nut-trees. The natives are called liejangs, and form
a distinct nation from the Malays of Menangkabau.
They have an alphabet and language peculiar to
themselves, but belong to the same Malay race as all
the others in the island of Sumatra. In order that
I might see them dance, the Resident invited the
rajah to come to the house of the cont/roleur in the
evening and bring with him the “ anak gadis,” literally
a the virgins,” of the village, but really the unmarried
females. They were all clad in a sarong,
fastened high round the waist, and over the shoulders
was thrown a sort of scarf, which was so folded that
one end would hang down behind, between the shoulders.
Their dance consisted in little more than stretching
both arms back until the backs of the hands
nearly touched each other, and holding the edges of
the scarf between the fingers. This peculiar figure
they take in order to give their busts the fullest appearance
possible, and captivate some one of the
young men looking on. From this position they
changed their hands to near the shoulders, the arms
being extended and the forearms being turned back
toward the head. The hands were then twisted
round, with the wrist for a pivot.
Several young men appeared quite charmed and
eagerly joined in the dance. The postures they assumed
were quite similar. It is on such festive occasions
that marriage contracts are generally made.
The price of a bride, ju ju r, is fixed by the Dutch
G-ovemment at twenty guilders, eight Mexican dollars,
that is, the parents cannot now recover more than
that sum for their daughter in case their son-in-law
is unwilling to pay a larger Sum. When the English
were here in the beginning of this century, the jujv/r
was as high as a hundred or a hundred and twenty
dollars. Some of the “ virgin children ” I noticed had
reached middle age, but the rajah explained to me that
no man is willing to part with his daughters at a less
price than the twenty guilders his neighbor receives
for each of his, for fear of appearing to acknowledge
that he thought his neighbor’s daughters were more
fascinating than his own; and a young man, being
obliged to pay the same sum for any bride, of course
chooses one who, according to his fancy, possesses the
greatest charms, and no one who is not young is supposed
to be charming.
Another common mode of marrying among these
people is termed v/mbil anak, u taking a child.” A
father chooses a husband for his daughter and takes
the young man to live in his family. When this
young man can pay a certain sum to the father, he
removes his wife and family to his own house, but
until that time he and his family are regarded as servants
or debtors. As tokens of their virginity, the
anak gadis wear silver on their forearms, and broad
bands of silver on their wrists. In the Lampong
country to the south, instead of small, solid rings, they
wear large rings made of hollow tubes, sometimes in
such a number as to cover both arms from the wrist to
the elbow. Here they occasionally have silver chains
on their necks, and in their ears ornaments somewhat
similar in form to those worn in the Menangkabau
country, but much smaller, and the part that
passes through the ear is no larger than a quill.
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