1832.] 
ISLAND OF SUMATRA. 
163 
line of descent is hereditary from father to son ; though in case 
of minority, or other defect, a brother or near relation may take 
upon himself the supreme authority, not as regent, for the minor, 
if there be one, can only come in at the next vacancy. 
Until about one hundred and fifty years ago, the southern part 
of Sumatra, including the Rejang country, and as far north as the 
river Oori, was dependant on the King of Bantam, and annually 
received a commissioner from him to superintend the collection of 
revenue and confirm the deputed authority. In the districts bor- 
dering on the coasts, extensive pepper plantations were formerly 
cultivated, and it M^as these people who acted so enthusiastically 
and bravely in expelling the English from Fort Marlborough in the 
year seventeen hundred and nineteen. 
Custom, among the Rejangs, constitutes the supreme law of 
the land, the authority consulted on all occasions in the settlement 
of their disputes, and from which none claim exemption. In- 
deed, there has been discovered no word among any of the native 
languages on the island, which may be said properly to signify 
law ; nor are there any individuals among them regularly clothed 
with legislative powers. The chiefs, when pronouncing their 
sentences in the most important cases, accompany their verdict 
with the expression, " such is the custom." When a new case 
arises, for the decision of which there appears to be no precedent, 
great formality and deliberation are observed in coming to a con- 
clusion. The pangeran himself cannot decide the question ; he 
must consult the proatteens^ or inferior chiefs, who, upon their 
part, frequently ask time to reflect and to consult with the inhabi- 
tants of the doosoons ; but when a point has thus been delib- 
erately considered and acted on, it takes rank with the customs 
which have been handed down from time immemorial, and its 
authority cannot be called in question. 
On these principles, at certain appointed times, the chiefs 
of the district assemble together and form a sort of court for 
hearing and deciding on all disputed questions brought before 
them. 
Their customs, which may be said to constitute their common 
law, under another name, after having been long preserved and 
handed down from one generation to another, were, during the last 
century, formed into a written code, as it appears, at the instance 
L 2 
