Ancient Indian Colonization in South-East Asia c7.62

c7.62

But these primitive peoples were not savages or barbarians, and we may get some idea of their culture by a study of their languages and of the manners and customs of their descendants who still live in hills and dales unaffected by later civilization. They cultivated banana, sugarcane, cucumber, etc. and also probably rice. They were fond of hunting and fishing and tended buffaloes, pigs, and probably also cows, for meat and milk. They built houses of bamboo, wood and rattan and knew the use of iron. They wore barks of trees, though some of them knew the art of weaving. They knew the art of navigation and the elementary knowledge of astronomy necessary for it. Their religion was animism pure and simple.