The Mountaineer. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1859-1861, 1860-03-17

who Import for the entertainment of theii
cnildren pianos ntld other European luxuries,
whose fathers were confirmed cannibals.
Then there 4 q peculiar race called the An
lulas, exceedlng " rude and harbarous III their
Econditi0n, yet tmid and gentle III theif az.
positions The next I'M The ,iescen5IIt,g scale
Of humanity, IN these islands, are the papuans.
who are the negroes Of the east. "a black n
the African, with heads equally &c curly. but
Instead Of woolly, the head covering 81 THE
Papuan Is course, kinky hair. They are small
Of stature, and some of them manifest rather 4
ferocious disposition; and again, on the con-
tEary many tribes OF them ate exceedingly
mild III their character 4
Descending lower still IN tho scale of civil
zation we come down 70 tho very foot of Inc
human iatldeF--to q race Of people called tn
Kubus and the Gugus, who differ very little iil
physical appearance, and might also saw III
mental qualification; from The great balloon or
the orang 5oItang Of these islands Their
bodies are entirely covered with long flowing
hair. They have not the slightest idea 81.
nor the slightest use either for tie tailor, or
Tor the cook inasmsich is they use no covering
except that provided by nature; and they pre-
fer their game raw and without seasoning.
They will cat raw snails, snakes and fish, They
lodge generally in the tops Of trees, max
ing q rude sort Of platform BY placing bamboo
sticks, across horizontally extended limbs;
which they cover with large palm leaves
Although II was my object at this time
merely 20 make d general enumeration of Idces
Yeti cannot let these a ~ mortals pass hy With
Out relating circumstances concerning them;
Tor they are human beings. itaasmuch - they
have some kind of artienIatson. 81 powers ~
speech, which gift would class them in The
human tanlily, but their authorizations are
very few. and consist of a few niunosyllabits
grufts. Fhey caunot repeat d word 81 two
syllables. They dwell in country which n
an inlcccss BE mars II situated IN the southern
portion Of Sumatra. This marshy territory
has never yet been penetrated to any appre.
ciablesextent aby Europeans 4. 1t would require
too great q cost for xstnaliug. tlrainiilQs and
bridging. to warrant any snclI effort At this
time: In those syyalnps a peculiar gum tree Is
found allied benzOin, which produces the fran:
kincensc spoken Of In the Bible and made iist AZ
Id the worslipo of all 9Asialic nations and IN
the ceremonial OF Catholic chnicheE The rum.
which produces this sweet smelling incense; ii
obtained exclusively in this sWampy district,
md il Ii gathered solely BY these extraoftli.
nary saiages. and obtained from them in this
peculiar manner The Malay, Chinese. md
other traders whoare anxious 10 get this gun.
proceed to certain points on the outskirts 81
these Inaccessible sMamps, and they make q
tremendous cutlery striking hollow logs and
numerous goIga. They continue this for
sometime; and then depart out of sight nfspE
leaving little strips Of cloth, brilliant glass
beads. and some other trifles. After a while,
the poor tilnid wild Khbns may he observed
creeping forth from the edge Of the forest,
bringing along portions of this gum Which
oozes from the trees; this they deposit, and
take away the tfinkets And incyery instance,
Il has been observed, they deposit q full edui-
yalent for what has been left for them.
There are other singular races called the
Sem angs, the Jakuns and BaIans, and Others
to be mentioned, which would only be d re-
petition Of hard names. have not now the
time 20 give you particulars concerning the
social habits, manners, and religious customs
of all these races. ii is yobiect this evening.
70 dwell more especially on particulars, which
concern the Malay, the foremost one OF these fa.
ces. The Malays consider war their chief profess
sion or pursuits and + Of course, theyzare proud
and lazy like all warrior races BY their SUI
perior skill and spirit of mastery they succeed
in compelling either races 10 do the work for
them, while they are quite willing 70 do I'LL
the fighting. Ill The MAlays have such All idea
Of their dignity rs warriors, that when they 20
forth In their great prahus, or war boats; which
will carry one hundred and fifty fighting men,
and still have room for farty or fifty TO&ers,--
should they happen Thermometer an oyerpower-
ing force and are about to be overcome, but
could DO materially aided by these rowefs, who
are OF the interior and working races,
yet the true Malay will choose to die
rather than TO owe his life TO one Of
these slaves. They do not differ In these
ridiculous notions ofthc dignity Of the warrior
and aristocratic character, from the old Danes,
Nofmans, DTitOnsl and Sa&ons, and other fight
ing and plundering barbarians among Our an
cestry In Europe. -. =. ..5-.. At
i believe that the Malay race springs from a
Scythian stock. Judge SO from my study OF
Eastern and InIlo- European languages; also
from many peculiarities IN their social habits,
and their system Of government They are
the only people of Tie eastern hemisphere,
that accord TO woman an equal social and zpo-
Iitcal position with man. a large portion Of the
rulers or petty chieftains are women; they are
also tile teachers, the only doctors, and ali the
little itinerant traffic of these islands Is car
risd on by women. 8. ...5;sszs-s 81. T2
/ In regard to their female government, j
think il would be interesting 60 mention one
or two anecdotes Many years ago the king
OF England sent ambassadors TO Achin, a Ma
lay nation In the northern portion Of SumatTa,
which was then governed by a queen, The