. Java, Sumatra and the other islands of the Dutch East Indies . fficult to handle. The majority areMusulmans by name, but animists in fact. The Orang-Ulu and the Orang-Lubu of Mount Ophirare savages; near relatives of the Batiks; peaceableand extremely poor. The Malays of the seaboard and the Malays ofMenangkabau I represent the pure Malay element inJava. The Malays of the seaboard closely resemblethose of Malacca and of Riouw-Lingga; they livechiefly in the country of Palembang, the centre of thetrading highways of the island. The Malays of Menangkabau (Dutch, MenangkabauMaleiers) regard the
. Java, Sumatra and the other islands of the Dutch East Indies . fficult to handle. The majority areMusulmans by name, but animists in fact. The Orang-Ulu and the Orang-Lubu of Mount Ophirare savages; near relatives of the Batiks; peaceableand extremely poor. The Malays of the seaboard and the Malays ofMenangkabau I represent the pure Malay element inJava. The Malays of the seaboard closely resemblethose of Malacca and of Riouw-Lingga; they livechiefly in the country of Palembang, the centre of thetrading highways of the island. The Malays of Menangkabau (Dutch, MenangkabauMaleiers) regard themselves as the primitive is more probable that they are a detached branch ofthe Malays of the coast, which has been isolated forages in the interior of the country, and has developedin perfect independence. The kingdom of Menang-kabau, says the native legend, arose upon the ruins of * A kingdom now extinct. It was situated between the kingdomof Palembang and the Siak River on the east; between the kingdomof Mendjuto and the Singkel River on the MALAYS OF MENANGKABAU, KOTA GEDANG To face p. 26? SUMATRA AND RIOUW LINGGA 269 the Hindu empire of Adityavarman, and its name, Victory of the Buffalo, symbolised the supremacyof Sumatra and the Malays over Java, which they aresupposed for a time to have conquered. Early con-verted to Islam while preserving their own adatf theMalays of Menangkabau regard themselves as the bestMahomedans in the Archipelago. Marriage with them is always exogamic, and hasretained the matriarchal form. The husband cultivatesthe soil for the wife, who owns it as she owns herchildren; the property of the father passes to thechildren of his sister, not to those of his wife orbrother. It is true that contemporary observers represent theMalay of Menangkabau as possessing but little conjugalfidelity; as anything but a sentimental father; asdefiant, a born intriguer, avaricious, harsh to his inferiors,servile to his superiors, inhospitable and hosti
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