yi^ SUMATRA. 
image into the mitjdle of a dilh of rice, garniflied with mufquet balls i 
and the man, kneeling down, prays that his crop of paddee may fail, 
his cattle die, and that himfelf may never take faity (which I prefunie 
is regarded as neceffary to cxiftence) if he does not declare the tratb, 
Thefe tin images may poffibly be looked upon as objeds of idolatrous 
worfliip ; but I could never learn that any fpecies of adoration was paid 
to them on other occaftons. Like the relicks of faints, they are merely 
employed to render the form of the oath more myfterious, and thereby 
increafe its awful nefs. I have feen carved refemb lances of a horfe's head, 
which though vulgarly called Baita gods, are nothing more than the 
ftandards in war, before mentioned. 
Before they .go to war, they kill a biifFaloe, or a fowl that is perfedly 
white, and by obferving the motion of the inteftines, they judge of the 
. good or ill fortune that will attend them. The prieft w^ho performs this 
ceremony, had need to be infallible, for if he predicts contrary to the 
event, he is fonietimes put to death> for his want of ikilU 
Funeral rites When a roja^ or perfon of confequence^ dies, the funeral ufually takes 
aadccrcmojijes feveral months; that is, the corpfe is kept, for fo long a fpace of 
time, unburied ; until the neighbouring and diftant rajas ; and in com- 
mon cafes, till the relations and creditors of the deceafed ; can be alTem- 
bled, in order to celebrate the rites with becoming dignity. Perhaps 
the fcafon of planting, or of harveft intervenes, and thefe neceflary occu- 
pations muft be fir ft attended to, before the ceremonies can be conclu- 
ded. The corpfe, in the mean time, is depofited in a fort of coflin^ 
made of the hollowed trunk of the ami tree, well covered over with 
dammar or rofin. A bamboo tube, however, is inferted in the lower 
j>art of the coffin, and pafling thence into the ground, ferves to carry 
away the oifeniive matter ; fo that in fa£t the bones alone remain. 
When the people aflemble, the cofEn is brought out, and fet down 
in an open fpace. Each of the women who arrive, brings a bafket of 
rice, and places it near the corpfe : they dance round it, and make mefrjt, 
till 
