188 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGPUPHY AND TRAVEL 



and of the Menangkabo people corresponds with the 

 mul-iiii of the Achenese, and there are thus districts 

 known as the " XIII kotas," and the " IX kotas," just 

 as there are the " XXII " and " XXV mukims." 



The cannibaHsin of the Battaks has doubtless existed 

 for centuries, and we find Barros mentioning it in his 

 Decades. It appears to have been practised rather from 

 enmity, or as a punishment, than from any desire for 

 human llesh as an article of food. Their victims are, or 

 were, either criminals, prisoners of war, or occasionally 

 slaves, and the established punishment for certain crimes, 

 such as adultery with the wife of a Eaja, midnight 

 robbery, or being taken prisoner in war, was to be cut to 

 pieces and eaten alive. The Dutch have found no diffi- 

 culty in abolishing these practices wherever they have 

 sway, and when this is done the people are found to be 

 no whit worse than their neighbours, among whom such 

 customs did not exist. The civilised Battaks declare 

 that cannibalism has entirely died out, but there is little 

 doubt that it is still existent in the more out-of-the-way 

 and unexplored districts. The race is still pagan, and is 

 noteworthy as being the only example in the archipelago 

 of a lettered people who have not embraced Moham- 

 medanism, whose converts surround them on all sides. 

 Their faith is apparently chiefiy confined to a belief in 

 evil spirits ; but they recognise three deities, a Creator, 

 a Preserver, and a Destroyer, and carry small images, of 

 the nature of amulets, about with them, like the Papuans 

 of New Guinea. It is probable that they will in time 

 become converted to Islamism, but Christian missionaries 

 have not met with much success. Tlie race is partly 

 becoming absorbed in the Achenese and Malay tribes of 

 the coast, and the constant wars of tribe ao;ainst tribe 

 have done much to lessen their numbers. The art of 



