SUMATRA 
183 
haired race, such as exists in the Philippines, has ever 
yet been found in the island, although it has by some 
been considered possible that the Kubus are partly of 
Negrito origin. Many different nations, speaking dis¬ 
tinct languages, inhabit the main island, while at least 
three others are found in the adjacent small islands. 
Most of these are comparatively civilised, building good 
houses, practising elaborate agriculture, weaving cloth, 
and having written languages, while others are almost 
pure savages, their civilisation on a par with that of the 
Dyaks of Borneo. 
At the extreme north lies the Sultanate of Ache, a 
country, roughly speaking, about the size of Ireland, 
which has remained unconquered and uninfluenced by 
the Dutch. Por centuries one of the most important 
sites of commerce, its people—at all events those in the 
neighbourhood of the capital—yielded early to such 
civilisation as was introduced by the Arabs, and inter¬ 
married with them. For more than 700 years the 
Achenese have been Mohammedans, and although the 
Arab influence is less marked now than formerly, it is 
still evident in the dress of the well-to-do and the char¬ 
acter in which their language is written. Other elements 
have been introduced to form the nation. The traders 
from the Malabar and Coromandel coasts, Ceylon, Pegu, 
and Tenasserim have mixed with them, and as they were 
formerly renowned as pirates, whose raids extended over 
a considerable portion of the Archipelago, it is probable 
that their hareems were stocked by the women of many 
different nations. The language, as might be expected, is 
far from pure. It is written in the Arabic character, 
although it probably had at one time a native alphabet, 
as have the Battak, Eejang, and other tongues at the 
present day. The outcome of this mixture of races is 
