INHABITANTS OF SUMATRA. 99 



The language, which coutains many Sanskrit words, differs considerably from 

 the coast Malay, and possesses a richer vocabulary. It moreover comprises sjoecial 

 forms, such as the jargons of the women, magicians, and thieves. The young men 

 and women correspond by letters written on foliage, and forwarded through a 

 postal system which utilises as letter-boxes the hollow trunks of trees at the 

 crossings of the highways. 



The Batta commune constitutes an autonomous group represented rather than 

 administered by a rajah or pamusuk, and deliberating in common. Village groups 

 have also been developed, forming so many little republics connected together by 

 a federal union ; lastly, traces of an ancient kingdom seem to have survived in the 

 expressions of almost religious veneration till lately lavished on a prince resident 

 at Bakara, a large village at the south-west end of Lake Toba, recently conquered 

 by the Dutch. 



All the members of each community are supposed to be connected by the ties 

 of kindred, although not holding equal social rank, and although the lower classes 

 may even be pledged or sold by order of council for debts, crimes, or offences. 

 The penal code is severe, beheading being till lately, and possibly still, the sentence 

 pronounced for grave crimes, such as treason and armed revolt, but not simple 

 murder or homicide. An extraordinary and altogether unique provision of the 

 written code was that the outraged community should avenge itself by eating the 

 criminal, who in some cases was even devoured alive. His nearest kin, as mem- 

 bers of the commonwealth, had to share in the feast, and even supply the salt, 

 lime-juice, and other condiments. But except as acts of justice, cannibalism was 

 not practised, nor were women ever subjected to this treatment. At present the 

 Battas assert that the custoin has fallen into complete abeyance, but on this point 

 their veracity is open to suspicion. There is reason to think that slaves are also des- 

 patched, to attend their masters beyond the grave, and that they are obliged first to 

 masquerade at the pit's mouth. According to Junghahn and other writers, anthro- 

 pophagy is of relatively recent introduction, a statement, however, which is at 

 variance with the testimony of the old writers. Arab tradition and the first Euro- 

 pean visitors describe the Sumatran highlanders as cannibals devouring the infirm 

 and aged. As soon as they felt themselves incapable of work, the " grandfathers " 

 hung by their arms from the branch of a tree, while the family and neighbours 

 danced round about, shouting, " When the fruit is ripe it falls." And when it 

 did fall they fell upon it, chopping it into " mincemeat." Such feasts were 

 usually held in the season when the limes ripened. 



The least mercy is shown to prisoners of war, regarded as guilty of " rebellion 

 against the conqueror." Most wars are, moreover, of a very sanguinary nature. 

 The Batta jurisprudence not permitting a commune to be enslaved or deprived 

 of its land, the only way of being revenged on it is by killing off a large number ; 

 and the festoons of human heads decorating the rajahs' residences sufficiently 

 attest the zeal with which the work of extermination is carried out. In several 

 districts this internecine strife checks the growth of the population, which is 

 farther reduced by the prevalent practice of abortion. Late marriages are the 



