SUMATRA. 
try) which he delivers, and his fubjeds are obliged to accept them ac *vf 
the rate he tenders them. They are forced to work a certain number of 
days each, in his rice plantations* There is alfo a Icffer kind of fervlce, 
for land held of any other perfon. The tenant is bound to pay the land- 
lord rcfpedt wherever he meets him, and to give him entertainment 
whenever he comes to his houfe* The people feem to have an abfolate 
and permanent property m their pnfTi-flRAnEi felling them wh^n chey tblnk 
fitting to each other* If a man plants trees and leaves them, no future 
occupier can fell them, though he may eat the fruit. 
The chief's revenues arife principally from the fines adjudged in ju- Rmnuts. 
dicial proceedings, which he always appropriates to himfelf ; and from 
the produce of the benjamin and camphire trees throughout his diftrid:, 
which are confidered as royal property ; but this, in general^ is not ri- 
goroufly infifted on* 
Dlfputes and litigations of any kind, that happen between people be- Suits, 
longing to the fame campng^ are fettled by a magi ft rate appointed for 
that purpofe, and from him there is faid to be no appeal to the raja : 
when they arife between perfons of different campongs, they are adjufted 
at a meeting of the tefpe£tive rajas. When a party is fent down to the 
bay, to purchafe fait, or on other bufmefs, they are accompanied by an 
oi?icer who takes cognizance of their behaviour, and fometimes punifhcs 
upon the fpot fuch as are criminal or refractory* This is productive of 
much order and decency. 
Notwithflanding the independent fpirit of the Batias, and their con- 
tempt of all power that would affeCt a fuperiority over their little focie- 
ties, they have in general a fuperftitious veneration for the fultan of ^Mcnonca- 
Memngcahwy and fhew a blind fubmilTion to his relations and emiflaries, 
real or pretended, when fuch appear among them ; even when infulted 
and put in fear of their lives, they make no attempt at rcfiftance : they 
think that their afiairs would never profper; that their paddee would be 
blighted, and their buffaloes die; that they would remain under a kind 
of fpell, for offending thofc facred meffengers. 
The 
