ÖÖI 8x 3 ^c- 0 - Acehbooks.org

S U M A T R A . 43
The perfonal difference between the Malays of the coaft, and the Difference in
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• i l
• r n 1 1 1 i . . r perfon betwec
country inhabitants, is not lo ftrongly marked but that it requires lome Malays and
experience to diftinguifti them. The latter, however, poffefs an evident "rans.
fuperiority in point of fize and ftrength, and are fairer complexioned,
which they probably owe to their fituation, where the atmofphere is
colder; and it is generally obferved, that people living near the fea
ihore, and efpecially when accuftomed to navigation, are darker 'than
their inland neighbours. Some attribute the difparity in conftitutional
vigor, to the more frequent ufe of opium among the Malays, which is
fuppofed to debilitate the frame ; but I have noted that the Leemoon and
Batang Affy gold traders, who are a colony of that race fettled in the
heart of the ifland, and who cannot exift a day without opium, are remarkably
hale and ftout; which I have known to be obferved with a
degree of envy by the opium fmokers of our fettlements. The inhabitants
of Pafiummah alfo, are defcribed as being more robuft- in their
perfons, than the planters of the low country.
The original clothing of the Sumatrans is the fame with that found by c '°t"'ng«
navigators among the inhabitants of the South Sea Hlands, and now generally
called by the name of Otaheitean cloth. It is ftill ufed among the
Rejangs for their working drefs, and I have one in my pofieffion, procured
from thofe people, confifting of a jacket, lhort drawers, and a cap for
the head. This is the inner bark of a certain fpecies of tree, beat out to,
the degree of finenefs required; approaching the more to perfection, as
it refembles the fofter kind of leather, fome being nearly equal to the moft
delicate kid-fkin ; in which character it fomewhat differs from the South
Sea cloth, as that bears a refemblance rather to paper, or to the manufacture
of the loom. The country people now conform in a great meafure
to the drefs of the Malays, which 1 lhall therefore defcribe in this
place; obferving that much more fimplicity ftill prevails among the
former; who look upon the others as coxcombs, that lay out all their
fubftance on their backs, whilft, in their turns, they are regarded by the
Malays with contempt, as unpolifhed ruftics.
A man's