96 



AUSTRALASIA. 



Fisr. 35.— Oeang Batta. 



and Singapore, wlience they import the opium, of which they have become 

 inveterate smokers. 



The Battas. 



South of Atjeh the hilly plateau is occupied by still independent peoples 

 partlj" converted to Islam, such as the Gayus, of whom little is known beyond the 

 name, and who are said to dwell on the banks of the freshwater lake liaut Tawar. 

 Beyond them are the mysterious Alas, and the Batta or Battak* people, centred 



about the Lake Toba 

 basin. According to 

 the missionary Nom- 

 mensen, they num- 

 ber altogether about 

 three hundred thou- 

 sand, divided into two 

 distinct groups, the 

 northern Battas, who 

 trade with the Achin- 

 ese, and the southern, 

 whose relations are 

 mainly with Deli and 

 Sibogha. Beyond the 

 lacustrine region, 

 which they regard as 

 the cradle of their race, 

 they are widely spread, 

 as far south as Mount 

 Ophir and eastwards 

 to the mouth of the 

 Bila. The natives of 

 the Tapanuli district on 

 the western slope are 

 also Battas, reduced 

 by the so-called Padri 

 or " Fathers," fana- 

 tical Mussulmans, who gave them the choice of the sword or the Koran. 

 Altogether the pure or mixed Battas of the mainland, and exclusive of the Nias 

 islanders, said also to belong to the same stock, are estimated at about a million. 



The pure Batta type resembles that of the Bornean Dyaks and " Alfurus " of 

 Celebes, affiliated by most anthropologists to the primitive races allied to the 

 Polynesians, who formerly peopled Indonesia, and who, after expelling or exter- 

 minating the Negritos, were in their turn driven out or partly absorbed by the 

 Malays. The Battas of the plateau are much fairer and taller, with more abun- 



* Batta, singular ; Battak, plural. 



