given in his dream, had succeeded in tracing his runaways, and, while they were still asleep, had gathered and placed beside them all the fruits. The four wanderers, acting on the suggestions which had thus been made to them, set to work, and after they had planted and sowed, all the plants immediately became full grown and bore blossoms and fruit. To protect these from vermin the spirit changed himself into an iguana, without the four men being aware of it, and placed himself in one of the surrounding trees to keep his watch. It had not lasted long when a very large monkey came out of the jungle, who in spite of the presence of the iguana eat up the greater portion of the fruit. The men on their return, finding their loss and seeing the iguana on a tree, asked him if he had done the mischief, when he told how it had happened. Two of the men, however, discrediting his story, seized, slew and eat him. They had hardly finished their repast when they fell lifeless as a punishment for their disbelief and cruelty. Their corpses sunk into the ground, and from the spot there sprang up the Ipu tree, from the leaves of which the Mantaweans afterwards learned to prepare the poison for their arrows. The two survivors, husband and wife, lived long and happily, and were the progenitors of the Mantaweans." [R.]

Dress and personal adornment.-Nothing more strongly evidences the remarkable seclusion which the Mantaweans have maintained during the long period in which Indian and Ultraindian arts have prevailed in Sumatra, than their retention of the ancient Himalayo-Polynesian dress and adornment-bark, leaves and tatooing. This with their other eastern habits and the character of the language, has led some writers to imagine that they are a sporadic people totally unconnected in origin with the Sumatran tribes, and probably of east Indonesian or Polynesian origin. But vestiges of the same customs are found in Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula as well as, more abundantly, in Borneo and the northern and eastern islands of the Archipelago, and the tribes who have learned to manufacture cloth, conspicuous as they are by their population, civilisation and predominance, are the real exceptions. It is the Malays not the Mataweans who deviate from the prevalent Oceanic usages.

The mode of tatooing is the same that is followed, with slight differences in the material and form of the implements, from the Himalayas to Polynesia. This painful operation-which both sexes undergo is performed with a copper or iron needle one end of which is fixed in a piece of palm-wood, about eight inches long, which is softly struck with another piece of wood to pierce the skin. A mixture of ashes, burnt resin and a vegetable sap are then rubbed in, by which an indelible, bluish-grey colour is communicated to the tatooing.

According to Mr Crisp the lines of the intended figure are first traced in this pigment with a stalk of dried grass or bit of stick, and the point of the tatooing wire is also dipped in the pigment. When the children are six or seven years old they begin to imprint a few outlines and gradually increase them till the youths are marriageable. The figures for each sex are always the same, the only variation being in the extent to which the outlines are filled in. They are very simple and there are no professional tatooers. For males the principal tatooing consists of a broad triangular or heartshaped figure on the breast, the outline of which is first marked in the twelfth year. By the time the marriageable age is attained the body of this figure is completely filled in, and it serves as a token that the youth has entered on manhood. From this period no further lines are added, but those already marked are by degrees widened, according to individual taste and choice, up to the greatest age. Besides the breast figure a narrow band is marked down the side of the neck to the shoulder, from the shoulder to the wrist, from the waist to the knee, round the arm above the wrist and elbow and round the leg above the ankle, while parallel lines encircle the waist and are carried down the abdomen. women, having a greater portion of the person covered than the men, are less tatooed; the hands and legs being with them frequently omitted altogether. They also want the breast-figure, and instead of it have a line of tatooing running from the chin to the lower part of the abdomen, in connection with some stripes which cross each other at a point on the shoulders. In the district of Seybi or Si-berut, the men, in general, have a round in place of a triangular breast-figure; others, however, have it more oval

The

and running out above to a point. In the tatooing of the hands there is also some diversity. [R., C.]

The Mantaweans, like many other Asonesians, file or grind their teeth to a point. [C].

The hair by both men and women is usually worn hanging loose over the shoulders, or in a knot fastened at the back of the head. Some cut it off above the forehead in a straight line from temple to temple. All the hair on the rest of the person-that of the eyelids included-is carefully plucked out. Occasionally, but only as an exception, an old man may be seen with some hairs on his chin which he cherishes by way of long beard. [R.]

The whole clothing of the men consists of a piece of prepared bark two to three yards long and about four inches broad, usually coloured yellow with turmeric, which is bound round the waist and passes between the legs. In rough weather some throw over the shoulders a broader piece of bark, with a hole cut in the middle to let the head pass through. For protection against the sun and to throw off the rain, they wear a hat made of the outer bark of the sago palm, light but of formidable size with a very broad rim, and running to a point. Some also bind a cloth round the head or cover it with a bunch of green branches and leaves. The children run about entirely naked till their eighth year. In the house the women wear round the middle a square piece of bark, which is sewed on the outer side with thread of their own making, and on which a number of yellow stripes are painted, or they substitute for it a piece of coarse blue, white or red cotton, ornamented at the sides with corals. Out of doors they place round the throat and hanging over the bosom and shoulders and round the middle, a covering of finely frayed and loose plantain leaves; and on the head an obtusely conical and defily plaited hat, also made of plantain leaves, and at the apex often ornamented with a bunch of dry grass. Being placed obliquely on the head, this piece of costume gives them a very singular appearance. [R.]

Men as well as women are remarkably fond of ornaments and finery, which are partly made by themselves, and partly procured from traders. On the forehead most of the men wear a small

copper plate, wound round with copper wire, or a small bambu case, also intended to hold the apparatus for striking fire.

The people of the northern districts of Si-berut fasten the hair with a curiously plaited band, adorned with corals, and wear in the ears a piece of thick copper wire, twisted into a spiral form, and also a pair of pincers ornamented with feathers, which serves at the same time to pluck out the hair of the beard. The men as well as the women are fond of adorning the hair itself, the forehead and the ears, with flowers and leaves, the favorites being the bunga raya or kembang sapatu. Around the throat and arms are disposed various kinds of small chains and bands. For the first they prefer corals of a dull blue colour, which the women often have hanging from their necks to the weight of 6 or 8 pounds, and to procure which they will sell everything they possess. On Si-berut only, thick copper rings are likewise worn by the women all along the forearm, while the men have one or two of these rings on the upper arm. The waist is also ornamented with different kinds of bands, mostly consisting of some stripes of rattan dyed red, 8 to 12 yards of copper wire, and a black or yellow cord made of the root of a plant plaited by themselves. Amongst the ornaments may also be reckoned the yellow shields of the forehead, cheeks and palms of the hands, on which some paint shining black stripes. In general, however, this is only done when they are at war, the men then arraying themselves in all their finery. [R.]

Although the cocoanut is so abundant they do not use the oil, and as combs are also unknown, the matted hair swarms with vermin which, like most rude Asiatic tribes, they consider a dainty. [C].

Houses and Furniture.-In the kampongs or villages—which always lie along the bank of a navigable river or creek-the houses are spread irregularly and as the shape of the ground best suits. They are of two kinds, -large houses in which 30 to 40 families live together, and small ones adapted for one only. The former -which are always the property of a chief-have a length of 180 to 200, and a breadth of 30 to 40 Rhineland feet. The whole is, as it were, nothing but a colossal roof covered with the leaves of the

sago, having arched side walls, and a beam projecting from the ridge at each end, and running to a point. The flooring is of plank or spars of nibong. The doors are oblong openings in the roof about 3 feet high, and may be closed with smaller planks. Other openings there are none. On account of the marshy ground the building rests on posts 10 feet high, and for the same reason, long platforms covered with planks and split nibong are erected alongside of it, giving entrance to the interior, and reaching by a succession of steps, to the side of the river. The interior consists of a wide apartment, embracing the whole length of the front of the house and devoted to common use and for a general gathering place for all the inmates. From this a narrow passage runs through the middle of the house, on either side of which are found a great number of small pens which serve as the sleeping and cooking places of the different families. The smaller houses have simply a front and a back room, and in other respects are constructed like the large ones. For the erection of a large house two to three years are commonly required. take a part in the work have a right to live in it. It may be easily conceived that it is very dark and dirty inside. From the fires continually kept up-owing to their not using oil-the roof and walls are blackened with smoke. As ornaments the Mantaweans place on the rafters which support the roof, a variety of images of animals carved in wood and coloured. The ladangs or gardenhouses consist mostly of a single roof, with a light enclosing wall, and placed at the same height from the ground. As the banks on which the kampongs and garden-houses stand are frequently steep, strong trunks of trees with steps cut in them are placed sloping down to the water.

All who

The furniture is very simple and consists of few articles. A bambu case, more or less ornamented, serves to hold their finery and clothes; large tortoise shells, having plaited work beneath, are suspended along the beams and applied to the same use. The bed consists of two or three long pieces of palm bark, joined to each other by rattans, over which those who can afford it spread a Sumatra mat, and those who cannot, a broad piece of prepared