SUMATKA 
189 
reading and writing is pretty generally understood. The 
alphabet, according to Professor Keane, is based on the 
Dewanagiri, but others hold it to be probably original. 
It is written from left to right on palm leaves, and the 
character differs entirely from the Rejang, Korinchi, and 
other of the peculiar Sumatran languages, being curved 
and not rectilinear in its form. 
In the hill-country, near Mount Ophir, are two tribes 
—the Orang Lubu and Ulu—of whom next to nothing is 
known, except that they are pure savages and few in 
number. East of, them, inhabiting the lowlands opposite 
Malacca and Singapore, are the Siak people, a pure Malay 
race, as are the Jambi tribes lower down on the same 
coast. But of all the true Malays inhabiting Sumatra, 
the most important and highly civilised are those occupy¬ 
ing the mountain district of Menangkabo, above Padang. 
They comprise several tribes, and are divided into sukus 
and kotas on the same principle as the Achenese and 
Lampongers. By many people this district is regarded 
as the original cradle of the Malay race. In spite of 
foreign influence this language has here remained singu¬ 
larly pure—purer, indeed, than in many places in the 
Peninsula—and few words of foreign origin have been 
introduced. According to the theory of others, these 
people are the remnant of the original conquerors of 
the island, and the word Menangkarbau—buffalo's 
victory"—is held to commemorate symbolically the 
victory of the champion of Sumatra over its rival, the 
tiger, the representant of Java. Of all parts of the 
island this district is the most highly cultivated and 
prosperous. Sir Stamford Raffles, describing it, says :— 
“ As far as the eye could reach was one continued scene 
of cultivation, interspersed with innumerable towns and 
villages shaded by palms and fruit trees. I may safely 
