SUMATRA. £53 
which they mean to hy aiitle^ deKteroufly drop from under, as the other 
paiTes over the head ; but fometimes, with an aJr of eoquetry, difplay- 
iog, as if by chance, enough to warm youthful imaginations* Both 
men and women anoint themfelves before company, when they prepare 
to dance ; the women, their necks and arms, and' the men^ their breafts* 
They a!fo paint each others faces ; nor, feemuigly, with a view of 
heightenicg, or imitating the natural charms, but merely as matter of 
falhion ; making fantallic fpots with the finger, on the forehead, tern- 
ples> and cheeks, of white, red, yellow, and other hues* A brafs fal- 
:Hm \{taUam) covered with , little china cups, containing a variety of 
i>aints, is fer\'ed up for this puirpofe, 
Inftanccs have happened ; though rarely ; of very dilagceable conclu- 
lions to bimbangs here* A party of reefows amongft the young fcUovvs, 
have been known fuddenly to extinguiiK the lights, for the purpofe of 
robbing the girls, not of their chaftity, as might be apprehended, but 
of the gold and filver ornaments of their perfoos* An outrage of this 
nature, 1 imagine could only happen in Lampo^ny where their vicinity 
to Ja^^fT) affbrds the eulprlr* &^wr and futer means of efcape^ than^ in 
the central parts of the ifland and here too their companies appear to 
be more mixed, coll e^ed from greater diitances, and not compofed, as 
with the Rejang people, of a neighbourly affemblage of the old men of 
a few contiguous doofoons, with their fons and daughters, for the fake 
of convivial mirth ; of celebrating a particular domeftic event ;- and pro- 
moting attachments and courtihips amongO: the young people. 
In every doofbon there is appointed a youths- wcllr fitted by nature and Particular cur- 
ed u cation for the ofiice, who ads as mafter of the ceremonies at their 
•public meetings,- arranges the young men and- women in their proper 
places, makes choice of the partners, and regulates all other circum- 
llancesof the alfcmbly, cxeepr the important caeconomy of the feftival part 
or cheer, which comes under the cognizance of one of the elders. Boih 
parts of tlie entertainment are preceded by long, complimentary fpeechcsi, 
delivereti by the relpedive^ fte wards, who, in return^ are anfwercd and 
complimented 
