^ SUMATRA, 
lays), or tovvn hall^ for the tr an faction of public bufmefsj feftlvals, and 
the reception of ftrangers^ whom they entertain \vith hofpitality aii4 
franknefs. At the end of this building is a plape cjivided ofFj from 
whence the women fee the public fpedacles of fencing and daneing i and 
below that is a kind of orchellra for the mufic. 
The men are allowed to marry as many wives as they pleafe, of can 
afford, and to have half a dozen iiot uacommnn. Each of thefe fiti in 
a different part of the large room^ and fleeps expofed to the others ; not 
being feperated by any partition, or diftin^tion of apartments. Yet the 
hufband finds it neceffary to allot to each of them, their ieveral fire 
places, and cooking utcnfils, where they drefs their victuals feparately, 
and prepare his in turns. How is this donieftic ftate, and the flimfinefs 
of fuch an imaginary barrieri to be reconciled with our ideas of the fu- 
riousj ungovernable paffions of love and jealoufy, fuppofed to prevail in 
an eaftern hsmm ? or muft cuftom be allowed to fuperfede all other in- 
fluence, both moral and phyfical } In other refpedts they differ little 
in their cuftoms relating to marriage, from the reft of the ifland. The 
parents of the girl always rrr*»t\r*> x^^\v\a\^\a ooiiSxActa^-oix ^iti buffaloes 
or horfes) from the perfon to whom fiie is given in marriage ; which is 
returned when a divorce takes place againfl the TOan*s inclination. 
The daughtersj as elfewhere, are looked upon as the riches of the fa- 
thers. 
The condition of the women appears to be little better than that of 
ilaves. They alone, befide the domeftic duties, work in the rice plan- 
tations. Thefe are prepared in the famje mode as in the reft of the ifland ; 
except that in the central mparts, the country being clearer, the plough, 
dra\yn by buffaloes, is more pfed* The men, when not engaged in war ; 
their favorite occupation; lead ^n idl^, ipa^tive life, paffing the day in 
playing on a kind of a ftute, crowned with garlands of flowers,* among 
which the globe amarnnthus^ a native of the country, moftly prevails. 
Their mufic is fomewhat preferable to that of the other Sumatra ns. 
They 
