444 TRAVELS IN TOE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



Tliis missionary tells me that lie knew of a Batta 

 who had been guilty of stealing an article of only 

 very little value according to theii* ideas of wealth, 

 yet he was seized, his arms extended at full length 

 and fastened to a bamboo, a sharpened prop placed 

 under his chin, so that he could not move his head, 

 and in this condition he was bound fast to a tree. 

 The knife was then handed to the native who had 

 lost the article, and he was ordered to step forward 

 and cut out of the living man what piece he pre- 

 ferred. This he did promptly; the rajah took the 

 second choice, and then the people finished the cold- 

 blooded butcheiy, and thus their victim died. This 

 revolting feast, he assui'es me, took place but a short 

 distance fi'om the \dllage where he resides. How 

 any lady can think of going to live among such dan- 

 gers I cannot conceive ; but Madame Pfeiffer, accord- 

 ing to her account, went considerably farther than 

 the place where these missionaries reside, and even 

 reached the northern end of the Silindong valley ; 

 but I am assui'ed here, and she states nearly the 

 same thing in her book, that the Battas only per- 

 mitted her to return because they regarded her as a 

 witch. Thi^ee years after she performed that jour- 

 ney, three French priests were butchered and de- 

 voui'ed, before they had come near to the farthest 

 place she had reached alone. No Malay would have 

 ever escaped who had gone so far into their country. 

 The parts that are esteemed the greatest deli- 

 cacies are the palms of the hands, and, after them, 

 the eyes. As soon as a piece is cut out it is dipped, 

 still warm and steaming, in sambal^ a common con- 



