THE COUNTRY OF THE BATTAS.
TAPPANULI-BAY.
JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.
CASSIA-TREES.
GOVERNMENTS.
ARMS.
WARFARE.
TRADE.
FAIRS.
FOOD.
MANNERS.
LANGUAGE.
WRITING.
RELIGION.
FUNERALS.
CRIMES.
EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.
BATTAS.
One of the most considerable distinctions of people in the island, and by
many regarded as having the strongest claims to originality, is the
nation of the Battas (properly Batak), whose remarkable dissimilitude to
the other inhabitants, in the genius of their customs and manners, and
especially in some extraordinary usages, renders it necessary that a
particular degree of attention should be paid to their description.
SITUATION OF THE COUNTRY.
This country is bounded on the north by that of Achin, from which it is
separated by the mountains of Papa and Deira, and on the south by the
independent district of Rau or Rawa; extending along the sea-coast on the
western side from the river of Singkel to that of Tabuyong, but inland,
to the back of Ayer Bangis, and generally across the island, which is
narrow in that part, to the eastern coast; but more or less encroached
upon by the Malayan and Achinese establishments in the most convenient
maritime situations, for the purposes of their commerce. It is very
populous, and chiefly in the central parts, where are extensive open or
naked plains, on the borders (as it is said) of a great lake; the soil
fertile, and cultivation so much more prevalent than in the southern
countries, which are mostly covered with woods, that there is scarcely a
tree to be seen excepting those planted by the natives about their
villages, which are not, as elsewhere, on the banks of rivers, but
wherever a strong situation presents itself. Water indeed is not so
abundant as to the southward, which may be attributed to the
comparatively level surface, the chain of high mountains which extends
northwards from the straits of Sunda through the interior of the island,
in a great measure terminating with gunong Passummah or Mount Ophir.
About the bay of Tappanuli however the land is high and wooded near the
coast.
ITS DIVISIONS.
The Batta territory is divided (according to the information obtained by
the English Residents) into the following principal districts; Ankola,
Padambola, Mandiling, Toba, Selindong, and Singkel, of which the first
has five, the third three, and the fourth five subordinate tribes.
According to the Dutch account published in the Transactions of the
Batavian Society, which is very circumstantial, it is divided into three
small kingdoms. One of these named Simamora is situated far inland and
contains a number of villages, and among others those named Batong, Ria,
Allas, Batadera, Kapkap (where the district producing benzoin commences),
Batahol, Kotta-tinggi (the place of the king's residence), with two
places lying on the eastern coast called Suitara-male and Jambu-ayer.
This kingdom is said to yield much fine gold from the mines of Batong and
Sunayang. Bata-salindong also contains many districts, in some of which
benzoin, and in others fine gold, is collected. The residence of the king
is at Salindong. Bata-gopit lies at the foot of a volcano-mountain of
that name, from whence, at the time of an eruption, the natives procure
sulphur, to be afterwards employed in the manufacture of gunpowder. The
little kingdom of Butar lies northeastward of the preceding and reaches
to the eastern coast, where are the places named Pulo Serony and Batu
Bara; the latter enjoying a considerable trade; also Longtong and
Sirigar, at the mouth of a great river named Assahan. Butar yields
neither camphor, benzoin, nor gold, and the inhabitants support
themselves by cultivation. The residence of the king is at a town of the
same name.
ANCIENT BUILDING.
High up on the river of Batu Bara, which empties itself into the straits
of Malacca, is found a large brick building, concerning the erection of
which no tradition is preserved amongst the people. It is described as a
square, or several squares, and at one corner is an extremely high
pillar, supposed by them to have been designed for carrying a flag.
Images or reliefs of human figures are carved in the walls, which they
conceive to be Chinese (perhaps Hindu) idols. The bricks, of which some
were brought to Tappanuli, are of a smaller size than those used by the
English.
SINGKEL.
Singkel River, by much the largest on the western coast of the island,
has its rise in the distant mountains of Daholi, in the territory of
Achin, and at the distance of about thirty miles from the sea receives
the waters of the Sikere, at a place called Pomoko, running through a
great extent of the Batta country. After this junction it is very broad,
and deep enough for vessels of considerable burden, but the bar is
shallow and dangerous, having no more than six feet at low-water
spring-tides, and the rise is also six feet. The breadth here is about
three-quarters of a mile. Much of the lower parts of the country through
which it has its course is overflowed during the rainy season, but not at
two places, called by Captain Forrest Rambong and Jambong, near the
mouth. The principal town lies forty miles up the river on the northern
branch. On the southern is a town named Kiking, where more trade is
carried on by the Malays and Achinese than at the former, the Samponan or
Papa mountains producing more benzoin than those of Daholi. It is said in
a Dutch manuscript that in three days' navigation above the town of
Singkel you come to a great lake, the extent of which is not known.
Barus, the next place of any consequence to the southward, is chiefly
remarkable for having given name throughout the East to the Kapurbarus
or native camphor, as it is often termed to distinguish it from that
which is imported from Japan and China, as already explained. This was
the situation of the most remote of the Dutch factories, long since
withdrawn. It is properly a Malayan establishment, governed by a raja, a
bandhara, and eight pangulus, and with this peculiarity, that the rajas
and bandharas must be alternately and reciprocally of two great families,
named Dulu and D'ilhir. The assumed jurisdiction is said to have extended
formerly to Natal. The town is situated about a league from the coast,
and two leagues farther inland are eight small villages inhabited by
Battas, the inhabitants of which purchase the camphor and benzoin from
the people of the Diri mountains, extending from the southward of Singkel
to the hill of Lasa, behind Barus, where the Tobat district commences.
TAPPANULI.
The celebrated bay of Tappanuli stretches into the heart of the Batta
country, and its shores are everywhere inhabited by that people, who
barter the produce of their land for the articles they stand in need of
from abroad, but do not themselves make voyages by sea. Navigators assert
that the natural advantages of this bay are scarcely surpassed in any
other part of the globe; that all the navies of the world might ride
there with perfect security in every weather; and that such is the
complication of anchoring-places within each other that a large ship
could be so hid in them as not to be found without a tedious search. At
the island of Punchong kechil, on which our settlement stands, it is a
common practice to moor the vessels by a hawser to a tree on shore.
Timber for masts and yards is to be procured in the various creeks with
great facility. Not being favourably situated with respect to the general
track of outward and homeward-bound shipping, and its distance from the
principal seat of our important Indian concerns being considerable, it
has not hitherto been much used for any great naval purposes; but at the
same time our government should be aware of the danger that might arise
from suffering any other maritime power to get footing in a place of this
description. The natives are in general inoffensive, and have given
little disturbance to our establishments; but parties of Achinese traders
(without the concurrence or knowledge, as there is reason to believe, of
their own government), jealous of our commercial influence, long strove
to drive us from the bay by force of arms, and we were under the
necessity of carrying on a petty warfare for many years in order to
secure our tranquillity. In the year 1760 Tappanuli was taken by a
squadron of French ships under the command of the Comte d'Estaing; and in
October 1809, being nearly defenceless, it was again taken by the Creole
French frigate, Captain Ripaud, joined afterwards by the Venus and La
Manche; under the orders of Commodore Hamelin. By the terms of the
surrender private property was to be secured, but in a few days, after
the most friendly assurances had been given to the acting resident, with
whom the French officers were living, this engagement was violated under
the ill-founded pretence that some gold had been secreted, and everything
belonging to the English gentlemen and ladies, as well as to the native
settlers, was plundered or destroyed by fire, with circumstances of
atrocity and brutality that would have disgraced savages. The
garden-house of the chief (Mr. Prince, who happened to be then absent
from Tappanuli) at Batu-buru on the main was likewise burned, together
with his horses, and his cattle were shot at and maimed. Even the books
of accounts, containing the statement of outstanding debts due to the
trading-concern of the place were, in spite of every entreaty,
maliciously destroyed or carried off, by which an irreparable loss, from
which the enemy could not derive a benefit, is sustained by the
unfortunate sufferers. It cannot be supposed that the government of a
great and proud empire can give its sanction to this disgraceful mode of
carrying on war.
In the Philosophical Transactions for the year 1778 is a brief account of
the Batta country and the manners of its inhabitants, extracted from the
private letters of Mr. Charles Miller, the Company's botanist, whose
observations I have had repeated occasion to quote. I shall now
communicate to the reader the substance of a report made by him of a
journey performed in company with Mr. Giles Holloway, then resident of
Tappanuli, through the interior of the country of which we are now
speaking, with a view to explore its productions, particularly the
cassia, which at that time was thought likely to prove an object of
commerce worthy of attention.
MR. MILLER'S JOURNEY INTO THE COUNTRY.
Says Mr. Miller:
Previously to our setting out on this journey we consulted people who had
formerly been engaged in the cassia-trade with regard to the most proper
places to visit. They informed us that the trees were to be found in two
different districts; namely in the inland parts to the northward of the
old settlement at Tappanuli; and also in the country of Padambola, which
lies between fifty and sixty miles more to the southward. They advised us
to prefer going into the Padambola country, although the more distant, on
account of the inhabitants of the Tappanuli country (as they represented)
being frequently troublesome to strangers. They also told me there were
two kinds of the kulit manis, the one of which, from their account of it,
I was in hopes might prove to be the true cinnamon-tree.
June 21st, 1772. We set out from Pulo Punchong and went in boats to the
quallo (mouth or entrance) of Pinang Suri river, which is in the bay,
about ten or twelve miles south-east of Punchong. Next morning we went up
the river in sampans, and in about six hours arrived at a place called
quallo Lumut. The whole of the land on both sides of the river is low,
covered with wood, and uninhabited. In these woods I observed camphor
trees, two species of oak, maranti, rangi, and several other
timber-trees. About a quarter of a mile from that place, on the opposite
side of the river, is a Batta kampong, situated on the summit of a
regular and very beautiful little hill, which rises in a pyramidical
form, in the middle of a small meadow. The raja of this kampong, being
informed by the Malays that we were at their houses, came over to see us,
and invited us to his house, where we were received with great ceremony,
and saluted with about thirty guns. This kampong consists of about eight
or ten houses, with their respective padi-houses. It is strongly
fortified with a double fence of strong rough camphor planks, driven deep
into the earth, and about eight or nine feet high, so placed that their
points project considerably outward. These fences are about twelve feet
asunder, and in the space between them the buffaloes are kept at night.
Without-side these fences they plant a row of a prickly kind of bamboo,
which forms an almost impenetrable hedge from twelve to twenty feet
thick. In the sapiyau or building in which the raja receives strangers we
saw a man's skull hanging up, which he told us was hung there as a
trophy, it being the skull of an enemy they had taken prisoner, whose
body (according to the custom of the Battas) they had eaten about two
months before. June 23rd. We walked through a level woody country to the
kampong of Lumut, and next day to Satarong, where I observed several
plantations of benzoin-trees, some cotton, indigo, turmeric, tobacco, and
a few pepper-vines. We next proceeded to Tappolen, to Sikia, and to
Sa-pisang. This last is situated on the banks of Batang-tara river, three
or four days' journey from the sea; so that our course had hitherto been
nearly parallel to the coast.
July 1st. We left Sa-pisang and took a direction towards the hills,
following nearly the course of the Batang-tara. We travelled all this day
through a low, woody, and entirely uncultivated country, which afforded
nothing worthy of observation. Our guide had proposed to reach a kampong,
called Lumbu; but missing the road we were obliged to wade up the river
between four and five miles, and at length arrived at a ladang extremely
fatigued; where the badness of the weather obliged us to stop and take up
our quarters in an open padi-shed. The next day the river was so swelled
by the heavy rain which had fallen the preceding day that we could not
prosecute our journey, and were obliged to pass it and the remaining
night in the same uncomfortable situation. (This is the middle of the dry
season in the southern parts of the island.) July 3rd. We left the ladang
and walked through a very irregular and uninhabited tract, full of rocks
and covered with woods. We this day crossed a ridge of very steep and
high hills, and in the afternoon came to an inhabited and well-cultivated
country on the edge of the plains of Ancola. We slept this night in a
small open shed, and next day proceeded to a kampong called Koto Lambong.
July 5th. Went through a more open and very pleasant country to
Terimbaru, a large kampong on the southern edge of the plains of Ancola.
The land hereabout is entirely clear of wood, and either ploughed and
sown with padi or jagong (maize), or used as pasture for their numerous
herds of buffaloes, kine, and horses. The raja being informed of our
intentions to come there sent his son and between thirty and forty men,
armed with lances and matchlock guns, to meet us, who escorted us to
their kampong, beating gongs and firing their guns all the way. The raja
received us in great form, and with civility ordered a buffalo to be
killed, detained us a day, and when we proceeded on our journey sent his
son with a party to escort us. I observed that all the unmarried women
wore a great number of tin rings in their ears (some having fifty in each
ear), which circumstance, together with the appearance of the country,
seemed to indicate its abounding with minerals; but on making inquiry I
found that the tin was brought from the straits of Malacca. Having made
the accustomed presents to the raja we left Terimbaru, July 7th, and
proceeded to Sa-masam, the raja of which place, attended by sixty or
seventy men, well armed, met us and conducted us to his kampong, where he
had prepared a house for our reception, treating us with much hospitality
and respect. The country round Sa-masam is full of small hills but clear
of wood, and mostly pasture ground for their cattle, of which they have
great abundance. I met with nothing remarkable here excepting a prickly
shrub called by the natives Andalimon, the seed-vessels and leaves of
which have a very agreeable spicy taste, and are used by them in their
curries.
July 10th. Proceeded on our journey to Batang Onan, the kampong where the
Malays used to purchase the cassia from the Battas. After about three
hours walk over an open hilly country we again came into thick woods, in
which we were obliged to pass the night. The next morning we crossed
another ridge of very high hills, covered entirely with woods. In these
we saw the wild benzoin-tree. It grows to a much larger size than the
cultivated kind, and yields a different sort of resin called kaminian
dulong or sweet-scented benzoin. It differs in being commonly in more
detached pieces, and having a smell resembling that of almonds when
bruised. Arrived at Batang Onan in the afternoon. This kampong is
situated in a very extensive plain on the banks of a large river which
empties itself into the straits of Malacca, and is said to be navigable
for sloops to within a day's journey of Batang Onan.
CASSIA-TREES.
July 11th. Went to Panka-dulut, the raja of which place claims the
property of the cassia-trees, and his people used to cut and cure the
bark and transport it to the former place. The nearest trees are about
two hours walk from Panka-dulut on a high ridge of mountains. They grow
from forty to sixty feet high, and have large spreading heads. They are
not cultivated, but grow in the woods. The bark is commonly taken from
the bodies of the trees of a foot or foot and half diameter; the bark
being so thin, when the trees are younger, as to lose all its qualities
very soon. I here inquired for the different sorts of cassia-tree of
which I had been told, but was now informed that there was only one sort,
and that the difference they mentioned was occasioned entirely by the
soil and situation in which the trees grow; that those which grow in a
rocky dry soil have red shoots, and their bark is of superior quality to
that of trees which grow in moist clay, whose shoots are green. I also
endeavoured to get some information with regard to their method of curing
and quilling the cassia, and told them my intentions of trying some
experiments towards improving its quality and rendering it more valuable.
They told me that none had been cut for two years past, on account of a
stop being put to the purchases at Tappanuli; and that if I was come with
authority to open the trade I should call together the people of the
neighbouring kampongs, kill a buffalo for them, and assure them publicly
that the cassia would be again received; in which case they would
immediately begin to cut and cure it, and would willingly follow any
instructions I should give them; but that otherwise they would take no
trouble about it. I must observe that I was prevented from getting so
satisfactory an account of the cassia as I could have wished by the
ill-behaviour of the person who accompanied us as guide, from whom, by
his thorough knowledge of the country, and of the cassia-trade, of which
he had formerly been the chief manager, we thought we had reason to
expect all requisite assistance and information, but who not only refused
to give it, but prevented as much as possible our receiving any from the
country people. July 14th. We left Batang Onan in order to return,
stopped that night at a kampong called Koto Moran, and the next evening
reached Sa-masam; from whence we proceeded by a different road from what
we had travelled before to Sapisang, where we procured sampans, and went
down the Batang-tara river to the sea. July 22nd we returned to Pulo
Punchong.
End of Mr. Miller's Narrative.
It has since been understood that they were intentionally misled, and
taken by a circuitous route to prevent their seeing a particular kampong
of some consideration at the back of Tappanuli, or for some other
interested object. Near the latter place, on the main, Mr. John Marsden,
who went thither to be present at the funeral of one of their chiefs,
observed two old monuments in stone, one the figure of a man, the other
of a man on an elephant, tolerably well executed, but they know not by
whom, nor is there any among them who could do the same work now. The
features were strongly Batta.
NATAL.
Our settlement at Natal (properly Natar), some miles to the south of the
large river of Tabuyong, and on the confines of the Batta country, which
extends at the back of it, is a place of much commerce, but not from its
natural or political circumstances of importance in other respects. It is
inhabited by settlers there, for the convenience of trade, from the
countries of Achin, Rau, and Menangkabau, who render it populous and
rich. Gold of very fine quality is procured from the country (some of the
mines being said to lie within ten miles of the factory), and there is a
considerable vent for imported goods, the returns for which are chiefly
made in that article and camphor. Like other Malayan towns it is governed
by datus, the chief of whom, styled datu besar or chief magistrate, has
considerable sway; and although the influence of the Company is here
predominant its authority is by no means so firmly established as in the
pepper-districts to the southward, owing to the number of people, their
wealth, and enterprising, independent spirit.* It may be said that they
are rather managed and conciliated than ruled. They find the English
useful as moderators between their own contending factions, which often
have recourse to arms, even upon points of ceremonious precedence, and
are reasoned into accommodation by our resident going among them
unattended. At an earlier period our protection was convenient to them
against the usurpation, as they termed it, of the Dutch, of whose
attempts and claims they were particularly jealous. By an article of the
treaty of Paris in 1763 these pretensions were ascertained as they
respected the two European powers, and the settlements of Natal and
Tappanuli were expressly restored to the English. They had however
already been re-occupied. Neither in fact have any right but what
proceeds from the will and consent of the native princes.
(*Footnote. Upon the re-establishment of the factory in 1762 the resident
pointed out to the Datu besar, with a degree of indignation, the number
of dead bodies which were frequently seen floating down the river, and
proposed his cooperating to prevent assassinations in the country,
occasioned by the anarchy the place fell into during the temporary
interruption of the Company's influence. "I cannot assent to any measures
for that purpose," replied the datu: "I reap from these murders an
advantage of twenty dollars a head when the families prosecute." A
compensation of thirty dollars per month was offered him, and to this he
scarcely submitted, observing that he should be a considerable loser, as
there fell in this manner at least three men in the month. At another
time, when the resident attempted to carry some regulation into
execution, he said, "kami tradah suka begito, orang kaya!" "We do not
choose to allow it, sir;" and bared his right arm as a signal of attack
to his dependants in case the point had been insisted on. Of late years
habit and a sense of mutual interest have rendered them more
accommodating.)
BATTA GOVERNMENTS.
The government of the Batta country, although nominally in the hands of
three or more sovereign rajas, is effectively (so far as our intercourse
with the people enables us to ascertain) divided into numberless petty
chiefships, the heads of which, also styled rajas, have no appearance of
being dependant upon any superior power, but enter into associations with
each other, particularly with those belonging to the same tribe, for
mutual defence and security against any distant enemy. They are at the
same time extremely jealous of any increase of their relative power, and
on the slightest pretext a war breaks out between them. The force of
different kampongs is notwithstanding this very unequal, and some rajas
possess a much more extensive sway than others; and it must needs be so,
where every man who can get a dozen followers and two or three muskets
sets up for independence. Inland of a place called Sokum great respect
was paid to a female chief or uti (which word I conceive to be a liquid
pronunciation of putri, a princess), whose jurisdiction comprehended many
tribes. Her grandson, who was the reigning prince, had lately been
murdered by an invader, and she had assembled an army of two or three
thousand men to take revenge. An agent of the Company went up the river
about fifteen miles in hopes of being able to accommodate a matter that
threatened materially the peace of the country; but he was told by the
uti that, unless he would land his men, and take a decided part in her
favour, he had no business there, and he was obliged to reembark without
effecting anything. The aggressor followed him the same night and made
his escape. It does not appear likely, from the manners and dispositions
of the people, that the whole of the country was ever united under one
supreme head.
AUTHORITY OF RAJAS.
The more powerful rajas assume authority over the lives of their
subjects. The dependants are bound to attend their chief in his journeys
and in his wars, and when an individual refuses he is expelled from the
society without permission to take his property along with him. They are
supplied with food for their expeditions, and allowed a reward for each
person they kill. The revenues of the chief arise principally from fines
of cattle adjudged in criminal proceedings, which he always appropriates
to himself; and from the produce of the camphor and benzoin trees
throughout his district; but this is not rigorously insisted upon. When
he pays his gaming debts he imposes what arbitrary value he thinks proper
on the horses and buffaloes (no coin being used
in the country), which he delivers, and his subjects are obliged to
accept them at that rate. They are forced to work in their turns, for a
certain number of days, in his rice plantations. There is, in like
manner, a lesser kind of service for land held of any other person, the
tenant being bound to pay his landlord respect wherever he meets him, and
to provide him with entertainment whenever he comes to his house. The
people seem to have a permanent property in their possessions, selling
them to each other as they think fit. If a man plants trees and leaves
them, no future occupier can sell them, though he may eat the fruit.
Disputes and litigations of any kind that happen between people belonging
to the same kampong are settled by a magistrate appointed for that
purpose, and from him it is said there is no appeal to the raja: when
they arise between persons of different kampongs they are adjusted at a
meeting of the respective rajas. When a party is sent down to the Bay to
purchase salt or on other business it is accompanied by an officer who
takes cognizance of their behaviour, and sometimes punishes on the spot
such as are criminal or refractory. This is productive of much order and
decency.
SUCCESSION.
It is asserted that the succession to the chiefships does not go in the
first instance to the son of the deceased, but to the nephew by a sister;
and that the same extraordinary rule, with respect to property in
general, prevails also amongst the Malays of that part of the island, and
even in the neighbourhood of Padang. The authorities for this are various
and unconnected with each other, but not sufficiently circumstantial to
induce me to admit it as a generally established practice.
RESPECT FOR THE SULTAN OF MENANGKABAU.
Notwithstanding the independent spirit of the Battas, and their contempt
of all power that would affect a superiority over their little societies,
they have a superstitious veneration for the sultan of Menangkabau, and
show blind submission to his relations and emissaries, real or pretended,
when such appear among them for the purpose of levying contributions:
even when insulted and put in fear of their lives they make no attempt at
resistance: they think that their affairs would never prosper; that their
padi would be blighted, and their buffaloes die; that they would remain
under a kind of spell for offending those sacred messengers.
PERSONS.
The Battas are in their persons rather below the stature of the Malays,
and their complexions are fairer; which may perhaps be owing to their
distance, for the most part, from the sea, an element they do not at all
frequent.
DRESS.
Their dress is commonly of a sort of cotton cloth manufactured by
themselves, thick, harsh, and wiry, about four astas or cubits long, and
two in breadth, worn round the middle, with a scarf over the shoulder.
These are of mixed colours, the prevalent being a brownish red and a blue
approaching to black. They are fond of adorning them, particularly the
scarf, with strings and tassels of beads. The covering of the head is
usually the bark of a tree, but the superior class wear a strip of
foreign blue cloth in imitation of the Malayan destars, and a few have
bajus (outer garments) of chintz. The young women, beside the cloth round
the middle, have one over the breasts, and (as noticed in Mr. Miller's
journal) wear in their ears numerous rings of tin, as well as several
large rings of thick brass wire round their necks. On festival days
however they ornament themselves with earrings of gold, hair-pins, of
which the heads are fashioned like birds or dragons, a kind of
three-cornered breastplate, and hollow rings upon the upper arm, all, in
like manner, of gold. The kima shell, which abounds in the bay, is
likewise worked into arm-rings, whiter, and taking a better polish than
ivory.
ARMS.
Their arms are matchlock guns, with which they are expert marksmen,
bamboo lances or spears with long iron heads, and a side-weapon called
jono, which resembles and is worn as a sword rather than a kris. The
cartridge-boxes are provided with a number of little wooden cases, each
containing a charge for the piece. In these are carried likewise the
match, and the smaller ranjaus, the longer being in a joint of bamboo,
slung like a quiver over the shoulder. They have machines curiously
carved and formed like the beak of a large bird for holding bullets, and
others of peculiar construction for a reserve of powder. These hang in
front. On the right side hang the flint and steel, and also the
tobacco-pipe. Their guns, the locks of which {for holding the match) are
of copper, they are supplied with by traders from Menangkabau; the swords
are of their own workmanship, and they also manufacture their own
gunpowder, extracting the saltpetre, as it is said, from the soil taken
from under houses that have been long inhabited (which in consequence of
an uncleanly practice is strongly impregnated with animal salts),
together with that collected in places where goats are kept. Through this
earth water is filtered, and being afterwards suffered to evaporate the
saltpetre is found at the bottom of the vessel. Their proper standard in
war is a horse's head, from whence flows a long mane or tail; beside
which they have colours of red or white cloth. For drums they use gongs,
and in action set up a kind of warwhoop.
WARFARE.
The spirit of war is excited among these people by small provocation, and
their resolutions for carrying it into effect are soon taken. Their life
appears in fact to be a perpetual state of hostility, and they are always
prepared for attack and defence. When they proceed to put their designs
into execution the first act of defiance is firing, without ball, into
the kampong of their enemies. Three days are then allowed for the party
fired upon to propose terms of accommodation, and if this is not done, or
the terms are such as cannot be agreed to, war is then fully declared.
This ceremony of firing with powder only is styled carrying smoke to the
adversary. During the course of their wars, which sometimes last for two
or three years, they seldom meet openly in the field or attempt to decide
their contest by a general engagement, as the mutual loss of a dozen men
might go near to ruin both parties, nor do they ever engage hand to hand,
but keep at a pretty safe distance, seldom nearer than random-shot,
excepting in case of sudden surprise. They march in single files, and
usually fire kneeling. It is not often that they venture a direct attack
upon each other's works, but watch opportunities of picking off
stragglers passing through the woods. A party of three or four will
conceal themselves near the footways, and if they see any of their foes
they fire and run away immediately; planting ranjaus after them to
prevent pursuit. On these occasions a man will subsist upon a potato a
day, in which they have much the advantage of the Malays (against whom
they are often engaged in warfare), who require to be better fed.
FORTIFICATIONS.
They fortify their kampongs with large ramparts of earth, halfway up
which they plant brushwood. There is a ditch without the rampart, and on
each side of that a tall palisade of camphor timber. Beyond this is an
impenetrable hedge of prickly bamboo, which when of sufficient growth
acquires an extraordinary density, and perfectly conceals all appearance
of a town. Ranjaus, of a length both for the body and the feet, are
disposed without all these, and render the approaches hazardous to
assailants who are almost naked. At each corner of the fortress, instead
of a tower or watch-house, they contrive to have a tall tree, which they
ascend to reconnoitre or fire from. But they are not fond of remaining on
the defensive in these fortified villages, and therefore, leaving a few
to guard them, usually advance into the plains, and throw up temporary
breast-works and entrenchments.
TRADE.
The natives of the sea-coast exchange their benzoin, camphor, and cassia
(the quantity of gold-dust is very inconsiderable) for iron, steel,
brass-wire, and salt, of which last article a hundred thousand bamboo
measures are annually taken off in the bay of Tappanuli. These they
barter again with the more inland inhabitants, in the mode that shall
presently be described, for the products and manufactures of the country,
particularly the home-made cloth; a very small quantity of cotton
piece-goods being imported from the coast and disposed of to the natives.
What they do take off is chiefly blue-cloth for the head, and chintz.
FAIRS HELD.
For the convenience of carrying on the inland-trade there are established
at the back of Tappanuli, which is their great mart, four stages, at
which successively they hold public fairs or markets on every fourth day
throughout the year; each fair, of course, lasting one day. The people in
the district of the fourth stage assemble with their goods at the
appointed place, to which those of the third resort in order to purchase
them. The people of the third, in like manner, supply the wants of the
second, and the second of the first, who dispose, on the day the market
is held, of the merchandise for which they have trafficked with the
Europeans and Malays. On these occasions all hostilities are suspended.
Each man who possesses a musket carries it with a green bough in the
muzzle, as a token of peace, and afterwards, when he comes to the spot,
following the example of the director or manager of the party, discharges
the loading into a mound of earth, in which, before his departure, he
searches for his ball. There is but one house at the place where the
market is held, and that is for the purpose of gaming. The want of booths
is supplied by the shade of regular rows of fruit-trees, mostly durian,
of which one avenue is reserved for the women. The dealings are conducted
with order and fairness; the chief remaining at a little distance, to be
referred to in case of dispute, and a guard is at hand, armed with
lances, to keep the peace; yet with all this police, which bespeaks
civilization, I have been assured by those who have had an opportunity of
attending their meetings that in the whole of their appearance and
deportment there is more of savage life than is observed in the manners
of the Rejangs, or inhabitants of Lampong. Traders from the remoter Batta
districts, lying north and south, assemble at these periodical markets,
where all their traffic is carried on, and commodities bartered. They are
not however peculiar to this country, being held, among other places, at
Batang-kapas and Ipu. By the Malays they are termed onan.
ESTIMATE BY COMMODITIES INSTEAD OF COIN.
Having no coin all value is estimated among them by certain commodities.
In trade they calculate by tampangs (cakes) of benzoin; in transactions
among themselves more commonly by buffaloes: sometimes brass wire and
sometimes beads are used as a medium. A galang, or ring of brass wire,
represents about the value of a dollar. But for small payments salt is
the most in use. A measure called a salup, weighing about two pounds, is
equal to a fanam or twopence-halfpenny: a balli, another small measure,
goes for four keppeng, or three-fifths of a penny.
FOOD.
The ordinary food of the lower class of people is maize and
sweet-potatoes, the rajas and great men alone indulging themselves with
rice. Some mix them together. It is only on public occasions that they
kill cattle for food; but not being delicate in their appetites they do
not scruple to eat part of a dead buffalo, hog, rat, alligator, or any
wild animal with which they happen to meet. Their rivers are said not to
abound with fish. Horse-flesh they esteem their most exquisite meat, and
for this purpose feed them upon grain and pay great attention to their
keep. They are numerous in the country, and the Europeans at Bencoolen
are supplied with many good ones from thence, but not with the finest, as
these are reserved for their festivals. They have also, says Mr. Miller,
great quantities of small black dogs, with erect pointed ears, which they
fatten and eat. Toddy or palm-wine they drink copiously at their feasts.
BUILDINGS.
The houses are built with frames of wood, with the sides of boards, and
roof covered with iju. They usually consist of a single large room, which
is entered by a trap-door in the middle. The number seldom exceeds twenty
in one kampong; but opposite to each is a kind of open building that
serves for sitting in during the day, and as a sleepingplace for the
unmarried men at night. These together form a sort of street. To each
kampong there is also a balei, where the inhabitants assemble for
transacting public business, celebrating feasts, and the reception of
strangers, whom they entertain with frankness and hospitality. At the end
of this building is a place divided off, from whence the women see the
spectacles of fencing and dancing; and below that is a kind of orchestra
for music.
DOMESTIC MANNERS.
The men are allowed to marry as many wives as they please, or can afford,
and to have half a dozen is not uncommon. Each of these sits in a
different part of the large room, and sleeps exposed to the others; not
being separated by any partition or distinction of apartments. Yet the
husband finds it necessary to allot to each of them their several
fireplaces and cooking utensils, where they dress their own victuals
separately, and prepare his in turns. How is this domestic state and the
flimsiness of such an imaginary barrier to be reconciled with our ideas
of the furious, ungovernable passions of love and jealousy supposed to
prevail in an eastern harem? or must custom be allowed to supersede all
other influence, both moral and physical? In other respects they differ
little in their customs relating to marriage from the rest of the island.
The parents of the girl always receive a valuable consideration (in
buffaloes or horses) from the person to whom she is given in marriage;
which is returned when a divorce takes place against the man's
inclination. The daughters as elsewhere are looked upon as the riches of
the fathers.
CONDITION OF WOMEN.
The condition of the women appears to be no other than that of slaves,
the husbands having the power of selling their wives and children. They
alone, beside the domestic duties, work in the rice plantations. These
are prepared in the same mode as in the rest of the island; except that
in the central parts, the country being clearer, the plough and harrow,
drawn by buffaloes, are more used. The men, when not engaged in war,
their favourite occupation, commonly lead an idle, inactive life, passing
the day in playing on a kind of flute, crowned with garlands of flowers;
among which the globe-amaranthus, a native of the country, mostly
prevails.
HORSERACING.
They are said however to hunt deer on horseback, and to be attached to
the diversion of horseracing. They ride boldly without a saddle or
stirrups, frequently throwing their hands upwards whilst pushing their
horse to full speed. The bit of the bridle is of iron, and has several
joints; the head-stall and reins of rattan: in some parts the reins, or
halter rather, is of iju, and the bit of wood. They are, like the rest of
the Sumatrans, much addicted to gaming, and the practice is under no kind
of restraint, until it destroys itself by the ruin of one of the parties.
When a man loses more money than he is able to pay he is confined and
sold as a slave; being the most usual mode by which they become such. A
generous winner will sometimes release his unfortunate adversary upon
condition of his killing a horse and making a public entertainment.
LANGUAGE.
They have, as was before observed, a language and written character
peculiar to themselves, and which may be considered, in point of
originality, as equal at least to any other in the island, and although,
like the languages of Java, Celebes, and the Philippines, it has many
terms in common with the Malayan (being all, in my judgment, from one
common stock), yet, in the way of encroachment, from the influence, both
political and religious, acquired by its immediate neighbours, the Batta
tongue appears to have experienced less change than any other. For a
specimen of its words, its alphabet, and the rules by which the sound of
its letters is modified and governed, the reader is referred to the Table
and Plate above. It is remarkable that the proportion of the people who
are able to read and write is much greater than of those who do not; a
qualification seldom observed in such uncivilized parts of the world, and
not always found in the more polished.
WRITING.
Their writing for common purposes is, like that already described in
speaking of the Rejangs, upon pieces of bamboo.
BOOKS.
Their books (and such they may with propriety be termed) are composed of
the inner bark of a certain tree cut into long slips and folded in
squares, leaving part of the wood at each extremity to serve for the
outer covering. The bark for this purpose is shaved smooth and thin, and
afterwards rubbed over with rice-water. The pen they use is a twig or the
fibre of a leaf, and their ink is made of the soot of dammar mixed with
the juice of the sugar-cane. The contents of their books are little known
to us. The writing of most of those in my possession is mixed with
uncouth representations of scolopendra and other noxious animals, and
frequent diagrams, which imply their being works of astrology and
divination. These they are known to consult in all the transactions of
life, and the event is predicted by the application of certain characters
marked on a slip of bamboo, to the lines of the sacred book, with which a
comparison is made. But this is not their only mode of divining. Before
going to war they kill a buffalo or a fowl that is perfectly white, and
by observing the motion of the intestines judge of the good or ill
fortune likely to attend them; and the priest who performs this ceremony
had need to be infallible, for if he predicts contrary to the event it is
said that he is sometimes punished with death for his want of skill.
Exclusively however of these books of necromancy there are others
containing legendary and mythological tales, of which latter a sample
will be given under the article of religion.
REMARK BY DR. LEYDEN.
Dr. Leyden, in his Dissertation on the Languages and Literature of the
Indo-Chinese nations, says that the Batta character is written neither
from right to left, nor from left to right, nor from top to bottom, but
in a manner directly opposite to that of the Chinese, from the bottom to
the top of the line, and that I have conveyed an erroneous idea of their
natural form by arranging the characters horizontally instead of placing
them in a perpendicular line. Not having now the opportunity of verifying
by ocular proof what I understood to be the practical order of their
writing, namely, from left to right (in the manner of the Hindus, who,
there is reason to believe, were the original instructors of all these
people), I shall only observe that I have among my papers three distinct
specimens of the Batta alphabet, written by different natives at
different periods, and all of them are horizontal. But I am at the same
time aware that as this was performed in the presence of Europeans, and
upon our paper, they might have deviated from their ordinary practice,
and that the evidence is therefore not conclusive. It might be presumed
indeed that the books themselves would be sufficient criterion; but
according to the position in which they are held they may be made to
sanction either mode, although it is easy to determine by simple
inspection the commencement of the lines. In the Batavian Transactions
(Volume 3 page 23) already so often quoted, it is expressly said that
these people write like Europeans from the left hand towards the right:
and in truth it is not easy to conceive how persons making use of ink can
conduct the hand from the bottom to the top of a page without marring
their own performance. But still a matter of fact, if such it be, cannot
give way to argument, and I have no object but to ascertain the truth.
RELIGION.
Their religion, like that of all other inhabitants of the island who are
not Mahometans, is so obscure in its principles as scarcely to afford
room to say that any exists among them. Yet they have rather more of
ceremony and observance than those of Rejang or Passummah, and there is
an order of persons by them called guru (a well-known Hindu term), who
may be denominated priests, as they are employed in administering oaths,
foretelling lucky and unlucky days, making sacrifices, and the
performance of funeral rites. For a knowledge of their theogony we are
indebted to M. Siberg, governor of the Dutch settlements on the coast of
Sumatra, by whom the following account was communicated to the late M.
Radermacher, a distinguished member of the Batavian Society, and by him
published in its Transactions.
MYTHOLOGY.
The inhabitants of this country have many fabulous stories, which shall
be briefly mentioned. They acknowledge three deities as rulers of the
world, who are respectively named Batara-guru, Sori-pada, and
Mangalla-bulang. The first, say they, bears rule in heaven, is the father
of all mankind, and partly, under the following circumstances, creator of
the earth, which from the beginning of time had been supported on the
head of Naga-padoha, but, growing weary at length, he shook his head,
which occasioned the earth to sink, and nothing remained in the world
excepting water. They do not pretend to a knowledge of the creation of
this original earth and water, but say that at the period when the latter
covered everything, the chief deity, Bataraguru, had a daughter named
Puti-orla-bulan, who requested permission to descend to these lower
regions, and accordingly came down on a white owl, accompanied by a dog;
but not being able, by reason of the waters, to continue there, her
father let fall from heaven a lofty mountain, named Bakarra, now situated
in the Batta country, as a dwelling for his child; and from this mountain
all other land gradually proceeded. The earth was once more supported on
the three horns of Naga-padoha, and that he might never again suffer it
to fall off Batara-guru sent his son, named Layang-layang-mandi
(literally the dipping swallow) to bind him hand and foot. But to his
occasionally shaking his head they ascribe the effect of earthquakes.
Puti-orla-bulan had afterwards, during her residence on earth, three sons
and three daughters, from whom sprang the whole human race.
The second of their deities has the rule of the air betwixt earth and
heaven, and the third that of the earth; but these two are considered as
subordinate to the first. Besides these they have as many inferior
deities as there are sensible objects on earth, or circumstances in human
society; of which some preside over the sea, others over rivers, over
woods, over war, and the like. They believe likewise in four evil
spirits, dwelling in four separate mountains, and whatever ill befalls
them they attribute to the agency of one of these demons. On such
occasions they apply to one of their cunning men, who has recourse to his
art, and by cutting a lemon ascertains which of these has been the author
of the mischief, and by what means the evil spirit may be propitiated;
which always proves to be the sacrificing a buffalo, hog, goat, or
whatever animal the wizard happens on that day to be most inclined to
eat. When the address is made to any of the superior and beneficent
deities for assistance, and the priest directs an offering of a horse,
cow, dog, hog, or fowl, care must be taken that the animal to be
sacrificed is entirely white.
They have also a vague and confused idea of the immortality of the human
soul, and of a future state of happiness or misery. They say that the
soul of a dying person makes its escape through the nostrils, and is
borne away by the wind, to heaven, if of a person who has led a good
life, but if of an evil-doer, to a great cauldron, where it shall be
exposed to fire until such time as Batara-guru shall judge it to have
suffered punishment proportioned to its sins, and feeling compassion
shall take it to himself in heaven: that finally the time shall come when
the chains and bands of Naga-padoha shall be worn away, and he shall once
more allow the earth to sink, that the sun will be then no more than a
cubit's distance from it, and that the souls of those who, having lived
well, shall remain alive at the last day, shall in like manner go to
heaven, and those of the wicked, be consigned to the before-mentioned
cauldron, intensely heated by the near approach of the sun's rays, to be
there tormented by a minister of Batara-guru, named Suraya-guru, until,
having expiated their offences, they shall be thought worthy of reception
into the heavenly regions.
...
To the Sanskrit scholar who shall make allowances for corrupt orthography
many of these names will be familiar. For Batara he will read avatara;
and in Naga-padoha he will recognise the serpent on whom Vishnu reposes.
OATHS.
Their ceremonies that wear most the appearance of religion are those
practised on taking an oath, and at their funeral obsequies. A person
accused of a crime and who asserts his innocence is in some cases
acquitted upon solemnly swearing to it, but in others is obliged to
undergo a kind of ordeal. A cock's throat is usually cut on the occasion
by the guru. The accused then puts a little rice into his mouth (probably
dry), and wishes it may become a stone if he be guilty of the crime with
which he stands charged, or, holding up a musket bullet, prays it may be
his fate in that case to fall in battle. In more important instances they
put a small leaden or tin image into the middle of a dish of rice,
garnished with those bullets; when the man, kneeling down, prays that his
crop of rice may fail, his cattle die, and that he himself may never take
salt (a luxury as well as necessary of life), if he does not declare the
truth. These tin images may be looked upon as objects of idolatrous
worship; but I could not learn that any species of adoration was paid to
them on other occasions any more than to certain stone images which have
been mentioned. Like the relics of saints, they are merely employed to
render the form of the oath more mysterious, and thereby increase the awe
with which it should be regarded.
FUNERAL CEREMONIES.
When a raja or person of consequence dies the funeral usually occupies
several months; that is, the corpse is kept unburied until the
neighbouring and distant chiefs, or, in common cases, the relations and
creditors of the deceased, can be convened in order to celebrate the
rites with becoming dignity and respect. Perhaps the season of planting
or of harvest intervenes, and these necessary avocations must be attended
to before the funeral ceremonies can be concluded. The body however is in
the meantime deposited in a kind of coffin. To provide this they fell a
large tree (the anau in preference, because of the softness of the
central part, whilst the outer coat is hard), and, having cut a portion
of the stem of sufficient length, they split it in two parts, hollow each
part so as to form a receptacle for the body, and then fit them exactly
together. The workmen take care to sprinkle the wood with the blood of a
young hog, whose flesh is given to them as a treat. The coffin being thus
prepared and brought into the house the body is placed in it, with a mat
beneath, and a cloth laid over it. Where the family can afford the
expense it is strewed over with camphor. Having now placed the two parts
in close contact they bind them together with rattans, and cover the
whole with a thick coating of dammar or resin. In some instances they
take the precaution of inserting a bamboo-tube into the lower part,
which, passing thence through the raised floor into the ground, serves to
carry off the offensive matter; so that in fact little more than the
bones remain.
When the relations and friends are assembled, each of whom brings with
him a buffalo, hog, goat, dog, fowl, or other article of provision,
according to his ability, and the women baskets of rice, which are
presented and placed in order, the feasting begins and continues for nine
days and nights, or so long as the provisions hold out. On the last of
these days the coffin is carried out and set in an open space, where it
is surrounded by the female mourners, on their knees, with their heads
covered, and howling (ululantes) in dismal concert, whilst the younger
persons of the family are dancing near it, in solemn movement, to the
sound of gongs, kalintangs, and a kind of flageolet; at night it is
returned to the house, where the dancing and music continues, with
frequent firing of guns, and on the tenth day the body is carried to the
grave,
preceded by the guru or priest, whose limbs are tattooed in the shape of
birds and beasts, and painted of different colours,* with a large wooden
mask on his face.
(*Footnote. It is remarkable that in the Bisayan language of the
Philippines the term for people so marked, whom the Spaniards call
pintados, is batuc. This practice is common in the islands near the coast
of Sumatra, as will hereafter be noticed. It seems to have prevailed in
many parts of the farther East, as Siam, Laos, and several of the
islands.)
He takes a piece of buffalo-flesh, swings it about, throwing himself into
violent attitudes and strange contortions, and then eats the morsel in a
voracious manner. He then kills a fowl over the corpse, letting the blood
run down upon the coffin, and just before it is moved both he and the
female mourners, having each a broom in their hands, sweep violently
about it, as if to chase away the evil spirits and prevent their joining
in the procession, when suddenly four men, stationed for the purpose,
lift up the coffin, and march quickly off with it, as if escaping from
the fiend, the priest continuing to sweep after it for some distance. It
is then deposited in the ground, without any peculiar ceremony, at the
depth of three or four feet; the earth about the grave is raised, a shed
built over it, further feasting takes place on the spot for an indefinite
time, and the horns and jaw-bones of the buffaloes and other cattle
devoured on the occasion are fastened to the posts. Mr. John and Mr.
Frederick Marsden were spectators of the funeral of a raja at Tappanuli
on the main. Mr. Charles Miller mentions his having been present at
killing the hundred and sixth buffalo at the grave of a raja, in a part
of the country where the ceremony was sometimes continued even a year
after the interment; and that they seem to regard their ancestors as a
kind of superior beings, attendant always upon them.
CRIMES.
The crimes committed here against the order and peace of society are said
not to be numerous. Theft amongst themselves is almost unknown, being
strictly honest in their dealings with each other; but when discovered
the offender is made answerable for double the value of the goods stolen.
Pilfering indeed from strangers, when not restrained by the laws of
hospitality, they are expert at, and think no moral offence; because they
do not perceive that any ill results from it. Open robbery and murder are
punishable with death if the parties are unable to redeem their lives by
a sum of money. A person guilty of manslaughter is obliged to bear the
expense attending the interment of the deceased and the funeral-feast
given to his friends, or, if too poor to accomplish this it is required
of his nearest relation, who is empowered to reimburse himself by selling
the offender as a slave. In cases of double adultery the man, upon
detection, is punished with death, in the manner that shall presently be
described; but the woman is only disgraced, by having her head shaven and
being sold for a slave, which in fact she was before. This distribution
of justice must proceed upon the supposition of the females being merely
passive subjects, and of the men alone possessing the faculties of free
agents. A single man concerned in adultery with a married woman is
banished or outlawed by his own family. The lives of culprits are in
almost all cases redeemable if they or their connections possess property
sufficient, the quantum being in some measure at the discretion of the
injured party. At the same time it must be observed that, Europeans not
being settled amongst these people upon the same footing as in the
pepper-districts, we are not so well acquainted either with the principle
or the practice of their laws.
EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.
The most extraordinary of the Batta customs, though certainly not
peculiar to these people, remains now to be described. Many of the old
travellers had furnished the world with accounts of anthropophagi or
maneaters, whom they met with in all parts of the old and new world, and
their relations, true or false, were in those days, when people were
addicted to the marvellous, universally credited. In the succeeding ages,
when a more skeptical and scrutinizing spirit prevailed, several of these
asserted facts were found upon examination to be false; and men, from a
bias inherent in our nature, ran into the opposite extreme. It then
became established as a philosophical truth, capable almost of
demonstration, that no such race of people ever did or could exist. But
the varieties, inconsistencies, and contradictions of human manners are
so numerous and glaring that it is scarcely possible to fix any general
principle that will apply to all the incongruous races of mankind, or
even to conceive an irregularity to which some or other of them have not
been accustomed.
EAT HUMAN FLESH.
The voyages of our late famous circumnavigators, the veracity of whose
assertions is unimpeachable, have already proved to the world that human
flesh is eaten by the savages of New Zealand; and I can with equal
confidence, from conviction of the truth, though not with equal weight of
authority, assert that it is also, in these days, eaten in the island of
Sumatra by the Batta people, and by them only. Whether or not the
horrible custom prevailed more extensively in ancient times I cannot take
upon me to ascertain, but the same historians who mention it as practised
in this island, and whose accounts were undeservedly looked upon as
fabulous, relate it also of many others of the eastern people, and those
of the island of Java in particular, who since that period may have
become more humanized.*
(*Footnote. Mention is made of the Battas and their peculiar customs by
the following early writers: NICOLO DI CONTI, 1449. "In a certain part of
this island (Sumatra) called Batech, the people eat human flesh. They are
continually at war with their neighbours, preserve the skulls of their
enemies as treasure, dispose of them as money, and he is accounted the
richest man who has most of them in his house." ODOARDUS BARBOSA, 1516.
"There is another kingdom to the southward, which is the principal source
of gold; and another inland, called Aaru (contiguous to the Batta
country) where the inhabitants are pagans, who eat human flesh, and
chiefly of those they have slain in war." DE BARROS, 1563. "The natives
of that part of the island which is opposite to Malacca, who are called
Batas, eat human flesh, and are the most savage and warlike of all the
land." BEAULIEU, 1622. "The inland people are independent, and speak a
language different from the Malayan. Are idolaters, and eat human flesh;
never ransom prisoners, but eat them with pepper and salt. Have no
religion, but some polity." LUDOVICO BARTHEMA, in 1505, asserts that the
people of Java were cannibals previously to their traffic with the
Chinese.)
They do not eat human flesh as the means of satisfying the cravings of
nature, for there can be no want of sustenance to the inhabitants of such
a country and climate, who reject no animal food of any kind; nor is it
sought after as a gluttonous delicacy.
MOTIVES FOR THIS CUSTOM.
The Battas eat it as a species of ceremony; as a mode of showing their
detestation of certain crimes by an ignominious punishment; and as a
savage display of revenge and insult to their unfortunate enemies. The
objects of this barbarous repast are prisoners taken in war, especially
if badly wounded, the bodies of the slain, and offenders condemned for
certain capital crimes, especially for adultery. Prisoners unwounded (but
they are not much disposed to give quarter) may be ransomed or sold as
slaves where the quarrel is not too inveterate; and the convicts, there
is reason to believe, rarely suffer when their friends are in
circumstances to redeem them by the customary equivalent of twenty
binchangs or eighty dollars. These are tried by the people of the tribe
where the offence was committed, but cannot be executed until their own
particular raja has been made acquainted with the sentence, who, when he
acknowledges the justice of the intended punishment, sends a cloth to
cover the head of the delinquent, together with a large dish of salt and
lemons. The unhappy victim is then delivered into the hands of the
injured party (if it be a private wrong, or in the case of a prisoner to
the warriors) by whom he is tied to a stake; lances are thrown at him
from a certain distance by this person, his relations, and friends; and
when mortally wounded they run up to him, as if in a transport of
passion, cut pieces from the body with their knives, dip them in the dish
of salt, lemon-juice, and red pepper, slightly broil them over a fire
prepared for the purpose, and swallow the morsels with a degree of savage
enthusiasm. Sometimes (I presume, according to the degree of their
animosity and resentment) the whole is devoured by the bystanders; and
instances have been known where, with barbarity still aggravated, they
tear the flesh from the carcase with their teeth. To such a depth of
depravity may man be plunged when neither religion nor philosophy
enlighten his steps! All that can be said in extenuation of the horror of
this diabolical ceremony is that no view appears to be entertained of
torturing the sufferers, of increasing or lengthening out the pangs of
death; the whole fury is directed against the corpse, warm indeed with
the remains of life, but past the sensation of pain. A difference of
opinion has existed with respect to the practice of eating the bodies of
their enemies actually slain in war; but subsequent inquiry has satisfied
me of its being done, especially in the case of distinguished persons, or
those who have been accessories to the quarrel. It should be observed
that their campaigns (which may be aptly compared to the predatory
excursions of our Borderers) often terminate with the loss of not more
than half a dozen men on both sides. The skulls of the victims are hung
up as trophies in the open buildings in front of their houses, and are
occasionally ransomed by their surviving relations for a sum of money.
DOUBTS OBVIATED.
I have found that some persons (and among them my friend, the late Mr.
Alexander Dalrymple) have entertained doubts of the reality of the fact
that human flesh is anywhere eaten by mankind as a national practice, and
considered the proofs hitherto adduced as insufficient to establish a
point of so much moment in the history of the species. It is objected to
me that I never was an eyewitness of a Batta feast of this nature, and
that my authority for it is considerably weakened by coming through a
second, or perhaps a third hand. I am sensible of the weight of this
reasoning, and am not anxious to force any man's belief, much less to
deceive him by pretences to the highest degree of certainty, when my
relation can only lay claim to the next degree; but I must at the same
time observe that, according to my apprehension, the refusing assent to
fair, circumstantial evidence, because it clashes with a systematic
opinion, is equally injurious to the cause of truth with asserting that
as positive which is only doubtful. My conviction of the truth of what I
have not personally seen (and we must all be convinced of facts to which
neither ourselves nor those with whom we are immediately connected could
ever have been witnesses) has arisen from the following circumstances,
some of less, and some of greater authority. It is in the first place a
matter of general and uncontroverted notoriety throughout the island, and
I have conversed with many natives of the Batta country (some of them in
my own service), who acknowledged the practice, and became ashamed of it
after residing amongst more humanized people. It has been my chance to
have had no fewer than three brothers and brothers-in-law, beside several
intimate friends (of whom some are now in England), chiefs of our
settlements of Natal and Tappanuli, of whose information I availed
myself, and all their accounts I have found to agree in every material
point. The testimony of Mr. Charles Miller, whose name, as well as that
of his father, is advantageously known to the literary world, should
alone be sufficient for my purpose. In addition to what he has related in
his journal he has told me that at one village where he halted the
suspended head of a man, whose body had been eaten a few days before, was
extremely offensive; and that in conversation with some people of the
Ankola district, speaking of their neighbours and occasional enemies of
the Padambola district, they described them as an unprincipled race,
saying, "We, indeed, eat men as a punishment for their crimes and
injuries to us; but they waylay and seize travellers in order to
ber-bantei or cut them up like cattle." It is here obviously the
admission and not the scandal that should have weight. When Mr. Giles
Holloway was leaving Tappanuli and settling his accounts with the natives
he expostulated with a Batta man who had been dilatory in his payment. "I
would," says the man, "have been here sooner, but my pangulu (superior
officer) was detected in familiarity with my wife. He was condemned, and
I stayed to eat share of him; the ceremony took us up three days, and it
was only last night that we finished him." Mr. Miller was present at this
conversation, and the man spoke with perfect seriousness. A native of the
island of Nias, who had stabbed a Batta man in a fit of frenzy at
Batang-tara river, near Tappanuli bay, and endeavoured to make his
escape, was, upon the alarm being given, seized at six in the morning,
and before eleven, without any judicial process, was tied to a stake, cut
in pieces with the utmost eagerness while yet alive, and eaten upon the
spot, partly broiled, but mostly raw. His head was buried under that of
the man whom he had murdered. This happened in December 1780, when Mr.
William Smith had charge of the settlement. A raja was fined by Mr.
Bradley for having caused a prisoner to be eaten at a place too close to
the Company's settlement, and it should have been remarked that these
feasts are never suffered to take place withinside their own kampongs.
Mr. Alexander Hall made a charge in his public accounts of a sum paid to
a raja as an inducement to him to spare a man whom he had seen preparing
for a victim: and it is in fact this commendable discouragement of the
practice by our government that occasions its being so rare a sight to
Europeans, in a country where there are no travellers from curiosity, and
where the servants of the Company, having appearances to maintain, cannot
by their presence as idle spectators give a sanction to proceedings which
it is their duty to discourage, although their influence is not
sufficient to prevent them.
A Batta chief, named raja Niabin, in the year 1775 surprised a
neighbouring kampong with which he was at enmity, killed the raja by
stealth, carried off the body, and ate it. The injured family complained
to Mr. Nairne, the English chief of Natal, and prayed for redress. He
sent a message on the subject to Niabin, who returned an insolent and
threatening answer. Mr. Nairne, influenced by his feelings rather than
his judgment (for these people were quite removed from the Company's
control, and our interference in their quarrels was not necessary)
marched with a party of fifty or sixty men, of whom twelve were
Europeans, to chastise him; but on approaching the village they found it
so perfectly enclosed with growing bamboos, within which was a strong
paling, that they could not even see the place or an enemy.
DEATH OF MR. NAIRNE.
As they advanced however to examine the defences a shot from an unseen
person struck Mr. Nairne in the breast, and he expired immediately. In
him was lost a respectable gentleman of great scientific acquirements,
and a valuable servant of the Company. It was with much difficulty that
the party was enabled to save the body. A caffree and a Malay who fell in
the struggle were afterwards eaten. Thus the experience of later days is
found to agree with the uniform testimony of old writers; and although I
am aware that each and every of these proofs taken singly may admit of
some cavil, yet in the aggregate they will be thought to amount to
satisfactory evidence that human flesh is habitually eaten by a certain
class of the inhabitants of Sumatra.
That this extraordinary nation has preserved the rude genuineness of its
character and manners may be attributed to various causes; as the want of
the precious metals in its country to excite the rapacity of invaders or
avarice of colonists, the vegetable riches of the soil being more
advantageously obtained in trade from the unmolested labours of the
natives; their total unacquaintance with navigation; the divided nature
of their government and independence of the petty chieftains. which are
circumstances unfavourable to the propagation of new opinions and
customs, as the contrary state of society may account for the complete
conversion of the subjects of Menangkabau to the faith of Mahomet; and
lastly the ideas entertained of the ferociousness of the people from the
practices above described, which may well be supposed to have damped the
ardour and restrained the zealous attempts of religious innovators.