of the paucity of inhabitants, and indeed they are sufficiently obvious; among these we may reckon that the women are by nature unprolific, and cease gestation at an early age; that, almost totally unskilled in the medical art, numbers fall victims to the endemic diseases of a climate nearly as fatal to its indigenous inhabitants as to the strangers who settle among them:  to which we may add that the indolence and inactivity of the natives tend to relax and enervate the bodily frame, and to abridge the natural period of their lives.

...

MODES OF MARRIAGE.

The modes of marriage, according to the original institutions of these people, are by jujur, by ambel anak, or by semando.  The jujur is a certain sum of money given by one man to another as a consideration for the person of his daughter, whose situation, in this case, differs not much from that of a slave to the man she marries, and to his family.  His absolute property in her depends however upon some nice circumstances.  Beside the batang jujur (or main sum) there are certain appendages or branches, one of which, the tali kulo, of five dollars, is usually, from motives of delicacy or friendship, left unpaid, and so long as that is the case a relationship is understood to subsist between the two families, and the parents of the woman have a right to interfere on occasions of ill treatment:  the husband is also liable to be fined for wounding her, with other limitations of absolute right.  When that sum is finally paid, which seldom happens but in cases of violent quarrel, the tali kulo (tie of relationship) is said to be putus (broken), and the woman becomes to all intents the slave of her lord.*

(Footnote.  I cannot omit to remark here that, however apposite the word tali, which in Malayan signifies a cord, may be to the subject of the marriage tie, there is very strong evidence of the term, as applied to this ceremony, having been adopted from the customs of the Hindu inhabitants of the peninsula of India, in whose language it has a different meaning.  Among others who have described their rites is M. Sonnerat.  In speaking of the mode of marriage called pariam, which, like the jujur, n’est autre chose qu’un achat que le mari fait de sa femme, he says, le mari doit aussi fournir le tali, petit joyau d’or, qu’il attache avec un cordon au col de la fille; c’est la derniere ceremonie; elle donne la sanction au marriage, qui ne peut plus etre rompu des que le tali est attache.  Voyage aux Indes etc. tome 1 page 70.  The reader will also find the Sumatran mode of marriage by ambel anak, or adoption, exactly described at page 72.  An engraving of the tali is given by P. Paolino, Systema Brahmanicum tab. 22.  This resemblance is not confined to the rites of marriage, for it is remarked by Sir W. Jones that, “among the laws of the Sumatrans two positive rules concerning sureties and interest appear to be taken word for word from the Indian legislators.”  Asiatic Researches Volume 3 page 9.)