Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1853-12-23

The Orang Kooboos,'' Brown Men of sum-
Capt Gibson, whose imprisonment and harsh ,,...
ment by the Dutch Colonial authorities at BataU:e
has rendered his name we'll known to his CONN.,
men, delivered a lecture before the New York n!
torical Society las, week. in the course of which Is
described the '.Orang Kooboos, brown men u "s
Sumatra:' who occupy a particular district on ~
east coast Of that island, whose appearance on,
habits he rays, indicate them to be q" of all tI
races of men of whom we have any KNOWLEDGE ti
lowest in the scale of humanity or. rather, the ~
pacty for degradation of our species would seem -
have reached that limit in this case which m;uht
regarded as the connecting link between the bnmtoe
and brute creation They are covered" he adSl
& with hair have long arms, and are deficient n
chin or, rather. it forms no part of the face y
These were the points in their formation he son-
which first arrested his observation, and led H.,
ito class them at once as simply somewhat hipbo.
development of the orang- outang;'' but furthe
examination, he found that they possessed speocL
though extremely rude and monosylabic, had rs;'
Bile faculties &C. and that they were recognized
as belonging to the human race by the MaIavs
who, however, hunted them wild animals in n,
der to work them as beasts Of burden" The nr;r
cipal features of his description condensed in
the following passage:
"The Orang KOohoos are only to be met with N
the almost impossible swamps and forests that Ee
between the Jambee and Palembang territories in
the island of Sumatra. They live among thu
branches of the teak and waringen trees, which
grow here to an enormous size as is. indeed tho
case with the forests throughout the island Tbav
construct a rude platform of bambOos whereve,
they find suticlency of horizontally EXTENDING
limbs of tree 10 serve as the basis or sIeepers of
floor and this they raise an equally rude CON-
cal roof of split bamboos or coaconut or psanc
tree leaves. These savages are ichthyophagSts as
are almost all the uncivilized tribes of the eastern
islands and in all the rivers and bays Of Sumatra
as also of all the rest of the islands of the Archpe
ago, most bountiful provision of excellent fish is
to be found | had an opportunity to have
glimpse of some Kooboos peope, while ascending
with my boat, small branch of the S0onSang bDP
it was only near Palembang, and at the Kraton or
palace of the Old Soosooho0nan, or Sultan of Pa
lembang and at the residence of the independent
Panyorang, or Prince Osmin, that had oppcr,
tunity for any especial observations of these crea
lures
The Panyorang had several as slaves, or rather a.
beasts of burden; for they not entrusted with
any labor but the dragging and carrying of loads Of
dirt, stones material for building He SAID that
they born the lowest OF slaves, and this had
been the for hundreds of generations, inasmuch
as they were the descendants of the slaves and bur-
then carriers of the army of Alexander. found
them generally called hdmba or boodak Ikander-tbe
slaves Of Alexander 1t is we'll kno that number
less traditions of Alexander the Great, OF " Dou'.
lkarnain," the two horned prevail hrough Sumara
well on the Asatic continent. 1t has been
found impossible to teach the Orang Kooboos the Use
of garments, although they have great fondness for
pieces OF coored cloth 10 he fastened TO various parts
of their body; they will tie vest to their heels or
round their waists; Or will, as have seen the men,
suspend coored cap handkerchief, or a glove, 10
their bodies with lively grinning and grunting of
delight, and seem to make no distinction between a
simple piece of cloth for ornament or manufactured
article; the only for preference being the diff.
ference of colors II has been found equally mpos-
sible 10 teach them the language of their masters fol-
those who had grown up in domestic state still
spoke the Malay in uncouth nonosyllabc manner
like their own jargon of undesirable grunts'