A Sumatran scrupulously abstains from pro nouncing his own name, merely as a punctilio in manners. It occasions him infinite embarrass ment when a stranger, unacquainted with their customs, requires it of him. As soon as he recovers from his confusion, he solicits the inter position of his neighbour. He is never addressed, except in the case of a supetior dictating to his dependent, in the second person, but always in the third ; using his name or title instead of the pronoun, and when these are unknown, a general title of respect is substituted, and they say, for instance, `Apit orang kaya pnniasulta?" What is his honour's pleasure ? ' for ` What is your or your honour's pleasure ? ' When criminals or ignomini ous persons are spoken to, use is made of the personal pronoun kat' (a contraction of angkau), particularly expressive of contempt, In Suinatia there were formerly three perfectly distinct kinds of marriage,—the Jugur,) in which the man purchased the woman ; the Ambel-anak,' in which the woman purchased the man ; and the Semando,' in which they joined on terms of equality. Iu the Ambel anak marriage, the father of a virgin makes choice of some young man for her husband, generally from an inferior family, which renounces all further right to or interest in Min, and he is taken into the house of his father-in-law, who kills A buffalo on the occasion, and receives 20 dollara from his son's relations. After this, the buruk baik'nia (the good and bad of hitn) is invested in the wife's family. If he murder or rob, they pay the bangun or the fine. If he be murdered, they receive the bangun. They are liable for any debts he may contract in marriage, those prior to it remaining with his parents. He livea in the family, in a state between that of a son and a debtor. He partakes as a son of what the house affords, but has no property in himself. His rice plantation, the produce of his pepper garden, with everything that he can gain or earn, belongs to the fantily. He is liable to be divorced at their pleasure, and though he has children, tnust leave all and return naked as he came.
Sumatra is known among the eastern people by the two. names of Indalas and Pulo Percha (or Pritcho). No country has been more famous in all ages for gold, and the quantity procured is considerable. There are also mines of copper, iron, and tin ; sulphur is gathered in large quan tities about the numerous volcanoes. Saltpetre is made from the earth, which is found impregnated with it, chiefly in extensive caves, the haunt of birds, of whose dung the soil is formed ; and coal is collected.
Sumatra has about fifteen volcanoes, four of which are of considerable importance,—Dempo, 10,440 feet ; Indmpura, 12,140 feet ; Talang, 8180 feet ; and Meralli, 9700 feet : the others are of les.s elevations, 6000 or 7000 feet.
Sumatra has the Galeopitheeus, the Gymnura Rafflesii, Cervus matt, Cervus hippelaphus, ero codilus biporeatus Raftlesii.
Mr. George Windsor Earl, in a pamphlet on the Physical Geography of South - Eastern Asia and Australia (1855), pointed out that the islands of Sumatrq, Java, and Borneo are connected with the Asiatic continent by a shallow sea; and that a similar shallow sea connects New Guinea and all the. adjacent islands with Australia, these last being all characterized by the presence of mar supial animals. CatTying out Mr. Earl's sug gestion, Mr. 1Vallace maintains that some of tho islands had long been connected with the Asiatic continent, and others equally long with that of Australia; and that a line of separation can be drawn between these ; and he designates the Asiatic portion Indo-Malayan, and Ole Australian division Austro - Malayan. The seas between Sumatra, Jaya, and Borneo are so sltallow that ships find anchorage in any part of it, as it rarely exceeds 40 fathoms, and the seas eastward to the Philippines and Java rarely exceed 100 fathoms.
The elephant and tapir of Sumatra and I3orneo, the rhinoceros of Sumatra and the allied species of Java, the wild cattle of Borneo, and the kind long supposed to be peculiar to Java, are now all known to inhabit some part or other of Southern Asia; and of the birds and insects, every family and every germs of the groups found in any of the islands occurs also on the Asiatic continent, and in a great number of eases the species are also identical. The great islands of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo even yet resemble, in their natural productions, the adjacent parts of the continent almost as much as such Widely-separated districts could be expectml to do, even if they formed part of the Asiatic continent. The Philippine Islands a,gree in many respects with Asia.and the western islands, but present some anomalies. The eastern portion, on the other hand, from Celebes and Lombok eastwards, exhibits as close a resemblance to Australia and New Guinea as the western islands do to Asia. Australia has no apes, monkeys, cats, tigers, wolves, bears, hymnas ; no deer or antelopes, sheep or oxen ; DO elephant, horse, squirrel, or rabbit. In lieu, it has kan garoo, opossums, wombats, and the duck-billed polypus. It has no woodpeckers or pheasants ; but has, in.lieu, the mound-making brush turkeys, honeysnekers, cockatoos, the brush-tongued lories, which are found nowhere else in the globe ; and all these peculiarities are found in the islands which form the Austro-Malayan division of the Archipelago. The islands eastward from Java and Borneo form a part of a previous Australian or Pacific continent, although some of them may never have actually been joined to it. The Aru Islands, Mysol, Waigyu, and Jobie agree with New Guinea in their species of mammalia and birds, and they are all united to New Guinea by a, narrow sea. The 100-fathom line around New Guinea marks the range of the paradise birds. This separation has no relation to their geological character. The Indo-Malayan and Austro.Malayan divisions hold two distinct types of the human race, the Malay and the Papuan, who differ radic ally in their physical, mental, and moral cha racters ; and, under one or other of these two forms as types, the whole of the peoples of the Eastern Archipelago and Polynesia can be classed, and the line separating these two types conies near but somewhat eastward of that part of the zoological regions. This easterly jutting of the Malay line has been caused by the maritime enter prise and higher civilisation of the Malay races, who have overrun the nearer part of the Austro Malayan region, have supplanted the original inhabitants, and spread much of theii' language, their domestic inhabitants, and their customs far over the Pacific. To the Malay type and to the Papuan type respectively, all the people of the various islands can be grouped. The Asiatic races include the Malay, and all have a continental origin ; while the Pacific races, including all to the east of the Malay (except, perhaps, some in the Northern Pacific), are derived not from any existing continent, but from lands that now exist or have recently existed in the Pacific Ocean.— Bibnore ; London Geog. Trans. ix. xv.; Bonibay Med. Trans. ; Bombay Geo. Trans.; .Buist on Volcanoes of India, irt Ed. Phil. .1020%; 1852 ; Ind. Archip. iii.; Newbold's British Settlements ; Tijdschrift v. Neerl, Ind. in J0111'. Ind. Arch. ; Cal. Rev., 1861, pp. 43, 48 ; Marsden's Sumatra, pp. 4, 94, 162-262 ; Wallace, ii. pp. 19, 41, 53, 60.