F e u d a l
C u s t o m .
air o f myftery furrounds his court; he iflues out dictatorial
ediits, which are received with rcfpeft; but attended to no farther
than is confident with the interefts or pleafure o f them to
whom tliey are addreffed. All the Sumatrans are originally derived
from the Malayes, or inhabitants of the peninfula of Malacca
; when fpoken of in this ifland, the word Malaye implies
the Mahometans, who chiefly inhabit the coafts. Mahometanijm
is the religion o f all the Malaye governments; all obferve the
feudal fyftem, and commute the punifhment of crimes for
money, which have their price as cuitomary among the Germans
and Britons. Murder, as well as other crimes, having its
price; this cuftom is a dreadful encouragement, particularly fince
the Daltoos or magiftrates receive the ranfom. Our faftory was
defirous o f putting a flop to the frequent affaflinations, but was
told by the Daltoo that he flxould be a lofer, as he got twenty
dollars a head when the families profecuted. Some of thefe
governments are very antient, being formed foon after the firfl:
population of the ifland. Menangecabow is one which received
the Mahometan faith in later times from the Malayes o f Malacca,
who had made a conqueft of their antecedent brethren.
In p. 33 o f the preceding volume, I have given the general de-
icription of the perfons o f the Malayes. I cannot help thinking
that thofe o f Malacca were a diftinit people, who drove the antient
inhabitants o f the peninfula to take refuge in Sumatra, where
they retain their language and alphabet, and that the Malayes in
future times re-conquered the defcendants of thefe refugees, and
each ftill retain their peculiar language and writing.
I SH A L L
I s h a l l not attempt to give an account of the various nations
into which this ifland is divided : That of the Battas is too'
remarkable to be overlo okedthe y are o f fmaller ftature than
the reft of the Sumatrans,and their complexions fairer; their
religion is paganifm, yet from very antient cuftom they hold in
refpeft the fultan of Menangecabow, in all probability from the;
period in which both were o f the fame religion. We have our
fettlemenl on their coaft, which enabled two o f our faftory,,
Mr. Charles Miller and Mr. Holloway, to undertake a journey into
the interior parts o f the country. I refer my reader for the particular
account to the Ixviiith volume of the Ehilofophical Tranf-
a£tions. From this expedition is verified the circumftance o f
the natives being anthropophagi, and eat the fleih o f prifoners'
of war,, or o f offenders condemned for capital crimes. As
foon as the man is put to death, they rufh on the bodyr cut
pieces o f the yet tremulous limbs, dip it in lemon juice and fait,
and eat it with.exquifite pleafure. Mr. Miller fays, they fpake in
raptures o f the foies o f the feet,, and palms of the hands, as peculiar
dainties. Marco Palo * tells us,, that in the kingdom of
Dragoiam they eat the bodies of their relations and beft friends
who chance to die, thinking it apeculiar refpedt to the deceafed.
They then bury the bones in the caverns o f the mountains.
Polo mentions this horrid, cuftom in other iflands, fo that it certainly
had fpread far more extenfively than is imagined. The
opinion was generally exploded, till the voyages in our days fur-
nilhed us with feveral examples; fome moft dreadful, in which
many Europeans fell victims to the cannibal appetite: Even the
* Bergeron» p. J34*
illuilrious
N a t i v e s o f
t h e B a t t a s .