd by Mahometanifm, do- not 
appear to have any notion of a future flate. Their coaception of virtue 
or vice, extends no farther than to the immediate effe^l: of aftions, to 
the benefit or prejudice of fociety, and all fuch as tend not to cither of 
thefe ends, are, in .their eftimation, pexfedly ii^Jiflfcrcnt.. 
Notwithflanding what is aiTerted of the originality of the word 
** dmay'' or " dmab^*^ I cannot help remarking its extreme affinity to 
the Perfian word *^ deeooy' which fignifies ** an evil fpirit** or bad ge- 
nius," and is called in our tranllatioii dvue*^ Perhaps, long antece- 
dent 
