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MALAYO-POLYNESIAN-SPEAKING PEOPLES 473
southern coastal areas of mainland China before the last great southward spread
of Sinitic languages.
The place of origin of Malayo-Polynesian is not known. Some prehistorians
have placed its beginnings in southern China and associate its spread with that
of an ancient system of food production (the Southeast Asian Horticultural Neolithic—beginning
perhaps 12,000 years ago). Other scholars have pointed out
that Malayo-Polynesian is not now represented by any language of the Chinese
mainland and only by Cham and its dialects and Malay and its dialects in mainland
Southeast Asia. According to these latter scholars the greatest diversity of Malayo-Polynesian
languages is in the Melanesian area near Fiji, which may be the
place from where Malayo-Polynesian languages dispersed. Both theories are
based on incomplete data.
A number of Muslim ethnic groups not treated separately here have been
grouped together into a single cultural complex by some authors. The Abung
(864,000) and their cultural allies, Besemah (395,000), Kerinci (311,000), Rejang
(778,000), Lampungers (662,000) and Batinese (105,000) belong to a socalled
Rejang-Lampung complex of ethnic groups which occupy most of the
southern third of Sumatra. Groups of this complex seem to have a Batak-like
substratum of culture based originally on a religion of megalithic initiation rites,
human sacrifice and headhunting (see Batak). The substratum has been deeply
modified through intensive contact with Malay, Minangkabau and Javanese culture.
The Abung and the closely allied Paminggir and Pubian, for example, speak
dialects that are virtually identical to standard (Riau-Johore) Malay, but they
have a strongly developed patrilineal clan organization that closely resembles
that of the Batak. Moreover, they and the Malays agree that several centuries
ago the Abung were driven from the highlands of southern Sumatra by coastal
Malays who were impatient and fearful of their beliefs in human sacrifice and
headhunting. Remnants of these beliefs are still evident in some of their rituals,
but they are all nominally Muslims of the Shafi rite.
The Besemah and Rejang were closely allied in the recent past, and they have
been more influenced by Javanese culture than other ethnic groups of the Rejang-
Lampung complex. They differ from each other in language. Besemah speak a
dialect of Malay. Rejang speak a language that is closely related to Malay. Until
the 1930s and the world depression both the Rejang and the Besemah were
strongly patrilineal, but since that time, matrilineal institutions apparently have
developed among the Rejang.
The Batinese occupy the area around Djambi, which is near the ancient capital
of the Malay world, Melayu. They are so thoroughly assimilated into Malay
culture that they refer to themselves as Djambi Malays.
The influence of Minangkabau culture is most apparent among the Kerinci
(see Minangkabau). Some scholars have classified their language as a southern
dialect of Minangkabau. Moreover, the Kerinci have matrilineal social organization,
but it differs in detail from typical Minangkabau matrilineal organization.
All of these groups are Muslims of the Shafi school of the Sunni sect. They