The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-08-01
A Queer Race in sumatra.
From Cincinnati Enquirer.

matra dwella curious tribe of people known
as Kubus, who, Of all the people on tn,
face of the earth, stand forth preeminently
as having no idea of future state. "WheI
we are dead, we are dead" they senten
tiously expressed it to Mr.. Henry 0. Forbes
the naturalist, who spent FIVE years explor
ing Sumatra, and who was the only white
man who ever got glimpse of one o
them.
They construct only temporary dwell
ings of few simple branches erected ovel
low platform to keep them off Of the
ground. They are so timorous and shy
that it is rare circumstance for any one
to see them. No white man ever saw on,
of them before Mr.. Forbes, except as one
sees the headquarters of a startled deer
In the little trade carried on between then
and the Malays, the transactions are per.
formed without the one party seeing the
other The Malay trader, ascending to one
of their places of rendezvous, beats a gong
in particular way to give notice of his
arrival. On hearing the signal the KubuE
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 a sigma
that all is ready. The trader then slowly
advances, lays down on the ground the
cloth that, knives and other articles of bar
ter he has brought to the amount which he
thinks an equivalent exchange, beats gong
and in like manner retires. The Kubus
examine the barter offered II satisfactory
they remove the goods, beat their gong
and 90 away, and the trader picks up the
produce he finds left on the ground. II
not satisfactory, they set on one side por-
ton of their produce to reduce it to what
they consider the value of the barter offer.
ed, and thus the trade dilly dallies along
until it is completed or abandoned They
are SO afraid of seeing any one not of theil
own race that if suddenly met or come uI
with in the forest they will drop every
thing and flee away They cultivate moth
ing for themselves, but live on snakes
lizards and grubs, which they eat raven
ously and raw They eat fruits, an occas
ional deer, pig or tapir, and what they trade
from the Malays. They know nothing
absolutely nothing; they manufacture alb,
solutely 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
7 bandage of dark cloth; some even 90 il
state of nature Sometimes they keep q
few birds in confinement, and are often
followed by halffed dog. They never
brush or comb their hair, but wear it in 9
disheveled state, hence it is often matted
and twisted.
Their funerals are crude in the extreme
Sometimes they leave their dead unburied
in the spot where they died, giving the
place ever after wide berth. Sometimes,
however, the body is buried face down
ward, with strip of bark below and above
the body. They have one tradition, that
they are the descendant of three brothers
one of whom betook himself to the woods
to live
Monogamy is the rule among them, but
d lew udNC bMO VI u1OIC WIVES. 1uGll
nuptial ceremony is very simple affair
The man having fixed his choice on girl
and got the consent of the parents, he
brings to the father such presents as he
has-a knife, spear, clothes OF money, bees
wax, 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 within calling dis
tapce are summoned together. Seating
themselves below tree, the father of tn,
maiden informs them that he has given hi
daughter So-and-so to So-and-so in mar
riage One of the company then strike
the tree with club proclaiming them to b,
man and wife. Then follows a feast o
fruits and animals. The Malays very sci
dom will marry Kubu woman. The,
consider them an inferior race, and use a
term of reproach when angered, "Yol
Kubu." They will not interfere with
Kubu dead body. The Kubus possess n,
personal property except what they carr
around with them. They eat animals in
semi-putrid condition, with little or n,
cooking In traversing the forest if one o
them finds bee-tree he makes one or tw,
hacks in the bark and repeats sort o
spell. This is the only property, ifit ooulc
be called such, that they possess.
They are not exactly people of the low
est order of intelligence. They use thei
spears with dexterity or throw stones will
wonderful accuracy. They post themselves
behind some tree in front of which i
another wherein birds are lodged, anC
thence discharge the stone over the on,
that hides them so as to drop on the birC
in the other.
These extraordinary people differ 81
much in their habits and ways in life from
the other inhabitants of the island tina
scientists have been much puzzled as t.
whether they are the last survivors of thei
race or only struggling remnant, kin t.
those about them, who at some past tim,
were driven from below the family roo
tree to save their lives in the forest fast
nesses, and who, when persecution ha(
ceased, chung to these woods, which hat
been their friends in their hours of need,
Mr.. Forbes, who examined some Kubl
skulls, with view to determine whethe
they possess Negrito or Maylayan afinities
says that the character Of the hair, tn,
form of the nose, the various characters o
the skull and the proportion of the liml
bones show that they cannot have any nea
affinity to the Negrito race found in variou
parts of the Indo-Malayan archipelago, bu
that they are decidedly Malays, and, there
fore, Mongoloid.
While among the odd people thief wa
brought before the magistrate, who, whel
arrested, had a bag containing the para
pherpalia Of his trade. 1t contained
bunch of keys of various sizes, little sacl
with rice grains for alluring fowls, packag
of arsenic for older animals, a tube of sopo
rife powder, the recipe for which was
''Take of the gadung, a species Of plan
whose uncooked roots produce intoxication
few scrapings of the skin where the stem
joins the tuber; of white dates the seeds o
seven fruits, and of arsenic certain quan
tity. When dried, pounded and siftec
through cloth, to be thrown on the ric
or into the cigarette of the victim or to b
blown toward him, as occasion offers.
The thief said he had tried the recipe OIL
three victims. and stolen many cloths ant
rupees and gold dust,
! ---->-S$-