Although the Búgis, in general, are considered as great traders, the foreign commerce seems to be almost exclusively confined to the people of Wáju. These people are settled in considerable numbers in all the trading ports, from Acheen to Manilla, and it is they who form the crew of almost all the Búgis práhus that navigate the eastern seas.
Several Búgis práhus from Mákasar annually visit the northern coast of New Holland and the Gulf of Carpentaria in search of trípang, and sometimes a small party is left to collect the trípang in readiness for the arrival of the práhus in the following year.
The Búgis, indeed, is the great maritime and commercial state of the Archipelago. The cargoes of their vessels, particularly in opium, gold, and cloths, often amount to fifty or sixty thousand dollars each, and the people who navigate and are concerned in them are acknowledged to be fair and honourable traders.
The natives of the southern limb of Celebes are of a light active form of body, generally well made, and rather below the middle stature. They are said to be revengeful; but during the period of the British government at Makásar, few, if any, examples occurred to support such an assertion. Certain it is, that in no single instance, was the death of those who fell in a recent war between the two parties of the Makásar nation, avenged by their relations, although the persons by whose hands they had fallen were perfectly well known.
They attach themselves to their chiefs principally for their own convenience, but, in some cases, they have evinced a devoted fidelity. They often change their chief, but scarcely any thing can induce them to betray the chief they have left. In no instance has the práhu of a Dutchman or Chinese been carried off when navigated by Makásar or Búgis people. Agreements once entered into are invariably observed, and a Búgis is never known to swerve from his bargain. "That natural politeness which characterises the various nations distinguished by wearing what is termed the Malayan kris, is no where more forcibly exhibited than among the inhabitants of Celebes. Their minor associations are held together by all the attachment and warmth which distinguished the clans of North Britain:—the same bold spirit of independence and enterprize distinguishes the lower orders, whilst the pride of ancestry and the romance of chivalry are the delight of the higher classes. Attached to the chase as an amusement, rather than as the means of subsistence, the harvest is no sooner reaped, than each feudal lord, with his associates and followers, devotes himself to its pursuits. The population being equally at the command of the feudal lord, whether in time of peace or war, agricultural pursuits, beyond a bare subsistence, are but little attended to." On the other hand, they are throughout notorious thieves, and scarcely consider murder as a crime. Instances of cold-blooded barbarous murders frequently occurred within two miles of the European fort, previously to the arrival of the British and the abolition of the slave trade. The unfortunate people who had been kidnapped and brought down to Makásar for sale, were often murdered to prevent discovery where a ready sale was not found.
Many of their customs are also extremely savage. The head of an enemy of rank is invariably severed from the dead body, and instances have more than once occurred of the heart being cut out and eaten by the conquerors. They are fond of the blood and raw flesh of animals. Láwar dára, which is the liver and heart of a deer, cut into slices and mixed raw with the warm blood, is esteemed their favourite dish.
The present form of government in all the states, except Wáju, appears to be legal, fettered by a powerful aristocracy who elect the monarch: in Lúwu, particularly, the sovereign possesses a title, with more pomp and state attached to it than any other on the island, but with scarcely a shadow of authority. In Sedéndreng he is the most despotic, which has enabled him to become the richest and best armed prince in the island. A species of feudal system prevails throughout, but it does not extend to property in the soil. Each individual of a state considers himself the liege subject of some petty chieftain, who is himself equally bound to a more powerful one, and so on, by a regular chain, to the sovereigns of Góa, (Makásar), Bóni, Láwu, Sóping, Sedéndring, or Tanéte, or to the aristocracy of Wáju.
In each sovereignty there are two classes of nobility, called Paseajáng'an and Palélé. Paseajáng'an are the barons of the state, and may be considered in every respect as subjects, being obliged to obey all orders they receive from the sovereign, whereas the Palélé are independent petty chieftains (who have probably again under them both Paseajáng'an and Palélé), who have attached themselves to a particular sovereign, but are only obliged to do fixed feudal services, such as to assist with their followers in case of war, to attend the public feasts given by the sovereign, and to assist in building and repairing the palace of state. In Sóping each Palélé is obliged to furnish and keep up at all times one effective soldier, called jua, for the immediate protection of the sovereign.
When the sovereign wishes to give orders to his Palélé, he summons him to his presence by a messenger who bears a bila-bila; the bila-bila is a leaf of the lóntar with a number of knots on it, specifying the number of days at the expiration of which the vassal is required to attend. The Palélé receives it seated in the midst of his head people, with his right hand on the handle of his kris, and as soon as he has got it rises, draws his kris, and swears on it to be faithful to his sovereign. To neglect this summons is a breach of allegiance.
The provinces under European authority are purely feudal; the Dutch, as sovereign, considering themselves as sole proprietor of the soil, and the regents, or feudal lords, being at all times liable to immediate removal and dispossession, should they neglect to perform the feudal service required, of whatever nature it may be.