The History of Sumatra: Containing an Account of the Government, Laws, Customs and Manners of the Native Inhabitants, with a Description of the Natural Productions, and a Relation of the Ancient Political State of that Island |
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Common terms and phrases
Acheen againſt alfo almoſt alſo bamboo bangoon Batta befide Bencoolen cafe called camphire caufes cauſe circumftance coaft confequence confiderable confifts courſe cuſtoms defcribed diftricts diſtance dollars doofoon eaſtern efteemed Engliſh eſtabliſhed Europeans faid fame feem feldom fent ferve fettled fhall fhip fhore fhould fide filk firft firſt fituation fize flave fmall fome fometimes foon fpecies fpirit ftate ftrong fubject fuch fufficient fultan fuperior fuppofed furf gold himſelf houſe hundred India inftances inhabitants iſland Java joojoor king lefs Malacca Malay Malay language manner marriage meaſure Menangcabow moft moſt muft muſt natives neceffary obferved occafion Padang paddee paffed Palembang pangeran pepper perfon poffeffion poffefs Portugueſe prefent proatteens produce puniſhment purchaſe purpoſe raiſed Raja reafon refidence refpect Rejangs reſembles rice river ſcarcely ſmall ſome ſpecies ſtate Sumatra thefe themſelves theſe thofe thoſe thouſand tree ufually uſed uſually veffels Weft whilft whofe whoſe wood
Popular passages
Page 299 - They do not eat human flefh, as a means of fatisfying the cravings of nature, owing to a deficiency of other food ; nor is it fought after as a glutonous delicacy, as it would feem among the New Zealanders.
Page 131 - Circumference of shadow at noon, 1116 feet. Circumference of the several stems, in number fifty or sixty, 921 feet. Under this tree sat a naked Fakir, who had occupied that situation for twenty-five years ; but he did not continue there the whole year through, for his vow obliged him to lie during the four cold months up to his neck in the waters of the Ganges.
Page 28 - The surf begins to assume its form at some distance from the place where it breaks, gradually accumulating as it moves forward, till it gains a height, in common, of fifteen to twenty feet, when it overhangs at top, and falls like a cascade...
Page 296 - The men are allowed to marry as many wives as they pleafe, or can afford, and to have half a dozen is not uncommon. Each of...
Page 300 - ... the fenfation of pain. I have found a difference of opinion in regard to their eating the bodies of their enemies Jlain in battle.
Page 90 - Sumatrans have a degree of botanical knowledge that furprifes an European. They are in general, and at a very early age, acquainted, not only with the names, but the qualities and properties of every fhrub and herb, amongft that exuberant variety with which thefe iflands are clothed.
Page 182 - do not acknowledge a right in the chiefs to constitute what laws they think proper, or to repeal or alter their ancient usages, of which they are extremely tenacious and jealous.
Page 171 - He is temperate and fober, being equally abitemious in meat and drink. The diet of the natives is moftly vegetable ; water is their only beverage...
Page 222 - In the mode of marriage by Ambel-anek, says Marsden, the father of a virgin makes a choice of some young man for her husband generally from an inferior family, which renounces all further right to, or interest in, him ; and he is taken into the house of his father-in-law, who kills a buffalo on the occasion, and receives twenty dollars from his son's relations. After this, the "buruk baik" nia (the good and bad of him) is invested in the wife's family.
Page 131 - How the feed, from which it is produced, happens to occupy ftations feemingly fo unnatural, is not eafily determined. Some have imagined the berries carried thither by the wind, and others, with more appearance of truth, by the birds ; which, cleanfing their bills where they light, or attempt to light, leave, in thofe places, the feeds, adhering by the vifcous...