502 Messrs. Burton and IV Ann's Journey into the Batak Country. 



afflictions, that they invoke the shades of their ancestors, and offer sacrifices to 

 the gods. But in any of the circumstances here supposed, and particularly 

 the latter, the timid Batah applies to the Datu to learn the cause and the 

 remedy of his sorrows. He takes with him a fowl and a little rice as a 

 present. Having opened the fowl, the Datu is at no loss to select, from the 

 great variety of distinct intimations which it gives to his enlightened mind, 

 a prescription precisely adapted to the circumstances of his timid and de- 

 jected applicant. His affliction, he is commonly told, is a visitation from 

 one of the genii for the misconduct of some of his ancestors, and he 

 must make a feast in honour of his father or grandfather, and intreat his 

 intercession. The Datu then discovers from his books the animal proper to 

 be killed on the occasion, which is generally a buffalo, kid, pig, or fowl, 

 according to the circumstances of the individual applying. Every thing 

 requisite being provided and the day fixed, the supplicant calls together his 

 friends and relatives, who feast and dance with him for three successive 

 days and nights. On tlie third day, whilst in the act of dancing, one of 

 the company supposes, or pretends to suppose, that the spirit of his de- 

 parted ancestor, attracted by the sound of the gong li-om the adjacent 

 mountains and precipices, where it wanders in paths untrodden by man, 

 has entered into him, and he falls down, apparently almost senseless. Upon 

 recovering a little he pretends to be no longer himself, but their deceased 

 friend, come to meet them and join in their entertainment. The company 

 then present him with such fare as they have prepared, when he eats and 

 drinks heartily ; after which the person who has given the entertainment, 

 addressing the spirit of the departed, informs him of the particular troubles 

 which have induced them to call him, and concludes by requesting that if 

 these have been sent either by the gods or the demons, he woidd intercede 

 for their removal. The man pretending to be possessed then returns such 

 an answer as he thinks will best please his host, or be most likely to prove 

 prophetic, and becoming again apparently insensible, soon recove-s himself. 

 This may be regarded as an act of religious worship, addressed to the 

 deities through the intercession of their ancestors. This, however, is not 

 the only way in which the gods may be approached. Supplications may 

 be preferred, and offerings made, immediately, to any of them separately, or 

 to them all collectively, without the assistance of the priest, care being taken 

 that every thing is done according to the directions given in their religious 

 books. 



