e, and with a few leaves strewed over
it, is left to decay. Inheritance is by male descent; the house or
plantation, the weapons and tools of the father, become the property of
the sons. Their chiefs are but little distinguished from the rest of the
community by authority or possessions, their pre-eminence being chiefly
displayed at public entertainments, of which they do the honours. They
have not even judicial powers, all disputes being settled, and crimes
adjudged, by a meeting of the whole village. Murder is punishable by
retaliation, for which purpose the offender is delivered over to the
relations of the deceased, who may put him to death; but the crime is
rare. Theft, when to a considerable amount, is also capital. In cases of
adultery the injured husband has a right to seize the effects of the
paramour, and sometimes punishes his wife by cutting off her hair. When
the husband offends the wife has a right to quit him and to return to her
parents' house. Simple fornication between unmarried persons is neither
considered as a crime nor a disgrace. The state of slavery is unknown
among these people, and they do not practise circumcision.

The custom of tattooing, or imprinting figures on the skin, is general
among the inhabitants of this group of islands. They call it in their
language teetee or titi. They begin to form these marks on boys at seven
years of age, and fill them up as they advance in years. Mr. Crisp thinks
they were originally intended as marks of military distinction. The women
have a star imprinted on each shoulder, and generally some small marks on
the backs of their hands. These punctures are made with an instrument
consisting of a brass wire fixed perpendicularly into a piece of stick
about eight inches in length. The pigment made use of is the smoke
collected from dammar, mixed with water (or, according to another
account, with the juice of the sugar-cane). The operator takes a stalk of
dried grass, or a fine piece of stick, and, dipping the end in the
pigment, traces on the skin the outline of the figure, and then, dipping
the brass point in the same preparation, with very quick and light
strokes of a long, small stick, drives it into the skin, whereby an
indelible mark is produced. The pattern when completed is in all the
individuals nearly the same.

In the year 1783 the son of a raja of one of the Pagi islands came over
to Sumatra on a visit of curiosity, and, being an intelligent man, much