out to them by the late Sultan of Johor, when for a short time Rembow came under his influence, about eighteen years ago; from what I have heard he most likely laughed at their customs, and advised them that the only way for professed Mohammadans was to follow the "Adat Tomonggong," in other words the law of the Prophet. Since that time Rembow customs have greatly changed, and in such matters as debt quarrels, a man may act for his wife instead of her own relations, the law inheritance also follows the code of Islam, so that a man's children may inherit his property instead of his wife's relations.
In spite, however, of these decided advances made by the clever Rembow people they are still behind in some of matters; for instance, the law of marriage is still the law exogamy as in force amongst savages; as the people say it is not lawful to marry within one perut, or sa waris, that is within the limits of a well defined group of families whose common descent is more or less clear from one ancestress who was probably an immigrant from Sumatra several hundred years ago; this is very different from the Mohamadan law on the subject, where the table of affinity is even less comprehensive that it is under Christian rule.
Another Rembow custom, which I expect is almost peculiar to it as a Mohammadan country, is, that a man may not have more than one wife at the same time, except by special authority of the Penghulu; I cannot find out when this custom arose, nor can I find any special saying connected with it; the people can only remember that it always prevailed in Rembow, in accordance with a vow made by a tribal chief in Menangkabau before he and his people migrated to Rembow. At any rate the idea has taken auch strong hold of the people, that although when the late Sultan of Johor came to Rembow, as before stated, he ridiculed the custom as opposed to the teaching of Islamism, the people still hold by what has been handed down to them by their ancestors, and I understand that even to-day there are only three men in Rembow with more than one wife.
