ÖÖI 8x 3 ^c- 0 - Acehbooks.org

S U M A T R A - 147
being made of iron. The blade, being fattened to the handle with a
curious kind of bafket work of fplit rattans, is fo contrived as to turn in
it, and by that means can be employed either as an adze or fmall hatchet»
Their houfes are generally built with the affiftance of this fimplc inftrument
alone. The billiong is no other than a large papateel, with a handle
of two or three feet in length, turning like that, in its focket.
The chief cement they ufe, is made of the curd of the buffaloe milk, Cements,
called prackee. It is to be obferved that butter is made (for the ufe of
Europeans only*) not as with us, by churning, but by letting the milk '
ftand till the butter forms of itfelf on the top. It is then taken off
with a fpoon, ftirred about with the fame in a flat vefiel, and well waftied
in two or three waters. The thick four milk left at the bottom,
when the butter or cream is removed, is what I term the curd. This
muft be well fquezeed, formed into cakes and left to dry, when it will
grow nearly as hard as flint. For ufe, you muft fcrape fome of it off,
mix it with quick lime and moiften it with milk. I think that there is
no ftronger cement in the world, and it is found to hold, particularly in
a hot and damp climate, much better than glue; proving alfo effectual
in mending china ware. The vifcous juice of a particular berry, is
likewife ufed in the country as a cement.
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Painting and drawing they are quite ftrangers to. In carving, both D f ..
in wood and ivory, they are curious and fanciful, but their deligns are
always grotefque and out of nature. The handles of the creefes are the
moft common fubjcifts of their ingenuity in this art,, which ufually exhibit
the head and back of a bird, with the folded arms of a human
creature, not unlike the reprefentation of one of the Egyptian deities. In
cane and baflcet work they are particularly neat and expert; as-well as im
mats, of which fome kinds are much prized.
* The words ufetj by the Malays, for butter and cheefe, are Monteiga and %ueijt, which arc
fcure Portuguefe,
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