Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/17

 GOVERNMENT. 5 amination, it will be found fhat the physical consti- tution of every race is best adapted for the cli- mate it inhabits. An example of the very rudest and earliest form of social polity is afforded in the man- ners of the negro tribes which inhabit the moun- tains of the Malayan Peninsula. The least im- proved of these are the tribes which inhabit the mountain Jarai^ in the territory of (the Malayan Prince of3Queda, bordering upon (the empire of) Siara. There are not in the whole mountain above three or four hundred grown persons. This population is subdivided into hordes of thirty or forty families each, who roam about the forests of the mountain, picking up wild roots or honey, and^ shooting, xvith poisoned arroxcs, the smaller game.- They seldom stay above fifteen days in one spot, and their houses consist of a few moveable posts, and a little occasional thatchj (They are in a state of perfect nakedness, though living in a medium rather inclement, for their usual station is seldom lower than the middle height of a mountain pro- bably six or seven thousand feet high.} There is a perfect equality of rank among them, and they have,Cwith respect to some descriptions of pro- perty ,3a community of goods. They acknowledge no leader, consulting age and experience just when ' it suits their purpose, and then only. Another race of the same people, whose station