Messrs. Burton a7id Wjird^s Journey into the Batak Country. 509 



Marriages. 



Marriages are either by jujur, or by a certain modification of ambil 

 anak .• semando* they do not recognize. A man cannot marry a relative of 

 his own, however distant. For instance, two brothers agree to settle, the 

 one in Toba, the other in Atigkola. They marry there and have several 

 cliildren, but the descendants of these two families can at no future period 

 intermarry. Divorces are very rare, being seldom granted except for adul- 

 tery ; when the woman, her head having first been shaved, is sold out of the 

 country. 



The amount of the Jtijur in Silindung is, for a chief's daughter, ten buffa- 

 loes ; for the daughters of the common people, five. When paid in money, 

 the buffalo is reckoned at about eight dollars. A man may have as many 

 wives as he can afford to purchase. We are acquainted with one chief 

 who has six : few, however, have more than two. They are looked upon 

 almost as the slaves of their husbands : and the chief object of the men in 

 marrying and multiplying their wives is, that they may be maintained by 

 their labour. 



Burials. 



The Bataks bury their dead sometimes outside the village, sometimes 

 within its walls, very near to their own houses. A feast is always made on 

 the day of the funeral, and the jaw of the animal killed on the occasion 

 (usually a pig) is fastened to a stake at the head of the grave, together 

 with a bag, containing gambir, sirih, tobacco, &c., and a bamboo filled with 

 water. These, when dried up by the sun, they suppose the spirit of the 

 deceased to have eaten. Tlie celebration of the feasts, considered proper 

 to precede the burial of a distinguished chief, sometimes occupies several 

 months ; during which period the body is kept above ground in a very strong 

 wooden coflSn, into the bottom of which is inserted a bamboo, forming a 

 funnel to connect it with the earth. In Silindung we saw one of these 

 coffins waiting for the customary rites ; and in front of our host's house 

 stood a large stone coflin, in which were deposited the remains of his father, 

 who had been dead five years. In preparing this coflfin our host must have 

 been at considerable expense, for which he had hoped his father's spirit would 

 have indemnified him by procuring for him a long series of prosperity. He 



* For an eitplanation of tbese modes of marrying, see Marsden'g Sumatra, page 257. 



