October 13, 1892] 



NA TURE 



567 



the principal cascade. Two Battak villages, Tanga and 

 Suanan, are on each side of the fall. Modigliani managed 

 to visit both, though hostile to each other, as he learnt, 

 on account of cannibal feats recently committed reci- 

 procally ; thus cannibalism is not yet extinct amongst the 

 Battaks. In this trip Modigliani went as far as Bandar 

 Pulo, near the east coast ; but not wishing to get into 

 difficulties with the Controlcur at Tangiong Balei, he 

 turned back towards Toba, taking this time a new route 

 up the valley of the Qualu or Kuwalu River. 



The return journey was adventurous, and more than 

 once Modigliani and his small party were in imminent 

 danger. A war expedition of the 

 Dutch had recently been this way, 

 and the depredations and looting of 

 the so-called friendly chiefs and their 

 followers had left behind visible 

 traces, and a burning sense of hate 

 and vengeance against the sordado 

 of the Cumponi (Dutch), although 

 nothing can be said against the con- 

 duct of the Dutch colonial troops. 

 Ic required all the energetic per- 

 suasions of guru Samalain and all 

 the calm courage of Modigliani to 

 avoid hostilities. At the village of 

 Si Buttua, well fortified and in a 

 commanding position, as most are, 

 admittance was gained with diffi- 

 culty ; and matters went worse at 

 the village of Lumban Bailie, where, 

 however, finally Modigliani, as Rajah 

 Rom, was treated with high honours 

 and a dance. His last station was 

 at Hite Tano, the native village of 

 his man Si-gu-tala. Here, after 

 some delay and hesitation, he was 

 treated with friendliness ; and to- 

 celebrate the return of Si-gu-tala a 

 buffalo was killed, a very grand feast 

 in the Battak country. A good 

 tramp of fourteen hours took Modi- 

 gliani from Hite Tano back to his 

 log hut in the forest of Si Rambe. 

 He had been away a little more than 

 a month. 



Of course, this adventurous trip of 

 Modigliani amongst the independer.t 

 Battaks got known; the Dutch au- 

 thorities informed him that he would 

 be expelled if he attempted again to 

 cross into the Battak country, and 

 he found that all his movements 

 were watched and reported by the 

 native police {opas). He therefore 

 decided to return to Siboga, where 

 he was on March 14, 1891. He re- 

 mained there collecting and taking 

 notes until the first days of April, 

 when he proceeded to Bencoolen. 



The Geographical Society of Bata- 

 via had invited him to explore the 

 island of Engano, and a Government 

 steamer was to convey him there. Modigliani had ac- 

 cepted with delight ; but, after waiting some time in vain 

 at Bencoolen for the promised steamer, he decided to 

 start on his own account, and did so, engaging x)\t prahu 

 of a Chinaman. 



Engano, the furthermost of the interesting islands which 

 guard the western coast of Sumatra, has up to the present 

 date been all but a lerra incognita. Crawfurd, in his 

 admirable " Dictionary of the Indian Archipelago," gives 

 scant and partly erroneous information on Engano ; whilst 

 Vivien de St. Martin, generally so accurate, in his great 



NO. 1 iq8, vol. 46] 



" Geographical Dictionary," now being issued, says very 

 little, and tells us that the natives are Negritos I And yet 

 Rosenberg visited and explored the island not many years 

 ago. Modigliani, during his stay of over two months, 

 made a thorough exploration of Engano, and of the 

 ways and customs of its natives; and it is indeed fortunate 

 that he went there and gathered such rich ethnological 

 and anthropological materials, for the natives of Engano 

 are rapidly dying out, like those of other savage islands. 

 Ten years ago they were about 8000 ; now, by the last 

 reckoning of the Dutch Agent, they are reduced to 840 ! 

 The natives of this island certainly belong to the great 



tiL,. J. — tiaiiak chief .ind his wife. 



Malayan family. On looking over the photographic por- 

 traits taken by Dr. Modigliani, I was forcibly reminded of 

 the Nicobarese ; and Modigliani agreed with me on ex- 

 amining the fine series of photographs of natives of 

 the Nicobar Islands in my collection, which I owe 

 to the kindness of my friend, Mr. E. H. Man, Deputy 

 Commissioner of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and 

 well known for his exhaustive anthropological researches 

 in those two interesting groups. 



Modigliani remained in Engano from April 25 to July 

 13, 1891. His health, which had hitherto resisted many 



