SUMATEA 
193 
indolent, addicted to gaming, dishonest in their dealings 
with strangers, which they esteem no moral defect, sus¬ 
picious, regardless of truth, mean in their transactions, 
and servile. Although cleanly in their persons, they are 
dirty in their apparel, which they never wash. They 
are careless and improvident of the future, because their 
wants are few; for though poor they are not needy, 
Nature supplying with extraordinary facility whatever 
she has made necessary for their existence.” 
Of the tribes of the eastern lowlands, the Siak and 
Jambi have already been mentioned as true Malays. 
The people inhabiting the Palembang valley are of like 
origin, but they have been much mixed with Javanese 
settlers from the earliest historical period, if, indeed, 
these latter were not the first inhabitants of the locality. 
They speak a mixed language in which Javanese words 
occur largely, and their manners and customs resemble 
those of that people. The court language is Javanese, 
and is written in the peculiar character of Java. At 
the head waters of the Musi and Batang-Hari rivers, on 
the confines of the Jambi country, live the nomadic and 
totally wild Kubus, who probably correspond in the south 
with the Ulus and Lubus of the northern part of the 
island. From the accounts of Mr. H. 0. Forbes and other 
travellers, more is known of them than of the latter 
tribes. They inhabit the thickest forest country, making 
only temporary shelter-huts, and, like the Yeddas of 
Ceylon, avoid all communication with those not of their 
own race. They cultivate no crops whatever, living on 
fruits, roots, and such animals as they are able to kill, 
and are without manufactures, even of the simplest kind. 
They collect beeswax, dammar, and other forest produce, 
and barter it with the Malay races, also by a method 
similar to that of the Yeddas, laying the objects of barter 
