MACASSAR, the Mangkasara of the Celebes, is the chief settlement of the Dutch on the Celebes, and is in lat. 5° 8' 15" S., and long. 119° 23' 30" E. The N. coast of Celebes is in general high, bold land. Macassar town has a good harbour, defended by Fort 'Rotterdam. It was occupied in 1810 by the British without any resistance. The Macassar race differ from the Bugi or Wugi in having larger and more open features, as well as in the peculiar ruddiness that is mixed with the brown tincture of their skin. The hair is suffered to fall down and float loosely upon the shoulders, and its ends have a deep red hue. The little boys and girls of the Macassar race are often very handsome, while the linea ments of the latter are sometimes not only faultless in design, but they have withal a shade of thoughtfulness and melancholy, which is rightly esteemed to be the last touch and finishing stroke of personal beauty. These promises of future loveliness vanish before maturity. In the manu facture of gloves and baskets, the workmanship for delicacy and fineness cannot be surpassed. Their writing character is the same as the Bugi, with a deficiency of three or four letters. Many can read. They value themselves as being of a more ancient and noble stock than the Bugi, but they esteem it creditable to understand that language. It is said that Dr. Leyden translated a Gospel into the Bugi. The Damasoniuin Indicum and the gomuti are common.
Macassar Men is a common name of the Bugi race. Macassar is the most notorious place in the Eastern Archipelago for the Bugi people to run amok. It is, in fact, amongst the natives of Celebes the national mode of committing suicide, and is therefore the fashionable mode of escaping difficulties. Ten or twenty persons are sometimes
killed and wounded at one of the amok. Stab bing and killing all he meets, the amok runner is at last overpowered, and dies iu all the excite ment of battle. It is a delirious intoxication, a temporary madness, absorbing every thought and action.
There are five Bugi states, the system of govern ment being that of a limited monarchy, with feudal nobles styled Arong and Pangwa or free holders. Their vessels take from Singapore, as return cargo, British calicoes, iron, hardware, muskets, gunpowder, of value from 10,000 to 20,000 dollars.
The Bugi tribes inhabiting Celebes are cele brated for the temper they give to steel, and for their arms in general. In addition to those of the Malays on the Peninsula, they use defensively the baju ranti (chain jacket), and both a long and a round sort of shield. They swear by their krisses, for which they have a great veneration, and on going into battle drink the water in which they have been dipped, uttering imprecations on the foe. The inhabitants of Pule Nias, an island off the western coast of Sumatra, wear for armour a baju made of thick leather, and a cap to match, covered with the eju, the vegetable substance resembling black horse-hair obtained from the Arenga saccharifera.—Journ. Ind. Arch., 1852 ; G. Tradescant Lay, Voyage of the Ilimmaleh in 1857 ; Singapore Free Press, 1837.