The history of Sumatra : $b Containing an account of the government, laws, customs and manners of the native inhabitantsMarsden, William
History
The history of Sumatra : $b Containing an account of the government, laws, customs and manners of the native inhabitants
Marsden, William
Natural history -- Indonesia -- Sumatra; Sumatra (Indonesia)
The terms of the jujur, or equivalent for wives, is the same here,
nearly, as with the Rejangs. The kris-head is not essential to the
bargain, as among the people of Passummah. The father of the girl never
admits of the putus tali kulo, or whole sum being paid, and thereby
withholds from the husband, in any case, the right of selling his wife,
who, in the event of a divorce, returns to her relations. Where the putus
tali is allowed to take place, he has a property in her, little differing
from that of a slave, as formerly observed. The particular sums which
constitute the jujur are less complex here than at other places. The
value of the maiden's golden trinkets is nicely estimated, and her jujur
regulated according to that and the rank of her parents. The semando
marriage scarcely ever takes place but among poor people, where there is
no property on either side, or in the case of a slip in the conduct of
the female, when the friends are glad to make up a match in this way
instead of demanding a price for her. Instances have occurred however of
countrymen of rank affecting a semando marriage in order to imitate the
Malayan manners; but it has been looked upon as improper and liable to
create confusion.
The fines and compensation for murder are in every respect the same as in
the countries already described.
RELIGION.
The Mahometan religion has made considerable progress amongst the
Lampongs, and most of their villages have mosques in them: yet an
attachment to the original superstitions of the country induces them to
regard with particular veneration the ancient burying-places of their
fathers, which they piously adorn and cover in from the weather.
SUPERSTITIOUS OPINIONS.
In some parts, likewise, they superstitiously believe that certain trees,
particularly those of a venerable appearance (as an old jawi-jawi or
banyan tree) are the residence, or rather the material frame of spirits
of the woods; an opinion which exactly answers to the idea entertained by
the ancients of the dryads and hamadryads. At Benkunat in the Lampong
country there is a long stone, standing on a flat one, supposed by the
people to possess extraordinary power or virtue. It is reported to have
been once thrown down into the water and to have raised itself again to
its original position, agitating the elements at the same time with a
prodigious storm. To approach it without respect they believe to be the
source of misfortune to the offender.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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