not to give offence.

TOBACCO.

Beside the mode before-mentioned of enjoying the flavour of tobacco it is
also smoked by the natives and for this use--after shredding it fine
whilst green and drying it well it is rolled up in the thin leaves of a
tree, and is in that form called roko, a word they appear to have
borrowed from the Dutch. The rokos are carried in the betel-box, or more
commonly under the destar or handkerchief which, in imitation of a
turband, surrounds the head. Much tobacco is likewise imported from China
and sells at a high price. It seems to possess a greater pungency than
the Sumatran plant, which the people cultivate for their own use in the
interior parts of the island.

EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.

The custom of sending emblematical presents in order to make known, in a
covert manner, the birth, progress, or change of certain affections of
the mind, prevails here, as in some other parts of the East; and not only
flowers of various kinds have their appropriate meaning, but also
cayenne-pepper, betel-leaf, salt, and other articles are understood by
adepts to denote love, jealousy, resentment, hatred, and other strong
feelings.

ORATORY.

The Sumatrans in general are good speakers. The gift of oratory seems
natural to them. I knew many among them whose harangues I have listened
to with pleasure and admiration. This may be accounted for perhaps from
the constitution of their government, which being far removed from
despotism seems to admit, in some degree, every member of the society to
a share in the public deliberations. Where personal endowments, as has
been observed, will often raise a private man to a share of importance in
the community,superior to that of a nominal chief, there is abundant
inducement for the acquisition of these valuable talents. The forms of
their judicial proceedings likewise, where there are no established
advocates and each man depends upon his own or his friend's abilities for
the management of his cause, must doubtless contribute to this habitual
eloquence. We may add to these conjectures the nature of their domestic
manners, which introduce the sons at an early period of life into the
business of the family, and the counsels of their elders. There is little
to be perceived among them of that passion for childish sports which
marks the character of our boys from the seventh to the fourteenth year.
In Sumatra you may observe infants, not exceeding the former age, full
dre