SUMATRA 187 



found inhabiting an immense plain country, for the most 

 part covered with lalang grass and intersected with deep 

 ravines. Eice was almost the only crop cultivated, and 

 cattle were rarely seen. The more southern tribes have 

 been long in contact with the Dutch, and are gradually 

 becoming civilised. They nevertheless present, even to 

 this present day, the extraordinary anomaly of a people 

 who possess a written language of their own, yet are at 

 the same time cannibals. 



The Battak is of Malayan stock, and has by some 

 travellers been considered to resemble the Bornean Dyak. 

 He is taller and darker than the true Malay and is more 

 bearded, but the hair is straight, not frizzled, as in the 

 Kubus, and if there be any Xegrito blood in the race, 

 no trace of it is now evident. Some consider that they 

 are partly of Hindu origin, and it is probable that they 

 must have come under the influence of that race to a 

 considerable extent at the time of its immigration. In 

 their customs, however, there are few if any points of 

 resemblance. The more civilised, and especially those 

 around Lake Toba, are good agriculturists and stock 

 farmers, and understand working in iron. They weave 

 and dye cotton, make jewellery and krisses, which are often 

 of beautiful workmanship, and bake pottery ; l)ut their 

 skill is especially exhibited in the construction of their 

 houses, many of which are two-storied and with carved 

 timbers, though in this form of decoration they do not 

 approach the work of the natives in some parts of the 

 Palembang district. The form of government ol)taining 

 is not unlike that of the Achenese, as already described, 

 the people being divided into clans, communes, and 

 families — a system, it may be remarked, which is found 

 through the greater part of Sumatra, and, with various 

 modifications, in Java also. The kota of the Battaks 



