yond the Ganges. The most
evident proofs appear of the extensive dissemination both of their
language and mythology throughout Sumatra, Java, Balli (where at this day
they are best preserved), and the other eastern islands. To the Sanskrit
words dewa and dewata, signifying divinities in that great mother-tongue,
we are therefore to look for the source of the terms, more or less
corrupted, that have been mentioned in the text. See Asiatic Researches
Volume 4 page 223.)

VENERATION FOR THE MANES AND TOMBS OF THEIR ANCESTORS.

The superstition which has the strongest influence on the minds of the
Sumatrans, and which approaches the nearest to a species of religion, is
that which leads them to venerate, almost to the point of worshipping,
the tombs and manes of their deceased ancestors (nenek puyang). These
they are attached to as strongly as to life itself, and to oblige them to
remove from the neighbourhood of their krammat is like tearing up a tree
by the roots; these the more genuine country people regard chiefly, when
they take a solemn oath, and to these they apostrophise in instances of
sudden calamity. Had they the art of making images or other
representations of them they would be perfect lares, penates, or
household gods. It has been asserted to me by the natives (conformably to
what we are told by some of the early travellers) that in very ancient
times the Sumatrans made a practice of burning the bodies of their dead,
but I could never find any traces of the custom, or any circumstances
that corroborated it.

METEMPSYCHOSIS.

They have an imperfect notion of a metempsychosis, but not in any degree
systematic, nor considered as an article of religious faith. Popular
stories prevail amongst them of such a particular man being changed into
a tiger or other beast. They seem to think indeed that tigers in general
are actuated with the spirits of departed men, and no consideration will
prevail on a countryman to catch or to wound one but in self-defence, or
immediately after the act of destroying a friend or relation. They speak
of them with a degree of awe, and hesitate to call them by their common
name (rimau or machang), terming them respectfully satwa (the wild
animals), or even nenek (ancestors), as really believing them such, or by
way of soothing and coaxing them; as our ignorant country folk call the
fairies the good people. When a European procures traps to be set, by the
means of persons less superstitio