ibute rather to the conveniences, and in some instances to the
luxuries, than to the necessaries of life. I must remind the reader that
my observations on this subject are mostly drawn from the Rejangs, or
those people of the island who are upon their level of improvement. We
meet with accounts in old writers of great foundries of cannon in the
dominion of Achin, and it is certain that firearms as well as krises are
at this day manufactured in the country of Menangkabau; but my present
description does not go to these superior exertions of art, which
certainly do not appear among those people of the island whose manners,
more immediately, I am attempting to delineate.

FILIGREE.

What follows, however, would seem an exception to this limitation; there
being no manufacture in that part of the world, and perhaps I might be
justified in saying, in any part of the world, that has been more admired
and celebrated than the fine gold and silver filigree of Sumatra. This
indeed is, strictly speaking, the work of the Malayan inhabitants; but as
it is in universal use and wear throughout the country, and as the
goldsmiths are settled everywhere along the coast, I cannot be guilty of
much irregularity in describing here the process of their art.

MODE OF WORKING IT.

There is no circumstance that renders the filigree a matter of greater
curiosity than the coarseness of the tools employed in the workmanship,
and which, in the hands of a European, would not be thought sufficiently
perfect for the most ordinary purposes. They are rudely and
inartificially formed by the goldsmith (pandei) from any old iron he can
procure. When you engage one of them to execute a piece of work his first
request is usually for a piece of iron hoop to make his wire-drawing
instrument; an old hammer head, stuck in a block, serves for an anvil;
and I have seen a pair of compasses composed of two old nails tied
together at one end. The gold is melted in a piece of a priuk or earthen
rice-pot, or sometimes in a crucible of their own making, of common clay.
In general they use no bellows but blow the fire with their mouths
through a joint of bamboo, and if the quantity of metal to be melted is
considerable three or four persons sit round their furnace, which is an
old broken kwali or iron pot, and blow together. At Padang alone, where
the manufacture is more considerable, they have adopted the Chinese
bellows. Their method of drawing the wire differs but l