separating the grain from the ear.
The bunches of paddy are spread on mats, and the Sumatrans rub out
the grain under their feet, supporting themselves, for the more easy
performance of this labor, by holding with their hands a bamboo
placed horizontally over their heads."

[Illustration: A WATER SPOUT]

CHARLES. "I should hope they wash the rice after this process:
although, as rice is so dry, they doubtless consider it unnecessary:
I find Sumatra is a foggy island, and contains only one important
kingdom.--viz., Acheen."

MR. BARRAUD. "Fogs are not its worst calamities: thunder-storms and
water-spouts off the coasts are very frequent."

GEORGE. "What produces water-spouts?"

MR. BARRAUD. "Dr. Franklin supposed that water-spouts and whirlwinds
proceed from the same cause. A fluid moving from all parts
horizontally towards a centre, must at that centre either mount or
descend. If a hole be opened in the bottom of a tub filled with
water, the water will flow from all sides to the centre, and there
descend in a whirl; but air flowing in or near the surface of land
or water, from all sides towards a centre, must at that centre
ascend, because the land or water will hinder its descent."

MR. WILTON. "As Charles states, Acheen, with regard to business
transactions, is the only place of note in the island of Sumatra.
The inhabitants have no coin, but make their payments in gold dust,
which they keep in divided parcels, contained in pieces of bladder,
and these are weighed by the person who takes them in payment. They
have some odd forms about them; for instance, in _marriage_ and
_burial_. The bride is bargained for with the parents, and if
settled satisfactorily, the young couple partake together of two
different sorts of rice, and the ceremony is concluded by the father
of the lady throwing a piece of cloth over them.

"When a man of rank dies, his body is kept in a coffin for several
months; the soft parts dissolving during that interval are conveyed
in a fluid state by a bamboo tube, from the bottom of the coffin
into the earth."

EMMA. "How very disgusting! and how very unwholesome for the
relatives of the deceased, in such a hot country too. I wonder the
inhabitants do not all die from infection."

MR. STANLEY. "These practices do vastly increase the mortality; but
old customs are not easily abolished. Do you sail as far north as
the Bay of Bengal, Charles?"

CHARLES. "No, sir, all that portion of the oce