The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1885-08-26
AQUEER RACEI IN SUMATRA.
A PEOPLE WITH NO IDEA OF A Fu-
TURE STATE.
They Eat Snakes and Bugs, Go
Naked aud Have No Idea of Own
orSIiip of PrODertY,

NuONh rs hubuS5 WHO, OF all the DcODlc
on the face of the earth, stand forth pre-
eminently as having no idea of future
state. "When we are dead, we are dead, "
they sententiously expressed it to Mr..
Henry o. Forbes the naturalist, who
spent five years exploring Sumatra, and
who was the only white man who ever
got glimpse of one of them.
They construct only temporary dwell
ings of a few simple branches erected
over a low platform to keep them off of
the ground. They are so timorous and
shy that it is q rare circumstance for any
one to see them. No white man ever saw
one of them before Mr.. Forbes, except
as one sees the headquarters of startled
deer. In the little trade carried on be-
tween them and the Malays, the trans
actions are performed without the one
party seeing the other. The Malay
trader, ascending to one of their places
OF rendezvous, beats gong in a
particular way to give notice of
his arrival. On hearing the sig
nal the Kubus bring out what
forest produce they may have collected.
and, depositing it on the ground at this
place, hastily retire into close hiding,
beating a gong as signal that all is
ready. The trader then slowly advances,
lays down on the ground the cloth,
knives and other articles Of barter he
has brought to the amount which he
thinks an equivalent exchange, beats a
| gong and in like manner retires. The
Kubus examine the barter offered. If
| satisfactory they remove the goods, beat
their gong and go away, and the trader
picks up the produce he finds left on the
! ground. If not satisfactory, they set on
one side portion of their produce to
reduce it to what they consider the
value of the barter offered, and thus the
trade dilly dallies along until it is COM
pleted or abandoned. They are so
afraid of seeing any one not of their own
race that if suddenly met or come up
with in the forest they will drop every
thing and flee away. They cultivate
nothing for themselves, but live on
snakes, lizards and grubs, which they
eat ravenously and raw. They cat fruits.
an occasional deer, pig or tapir, and
what they trade from the Malays. They
know nothing, absolutely nothing; they
manufacture absolutely nothing. Their
knives and the universal spear with
which they are armed they purchase
from the Malays from whom they trade
Neither men nor women wear clothes,
except sometimes the small II. baudage
of dark cloth; some even go in a state of
nature. Sometimes they keep a few
birds in confinement, and are often fol-
lowed by half-fed dog. They never
work, and when in their travels they
come to small stream rather than
cross it they'll end their journey. They
never brush or comb their hair. but wear
it in disheveled state, hence it is often
matted and twisted.
Their funerals are crude in the ex-
treme. Sometimes they leave their dead
unburied in the spot where they died,
giving the place ever after a wide berth.
Sometimes, however the body is buried
face downward, with a strip of bark be-
low and above the body. They have one
tradition, that they are the descendants
of three brothers, one of whom betook
himself to the woods to live.
Monogamy is the rule among them, but
few have two or more wives. Their
nuptial ceremony is very simple affair.
The man having fixed his choice on a
girl and got the consent of the parents,
he brings to the father such presents as
he has-a knife, spear, clothes or money,
beeswax, or any rare fruits or animals of
the forests that he may have. If the
presents are large enough to satisfy the
greed of the father, all the Kubus with
in calling distance are summoned to-
gether. Seating themselves below a
tree, the father of the maiden informs
them that he has given his daughter So
and-so to So-and-so in marriage. One
of the company then strikes the tree
with club proclaiming them to be man
and wife. Then follows feast of fruits
and animals, The Malays very seldom
will marry n Kubu woman. They con-
slider them an inferior race. and use as a
term of reproach when angered, "You
Kubu." They will not interfere with
Kubu dead body. The Kubus possess
40 personal property except what they
carry around with them. They cat ami
mails in a semi-putrid condition, with
little or no cooking. In trayersing the
forest if one of them finds a bee-tree he
makes one or two hacks in the bark and
repeats a sort of spell. This is the only
property if it could be called such, that
they possess.
ut1 arc LoJ NAaNblN DtODlG VI NlC
lowest order of intelligence. They use
their spears with deXterity or throw
stones with wonderful accuracy. They
post themselves behind some tree in
front of which is another wherein birds
are lodged, and thence discharge the
stone over the one that hides them so as
to drop on the bird in the other.
These extraordinary people differ so
much in their habits and ways in life
from the other inhabitants of the island
that scientists have been much puzzled
as to whether they are the last survivors
of their race or only a struggling rem
nant, kin to those about them, who at
some past time were driven from below
the family roof tree to save their lives in
the forest Businesses, and who. when
persecution had ceased, clung to these
woods. which had been their friends in