S U M A T R A. 
Their drefs is commonly of a fpecies of cotton cloth, which they ^^^^* 
manufadhare themfelves; ftrong, hadh, and of mixed colors, the moft 
prevalent being a brownifh red, and a blue nearly approaching to black* 
They are fond of adorning it with firings of beads. The covering of 
the head is ufually the bark of a tree. The young women wear rings 
of tin in their ears, ofren to the number of fifty in each. 
The food of thf law^r people U jagpfig (maize), and fweet potatoes; 
the rajas and great men only, indulging themfclves in ord'mary witli 
rice. Some mix them together. It is on public occalions alone that 
they kill catttle for food ; but not being very dainty in their appetites 
they do not fcruple to eat part of a dead buffaloe, aligator, or other 
animal, which they happen to meet with. Their rivers do not abound 
with filK ; which is the cafe with mofl: in the ifland, owing to their ra- 
pidity and frequent falls :* yet no fea coaft teems with greater abundance 
or variety. The h&r/e they efteem their moft luxurious food^ and for 
this purpofc feed them with great care, given them grain, and rubbing 
them well down. They abound in this country, and the Europeans get 
many good ones fiuu* th^wct » fcwt tii** finpft^ thefe are refer ved 
for their feftivals. 
Some excellent fpecies of timber, particularly the camphire, (the wood Houftj. 
in general of the country being light, porous and prone to decay) are ih 
plenty here, and their boufes are allbuilt with frames of wood, and boarded; 
with roofs of ejoo, a vegetable fubftance that refembles coarfe horfe- 
bair. They ufually confift of one large room, which is entered by a 
trap-door in the middle. Their towns are called campong^'^ in which 
the number of houfes feldom exceeds twenty; but oppofitc to each, is 
a kind of open building, that ferves to fit in, during the day, and for the 
unmarried men to lleep in at night % and thefe together form a kind of 
ilreet. There is alfo to each campong a balli^ (as it is called by the Ma- Towns, called 
Campong, 
Some iif the fouth eaftern rivcit are ta exception* Sisdi it umed for a tra4e iff filli rocs, 
cured therc^ aad caUed tra&o* 
lays). 
