Story of Bali, Indonesia

Sumatra is Ultima Thule in these Indies. North Sumatra, where you're going, is the western extremity of the Indonesian archipelago. It is big, though. Sumatra: not an-isl2nd like Ball that you might have difficulty finding on the map. From the eastern end you are over very soon after leaving Djakarta to Medan where you arc going, is about a thousand miles. Sumatra is almost the size of Spain. It would make three and a, half javas-and has only a quarter of Java's population. Much of Sumatra is jungled mountains, which run the length on the Indian Ocean (pardon, Indonesian Ocean since Sukarno) side of this long I island that might be said to look on the map like a stumpy-tailed, pregnant crocodile.Most of the ceremonial death dances are found in South and Central Sulawesi. The most important among their are Ma'badong Dance, the Mamarakka Dance, the Padondan Dance, the Ma'randing Dance and the Magellu' Dance.

THE MA'BADONG DANCE. This is danced by men who sing while they dance. It is performed when a member of the family dies and the purpose is to make the soul feel at home in the world of the souls.

THE MA'MARAKKA DANCE. It is danced by girls and young men who sing while they dance. It is performed when a member of the family dies.

Sumatra is beginning to move ~ out' of the Maugham-type novel the oil-industry handbook the rubber- and timber getters' gazetteer and into the tourist guide-book. As yet in the Golden Guide to South & East Asia Sumatra gets only one page out of 500 pages. Its main tourist attractions are Lake Toba and the Batak people's remarkable houses in North Sumatra.

This plane appears to have only two other European passengers. They don't look like, tourists. They arc white-shirt types who could be Goodyear Rubber accountants going out to do an audit at the Deli plantation. Next to me is the most aromatic Indian lady. The flowers she carries are tropically fragrant. and she laves her arms with a heavily sweet-scented pomade. Tobacco fumes and the faint smell of the proffered airline coffee fight back unavailingly. Night reddens into day and overcast obscures the geography of Sumatra until we come down through grey nothingness of cloud to the sight of a tape-. worm river eating its way through sodden, palm-studded green that now has the geometry of the airport of Medan (pronounced Maydan).

THE MASSALLO' DANCE. ' This also a death-dance and is danced by young men and women who while dancing play with handkerchief they carry in their hands.

THE PA'DONDAN DANCE. This is a rather cheerful death-dance which is held after the family of the deceased have slaughtered buffaloes as offerings. The dancers are girls and young men who clap their hands while dancing.

THE MA'RANDING DANCE. The word maranding comes from the word randing meaning to glorify while dancing. This dance is held to praise the courage and strength of the ' deceased when still alive. It is danced by several men, each carrying large shield and
sword. This ceremonial dance is also a war-dance because each dancer shows his skill in handling the weapons. The Maranding dance is danced at the ceremony held when the coffin is carried to the cave in the mountain rock. The dancers also accompany the corpse to his permanent resting place.

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